So the tricorder in Star Trek was just a fancy, battery powered wifi hotspot??
this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2025
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How much longer until I can be like "Hey, Google; scan the area for lifeforms?"
“Sure, turning on all downstairs lights”
"Opening the pod bay doors"
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And I guarantee some organization will figure out how to use this for some police state bullshit.
That's already the original use case. Cardiac signature biometrics, can install in a doorway and do identity verification and track/monitor every individual that passes through the threshold
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2026: Major grocers found using customer heart rate to personalise prices - higher the pulse, higher the price
I'm f'd my resting BPM is like 90.
That's quite high.
If it could do that this whole time why did I invest a bunch of money and a whole lot more time in fancy mmWave presence sensors?? 🥲
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3 letter agencies have already been using this for cardiac signature identity verification and tracking for a long while
Cool tech but I question it's usefulness. They focus on clinical in their language but anybody who's on telemetry orders needs waveforms not beats per minute. I care if they're suddenly in afib, not that they're a little tachy after getting up to go to the bathroom.
Well some darker entities probably would appreciate access to this tech. In order to confirm mission complete if you smell what I am cooking.
They mentioned apnea.
Alright give it another 50 grand in investment and give them an access point instead of a $2 WiFi device, you'll have it
So how long before our phones can measure heart rate from your pocket, or being held in your hand?
They already can by putting your finger on the camera and lighting up your finger with the led light. Then it detects the rhythmic changes picked up by the camera... At least 10+ years ago. It was a good novelty feature, but turns out, for most healthy people, checking your heart rate gets old after a few runs.
It's probably possible right now.