The main reason I looked towards you guys was from an off-hand comment from @DeviantOllam in his videos. I think YouTube and video sharing mediums are great to get a new generation of biohackers interested in implants like the ones you guys sell.
What I would suggest, similar to what you were thinking, would be to use the DT YouTube channel to provide testimonials and deep dives into how your customers utilize their implants. By centralizing all these videos into one main channel, you can increase the amount of eyes see your product.
Having everyone make videos and explain their reasoning for using implants on their own channels is great as well, but when someone googles or searches YouTube for RFID implants or Dangerous Things, the first thing you want to pop up is your channel with accurate and detailed information regarding your products and the customer satisfaction you provide.
On top of that, tweaking the thumbnails for the videos to be more eye-popping or descriptive to attract users who are not in the community is important as well. A generic splash screen with text won’t attract as many people as thumbnails with humans holding the implant needle, utilizing a proxmark, or other relevant images.
As a side note, when I originally visited your website there was a page dedicated to differentiating each implant you guys sell, and that helped me out a lot in the purchasing decision. I can’t seem to find it anymore. That would be a good link to have easily accessible that way customers who are just dipping their feet into this community don’t buy the wrong implant for their needs and leave disappointed.
That’s just my 2 cents (really looks like a whole dollar, I wasn’t expecting to type all that ).
Currently it seems people that want this tech generally seek it out and research it THEN approach a piercer.
My situation was exactly that. I have no tats or piercings but wanted an implant. I did the research then went into a local tattoo parlour to talk about it. The guys there were completely unaware that such things existed but were very excited when I explained it to them and were keen to go ahead. They were so on board they didn’t even want to charge me for doing it!
It’s probably a bit different here in rural Somerset England than the US, but I think if they were more accessible and promoted in the places that could install them then you would surely get a lot more impulse purchases by people visiting for a piercing or tattoo.
I don’t know how the official installer thing works, but if you like I’d be happy to go into a few places and talk to them about implants. Kind of an unofficial sales rep. I could take a laptop and show them unlocking it with an implant and see if they would be interested in promoting them in their place. If we put together a few pdfs to print out with details and contacts and give them it might pay off too.
If a few of us did this and we all talked to a few piercers there would surely be some uptake.
I got mine through KSEC who I think are your UK reps? If @KaiCastledine is interested in some free local promotion feel free to dm me.
Certainly around here there is a complete lack of awareness of what is possible and how easy it is.
I’m taking my daughter to Bristol to get a piercing tomorrow so I’ll see what this one knows about implants.
In terms of the state of the world, it all feels very end of days. But what better way to box up the existential dread than treating yourself to a cool new implant?
The piercer I used is on the list of known piercers on the DT page, and it after speaking with him to ensure he still does implants he mentioned that he kept inventory of some of the popular implants so that his customers had easy access to them. He also offered a discount to the actual piercing procedure if you purchased the implant from him, which helps people money-wise as well as making it quicker to get implanted.
Getting piercers to have stock of your product is super helpful in the purchasing aspect as well as the advertisement aspect, as some piercers keep products on display so customers can peruse the stock they have.
@amal we talked once about DT/VivoKeys involvement with Circle City Con; let’s talk again sometime! We are back IRL this year and hosting a biohacking village…yours truly running it. Pirate, a local piercer, will be there doing installs, and @Eriequiet and @darthdomo will be there helping out too! Going to have a media stream going showing off practical use cases and some of the DT guide videos. Proxmarks, Sentero, NorthSense, epoxy-encased syringes, and other semi-interactive displays. We’d all love to have your involvement too though!
I will be creating a village Twitter account…if anyone has name recommendations hit me up because that’s about all that’s stopping me rn.
Seeing the popularity of the idea of LTT + implants, @DeviantOllam, and Modern Rogue’s videos I’ve done my best to reach out to Linus to see if they would be interested in attending Circle. It would be a wonderful opportunity to showcase a hacker con but also implants and the passionate people behind them.
