RosettaStone gravestone enables the deceased to communicate from the grave

Caitlin O'Connell
DAILY NEWS WRITER

 

Tuesday, March 16th 2010, 4:00 AM

 

Kids are texting.  Parents are texting. Even grandparents are texting.  But we'd never heard of the deceased texting - until now.

A new high-tech device that can be implanted into a headstone will allow the deceased to speak from the grave through text messages sent to other people's cell phones.  The company claims the headstone can send messages for up to 3,200 years.

Personal RosettaStones, launched by Objects LLC last month, are small stone tablets embedded with Radio Frequency Identification tags that can store up to 1,000 words and a picture, ABCNews.com reports.

Before he/she passes away, the consumer will write a message on the Personal RosettaStone. The message then can be transmitted to anyone who has a web-enabled cell phone. The information is stored on a microchip and is beamed via text message when the tag recognizes compatible technology on a visitors phone.

But that's not all the Personal RosettaStone can do.  The front face of the RosettaStone is engraved with hieroglyphic-style symbols known as Life Symbols that are selected during the ordering process. Life Symbols are chosen from a list of options, and are intended to convey the purchasers "key life associations" or "milestones."

According to the RosettaStone Web site, the tablets are intended for mature adults who have reached a stage in life with identifiable milestones and associations so that they can adequately identify the Life Symbols that will best represent their earthly experience.

So how can the Personal RosettaStone send messages for a whopping 3,200 years? Rather than use a battery, which might die, the devices uses internal microchips that utilize the magnetic fields of a passerby's phone to power up just long enough to communicate the preprogrammed message before returning to a sleep state.

Although some may shudder at the thought of a texting gravestone, since the RosettaStone concept went public, Objects tells ABCNews.com, the company has been flooded with inquires. As technology continues to play a more integral role in the funeral industry with such advances as funeral webcasts and memorial Web sites, the RosettaStone could appeal to families looking for a novel way to remember their dearly departed.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2010/03/16/2010-03-16_hightech_gravestone_enables_dead_people_to_communicate_with_living.html#ixzz0iOpVdbC1