The small tattoo would capture vibrations from the user's throat and eliminate background noise in phone conversations. The sound would then be communicated wirelessly to a nearby smartphone or tablet. The tattoo could also detect lies by measuring electrical changes in the skin, Motorola claimed. It could also be fitted with a display and user interface for inputting commands, such as muting. However it remains to be seen whether people will care enough about background noise to have a needle gun at their throat.

Sony's smart wig So much for the Walkman – wearable technology is the future, and Sony is focusing on the toupee. The Japanese giant filed a patent for a "smart wig" that would do everything from tapping the wearer on the head when they get a text message to changing PowerPoint slides with the tug of a sideburn. An in-built GPS would guide the user around via tailored head-taps (excellent for the blind, Sony said), while sensors would monitor body temperature, blood pressure and brainwaves.

Sony said the wig beats other wearable technologies by hiding the components under a layer of human or synthetic hair. "The user can wear the device as a regular wig while looking natural at the same time," it said in the patent application. Analysts said the idea is not as crazy as it sounds. Sam Yip from research firm Telsyte predicted smart textiles are about 10 years away. Google's pay-per-gaze ad-tracker

The Silicon Valley giant specialises in two things: technology and advertising. The two would come together perfectly in a plan to have head-mounted cameras track which advertising images wearers view throughout the day. The technology would also measure pupil dilation to determine whether a person likes what they see. Google could feed the information back to advertisers alongside insights into how long users looked at certain advertisements and which ones drew their eye. The system could also trigger an online ad on a head-mounted display, linked to what the person is viewing. If they spy the golden arches of the McDonald's logo, for example, they should prepare for a Big Mac ad.

The idea sounds as if it would work with Google Glass, but the company's rules currently forbid advertising on the internet-connected eyewear. Microsoft's smart bra Microsoft merged technology and lingerie with a bra that helps you lose weight. It supposedly does this by using sensors to measure heart rate, breathing, skin activity and movement, detecting when the wearer is stressed and likely to look for comfort food.

The bra would feed the data to a smartphone app via Bluetooth and provide interventions such as deep breathing exercises to help the wearer overcome their urge. While not strictly revealed in a patent (rather a research paper), the inventors said the bra predicted emotions "significantly better than chance" when they trialled it. Loading It would, however, need better battery life if it was to become a viable product, they said. AAP