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October 19, 2004
Always-On In My Shorts
Posted by Dana Blankenhorn
Philips has developed Always-On underwear.
The shorts monitor your heart and warn emergency services of a change in the heart rhythm. It can make this connection through a built-in GPS system with mobile phone. And for you ladies there's the Electric Bra (pictured).
This is similar to the MyHeart project, which is putting the sensors in shirts.
It's the kind of medical application of Always-On I've been looking to see for some time. But I've got a few problems with it:
- Uh, undershorts? Don't these people know what happens when people get scared to death, and there's nothing scarier than a heart attack.
- Why not 802.11? This is the kind of application that dual-mode 802.11 and mobile set-ups are made for. You can take large collections of data when the wearer is at home, while saving it after you leave and sending only alarms on the mobile line.
Once the principal of monitoring via clothes and wireless networks is established the way is clear to monitor other conditions in the same way. The way is also clear toward getting the price of this stuff down to where insurance can afford it. Thus, the World of Always-On comes closer and closer.
UPDATE: Still don't see Always-On? How about a blood sugar monitor in your mobile phone?
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Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for over 25 years and has covered the online world professionally since 1985. He founded the "Interactive Age Daily" for CMP Media, and has written for the Chicago Tribune, Advertising Age, and dozens of other publications over the years.
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