Access on Main Street

Hooking up a usable world, one mainstream product at a time.

I get a kick out of you

Posted by Jane Berliss-Vincent 13 December 2008

It seems postnatality is no longer a requirement for using the Internet. Corey Menscher, a grad student at NYU, has come up with the Kickbee, a device with piezoelectric sensors that’s strapped to his pregnant wife; each time the baby kicks, a message is sent to Twitter. (The sensors are described as “touchy”; no comment provided about Mom.) If this technology could be extended to permit a range of messages, it could work as a simple communication aid for people with severe disabilities. For example, they’d activate a sensor to send a Twitter message saying “I’m awake and feeling OK” to loved ones first thing in the morning.

Kickbee

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