Slashdot Mirror
New Shoe Designed to Kick-Start Couch Potatoes
Terremoto writes "A student at west London's Brunel University has developed a shoe with a pedometer that controls the amount of time a TV will remain lit. If sufficient activity has not been achieved the TV remains uncooperative. The device is appropriately named, "Square-Eyes"."
First reaction, cute, but what a stupid idea. I won't even go into how this is a technological innovation to enforce parenting, but if you really
wanted to make sure someone was active instead of watching too much tv, why not hook an exercise bike up to a generator. You can watch tv as long
as you pedal. This would sour kids on TV pretty quick, or get some exercise out of them. Either way, not a bad idea.
Rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds.There upon the rainbow is the answer to a neverending story
And buy a pair... right after this show is over.
:) Just to prove that geeks will hack anything ...
What happens if someone invets feet that can put these shoes on and then these feet can get on a treadmill. The couch potatoes don't need shoes they need drugs that will want them to go out there and run.
this endeavor failing.. I dont need to buy a shoe to teach me self control.
time is a perception of a being's consciousness
time is your 6th sense, the wierd ones are 7+
This will be a big help for all of us staring at computer monitors.
If they could somehow program it for those of us who , (guilty) surf the web for hours on end, sitting in front of the computer... Until then, I will continue to wander the net...
A use for the "feet" category!
until people remember the "tumble no heat" setting on their dryer while they're looking for the receipt to return the damn thing.
but truly lazy people will always find a way to be lazy. they'll just pick up the shoes and shake them, or somesuch. to make it think they walked. as with previous idea's like this, its worthless if its even semi-easily trickable
Immediately creating a kids' grey market of slipping allowances to other kids to wear these shoes on behalf of the targeted couch potato.
$5 per hour's worth of TV time, $15 during Sweeps Week.
Day one: Wow, look at this new thing i got, it'll motivate me to run. *run run run* *watch TV*
Day two:*run run* *watch TV*
Day three: Damn, my favorite show is on but i haven't run enough, i'll disconnect the running thing just this once...
THE END.
Its hard enough to play slow stages on DDR. If you make the television shut off if he's not dancing fast enough, that's just cruel.
God spoke to me.
'Worst idea EVER.'- comic book guy
From the article:
"Today's children are exposed to a raft of television programmes and children's channels. Ten years ago, children were entertained by playing games with their friends, now they are cooped up in their bedrooms watching hours of television programmes," she said.
Ten years ago, 1995, kids were pursuing a sedentary lifestyle of watching TV and playing videogames with their friends.
that doesn't require Frankensteinian cleverness.
Play "air drums" with the shoes.
Or tie a bungie cord to the treadmill your lazy self should be on, hook the shoes to either end, and give them a jolt now and then. Every commercial or so ought to be enough.
Raise your children as if you were teaching them to raise your grandchildren, because you are.
Yeah - it's in fact the exact opposite of self-control. It's really surrendering your will to the machine - and now the machine is in the ghost.
The idea behind this seems quite good, rewarding exercise with television, but 2 hours for 15,000 steps (both daily recommended amounts, according to the article..) seems a little low. Most kids, even if they take to such a device, are going to be watching more than 2 hours TV a day.
As for the article's claim that this will be an 'eye-opener' for those with a sedimentary lifestyle, I think it would be more likely to join the realms of exercise equipment old and new that sits unused while its owners procrastinate about getting more exercise.
Business Voyeur
Is it cheating to play DDR? (Dance Dance Revolution)
Sigs? We don't need no stinking sigs!
Or your computer! It could power the video card or something, so you have to exercise to get a decent fps.
I’m old enough to remember 16K of memory being described as “whopping”
Just last month I invented a TV that won't release the electronic lock on my shoe closet door until I've watched 6 hours of TV.
Daddy likey.
Authority questions you. Return the favor.
I'd have bribed my brother and/or sister to run around in them for me just like I bribed them to sneak into the kitchen and take five or ten minutes off the timer when I was practicing the piano. Of course, if I hadn't been practicing the piano, I would have been running around outside anyway. My parents were very strict about how much T.V. we could watch. Too bad that doesn't happen much anymore...
Children learn from feedback. It's not about punishment, because of course any punished kid can find a way around it. It's about communicating expectations.
Surprisingly, children desperately want to do what their parents think is right. They have a rebellious stage, but on the whole they want approval.
