2007
publications
IEEE Spectrum Cover Story: 'Hands On'
My cover story in the March 2007 IEEE Spectrum, 'Hands On: How radio-frequency identification and I got personal', and the mail it brought.
ReadTechnologist · Author · Biohacking Pioneer
I put technology
under my skin.
World's first double RFID implantee (2005). Author of RFID Toys. Founder of Dangerous Things & VivoKey. Twenty years of talks, television, documentaries and publications — archived here, watchable.
Signature appearances
2010
speaking
Keynoting IEEE ISTAS 2010 in Australia
Wollongong, June 2010: keynoting IEEE's symposium on technology and society, taping ABC's 7:30 Report, and discovering ginger beer.
Watch
2013
speaking
TEDxSFU: Biohacking - The Forefront of a New Kind of Human Evolution
On the TEDxSFU stage in Burnaby, BC: my DIY RFID journey and why biohacking is the forefront of a new kind of human evolution.
Watch
2022
press
Dr. Phil: 'I Got Chipped - Are We Ready for Technology Under Our Skin?'
December 2022: on Dr. Phil's 'I Got Chipped' episode, debating implant safety opposite a cyborg magician and a determined critic.
Watch
2024
press
Dr. Phil Primetime: Biohacking
Back with Dr. Phil in September 2024, Primetime this time, for 'DIY Biology: Mad Scientists or Mad Smart?'
Watch
2026
press
Discovery's 'Conspiracies & Coverups': The Great COVID Conspiracy
Discovery's Conspiracies & Coverups took on the great COVID conspiracy, including the 'chips in vaccines' myth. That part's mine.
WatchThe complete timeline — 2005 → today
Launch: Payment via Apex Ring Conversion
June 2026: Dangerous Things launches payment via Apex Ring conversion. A practical payment implant, at last.
milestones
Discovery's 'Conspiracies & Coverups': The Great COVID Conspiracy
Discovery's Conspiracies & Coverups took on the great COVID conspiracy, including the 'chips in vaccines' myth. That part's mine.
press
'Amal Graafstra Is a Demon' - Two Decades of Mark-of-the-Beast Mail
A December 2025 video declares me a demon. After two decades of mark-of-the-beast mail, at least the production values improved.
press
CVE-2025-6666: Cloning the mo.lock
CVE-2025-6666: our disclosure of globally-reused keys in the motogadget mo.lock NFC ignition lock, letting an attacker clone the key.
publications
MOONSHOTS: Chipping the Optimists
Peter Diamandis gets a VivoKey Apex and tells his MOONSHOTS audience about it in two shorts.
press
NYNext: Would You Microchip Yourself?
The New York Post's NYNext asks its readers whether they'd microchip themselves. My answer has been on record since 2005.
press
VivoKey ID: Passwords, Keys, and Cards - Gone
A December 2024 explainer coins 'VivoKey ID' for what we build: passwords, keys, and cards replaced by a wave of your hand.
milestones
BSidesRDU 2024: All About Implantable RFID
Deviant Ollam's BSidesRDU 2024 talk on implantable RFID: a crash course I'm happy to hand the mic for.
press
Dr. Phil Primetime: Biohacking
Back with Dr. Phil in September 2024, Primetime this time, for 'DIY Biology: Mad Scientists or Mad Smart?'
press
The Payment Implant Journey: Walletmor CTO to Tokyo
From Walletmor CTO to tapping my hand at terminals around Tokyo: the long road to a working payment implant.
milestones
Conversations with Tim Ventura: Implants, Neuralink, and the Borg
Three conversations with Tim Ventura, 2023-2024: implants as the next wearable, Neuralink, and the road to the Borg.
press
Biohacking and Implantables (86-Minute Deep Dive)
Eighty-six minutes with Bronic's What the (Bio)Hack?! podcast on biohacking, implantables, and designing against crime.
press
Dr. Phil: 'I Got Chipped - Are We Ready for Technology Under Our Skin?'
