NEW TECHNOLOGY

Nokia has filed a patent in the US for a vibrating tattoo which could herald the beginning phone alerts being felt through the user's skin. The patent suggests a way of tattooing, stamping or spraying "ferromagnetic" material onto a user's skin and then pairing it with a mobile device. The application lists Cambridge-based Zoran Radivojevic as the innovation's lead inventor. "Examples of... applications may be low battery indication, received message, received call, calendar alert, change of profile, eg based on timing, change of time zone, or any other," the filing reads. "The magnetic field may cause vibration of one short pulse, multiple short pulses, few long pulses... strong pulses, weak pulses and so on." A spokeswoman for Nokia was unable to confirm whether Nokia intended to follow up its patent application with further research.