In communities where the children are taught very clearly what the expectations are and the expectations are consistent, children tend to follow them, in the end. This is why religions survive. You rebel for a few years, but you come back to what you were taught in the end if you possibly can. Whether you think that's a good thing or not depends on your view of religion, but not important here.
Honestly, I don't know how long I need to be active, because my parents didn't teach me. I don't feel a creeping sense that something is wrong if I haven't exercised in a few days. I also don't feel a creeping sense of wrongness if I haven't done the dishes or made my bed, but I do if I haven't washed my hands, read a book, paid my bills...
It doesn't matter if your kids aren't doing the right thing for a while. What matters is if they know what the right thing is.
A bike won't do. We need something with a wrist strap.
What about the millions who involuntarily jerk their feet up and down while watching TV? Will they be rewarded for bad behavior?
The DPP study showed that exercise and diet were two critical ways to prevent diabetes. As it is, Type II diabetes is being seen in children, when a generation ago it was a disease of older people.
Diabetes can be controlled, but it is still a life-threatening illness. I made the mistake of thinking that I was "too old to run." I became a diabetic as a result of that stupidity.
This shoe may be a form of "pinhead responsibility," but pinhead responsibility is better than no responsibility whatsoever. If it enables parents to control TV and exercise in their children, then it will be useful.
Is it a weak solution to the problem? Certainly. Can it be hacked by the child? More than likely. But at least it's a start. It sure beats kidney failure, heart disease, blindness, stroke, impotence, and death. It certainly beats the cost of all those little kids spending their lives as diabetics.
Heck, it beats having to pass up deserts. Unless you are a diabetic, you have no idea how this disease sucks.
Does it run Linux? I'm sure someone will find a way, and it might even improve the system!
This sig seemed like a good idea at the time....
Just watch those kids scramble out of the house when I give them a good boot to the backside...
This is a neat idea and all, but I think they really have it backwords. Given the quality of most tv, how 'bout making it so that the TV won't turn off unless you have gotten enough proper excercise? Not only will this motivate people to exercise, but if they forget, then when the TV pops on, it's even more motivation to get some excercise by walking out of the room.
Famous Last Words: "hmm...wikipedia says it's edible"
We could reduce the mumber of geeks that resemble Jabba the Hut.
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
Does anyone else the running pad accessory for the NES? Came with a game that had you running in place and competing with your friends? I distinctly remember that it was more fun (and easier) to just kneel down on the floor and smack the sensors with your hands, rather than try to jog in place. I just see kids getting around this by shaking the shoe or otherwise triggering the pedometer to falsely increase their "mileage". Stated previously: cute, but stupid.
Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion.
Anybody's who ever played with a pedometer knows how easy it is to shake it to fake footsteps. True couch potatos -- especially fat kids whose parents force this on them -- would just cheat using by shaking their shoes to keep watching TV without having to move the ass. Bigger arms tho...
Power to the Peaceful
I lucked out of this one - because of ADD I fidget so much that i'll get miles just sitting at home, and I get told that I'm getting work done! I'm all for this!
I am Spartacus
This kind of invention isn't really going to accomplish anything. If you're obese, stop eating at McDonald's and all those places. Instead, try making your own food. Get your family, friends, and neighbors involved. Go for a walk sometime. Maybe just get rid of your television and find other activities to do. There are a zillion things to be done in the world. (A zillion is a lot of things.) Instead of wasting away in front of the stupid tube, why not do one of those activities? That would be much better.
And if you truly believe that you won't bypass this shoe thing with your television, and that's what will get you motivated, then by all means, go for it. But I think this is a stupid idea.
If someone has the willpower to wear these shoes and let them control the TV...then he has the willpower to go running anyway.
Ever see a fat speed freak?
Kid claims TV watching is a right!
Engineering is the art of compromise.
Wait, I saw this on TV... I should get out more.
--
make install -not war
another way for older brothers to torture their younger brothers! "Run up and down the stairs until I tell you to stop or I'll beat the crap out of you"
And the really smart kids won't buy the shoes.
Signature.
"If it enables parents to control TV and exercise in their children, then it will be useful."
A parent can turn off the TV. (A parent can even get rid of the TV.) A parent can make sure that their children eat well. A parent can make sure that their children get an adequate amount of exercise.
If these things aren't already happening, a stupid pair of shoes won't help. People need to take responsibility for themselves, not abrogate it to a microcontroller.
