Skip to main content

Color-changing temporary tattoo reveals when you’ve soaked up too much sun

LogicInk UV
From smartphone apps to smart wearables, there are a variety of high-tech ways we can make sure we’re not being exposed to too many harmful ultraviolet wavelengths by being out in the sun. A new creation from San Francisco-based LogicInk promises to make things even easier, however. Instead of asking users to whip out their phones to check information about UV exposure, LogicInk has developed a small temporary tattoo, worn on your skin, that changes color as it’s exposed to sunlight. What could be simpler than that?

“Based on medical research, LogicInk UV is calibrated to change in shape and color to alert you when you got too much [sun] for the day,” Carlos Olguin, co-founder and CEO of LogicInk, told Digital Trends. “We are initially focusing on people with very sensitive skin. By precluding electronics, we also preclude the need for bulky devices — bulky compared to ours — that tend to be expensive, have a high learning curve, and yet require another device as the only way to understand your exposure to UV.”

It’s a neat design, and promises to offer at-a-glance information about this important topic. The tattoo features a design created from proprietary inks, and gradually changes from white to purple based on the wearer’s exposure to the sun. The design features several rings, each of which changes color in turn based on cumulative exposure. Once all three have gone purple, users know that they have hit their UV limit for the day.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

“LogicInk UV allows people from all ages to intuitively understand when UV rays may becoming harmful and take action,” Olguin said. “The tattoo is the user interface. We are reusing and reinventing user interface patterns like energy bars in an LCD display, but now placing them directly on your skin, where they change dynamically when sensing occurs. We are programming apps directly in matter.”

Olguin says that the team expects to launch LogicInk UV in time for this summer. One tattoo can last for up to one week, although he notes that the “user interface” makes more sense as a daily measure, so he suggests single-day use. “We are still exploring what is the best way to sell LogicInk UV,” he continued. “Ordering a regular supply is one of them.”

If you want to try one out before then, LogicInk is currently running a beta program where people can test LogicInk UV for a period of days or weeks. Anyone interested can visit the company’s website and sign up to be notified about this program or to receive news regarding the launch.

Luke Dormehl
I'm a UK-based tech writer covering Cool Tech at Digital Trends. I've also written for Fast Company, Wired, the Guardian…
Digital Trends’ Tech For Change CES 2023 Awards
Digital Trends CES 2023 Tech For Change Award Winners Feature

CES is more than just a neon-drenched show-and-tell session for the world’s biggest tech manufacturers. More and more, it’s also a place where companies showcase innovations that could truly make the world a better place — and at CES 2023, this type of tech was on full display. We saw everything from accessibility-minded PS5 controllers to pedal-powered smart desks. But of all the amazing innovations on display this year, these three impressed us the most:

Samsung's Relumino Mode
Across the globe, roughly 300 million people suffer from moderate to severe vision loss, and generally speaking, most TVs don’t take that into account. So in an effort to make television more accessible and enjoyable for those millions of people suffering from impaired vision, Samsung is adding a new picture mode to many of its new TVs.
[CES 2023] Relumino Mode: Innovation for every need | Samsung
Relumino Mode, as it’s called, works by adding a bunch of different visual filters to the picture simultaneously. Outlines of people and objects on screen are highlighted, the contrast and brightness of the overall picture are cranked up, and extra sharpness is applied to everything. The resulting video would likely look strange to people with normal vision, but for folks with low vision, it should look clearer and closer to "normal" than it otherwise would.
Excitingly, since Relumino Mode is ultimately just a clever software trick, this technology could theoretically be pushed out via a software update and installed on millions of existing Samsung TVs -- not just new and recently purchased ones.

Read more
AI turned Breaking Bad into an anime — and it’s terrifying
Split image of Breaking Bad anime characters.

These days, it seems like there's nothing AI programs can't do. Thanks to advancements in artificial intelligence, deepfakes have done digital "face-offs" with Hollywood celebrities in films and TV shows, VFX artists can de-age actors almost instantly, and ChatGPT has learned how to write big-budget screenplays in the blink of an eye. Pretty soon, AI will probably decide who wins at the Oscars.

Within the past year, AI has also been used to generate beautiful works of art in seconds, creating a viral new trend and causing a boon for fan artists everywhere. TikTok user @cyborgism recently broke the internet by posting a clip featuring many AI-generated pictures of Breaking Bad. The theme here is that the characters are depicted as anime characters straight out of the 1980s, and the result is concerning to say the least. Depending on your viewpoint, Breaking Bad AI (my unofficial name for it) shows how technology can either threaten the integrity of original works of art or nurture artistic expression.
What if AI created Breaking Bad as a 1980s anime?
Playing over Metro Boomin's rap remix of the famous "I am the one who knocks" monologue, the video features images of the cast that range from shockingly realistic to full-on exaggerated. The clip currently has over 65,000 likes on TikTok alone, and many other users have shared their thoughts on the art. One user wrote, "Regardless of the repercussions on the entertainment industry, I can't wait for AI to be advanced enough to animate the whole show like this."

Read more
4 simple pieces of tech that helped me run my first marathon
Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar displaying pace information.

The fitness world is littered with opportunities to buy tech aimed at enhancing your physical performance. No matter your sport of choice or personal goals, there's a deep rabbit hole you can go down. It'll cost plenty of money, but the gains can be marginal -- and can honestly just be a distraction from what you should actually be focused on. Running is certainly susceptible to this.

A few months ago, I ran my first-ever marathon. It was an incredible accomplishment I had no idea I'd ever be able to reach, and it's now going to be the first of many I run in my lifetime. And despite my deep-rooted history in tech, and the endless opportunities for being baited into gearing myself up with every last product to help me get through the marathon, I went with a rather simple approach.

Read more