December 2022: on Dr. Phil's 'I Got Chipped' episode, debating implant safety opposite a cyborg magician and a determined critic.
press
Becoming a Cyborg: The Full Interview
Maker channel NeutrinoTek chipped himself, documented it, and published our talk twice: an install video and a full 45-minute interview.
press
Media Litter Sandwich 141
Thirty-six minutes on Toaden's Media Litter Sandwich: implant controversies and the difference between Dangerous Things and VivoKey.
press
Freethink: I Got a Chip Implanted in a Biohacking Garage
Freethink's director got an NFC implant for the Biohackers series, a chip from Dangerous Things. I'm not in this one. February 2020.
press
Legend Hunter: 'Mind Control'
Travel Channel's Pat Spain went looking for mind control across America and found me at minute 25. Aired February 2019.
press
Future Grind Ep. 23: Implanted Identity
An hour with Ryan O'Shea on Future Grind: Dangerous Things' origin, the xNT, FDA questions, and where VivoKey was headed. June 2018.
press
RT Digital: Making of a Biohacker
RT's digital team cut a two-minute profile called 'Making of a Biohacker.' May 2018.
press
VivoKey: Cryptographic Identity Under the Skin
In 2017 I founded VivoKey Technologies to put cryptographic identity under the skin. RebelBio, London, and the Spark followed.
milestones
Exponential Minds: The Future of Biohacking
Episode 013 of Nikolas Badminton's new Exponential Minds Podcast, three years after I implanted the futurist himself. August 2017.
press
Biohacking & RFID Chips: Learn the Facts
IoT developer Adam Milton-Barker, who carries a chip of his own, sat me down to cut through the media fear factor around implants. August 2017.
press
Biohacking and Transhumanism (Interview)
Fifty-five minutes with Sam Barton's Talk of Today podcast: encryption, implants, CRISPR, and taking evolution into our own hands. July 2017.
press
CES 2017: A Live Implant on the Show Floor
Digital Trends' Drew Prindle got an NFC implant live on the CES 2017 stream, then a private xEM install. Las Vegas, January 2017.
speaking
Techno Sapiens: The Future of the Human Species
The 3sat/ORF science documentary Techno Sapiens placed my implant work beside geneticists and AI researchers. Aired November 16, 2016.
press
Tele2 Sweden: Inside a Seattle Bodyhacking Event
Tele2's Settle for More campaign streamed a Seattle body hack event live from my point of view, biometrics and all. November 2016.
press
Dinner Talk: Bionic Biohacking
A twenty-seven-minute conversation on bionic biohacking, recorded September 23, 2016.
speaking
Motherboard: Biohacking Encryption From My Garage
Motherboard's Humans+ visited the Dangerous Things garage for an early look at UKI, my prototype encryption implant. August 2016.
press
Australian TV: Sunrise, The Morning Show, and The Feed
One Sydney trip for the Deus Ex launch, three Australian shows: Sunrise, The Morning Show, and SBS's The Feed.
press
THINKING Podcast: Implants and Privacy
First special guest on Nootrobox's THINKING Podcast, episode six: implants, privacy, and the case for normalization. August 2016.
press
The Implant-Activated Smart Gun
The world's first implant-activated smart gun, built in my garage: Motherboard's exclusive, the pickups, and the documentary that followed.
press
IEEE Consumer Electronics: Implants for Bitcoin Transactions
Katina Michael interviewed me for IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine on UKI, identity, and bitcoin under the skin. July 2016 issue.
publications
CeBIT 2016: Implanting Sixteen People on the Show Floor
CeBIT 2016 in Hannover: a live demo with Patrick Kramer, a TechLounge sit-down, and sixteen people chipped on day one.
speaking
Defining Biohacking
An eleven-minute cut of my Biohacker Summit 2015 talk in Helsinki on what biohacking means.
press
Fast Moving Targets: Biohacking Is the Forefront
After my Emerce eDay talk in Amsterdam, live implant included, Fast Moving Targets sat me down for sixteen minutes. October 2015.
press
SuperHuman Academy Podcast, Ep. 20
Episode 20 of Jonathan Levi's SuperHuman Academy Podcast: wearables, cybernetics, and life as a double RFID implantee. June 2015.
press
SHIFT: A Biohacking Documentary
SHIFT split biohacking into wearables, implantables, and exoskeletons for TELUS Optik TV. I carried the implantables. May 2015.
press
Bloomberg: Biohacking Your Body to Open Doors Without Keys
Bloomberg's Ramy Inocencio came to Seattle to watch a needle-injection install and what a wave of the hand can do. April 30, 2015.
press
Hacker Hotel 2015: Biohacking Talk
A forty-six-minute biohacking talk at Hacker Hotel 2015, the Dutch hacker con at a hotel in the Garderen woods.
speaking
Surgery and Installation on Two Volunteers
Thirty-six minutes of implant installation on two volunteers, filmed at the first Biohacker Summit in Helsinki.
press
'Dangerous Things' - An 18-Minute Portrait
Dutch design lecturer Justus Sturkenboom released an eighteen-minute documentary portrait of me and Dangerous Things in January 2015.
press
Galileo & Tech 24: European Television Takes Notice
German prime time and French world news in one autumn: Galileo's Bodyhacker segment and Tech 24 asking how to become a cyborg.