I guess there are parts of the world where people wear shoes in the house but in places where snow and mud make up most of the year, the first thing you do when coming into the house is take your shoes off.
Could this technology be put into a pair of socks?
I'd imagine getting a high rating on a pedometer would get you arrested.
Unless you're in bangkok.
... will have to be covered in foil!
To put a witty saying into 120 characters, jst rmv ll th vwls.
I was a paramedic for far too many years. You have no idea the average level of human stupidity, nor just how bad the average level of parenting is.
Would we need this? Probably not. Are there folks out there for whom this would be useful?
Far too many.
This sig seemed like a good idea at the time....
giving kids an allowance is using a device to enforce parenting. You should just give them a credit card with a high limit, and teach them not to spend too much.
Get over yourself.
Clearly this will encourage illegal downloading of TV shows via BitTorrent; the MPAA won't like this.
Although, I guess these shoes will sound like a good option to irresponsible parents that haven't being able to teach their kids about good dieting and fitness habits already.
OK so the idea may be a good one (intent) there are too many flaws in the design (as others have pointed out). I have a better product idea... Have an adult around that sets rules on how much TV a child can watch and actually enforce the rules. Oh wait, I think the "adult" patent was approved 4000 years ago.
How about if I attach these shoes to the alarm clock that runs away and hides?
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
They should invent something like this for Slashdot... You have to have social interaction with x amount of people before you can waste hours reading slashdot comments.
I wld pst reasns y bt only gt kybrd prs 4 usin shoe
Cool, now it just needs hacked to turn on the tv when I stop walking. I wonder if I could get them to fit my robosapien? ;)
Simply take the batteries out of the shoes while watching TV. Presto, bango... no signal to the TV to shut off.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
You see, in France, we have a saying. Ze allowance, she is like a shoe, no? A shoe which enforce ze TV restrictions. How can you say is not so, eh?
Please forgive me for zees post: I am but a lowly stereoteep.
... if running back and forth between the TV and the fridge to get a beer during commercials would count.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
My mom makes me wear these to let the computer run, the only problem is im getting really tired after reading all these slashdot posts... can't.. jog in place . . . much . . . longe
In America you break the law; in Soviet Russia, the law breaks you.
this would never work on people who are constantly shaking their leg or something...
i'm a semi-hyper dude myself and once you get your leg going it's pretty easy to keep it that way for quite a long time without even realizing....i'd have it exploited in no time!
oh yeah and if you were like me as a kid you'd know how to hook up tvs/vcrs, stereos, etc, by the time you were around 6 or 7. Unplugging the damn thing wouldn't be too hard to do....
If you don't want someone to copy something, don't give it to anyone.
How many of the commenters here work out regularly?
{...reality is wrong, Dreams are for real...}
Place shoes on stair climber.
"Look Lois, the two symbols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a fat white guy who is threatened by change."
Just throw your shoes in the dryer while you watch tv.
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Dave."
kurzweil_freak
5th Kyu Genbukan Ninpo/KJJR student
Be the darkness that allows the light to shine.
or,
launch into a diatribe about how this only enables sloppy, irresponsible parenting. No, don't let the fact that you are a childless teenager stop you, this is the anonymous internet! Feel free to dispense parenting advice regardless of whether you've done it or not!
And 'profit', I guess, as long as I have the opportunity for a third choice.
You know what?
will start selling a shitload of those hampster wheels
Creationists are a lot like zombies. Slow, but powerful and numerous. And they all want to eat our brains.
Surely they'll just need to go down to an arcade and get one of those kids who goes nuts on the DDR Dance Revolution machine to wear them for a game?
When does a rectangle become a line?
... self control?
Seriously though, what I need is a stationary bike which fits under my desk. I'd love to exercise more, but don't have the chance.
___
It's the end of my comment as I know it and I feel fine.
Maybe they do. Shoes have soles, after all.
(Ba-dum-ching!)
(I'm gonna be modded down for this... I just know it)
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
On one of those 80s shows (That's Incredible or Real People) they ran a story about a family that made an exer-bike powered TV. The pedals generated the power to keep it running.
Yeah, but if you have a Pentium IV or a Geforce 6800 you'd better be one hell of an athlete already.
Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes. --E. W. Dijkstra
Should I sue them?
I *had* to kick my little sister lots and lots of times so that I could finish watching Tom and Jerry.
