Free Republic

<p>A Florida company has announced plans to develop a service that would allow consumers to pay for merchandise using microchips implanted under their skin.</p> <p>Applied Digital Solutions CEO Scott Silverman said he believes the company's VeriChip -- a subdermal microchip that uses radio frequency signals to broadcast an identification number to a scanner -- could someday replace credit cards. Under Silverman's plan, rather than swiping a bank card to make purchases, micro-chipped customers would scan themselves using special readers.</p>

Applied Digital Solutions, maker of implantable identification chips for humans, is ramping up a new media blitz with the "chipping" of a reporter and unveiling yesterday in London of a new temperature-sensing microchip. Meanwhile, a June deadline looms for the financially troubled company to pay off a $30 million IBM loan. Applied Digital Solutions (NASDAQ: ADSX) of West Palm Beach, Fla., maker of the implantable VeriChip, coined the term "getting chipped" as part of a marketing campaign that attracted worldwide coverage. It culminated last May when 8 individuals were chipped. The VeriChip is an injectable radio-frequency identification chip marketed for...