CES 2017 put me back in Las Vegas with sterile gloves in my kit. On January 7, during Digital Trends' live broadcast from the show, editor Drew Prindle got an NFC chip implanted in his hand on camera, mid-stream.
Ed Oswald's Digital Trends write-up captured the practical spirit of the thing. Prindle wasn't chasing a stunt; he wanted to replace his office keycard. "I'll be able to wave my hand in front of the door to get in the office," he said afterward. His right hand already carried an implant from 2016 holding his digital business card, so this was less a leap than a second step. My contribution to the article was the line I have repeated to almost every new implantee since: "After a few weeks it becomes a part of you. Eventually you don't even realize it's there."
Off camera, we also did a second, private procedure that trip: an xEM, the 125 kHz low-frequency transponder that speaks the language of legacy access control systems. Two chips, two different jobs. NFC for phones and data; low frequency for the older locks of the world.