Table-ized A.I.
think of your average geek, sitting there, tapping his foot while he reads slashdot. That could easily pass for 'activity'.
What about people who "jig" their legs while sitting down?
Wow! look how fast I can rack up tv time, sitting here doing nothing but jigging my leg (while watching tv). My shoe thinks I'm sprinting!
Build your own DIY tv, using only 2 bottles of beer, a cigarette lighter and an empty bag of chips!
"Does it run Linux? I'm sure someone will find a way, and it might even improve the system!"
Imagine a Beowulf cluster of two of these babies.
My other processor is big-endian.
And it also teaches the kids that control via technology is the way to go to solve problems, so they grow up good and ready for an orwelian society of tomorrow.
Hmm...
... an insensitive clog ?
You mean it also works for arm exercises? I need to get those shoes! That way, my left arm will also get some exercises as I surf the web.
Look, who are we kidding here. This all sounds cool, ' Oh , Oh... look at my new get-ur-but-off-the-couch gadet'. This will never work. ... hmm... 50 points for the first one who tells me what that means.
:~). Plenty of time to do nothing. Cool !!! not really. I know i ll be getting one soon if i dont find something else to do ~)
Television, computer games- if done to excessive and alarming levels- should be treated as addiction. You have to a) Motivate and b) provide good alternatives. Just turning a t.v. off, by using force will never work.
Having said that, excessive and alarming levels
Oh, no tv/computer/cd player in my new apartment
... hee2 is stuck under the bed.
lol! (I'm gonna be modded down for this... I just know it)
Huh!!! You wish
... hee2 is stuck under the bed.
I read an interesting story in the book FATLAND ( explores how North America became so fat ).
A gym teacher at a poor school was very frustrated by the poor health of his students. He also noticed them playing a lot of video games.
He got the school to turn over the use of an equipment shed to him, which he emptied out. Then he solicited donations. He got a number of old exercise bikes and used television sets from yard sales. Some people who donated their time wired it all up such that if you pedaled an exercise bike you could play a video game.
Surprisingly it was very popular with the kids.
It got into the papers and the gym teacher received more donations from the community.
Even better, it worked. The gym teacher was able to measure weight loss and improved health among a number of children.
Another alternative is to deemphasize t.v. for the whole family. Get a smaller, simpler model and put it in a spot where it is not the center of attention.
Then make it a family thing to do active things for recreation, even if it is only taking a long walk after dinner or playing a game of catch.
Everybody will get healthier and the family will be strengthened by doing recreational things together.
Chances are a fat kid has parents who are also out of balance and doing things like this will help the whole family
I can't help but be reminded of those ankle bracelets prisoners on parole have to wear.
I think it is horrible to treat a child like this by putting such a device on them. What does it teach the kid?
If a child is fat it is the fault of the parents.
If parents don't want fat children they should practice good nutrition and do active recreational activities as a family...not treat their kids like criminals or animals.
Imagine a beowulf cluster of a marathon of these babies! I'm doing Cleveland's Marathon (yeah, 26.2 miles, 42.2 km) this weekend. Not only can I have desert afterward, but I'd be able to watch TV for ages!
This sig seemed like a good idea at the time....
RIMMER: Feels? He never feels anything, Lister. He's a computer. LISTER: He still feels. In fact, sometimes i think it's cruel giving machines a personality. My mate Petersen once brought a pair of shoes with artificial intelligence. Smart Shoes, they were called. It was a neat idea. No matter how blind drunk you were, they would always get you home. Then he got ratted one night in Oslo, and woke up the next morning in Burma. See, the shoes got bored just going from his local to the flat. They wanted to see the world, man, y'know? He had a helluva job getting rid of them. No matter who he sold them to, they'd show up again the next day! He tried to shut them out, but they just kicked the door down, y'know? RIMMER: Is this true? LISTER: Yeah! Last thing he heard, they'd sort of, erm, robbed a car and drove it into a canal. They couldn't steer, y'see. RIMMER: Really?! LISTER: Yeah. Petersen was really, really blown away by it. He went to see a preist. The preist told him, he said, it was alright, and all that, and the shoes were happy, and they'd gone to heaven. Y'see, it turns out shoes have soles. While RIMMER is thinking about this, LISTER makes his getaway. RIMMER: Well, what a sad, sad story. He thinks about it, then a look of puzzlement spreads across his face. RIMMER: Wait a minute! How did they open the car door?
