Ideal for Valentine's Day: Lover's Cups from the MIT Media Lab

Kind of a low rent copy of the guy who linked the chair in his apt with the chair at his place at the table at his parents house so when he sat at his table, his place at his parents table would glow softly.

Anyone remember that? I googled and couldn't find it again. Seems a lot more classy as well as being the obvious inspiration of this.

I take it the negative opinions are majority here. I'm still very excited about this. It's a completely new (and practical) way to bring technology into one's environment. Assuming it it's well enough made, it's something that people can forget it's even technology and simply use it. Like magic. It's not a computer or a gadget. It's just a cup that happens to glow when the other cup is used.

I suppose you need to get a Lover's Cup data plan, for which you receive a Lover's Cup bill every month, listing the time and duration of each drink, to the second. Most Lover's Cups are carrier locked and come with a lengthy contract, but you can shell out for a jailbroken Lover's Cup on eBay, or jailbreak it yourself by hacking a firmware update.

How romantic.

I really don't see why I would want to know that my significant other is drinking. There are tons of other ways of communicating. This one is subtle, I'll grant that, but it's a little too far out for me.

The girl looks incredibly unenthusiastic about this in the video, which I'm guessing is highly representative of how it might work in real life :)

Sadly (for most HN readers), engineering is not the language of love...

Why the hell does this arbitrary (and technically trivial) crap pass for an MIT Media Lab project? I thought they were supposed to have standards? (Sorry if I'm offensive, but... wtf?)

That is just a good way to send mixed signals.

Things like this completely devalue the MIT Media Lab to me. I can only hope the creator did not receive a Masters for this.

Lame.

Kinda sounds like entanglement.