Everyone loves when dinner is served. There is nothing quite like laying around in bed and suddenly hearing that beautiful clarion call of “honey, food is on the table!” But what happens if you are wearing headphones when the inevitable happens, or if you are cleaning out your ear canal with a Q-tip? What then hot shot? Do you just miss dinner and slowly wither away like a sad little tumbleweed? No way! Get your grub on the new-fashioned way, with an apron that will send you a tweet when your meal is ready to be scarfed down.
Smart Design’s Interaction Lab have developed a wearable apron that does just that. The apron, appropriately named Apron Alert, sends out a tweet when your meal is ready. This ensures you get the message and get to the dinner table on time and with hands washed. It also ensures the creator of the lovely meal doesn’t have to waste any of their precious vocal cords. Designed as an experiment in “communal kitchen living,” it was created using a Lilypad Arduino and an X-Bee, the “Smart” Apron uses a magnetic clasp as the input when the apron is being worn and taken off.
Of course, this is only a concept design for now so you’ll have to go through the grueling work of listening for the audible cries of an exasperated chef. Until it shows up in Bed Bath and Beyond(placed squarely in the “beyond” aisle,) you’ll have to make due with listening to when dinner is ready. And, come on, be quick about it too. You don’t want to make them scream your name twice.
