Gadget Geekery Gone Too Far: WiFi Scale?



Withings Wi-Fi scale at home on Flickr – Photo Sharing!

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but there probably are some technologies that just weren’t meant to be mashed together. The WiFi scale has the honor of being the first new gadget to give me pause.

I love new gadgets as much as anyone else. A run down of the gadgets on my desk this morning: Nook, iPod Touch, a camera/mp3/cellphone, a key ring with 8 thumb drives, a Polaroid Digital Adventure Camera (waterproof and crash proof) and a Garmin Forerunner. Oh — almost forgot — two laptops. Two? Yes, one open to Linux and the other open to Windows.

That’s just what’s on the desk and what is likely to be used over the next hour. There are enough gadgets around here to support a couple of years worth of weekly columns. Hmm.

Anyway, I was watching the geek spot on a morning news show yesterday and was floored to discover this new gadget. My first reaction was intense envy, but not the kind of envy the producers of the WiFi scale might have hoped for. My first thought (honestly): There is hope for all us writer’s trying to sell/market our books!

If the inventor of this device is giving workshops on how to sell ideas, I want to sign up. I mean think about it, that must have been one heck of a 3-line pitch to get this backed, produced, and marketed on a big network TV show. How do you sell someone on the idea of beaming your weight to the world?

Maybe it’s just me. Maybe there are droves of people who would love to step on their scale every morning and have their weight and percentage of body fat posted on their blog and Twitter. Could be I’m too reticent.

Now, I don’t have one of these and I’m not keen on buying one so I can’t say if there is more to this idea. I can see possibilities as a promotional tool. If this is your idea of just the thing to pep up your blog traffic (please drop me a link to your blog in comments and include twitter ID), you can get one of your very own at the link below.

Amazon.com: Withings Wifi Body Scale: Health & Personal Care

Check back next Thursday and I’ll let you share my first look at my iPad. If it’s not here yet, I’ll review the Nook and get to the iPad the following week.