By The Way...

This will get those sedentary kids huffing and puffing: Shoes that dole out TV time by how many steps their wearer takes.

The shoes - dubbed Square Eyes - contain an electronic pressure sensor and a tiny computer chip to record how many steps the wearer has taken in a day. A wireless transmitter passes the information to a receiver connected to a television, and this decides how much evening viewing time the wearer deserves, based on the day's exertions.

The design was inspired by a desire to combat the rapidly ballooning waistlines among British teenagers, says Gillian Swan, who developed Square Eyes as a final year design project at Brunel University in London, UK. "We looked at current issues and childhood obesity really stood out," she told New Scientist. "And I wanted to tackle that with my design."

Once a child has used up their daily allowance gained through exercise, the television automatically switches off. And further time in front of the TV can only be earned through more steps.

If I were a kid, I would hate this on so many levels that it would be hard to know where to begin. As a parent, however, I find it entirely too amusing. Since my daughter loves to play Dance Dance Revolution, I don't know that "exercise vs. TV" will ever be much of an issue in our house, for which I am thankful. Nevertheless, it's always nice to see scientists finding new ways to make adolescence even more annoying.

Would you want to exercise to watch TV? Would you want your kid to?

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• #6 Comment from swibirun 
  5/20/05 6:47 PM | Permalink

  Can't you just see a dog wearing a pair of Square Eyes shoes duct taped to his feet walking down the street?
  Chris
  http://journals.aol.com/swibirun/Inanethoughtsandinsaneramblings
  http://journals.aol.com/swibirun/MyJournalJarSaturdaySixetcanswer
• #5 Comment from lurkynat 
  5/20/05 4:52 PM | Permalink

  I like what you said John
• #4 Comment from ryanagi 
  5/20/05 4:48 PM | Permalink

  LMAO! I could see me running in place in front of the TV so that I don't miss the end of Desperate Housewives...brilliant.
• #3 Comment from joolsinwa 
  5/20/05 11:18 AM | Permalink

  I find the creativity of the human mind, quite interesting.
  ~ Julie~ http://journals.aol.com/joolsinwa/randommusingsofmymind
• #2 Comment from plittle 
  5/20/05 10:38 AM | Permalink

  If I know kids, it would take them all of fifteen minutes to figure out a way of beating the system.
  -Paul
  http://journals.aol.ca/plittle/AuroraWalkingVacation/