Weekend News Today
Lead: Rebekah (email)
Source: ADSX


Thu May 9,2002 -- Applied Digital Solutions, Inc. has announced that it is expecting extensive, worldwide media coverage of the first-ever “chipping” procedures scheduled for May 10, 2002. ABC’s Good Morning America will provide live coverage of the Jacobs family “chipping” procedure that morning, with a follow-up interview on Monday morning, May 13, 2002.

CBS Evening News will also air an in-depth story on May 10, 2002, including the “chipping” of early stage Alzheimer’s patient Nate Isaacson.

The Jacobs family will be the first family in the world to “get chipped” with VeriChip’s personal verification microchip. The historic “chipping” procedure will take place in the first Authorized VeriChip Center in Palm Beach County, Florida, followed by a press conference and an invitation-only brunch for business partners and community leaders. During the press conference and the business brunch, Applied Digital executives will unveil more details about VeriChip’s rollout plans.

Commenting on the extensive media interest in the event, Scott R. Silverman, President of Applied Digital Solutions, said: “VeriChip has been the subject of widespread media attention for the past few months, everything from Time Magazine to the Today Show, the Early Show, CNN’s American Morning with Paula Zahn, CBS Weekend Evening News, and the O’Reilly Factor on Fox News. We’re delighted that Good Morning America and CBS Evening News will cover the first-ever “chipping” procedures on May 10th. Many other television networks, magazines and newspapers from around the world are expected to be there. CNN, Telemundo, Tech TV, Nick News, Inside Edition and Fox News all plan to be there. Reporters and photographers from the Associated Press and Reuters will cover the story. We’ve also heard from The Financial Times Magazine in London, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Wired News, the BBC, French television, German television, Nippon TV in Japan, Brazil, Italy, Mexico, you name it. Major media outlets throughout Europe, Asia, Latin America and North America have expressed interest in covering this historic international news event, along with details of VeriChip’s initial market launch in the United States.”

VeriChip, first announced on December 19, 2001, is a miniaturized, implantable, radio frequency identification device (RFID) that can be used in a variety of security, emergency and healthcare applications. On April 4, 2002, the company announced that it had received written guidance that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not consider VeriChip’s personal verification device to be a regulated medical device, enabling the company to begin sales, marketing and distribution of VeriChip in the United States. About the size of a grain of rice, each VeriChip is composed of FDA-accepted materials and contains a unique verification number. That number is captured by briefly passing a proprietary, external scanner over the VeriChip. A small amount of radio frequency energy passes through the skin energizing the dormant VeriChip, which then emits a radio frequency signal transmitting the verification number. The company believes its first-mover advantage will enable it to gain significant market share in the emergency information and verification market that is estimated to exceed $15 billion.

Digital Angel technology represents the first-ever combination of advanced biosensors and Web-enabled wireless telecommunications linked to the Global Positioning System (GPS). By utilizing advanced biosensor capabilities, Digital Angel will be able to monitor key body functions – such as temperature and pulse – and transmit that data, along with accurate emergency location information, to a ground station or monitoring facility.