Microsoft bra might help battle stress, emotional overeating
" It's certainly no Xbox One, but a product prototype by Microsoft was attempting to battle emotional overeating.
A smart bra, or at the very least, a sensor that goes in a woman's bra was tested to see if it could help women make wiser eating choices.
According to CNET , the bra is embedded with "electrocardiogram and electrodermal activity sensors" as well as a "gyroscope and accelerometer."
Microsoft research manager with the Visualization and Interaction Research Group, Mary Czerwinski, has been studying how technology can help detect and help people deal with stress.
It's a concept that's not too far off - there are already smart bracelets that act as pedometers or read your sleep cycles and send that information to your smart phone.
Researchers believe if the women can see when they're stressed, they will be able to make healthier choices instead of overeating.
In this case, testers of the Microsoft prototype wear the removable sensor in their bra.
Data collected from the bra sensors is sent to a smartphone app so the women could track their moods, but also sent to the researchers who were able to see whether the women were stressed based on the collected signals.
Microsoft is no longer working on the project. Its biggest problem was the battery life: the bra sensor only lasts about four hours at a time
And while Czerwinski told Discovery News emotional-overeating is mostly a problem within women, they're not ignoring the benefits a program like this could have for men.
Unfortunately, when the researchers attempted to create a similar garment in the form of men's underwear, the location of the sensor was too far from the heart to be effective. "
http://mynorthwest.com/11/2407603/Microsoft-was-considering-the-bra-business
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A "Smart Bra"? Can you imagine getting a phone call from your bra, " Hello, this is your bra. You're majorly PMSing. Be aware of that." Um... most women know their cycle, and when the carb cravings start. Do you really need your bra to call and tell you something you already know?
It could be beneficial for men, tho... especially if they got a phone call from their wife's bra reminding them..
Seriously, there could be a benefit for men if a man's garment was developed.
Too bad Microsoft gave up the idea, tho. Maybe a lithium battery would work.
Wouldn't a bra with a mood ring be just about as effective? Maybe a pair of them, just to insure that men make helpful observations-- 'Your stresslights are on, babe...'
... and the brain.
But seriously, folks... would you wear a bra thought up by the folks who gifted us w/ Windows 98??
I would like to volunteer Katy Perry to test out the prototype ...
A mood ring? That might work-- and a pair of them sounds like a good idea.
..."Too far from the heart," but are you sure the brain?
...
Unfortunately [or fortunately], she's busy with UNICEF right now.
Good point!
Valerie Courmier...
Yet another addiction for some women! Each time they come up with a new device or contraption, they create another monster to devour us. I mean, it is all very well to make life easy, but darn it, some decisions should just be left to the human brain to work out! Do I really need a bra to tell me whether I am stressed? Hell, I know I am stressed! Now if that bra can cure my stress, that would be another matter
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The last sentence is the most remarkable one, Chloe
. It does make you think, doesn't it? Kind of explains a few things..
How unfortunate ! Her experience with experimental bras is legendary ...
Neetu...LOL. That didn't occur to me before, but yes... it sure does explain remind of us of a few things..
Hahaha, yes, my thoughts too --- we know when and why we all of a sudden want chocolate or a pastry -- I would think when the phone started to ring about that time, we'd just not answer it! ...Or at least not answer until after the chocolate!!
Oh my...
The phone call for that one would be..."No, you can't have any, too."
I don't think they'd planned on making that size.
Ohhhhhh.... makes sense!! ..Just think of all of the hidden messages they could program into the device... "Hello, this is your bra calling. So, what are you doing Saturday night? Meet me at the corner of... Oh wait...you're 53572-C, I thought you were 64539-DD...never mind."
While very pretty, and I really like the color, that would do nothing to heave the girls back up to my approximate chest cavity, as opposed to the abdominal wall, where they like to cower... Either that, or I would have cuts in my shoulders down to my collar bone.
Just like Windows 8, which I am still battling-- Thanks, but no thanks.
Dowser,
I sent a memo to Microsoft to see if they had an answer for your issue. The reply came back:
Oh Chloe, you have to warn me before you do that! I'm wiping iced tea from the screen!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!
You are a hoot, dear Chloe!!!
....
I see the link didn't work. I'll try this one: That didn't work either. Oh well..
It would work sort of like a laser. She can send a beam of thought directly to whom she's thinking. The chip in her bra picks up on her neuronal activity.
LOL!