Supposedly if the tattoo has changed, either by laser removal, adding more ink or even surgery, the infrared cameras can pick up on the change, and actually illustrate what the original design once looked like. It'd prove invaluable for detectives seeking criminals who may've tried disguising themselves, though reports of cameras detecting wigs and fake mustaches are still sadly unfounded. [TechRadar]

Geekologie reader Brian loves himself some Cisco. Lucky for him the design kind of resembles a post-Apocalyptic barcode brand-like symbol or something, so it could have the legs to last a lifetime. Unlike, you know, Zune guy. [Geekologie]

I may have an original 1984 Macintosh on my work desk, but I will never ever get a tattoo of it. EVER. A ZX Spectrum, on the other side, is a very likely possibility. It just depends on the amount of Zacapa rum and Margaritas this weekend.

Note to the VHS tattoo dude: If you are going to drill a video tape into your skin for the rest of your life, at least pick a Sony Beta. [Obsolete]

Keep in mind that tattoos of anything that falls under the nerd culture umbrella is acceptable—from physics equations to portraits of Bill Gates with the words "XOXO Forever" underneath. Bonus points if you actually have a tattoo in this category.

This isn't some guy who's covered in tattoos already, either. This is Lou's very first and only tattoo, a big ugly Palm Pre right on his shoulder. He will get his precious smartphone courtesy of PreCentral.net, but you've gotta wonder how long it'll be before he starts trying to get a different website to pay for the laser removal. I mean, for chrissakes, the free phone is only worth $199! Come on, Lou, you could have gotten so much more for an equally embarrassing tattoo if you only knew how to market yourself.

So what do you think: is this more or less sad than Zune tattoo guy? I think Zune guy is still the saddest, as he didn't get free anything for his permanent branding (that he's since changed into something perhaps even more regrettable). [Pre Central]

The ink is made up of a bunch of tiny spheres, about 120 nanometers across, that contain "the glucose detecting molecule, a color-changing dye, and another molecule that mimics glucose." Those molecules are moving around in the spheres, and when they near the surface, they grab onto either glucose or the molecule that mimics glucose. If they mostly latch onto real glucose, the ink (and consequently the tattoo) will look yellow, but if they grab the fake glucose, the tatt will look purple, indicating a low level of glucose in the bloodstream.

Apparently the tattoo itself doesn't need to be a full-sleeve naked pirate lady design or anything; it can be only a few millimeters across and get the job done. The tech is still a couple years off, but it's a much more immediate and constant monitor of the blood than having to prick and swab a few times a day. [Crunchgear]

Harder to explain will be Mr. Guy's crucial misunderstanding of what a pentagram looks like, and his apparent need to get tattoos that will by their very nature be completely irrelevant in a few years. In any case, Zune Guy clearly wants to engage with something bigger than consumer electronics, so I'm a little bit disappointed that he hasn't decided to throw his considerable weight behind one of the current presidential candidates. Forget Colin Powell — that would be a game-changer. [iPhone Savior - Thanks, Ry!]

So, all you need is some artwork, a laser-etch machine and the urge to burn your fingers. Or, if even that's too creepy for you, the technique also works on artificial nails.

And I know the headline says "not painful"... but if you check out the Instructables link, you'll see that's not strictly true. Aligning laser and nail and avoiding sensitive skin is sometimes not so easy, it seems... as is not cooking your nail because the laser intensity's too high. Watch it, and promise me not to try this body mod either? I'm pretty sure the lid should be down and all safeties engaged on these machines, for a reason. [Instructables]

Over on Instructables this chap has a "how to" guide, so you can try it yourself. Assuming a) you can get hold of a laser-etcher and a helpful operator, b) you can defeat the safeties on the machine designed to stop you doing this and c) you're a total nutcase. Because doing this cooks your skin, frying small parcels of it into vapor. It's basically digital branding, and it exposes your body to mahoosive amounts of laser energy. And it hurts.

Got it? Look at the gallery again, and then promise me you're not going to try it. [Instructables]

Surely, you can do better. [LiveJournal via Gawker]

Now, this is done on a plucked hair by steering a beam of gallium ions over the surface to etch the 20-micron logo into the hair cells. But imagine you really could have your hair tattooed. No-one would see it, it would be just like painting the pilot inside a plastic airplane model: you'd know it was there. What would you have?

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Some vaccines, when injected traditionally, fail to produce the necessary immune response. Researchers in Germany have found that by using a vibrating tattoo needle, they can get the optimal results. In tests on mice, using a tattoo needle produces 16 times more antibodies than by using a simple injection into muscle tissue. It may be tied to the greater damage to the body that tattoo needles produce.

It certainly would be interesting to have a permanent reminder of just when and how you were made immune from terrible, life-ending diseases, it would just suck to be forced into getting a tat in order to get the vaccine. Time will tell whether or not this becomes a viable or widespread technique. [BBC via Spulch; Image by Morgan Stana]

Not just for loved ones, designer Klara Jirkova says the implants could be placed in the fleshy part of your hand between forefinger and thumb, so that blind people could identify one another while shaking hands.

I am down with the tattoo concept, though I imagine it can really only be appreciated by bona fide blind people, as Johnny Depp's famous "Winona Forever" tat would just look like a rash in need of some serious cortisone cream. [Underwire]

It is actually pretty easy. There are no workshops in maximum security. They do it in their rooms with a battery(power) taped to a tube(could be a pen or a tightly wound piece of paper). The motor from the rumble pack is taken out and attached to the top of the tube. A needle or pin is run down the middle of the tube. when "on" the needle will move up and down like a sewing machine. The needle is then dipped in "ink." This is made a number of ways the easiest is to use ball point pen ink, but they could use other items to get different colors or looks.

The Nintendo 64: adored by children and convicts alike. Nintendo really has broken the cultural barriers of gaming and created something...quite special. [kotaku]