A Black Box For Your Health?

from the ah,-great,-another-gadget dept

While this certainly does sound like it could be useful, it also sounds like "yet another gadget" to carry around. NASA has been working on a small device that monitors an astronaut's vital signs and can even give some biofeedback ("calm down") to help make sure astronauts remain safe. They believe the same technology can be used in your everyday life to make sure that people remain healthy. With a wireless connection, it could constantly dump data onto a computer or upload it to a server somewhere where a doctor can monitor your health on a regular basis (and perhaps alert you if something seems out of line). I'm just hoping they build it into my mobile phone so I can avoid the "yet another gadget" problem. Also, I wonder how long until someone hacks these devices and starts "vandalizing" people's health by telling them something's wrong when there isn't a problem. If you think people are freaked out by privacy concerns over email account terms of service, just wait until their vital signs are floating through the air.