With a wave of his hand, Amal Graafstra, a 29-year-old entrepreneur based in Vancouver, Canada, opens his front door. With another, he logs onto his computer. If you still could not guess it, tiny radio frequency identification (RFID) computer chips inserted into Graafstra's hands make it all possible.

"I just don't want to be without access to the things that I need to get access to,” Graafstra said in an interview in New York, where he is promoting the technology. "RFID is for me." The computer chips, which cost about $2, interact with a device installed in computers and other electronics. The chips are activated when they come within three inches of the reader, which scans the data on the chips. The 'reader' devices are available for as little as $50.

Information about where to buy the chips and readers is available online at the 'tagged' forum, (http://tagged.kaos.gen.nz/) where enthusiasts of the technology chat and share information. Graafstra said at least 20 of his tech-savvy pals have RFID implants.

"I can't feel it at all. It doesn't impede me. It doesn't hurt at all. I almost can't tell it's there," agreed Jennifer Tomblin, a 23-year-old marketing student. Mikey Sklar, a 28-year-old Brooklyn resident, said, "It does give you some sort of power of 'Abracadabra,' of making doors open and passwords entered just by a wave of your hand.” A surgeon in Los Angeles injected the RFID chip in Sklar's hand, which is smaller than a grain of rice and can last up to 100 years.

Tattoo artists and veterinarians also could insert the chips into people, he said. For years, veterinarians have been injecting similar chips into pets so the animals can be returned to their owners if they are lost. Graafstra was drawn to RFID tagging to make life easier in this technological age, but Sklar said he was more intrigued by the technology's potential in a broader sense.

Wary of privacy issues, Sklar said he is developing a fabric 'shield' to protect such chips from being read by strangers seeking to steal personal information or identities.

Source: Reuters
Compiled by: Jasmine Kaur