nintendo wii

The Score

Gaming With Heart

Brett Zarda reports on an intriguing patent application

Will the Wii Fit one day add heart rate to the health metrics it monitors? It's possible; but Nintendo might have to purchase the intellectual property. A patent application filed in early 2007 discusses using a Wii-like controller to monitor body temperature, heart rate, or even blood pressure. The patent was filed by Kent Hsu of Taiwan. Check out the first claim below. How's that for a run-on sentence?

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Virtual Pole Dancing Coming to the Nintendo Wii?

If the top name in home pole-dancing equipment has anything to say about it, absolutely!

There must be a God after all. Peekaboo Entertainment—creators of the Carmen-Electra-endorsed "Electra-Pole" home pole dancing kit—is reportedly planning to take their expertise to the Nintendo Wii. Adding another interesting dimension to the Wii's role as a fitness machine, the proposed pole dancing title could further ensure that men spend all day playing, or now watching, video games.

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A Lifesaving Beacon for Miners

Russell Breeding finds lost miners with the same tech found in guided missiles and the Nintendo Wii

InSeT System
Cost to Develop: $475,000
Time: 2 years
Prototype | | | | | Product
In January 2006, an explosion rocked West Virginias Sago coal mine, trapping 13 miners. Rescuers searched an area 500 feet wide by two miles long and didnt reach the miners until 41 hours after the blast, eventually pulling out 12 bodies and one survivor. Jim Ponceroff, who led a rescue team, says that the biggest challenge in recovering miners is locating them quickly so that engineers can drill a borehole for fresh air and, ultimately, rescue. Sago, like most of the countrys nearly 900 active mines, relied on radios that transmit signals over a thin wire thats easily damaged in a cave-in.

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Playing Around

Fit To Be Tried

Nintendo's Wii Fit delivers an irresistible mix of fun activities and muscle-straining exercises

Used to be, a guy could sit comfortably on the couch and, by mashing a few buttons, make onscreen characters do all the hard work. Nintendo changed all that with the Wii. Suddenly, if you wanted to bowl or play tennis or help Mario save the galaxy, you had to stand up (gasp!) and move major muscle groups in a coordinated manner (heresy!). All those years of disciplined training to develop Thumbs of Steel (and Buns of Marshmallow), and Nintendo changes the game.

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