Twitter-equipped bathroom scale tells the world how much you weigh

This bathroom scale knows how much you weigh and it can blab it to your Twitter friends. Credit: Withings.

The most embarrassing new tech product of the year just got more embarrassing.

Last month, we let you know about the Wi-Fi Body Scale, the first bathroom scale equipped with a wireless connection to send your weight and body fat information directly to your Web page and iPhone.

But weight, there's more.

Today the French company behind the scale, Withings, announced it has added Twitter capability to the scale, enabling the user to automatically tweet the weight/fat info to followers.

In a news release, Withings declared the Twitter function would be a great help to users, "further motivating them by sharing their progress with followers."

Right.

What's next for Withings? An app to let the Twitterverse know how much debt you're carrying? How about a public questionnaire to rate how far you are from achieving your life dreams?

Come to think of it, either might be preferable to letting the weight info hit Twitter. This is Los Angeles.

-- David Colker

Comments

[Saqib Ali]

Very very cool.

Also check out http://www.bakertweet.com/ . It is a twitting device for bakery ovens to notify the world that something hot and fresh has just come out of the oven :)

What I would really like to see is a twitter plug-in for my treadmill....... :)

[Joe]

Lol, so funny, hahaha, can't stop laughing, so many ridiculous inventions!!

[Tm Mahdi]

Love the idea. I am serious.
Is there motivation to lose weight? I think so.
I just went from normal to obese in less than a year and half.
In the last 2 months, I lost over 60lbs to being just overweight.
That's a motivator alone. I am working toward another 30lbs to call myself within the normal category.

I already announce my accomplishments on both facebook and twitter. If there is a machine that can do it automatically - that's a great idea. In fact, I'd love to represent this product. I wont be alone.

[Greg]

People can use online fitness tools like Holosfitness.com to share their health/fitness/weight-loss progress with others, there's no need for a wi-fi scale.

[JohnInCA]

Kaiser is still trying to figure out how to integrate scales and thermometers with their$6B+ electronic medical record. Methinks one might want to save some guffaws for Kaiser's all-too-common press releases (and ever-present commercials) bragging about their really-really advanced medical record that their doctors and nurses have to type everything into.

[Gwendolyn H. Barry]

man, that's just nasty....

[Abdullah Eyles]

Nice idea, but does that mean we have to have one for each member of the family? or does it recognise our toeprints? :-))

[Twitter Bloke]

What an absolutely absurd excellent idea! :O)

I can't comment on it being French... I've deleted the last 5 attempts! ;O)

[kieran]

And I would near bet with all this new publicity, prices of the thing will double or tripple over what it is really worth. This is stupid really, you could weigh a ton but have the height for it to be okay, this gives no thought into the height of the person being weighed so is therefore meaningless in terms of new people following "non fat carrying" tweeters, when really they're teenagers.

[Robert Ameeti]

The Withings scale does recognize multiple people automatically. Each person, even though they may weigh similar weights, will have another differentiator and that would be their body fat %. The Withings scale is able to use this additional information to sort out multiple users automatically. If the multiple users happen to be too close to automatically be separated and recognized, the user is able to shift his or her weight while on the scale to indicate who they are. The scale displays an indicator as to who the scale thinks is on the scale and the user can shift weight right or left to move amongst the known users.

[Ata]

I thought I was on The Onion for a second.

[ah]

Perhaps they can also sell a toilet seat that tweets every time you move your bowels?

[yu]

I think this kind of approach will be used more in the future. This kind of device could be useful , of course it doesn't have to be a scale. Could be SMS or tweet or anything but a device that can communicate would be very useful.

[Sarah S.]

I can tell you EXACTLY who need this product: @JavaCupcake!!!!

[Judas Peckerwood]

Pay attention to me ! Pay attention to MEEEEEEEEE!

Our culture getting more narcissistic by the minute.

[Jon Gelberg]

Do they limit you to 140 pounds?

[Enrico]

Oh my god, who wan´ts to tell the hole world his weight? Is this the way we gonna go in future? I hope not.

[Gerard Finnerty]

I think the first thing most people do is picture someone with weight or body image issues, using that… and the very idea of sharing that information (and their insecurities) under those circumstances sounds ridiculous, but a lot of people who compete in marathons, triathlons, endurance racing, ect. will keep detailed logs of their progress and performance in the training leading up to a race and share that information with others in their community, their trainers, their family and friends…

Let’s say you were a high school competitive swimmer following Michael Phelps’ training schedule… wouldn’t you perceive him sharing his weight/body fat as an informational resource?

On the flip side… if you had weight problems, found a support group along with a program that works for you… wouldn’t you be inclined to share information on your weight loss with others who might benefit from it?

David Colker’s perception of this technology is pretty unenlightened and formed of a snap judgment from the first scenario he pictured, but hey, “it is Los Angeles”.