Tw*tter Updates
By raincoaster
In an increasingly wired world, connectivity is critical to success. And everyone likes to see their baby succeed, don’t they? So there’s nothing like the head start on digital mastery provided by this, the world’s least-attractive waistline accessory: The Kickbee.
The Kickbee is a wearable device made of a stretchable band and embedded electronics and sensors. Piezo sensors are attached directly to the band, and transmit small but detectable voltages when triggered by movement underneath. An Arduino Mini microcontroller transmits the signals to an accompanying Java application wirelessly via Bluetooth. (a SparkFun BlueSMIRF v2 module that communicates serially with a Macbook Pro.) The band and electronics are covered in a soft fleece cover for comfort. Note: the final version presented at the ITP Winter Show 2008 used XBee radios for better stability and to prevent interference from the hundreds of bluetooth cell phones in the vicinity.
You don’t say. And what does this mean, besides the obvious fact that you’ll have the visual equivalent of a strap of whale blubber wrapped around your baby bulge? It means that your baby’s kicks and punches are automatically sent to his/her own Twitter account, instantly updating the Digerati on the state of the future Tae Bo champ.
Knowing as we do the ways of competitive parents everywhere, we await the first hair-pulling catfight at Lamaze class over whose fetus isn’t Following back.
March 2nd, 2009 at 2:40 am
When I heard about this I thought it was the dumbest idea ever. A baby kicks a billion times a day and who really needs to know every single time it happens? I hate knowing and I am pregnant with the little sprout. Now if someone that invented a way for a man to carry a baby so he could truly be connected to his unborn offspring, well then I would give them a medal.
March 2nd, 2009 at 10:25 am
Well, theoretically at least you could hook up another belt for Dad to wear so that when the baby kicks, instead of updating Twitter, Dad gets a thump in the belly. That would be a bonding experience!
Mind you, have you been on Twitter much? “Feeding the cats.” “Sitting on the runway waiting for takeoff”. It’s a veritable Niagara Falls of news nobody needs to know.