Most here probably know that I was working on some “biohacking research” for a while as part of my MS. Turns out I won’t be able to finish the research though I’ll still graduate. Anway, what this means is that I have some 60-80 pages of biohacking lore and meta. I would love to turn it into a book; think biohacking history + interviews with community members. I’m shopping the idea around for a home atm DM if you know a publisher but for the moment I’ll be submitting to 2600 magazine. I think rn one of the most important moves DT, implants, and human augmentation as whole can do is try and strengthen the community exists while introducing more people to the idea. Besides the BHV at DEFCON and your RFID Toys book there’s not that much out there exposing people to the idea besides each of us individually - not that there’s anything wrong with that.
It’s a hard battle though bc you’re facing a global economic downturn during a pandemic mixed with being in a business that for the most part has associated with it’s deviant nature. There’s a real fear that as DT and implants become more mainstream they’ll lose the close knit community and become bastardized capitalistic nightmare glares at drones. Still though I think society is ready for implants and even if there was mainstream acceptance there would be a segment of us pushing the boundaries. I’m rambling tbh.
My opinion, I live in south Carolina which is usually last to see major impacts on cost of living. How ever we are currently seeing the impact with gas on the rise, food at a all time high and with all the living increases Rent, mortgage and ex. our initial pay for our hard work is staying the same which makes it a lot harder to afford to play around with extra projects. The idea in the Us about implants are changing quickly, there is still many people who fear that implants are the devil and the governments way to track you at all time what they fail to realize is the government does not need a chip to do that all our smart tv’s, Phones, Watches and many other gadgets we have are already capable of being constantly tracked. For Dangerous things being the main if not only option for implants I see it eventually being the new craze as soon as we can get a confident system for payment implants. Every one I talk to say they would consider the payment Implant if it could connect to their bank and not a 3rd party. "there is one thing that cannot be stopped in the world, EVOLUTION OF TECHNOLLOGY Implants are the future in my eyes. My life has been so much easier with the 6 implants I have, I clock in and out of work and gain entry into the building (now I don’t have to worry about where my ID badge is). My entire house has electronic locks on every door (now I don’t have to carry a house key). My CWP license to carry is stored on a chip and is legal form. My license as well. The only thing I carry on me that is not in a implant is my Bank accounts or payment option which I use my watch for that so I don’t even have to carry a wallet or keys or worry about them because of my implants, I feel the world will eventually want the same thing.
Thanks guys for a lot of great feedback… I’m just getting around to absorbing it but I won’t be able to actually respond for a few days… one of the things I’m working on right now is reworking some flexClass so we can get those back in stock.
Well i made a TikTok account and 2 vids where i pay with my hand had 310.4k views and the second one 275.5 views in one week then i had to stop because i waited on the new and improved chip… That one is now in my hand and its healing.
As soon as its healed i resume posting vids there
60% of the interactions are people genuinely amazed and interested and want to know more
The other 40% are the mark of the beast idiots
And people who think i went to a whole lot if trouble to fake the video.
My hope is that when i resume posting the views keep comming and awareness is spreading.
Also
My installer (in the Netherlands) is launching an entire media campaign soon on all social media and television.
Just my opinion in general here…
For me, it’s a mixture of different things. Future isn’t looking too bright, but that’s not the main point. I spent a lot of money last year, so I don’t have too much to spend on “unneccessary” things right now, plus I’ve got my Titan and two glassies and currently have no idea what to add.
What brought me here was the flexNExT with its blinkies, what made me stay was the community. The flexy made some ton of problems for me, and I’m relatively sure I won’t implant a flex-style implant into my body again. And the community has, sadly, changed a lot as well.
If DT launches an implant that looks interesting to me (still, I’d love a temp sensor, readable with my phone and privacy-friendly^^), I’ll definitely happily buy it. Currently, I just don’t find any reason to buy something
People also have varying interests over time. Most people don’t buy implants over and over, just the ones they need (or think they need) at some point.
One year I bought implants, had a tattoo, piercings. Then switched to buying a few big Lego sets. Then a new bike and the accessories for it. Last year it was a new fancy computer. This year… back to implants, 2 foreseen in the coming weeks . I have some money for my hobbies or interests, I just rotate what I spend it for.
I work from home so I don’t need access control systems for my work (although they use magnetic stripe anyway, so an implant wouldn’t help much).
At home I have one lock that uses RFID, but also has a keypad and a key. So an implant is not really needed.
None of my wife’s vehicles have RFID (only one has electronic door locks even) and I haven’t had a vehicle of my own for about 6 years now.
