There is a difference between having something permanently giving you feedback, and being able to get some information on demand. It's easy to conceive that being quietly reminded of which direction you're travelling every time you turn a corner could change the way you see the world.

On the other hand, it does seem to be a pretty rubbish implementation. A dongle that you have to anchor to your chest with piercings, and whose idea of "really, really small" is an inch square seems significantly behind where I believed implant technology was.

I might be tempted to try this if it was a tiny, surgically implanted chip that had no other effects, but having some huge trinket dangling off my chest getting stuck in things seems like it would only be attractive to people who wanted something to act as a replacement for an interesting personality in conversation.

Or an ear piercing, something integrated into an existing "mod".

Maybe if you are blind, this could be helpful to not get lost and get a sense of the direction you are facing. But I guess there are already less invasive solutions (and other sensory inputs like the sun on your skin).

Or just a wearable device, but I guess that has drawbacks too.

This "implant" is pretty much a wearable device since it is in contact with skin but is fully outside the body.

Usually wearables refer to things you can easily take off, like a watch. This thing looks pretty permanent -- though maybe it flips open like an earring to be removed and serviced?

The barbell piercing that it anchors to is permanent, but I think the device itself has to be removed to charge.

You can get a cheap wristwatch that has an integrated digital compass, or a tiny analog compass embedded in the strap.

Or just get a Braille compass.

This is not about the compass per se, it's about adding an extra sense. The article that made me interested in these kind of things was in Wired about 10 years ago: http://www.wired.com/2007/04/esp/ . Well worth the read in my opinion.

Sort of, except that it gets translated into touch, one of the same old five.

Totally agree. They want to `design the future` and the first thing they do is to make a device that was rendered obsolete 10 years ago... What next? a device that makes you sense time? or something that makes you feel that someone's trying to reach you?

This is hands-free.

I'm not a fanboy, but you've missed the point entirely.

It's not the same thing at all. It's about being able to sense north all the time.

Not getting a compass out, or your silly solution of a bowl of water and a needle. About just knowing which direction north is. There's been (well received) articles here before about people wearing haptic belts that did the same thing.

Here's an example:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21028185-800-haptic-s...

But it doesn't do that, it just alerts you when you face north.... the rest of the time, you'll have no idea if your east, south or west... I would assume you'd have an always-present general force towards the North to make sure you always know your orientation; this is not like that; it just alerts you whenever you happen to face North.

Yeah, but when you are getting hints about direction of North while moving around, you'll subconsciously be aware of orientation all the time. Your spatial orientation would improve dramatically.

For me this looks too bulky and inconvenient to actually use.

This is my understanding as well. There are tribal groups of people even today whose communication depends largely on cardinal directions. They don't use the concept of left or right, they use a cardinal direction. As a result, they are always aware of which direction they are facing. This implant would be essentially training you to do the same, and possibly wouldn't even be needed eventually.

Alright, I can see the appeal for hikers and long walkers, urban explorers, and a whole subset of hobbyists that I didn't appreciate before. Thanks for the interesting read, and the context.