A parent can turn off the TV. (A parent can even get rid of the TV.) A parent can make sure that their children eat well. A parent can make sure that their children get an adequate amount of exercise.
And a parent can choose to use certain tools to get to the right balance point for all of that, all without finding it necessary to stake out an absolute position on the relative morality (or even efficacy) of the technology.
If these things aren't already happening, a stupid pair of shoes won't help.
Your positions would apply to basically any technology, not just these flaky shoes. (I can see the shoes for certain cases, personally. Pediatric onset diabetes? Seems about like a bed wetting alarm for certain kids, to me. Doesn't work and isn't necessary for everyone, so everyone doesn't have one.)
Personally I was once tempted by a "TV Allowance" box that let you put in a certain amount of time for each kid per week. And yeah, they could go to a friend's house, or steal each other's codes, or whatever -- the point isn't to find the absolutely ideal solution, the point is to set up enough of a reminder/nuisance to help shape the behavior, hopefully at a reasonable cost for the practical benefit. And no, the enormous and ever-so-crucial philosophical distinction between "Dad told me that's enough 'Sabrina'" and "The time limit Dad set is up" doesn't matter as much to me as it seems to matter to you.
Personally I think the cruxes are positive reinforcement (rather than chiding) and modeling the right behavior (rather than prating about something you won't do yourself). Parents who show their kids that they evercise themselves have a heck of a lot better chance to convince the kids. But why a dorky technology like this couldn't help that, I don't know. I was planning on giving myself the same allowance the kids had, on the box thing.
These shoes do seem like a niche product -- but I can see them being usable in those senses. I'd be more impressed by some sort of family pedometer tracking system, personally, but to each her own.
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
Right?
GTRacer
- ewww
Defending IP by destroying access to it? That makes sense, RIAA/MPAA. Go to the corner until you can play nice!
And exactly how many parents won't buy this because they don't want to leave their young kids alone at home with a pedometer? I mean really, that's just sick.
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 is the magic number.
Yeah, but if you have a Pentium IV or a Geforce 6800 you'd better be one hell of an athlete already.
At this point you might be better off running the computer from wall power and using the bike to run the 16 cooling fans.
I think I'm missing your point, or perhaps you're missing the point of the device.
I've seen a couple of posts about with the term "enforce parenting" suggesting that it is a bad thing, and I'm not clear what is meant there. I don't think this invention is the proper way to encourage kids to be active because it associates physical activity with "work" required to earn TV privleges. I'd say it's better to use TV as a reward for ACTUAL work like homework or chores...but is that "enforcing parenting" too? And what is wrong with that?
So many kids these days are rude little brats and it seems they need a good bit of parental enforcement if you ask me, so if discipline/enforcement of rules/involvement in childs life is what you mean when you say "enforce parenting" then I'm all for it.
The TV/video game/computer is a good reward for good behaviour and finishing work (just like allowances, toys, etc are). To have a lasting effect however I think physical activity has to be FUN--kids will still grow up to be fat couch potatoes if they are raised to associate such activity with "work". So not only do I agree that for me personally I wouldn't ever buy these "TV shoes"...and the exercise bike is an even dumber idea...just go and get REAL bikes for the whole family and go outside for a ride together.
At this point you might be better off running the computer from wall power and using the bike to run the 16 cooling fans.
Ahh, yes. That way if you quit peddling the computer keeps running, but it is likely to fry itself. That's quite the incentive!
sdb
I got a trial pair - I put them in a tumble drier on cold. The TV has started giving me free porn as a reward for running so many marathons.
I'll just sit there and bounce my foot up and down on the ground!
If I knew the wedgies I gave you back in 6th grade would have resulted in this . . . I might have taken a moments pause.
Not too long ago I read an article about bipedal robots that walk like humans. See, we put the shoes on the robot, and so long as the robot keeps walking, we get to watch the TV...
1 35949.htm
http:www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/02/050223
Of course, this reminds me of the robot in David Brin's novel, "The Practice Effect".
Craig Milo Rogers
RUN FOREST! RUN FORREST GUMP! hahahahaha I got a question. What th heck will people in hospital beds do? Say. I bet I've found a student who would LOVE my website! http://www.newpath4.com/ . Seriously, if it's SHOES YOU WANT, why not buy some from these folks: http://www.c4life.com/ . Their shoes have SPRINGS that can help you spring from your couch and trick yer neighbors into thinking yur in great shape.