press
CNN: The Business of Being a Cyborg
CNN Business came to see what a cyborg company looks like: the on-camera follow-up to CNN's April 2014 'embeddables' feature.
press
Implanting the Futurist: Nikolas Badminton
At From Now 2014 in Vancouver, futurist Nikolas Badminton took an xNT in his left hand on stage, then revisited the decision five years on.
press
The xNT: Crowdfunding the World's First NFC-Compliant Implant
The xNT Indiegogo went live October 28, 2013: an $8,000 goal, a $99 chip, and the first NFC-compliant implant headed to market.
milestones
The Modified World: RFID Implants
I stopped by Pangea Piercing's web show The Modified World: RFID readers going into the host's car, implants going into the conversation.
press
TEDxSFU: Biohacking - The Forefront of a New Kind of Human Evolution
On the TEDxSFU stage in Burnaby, BC: my DIY RFID journey and why biohacking is the forefront of a new kind of human evolution.
speaking
Founding Dangerous Things
From a ToorCamp folding table to a Seattle company: the storefront announcement, the warning page, and the start of Dangerous Things.
milestones
ToorCamp 2012: The Implantation Station
Eight ToorCampers left Neah Bay with EM4102 implants; Hak5 filmed it, Forbes wrote it up, and the seed of Dangerous Things was planted.
speaking
Out With the Old: Replacing the Right-Hand Implant
After seven years the HITAG S came out of my right hand: twenty minutes of forceps work, one gloved self-assist, and a new tag beside it.
milestones
Keynoting IEEE ISTAS 2010 in Australia
Wollongong, June 2010: keynoting IEEE's symposium on technology and society, taping ABC's 7:30 Report, and discovering ginger beer.
speaking
The ISTAS 2010 Paper: "Social-Technical Issues Facing the Humancentric RFID Implantee Sub-Culture"
A nineteen-page peer-reviewed paper I co-authored for the IEEE ISTAS 2010 proceedings, my deepest formal treatment of the implantee subculture.
publications
'Tagged': A Canadian Documentary
An NFB/TVO short doc following a live EM4102 implantation (me assisting), plus the clarifications I published when it aired in 2009.
press
MAKE: Television, Episode 9
MAKE magazine's public-TV series asked me to film myself using my implants. The result landed in Episode 9; my bit starts at 21:25.
press
Interview 14.2: The Do-It-Yourselfer RFID Implantee
Published as Interview 14.2 in an IGI Global volume, grown out of Katina Michael’s 2007 interview with me in Bellingham.
publications
The CATaC 2008 Case Study: Culture, Values and Ethics of Hobbyist Implantees
A CATaC 2008 case study by the Wollongong group, with me as the subject: an ethnographic look at hobbyist implantees.
publications
IEEE Spectrum Cover Story: 'Hands On'
My cover story in the March 2007 IEEE Spectrum, 'Hands On: How radio-frequency identification and I got personal', and the mail it brought.
publications
The 2006 Media Blitz: Reuters to Prime Time
Reuters, Canada AM, CBN, Seattle locals, ROBTv, daytime TV, a scrapped CNN piece, and implanting Bob Rivers live on KZOK.
press
Good Morning America
A 1 a.m. knock, four hours of rigging, five minutes of live TV: Good Morning America converts Jenny's Vancouver apartment into a studio.
press
DorkBot Seattle: Embedded RFID, Live
March 1, 2006: my Embedded RFID talk at DorkBot Seattle. Home-built projects, implant security, and a live implantation on stage.
speaking
CBC's The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos
Taped February 20, 2006 with George Stroumboulopoulos for CBC's The Hour, back when the show was barely a year old.
press
Sparring with Tucker Carlson on MSNBC
February 16, 2006, live from Vancouver ('That's in Canada'): fielding Tucker Carlson's mind-control questions on MSNBC's The Situation.
press
Discovery Channel's Daily Planet Comes Calling
January 31, 2006: Discovery Channel Canada's daily science show covers the implants, the first TV hit of a busy year.
press
RFID Toys: Eleven Projects and a Book Deal with Wiley
Wiley wanted 15-20 RFID projects in three months. We settled on 11, I delivered 9 plus padding, and the book hit shelves in early 2006.
publications
A Second Chip - and Jenny Gets One Too
June 2005: a HITAG S 2048 goes into my right hand. December: Jennifer gets an EM4102 of her own. The 'RFID couple' era begins.
milestones
One Small Step for Hand: The World's First Hobbyist RFID Implant
March 2005: an EM4102 glass tag goes into my left hand, Boing Boing finds the photos, and the first hobbyist RFID implant goes public.
milestones