New Gadget Tells You When To Take a Break 50
Kilrah_il writes "An Israeli company developed a gadget that measures your blood pressure and tells you when you are stressed and need to take a break from your computer. 'The user grasps two sensors shaped like computer mouses to measure the electric activity of the heart in minute detail. Software then combines the measurements with prerecorded personal details such as age and sex to calculate various indicators for stress and mood.' Looks like a must-have accessory for Slashdotters everywhere."
Mouses? (Score:1)
Editor needs to take a break.
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Actually, apparently he doesn't. [wikipedia.org]
Pffft! "Oxford English Dictionary", indeed!
I'm with the parent (Score:2)
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Which I, personally, hate to pieces.
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Must Have? (Score:2)
Looks like a must-have accessory for Slashdotters everywhere
Since when does reading Slashdot cause stress?
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When you forget to uncheck the politics category?
At last... (Score:2)
It would be a lot more valuable (Score:5, Insightful)
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"But it wasn't me, the bloody machine doesn't let me work at all, always kicking me out!"
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Based on my stress levels and mood, the machine just told me to go to the bar for a while.
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The problem seems to be that you have to grasp this item with both hands. So, if you're too busy to take a break, then who is going to tell you when it's time to see if it's time for a break?
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What about productivity? (Score:3, Insightful)
How do momentary stress and momentary productivity correlate in software developers?
That last thing I need is something beeping at me whenever I get in the zone.
If you care, you already take regular breaks (Score:2)
I don't see any requirement for an app to tell me when to take breaks. If I'd care, I'd read what's written on the keyboard, telling me to take regular breaks every two hours; I don't care, and I take breaks when I'm done with whatever was at hand.
sarcasm detector (Score:2)
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Yeah, I put mine right next to my Jump to Conclusions mat.
One of these has been around for a LONG time... (Score:3, Funny)
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Eventually they should make their way from tge early adopters [pollsb.com] to the mainstream.
Probably not a good idea (Score:1)
How long before this tied to a drug pump that will (Score:2)
How long before this tied to a drug pump that will hit with stuff to keep you working and perk you up?
EA may want something like that to keep there coders working all night!
So.. (Score:2)
An aspect of my job is disaster recovery (IT).. Does this mean that as soon as something breaks, I can say it's time for my break (as I'm pretty sure the machine will register me as highly stressed)?
The gadget is quite old actually (Score:2)
At least my model is getting old...
It's called a bladder: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urinary_bladder
It's pretty good about letting me know to take a break and deal with something else.
Sheldon
Soon in an office near you.... (Score:2)
"Mr. Smith...our records indicate you've been taking breaks despite your BioDynamic Signature not indicating a specific need for such. Our Productivity Fingerprint computer has analyzed your Bio-Data and determined, that in our competitive environment we can not afford unproductive people like yourself. We wish you the best of luck in your next place of employment. Please remember to smile brightly on your way out as otherwise the door-face-scanners will not allow you to depart the premises. Goodbye, Mr. Sm
Will EA games start useing this to find the people (Score:2)
Will EA games start using this to find the people who can go the longest before setting this off?
Alternative... (Score:2)
I had something like this - it was a piece of paper that just said "now" on it. Unfortunately, for some reason I found I wasn't getting much work done so I have had to update it.
Now it just says "soon".
Been there, done that. (Score:2)
Workrave (Score:2)
Not going to work (Score:2)
Let me get this right.. I'm sitting at my desk trying to do 3 things at once all to a deadline, my phone keeps ringing, and I also have a backlog of emails I really need to answer right now. And you expect me to drop all that and use some weird gadget that will most likely tell me to take a walk. Sorry, but that gadget it getting 'accidentally' broken very soon.
Path to Profit! (Score:1)
The Lord might object... (Score:1)
- Dan.
I for one welcome our...ah screw it. (Score:2)
This device should be called a robot that is serving the function of "overlord" ability processing. You see, as a human we are very creative, but at times easily distracted by LOLCAT's and other things that seem to make up what the computers dub "our internetz"; therefore this new ability processing feature should drastically improve our creativity throughput by scheduling when we have lapses in concentration. Just think of the reliability!
Personally I'll just get the device, hack it, and use it as an ex
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It wouldn't be a bad idea really. I'm sure with enough studies we can see how often the average person must be 'distracted' before productivity takes a nosedive.
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I take that back, it would be a terrible idea. Employers would mess with the devices until they said 'work' all the time and then fire people they caught doing anything else. Employers today think they know better than doctors and psychologists anyway..and that everyone should be 100% capable of working for 8 hours straight without going to the bathroom or spending a single second stretching or blinking.
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Satire.
jg005 (Score:1)