I do use an RFID tag to type my work password (The password can be more complex that way without me forgetting it. It is long and completely random) but that just uses a tag I keep in the clutter on my desk.
I do use 2FA so something equivalent to a TOTP or yubikey implant has some use for me,… But it is illegal for piercers to implant in Oregon so I would need to travel >100 miles each way (and probably closer to 250) and it hasn’t happened yet.
I think something like partnering with big tech YouTubers would be beneficial. Even if nobody is getting chipped, just showing what is possible would give a lot a traffic to the site.
I have no idea how feasible this all is though, might be hard to get a hold of the more famous techtubers
It’s late here tonight, but I just got the chance to read Amal’s initial post on this thread. I will read the replies and stuff tomorrow and maybe have more to say. Just from reading that, yeah things are more expensive, lots of economic things happening out of anyone’s control. However, I have 3 people right now that are prospective future implantees, I hope to get at least one of them as a future customer. I think the thing is now, people like myself are getting out and talking to others more than ever in the past 2 pandemic years. Online talk is one thing, but it’s a whole other thing actually meeting people and talking to them in person. I’ve had surprisingly good response actually showing mine off and stuff. Maybe it’s just me, but I am currently feeling the future is bright, it just might take more of us getting out there and being “salespeople”, and things could be really cool
In Poland, we have a YouTuber, he once did an interview on walletmor payment implants the material was mainly focused on the walletmor company Amal was only mentioned: / in my opinion DT implants are more interesting and give more opportunities “Kuba Klawiter” often listens to what the community suggests. ask if he would make material about DT
It’s been a tough couple years for me, not gonna lie, and not just because of covid. But I’m one of those people who are always optimistic and try and make the best of every situation, and the past few years have seen quite a bit of personal growth as well. I’m finally moving out of an emotionally and financially abusive situation, and things are looking and feeling much more positive personally than in awhile. New beginnings always do for me.
I first heard about DT awhile back, I don’t actually remember when. It was probably back when I got my Haworth magnet in 2016 and would have been looking up other biomods. I got really into the magnetic sensing side of things, but then I played with my implant too much and it rejected about a month and a half later.
Between that and how much the magnet hurt to install, I didn’t look back into things until this year just happening to click an old Chrome bookmark on a whim. Since I now have access to a crazy strong prescription numbing cream, I’m more confident in going somewhere to have implants installed. I think I’ll stick with NExT and Spark 2 in 0s, xgc in non-dominant middle finger tip, and an Apex Flex in the left hand once it comes out. Blinkies would be fun, but aren’t necessary to further augment my capabilities.
I’ve always been into automating my home via Alexa, Phillips Hue lights, wifi wall plugs, etc commercial options. I’ve only barely messed with Linux before, and my code-fu is Intro to CompSci Javascript from 12+ years ago at best. But it’s definitely interesting, and should take up my main hobby slot for awhile (after piano and ABO certification lmao)
I’m finally starting my music YouTube soon, and I feel it’s poised to take off running. I’ll definitely talk about implants in it at some point, if not feature some uses in a music video. Nothing cooler than practical effects when on a low budget!
I had to go to bed last night and like I said got to reading the rest of your ideas and comments on this thread today. It seems like most people are thinking some of the same things as I did initially. Continuing with the thoughts I had last night I am going to keep up with talking to people about implants. It’s something I was motivated to do anyway. Also, I will see what I can figure out later this week and hopefully I will be able to say @init6 , I will be coming to CircleCon. I feel even more motivated to help out with that, but I was before anyways. Also, on that subject, @amal , if you could make it there in July, I have to agree that would totally be awesome. Also I saw @DeviantOllam tagged too, I am curious what cons you’re going to this year? I haven’t seen him in person since one of the last times I was at HOPE in NYC. (Deviant used to live for a bit with one of my friends from college when he lived in Philly too.) Anyways, I’ll do what I can to try to promote DT and this community going forward for sure!!
Personally i have considered getting a chip a few timed before, but it’s just that the current chips don’t have the capabillities i want, like FIDO. So i’m basically waiting for the APEX, which i would pourchase pretty immediately, even if card payment is not an option.
).
. I have some money for my hobbies or interests, I just rotate what I spend it for.
