Can wine over WiFi save your long-distance relationship?
A few times I have been in love with women who lived in different cities- women who I used to drink a nice bottle of Merlot with when they visited my city, or me theirs.
But when I wasn't around, guys were lined up at their door with their own nice bottles of Merlot.
And that didn't make me a happy camper. Sucked, actually.
But technology may have an answer, kind of.
And not some gimmick you see on late night cable access television, but a solution courtesy of the MIT Media Lab.
I am talking about Lover's Cups.
As the MIT Media Lab's human-computer interaction experts Jackie Lee and Hyemin Chung explain:
Lover's Cups explore the idea of sharing feelings of drinking between two people in different places by using cups as communication interfaces of drinking. Two cups are wireless connected to each other with sip sensors and LED illumination. The Lover's cups will glow when your lover is drinking. When both of you are drinking at the same time, both of the Lover's Cups glow and celebrate this virtual kiss.
One, two three: "aw-w-w-w-."
"She binded him with science..", and him- her.
So much for the love. Let's talk about the science. Here's a visual representation of what happens, and where WiFi and GPRS fit in:
Here's MIT Media Lab's explanation of what occurs when that "connection" is made:
The Lover's Cups connect a couple through drinking behaviors while they are working. A pair of Lover's Cups is owned by a couple working in different offices. Each of them had brought his/her Lover's Cup to work. Due to the magical connectivity of this pair of cups, the wife sees her cup is glowing which represents her husband's cup is in used for drinking. She picks up the Lover's Cup and takes a sip. At the same time, the other Lover's Cup held in her husband's hand starts glowing for the celebration of drinking.
Note the term "husband." Me thinks this couple toasted via some closer-proximity "Lover's Cups" to get to that place.
But as to other couples, I can see a future for Lover's Cups in what I envision as the virtual dating web sites and service of the near future. Avatars, body sensors, virtual kisses - Lover's Cups.