More often the object of dread than fascination, the humble bathroom scale has been given a makeover by Withings, which has injected the Connected Body Scale with WiFi and an online progress tracking system not too dissimilar from that used by
Nike+. This sleek metallic device is accurate to 100 grams -- oh yes, it's metric, like it should be -- and conducts a body mass analysis that can tell you the uncomfortable truth, should you care to know it. Accessing progress data can be done via a free iPhone app or the company's website, which is also the best place to plop down the €129 ($184) entry fee. And don't tell us you're not interested,
somebody is buying up all those
Wii Fit boards and it sure as hell isn't us. Video after the break.
Update: Withings tells us that pound measurements are also available for you eccentric old schoolers, and September should see a US release priced at $159, so good news all around.
[Via
Chip Chick]
posted July 28th 2009 3:34PM
Maybe it should be in Metric .. but i'm clueless .. american .. and wouldn't know if i was fat or skinny on this thing :). ... c'mon .. work with us ... we run everything .. stop rebelling :) ... jokes of course
-sun
lbs = kg x 2.2
I wish America would just grow up and accept metric, I know its alot of work, but those of you who actually paid attention in chem class or likewise know how easy it is to work with metric and how accurate it is, especially working on cars (from experience much easier with tools). I know it most likely will never happen, but here's to hope hahaha.
A lb is not heavier than a kg
The metric system is MUCH easier to work in (especially chem :)), but people are stubborn and don't like learning new things...
im willing to change my language and currency, but metric > imperial, ill never think in imperial units.
I don't understand why they wouldn't just make it show both like every other bathroom scale since the invention of bathroom scales. Analog scales had two sets of numbers, and I've never seen a digital scale without a switch to go from metric to Imperial.
I'd agree with all that. Metric is not difficult at all. I think if we start teaching it now, I'd say about 2 generation from now it would be normal. Canada made out fine when they switched, and the military has been on metric for quite a while now (except for snipers, they still work in yards for some reason.)
It is tougher to switch one you are used to the English system, but after a while you get used to it, you just have to get used to using it daily and it works. 'Course I had the incetive of the possibility of getting myself (or worse, someone else) killed if I didn't know how to use metric so that mad things easier...
President Reagan made a big push for it in the 80's. There's even a sign here on the interstate where it shows the distance in miles and kilometers, but his level of popularity is something we won't see for a long time and he failed to do it. I don't really see any circumstances where we make the change. It's a shame, because it seems to be a good system, and could've prevented a certain martian disaster......
Well... in that case, that's just about right... o_O
* off to gym *
No need for conversion tables, if you are american you are fat :)
But anyway why can't it just show all standards? Don't they know computers can calculate? And so can tiny simple chips. Wait NO, GET BACK HERE, dammit now my fellow commenters went to the cupboard to get chips.
balance board is cheaper than this and it's fun to use in game, nothing fun about this expensive scale
Stop telling lies! Nothing about the wii or it's peripherals is fun.
looks like fun
Designed by apple?
or they could have put a larger display on there, so it could remember a few people's weight and not require a phone, but hey a little crappy programming is way easier to sell.
Lol some people just don't like to remember that they gain wieght but when they do loose, them they remember them.
Why did you stop speaking English half-way through your sentence?
Lol some people just don't like to remember that they gain wieght but when they do loose them, they remember them.
FAIL AGAIN.
Please learn the difference between the words lose and loose.
to professorkaos: RE: Why does the US not switch to metric:
The US does not switch because there is no value saved in switching in real terms.
IE, if I step on this scale and have gone from 170 lbs or 77.11 kilograms to 175 lbs or 79.37 kilograms, how is that easier?
There is no ease of use or savings there. They are both numbers (lbs vs kilograms), and easily understood relative to themselves. There is only preference, not utility.
In situations where it does matter (say simplified costs for only producing one set of tools) then the US has switched.
Yeah nice simplification, but with metric you can smoothly and logically increase and decrease and add and subtract and divide and multiply without having to use weird fractions and weights who's relationship to other weights aren't understood half the time even by the people who grew up with them.
I guess your calculation skills aren't anything special.
@ Wwhat: So, basically what you're saying is that metric is for people who either suck at math, or are too lazy to actually do math? Wow. Thanks. That makes me feel a lot better about not knowing metric.
Yeah I can see how many people hate logic and prefer baseline 'clever' quips.
Good for you guys, good for you.
@ Wwhat: Baseline clever quips...correct interpretations of what you actually said...same difference, right?
You said imperial sucks because it's difficult to do mathematics with it, and because the relationships between various forms of measurement are lost on you and others. Literal translation: "Imperial sucks because it's hard."
If you still want to maintain that I'm off-base here in reading what you wrote (or, more specifically, that you were off-base in what you wrote; if I'm wrong, it's because you didn't say what you meant...you wouldn't be female, by any chance, would you?), then please feel free to point out exactly what's false in my interpretation.
Or, you could just spew out more random, baseless one-liners that don't actually refute anything but make you think your e-penis is bigger than mine.
Either way, I'll continue to get along just fine in life, mathing it up and converting like a mad man in imperial because I'm smarter than you are =)
It's currently for sale only in Europe. The website says it will be available in the US in September - and certainly at that time it will have measurement in pounds.
I can deal with pounds. I can deal with kilos. But those Brits and their bloody stones! 14 pounds - now that's easy to work with!
Any programmer can tell you imperial is superior to metric. It is binary (1/2,1/4,1/8,1/16,etc.) Our future alien overloads will undoubtedly use a binary system and may think its quite quaint for us to divide everything by 10.
i never knew air weighed 54.7kgs
you love the wii fit, admit it!!
I've been waiting for one for years and years, but with body fat measurement
No worry, I'm sure you'll think up a new excuse to not start on that diet just yet ;)
Hi, the Scale already displays weight in pounds. It will be available in the US in September. Drop us an email at contact(at)withings.com to be the first to know ;)
AMERICA AMERICA AMERICA AMERICA AMERICA !
Metric in the US and $184? Good luck with that.
@Nico, ah, thanks for clarifying the lbs issue. Is the $184 an accurate US price?
@Wii60--Reagan's staff stabbed him in the back with that highway metrification business. The "Miles" sign was always in round numbers, and the "Kilometers" sign in an absurdly precise equivalent. E.g., Tulsa, 70 miles; 112.63 Km. No wonder people rebelled. Of course, Congress didn't have the cojones to mandate that signs be placed where the metric units would be nice and simple.
WHAT I REALLY WANT (hear me, NicoWithings?) isn't this glassy marvel, but a 9 oz. bluetooth enabled slab of plastic that would be my travel scale. I travel 2-3 weeks at a time and my choices are to be ignorant of my weight or schlep around a bathroom scale that could double as a boat-anchor.
Long ago they used to have scales on public stations everywhere I'm given to understand, I wonder what happened to change that.
You can go to most vets though and find a scale in the waitingroom, so carry a hamster around as an excuse to visit those.
@Wwhat--Good idea! Actually, my pet cricket would probably do the trick, but I'm not sure how the vet would handle my absence of clothing . . .
@Rick
The Scale will be sold at 159$.
If this worked, it would be worth it, but I couldn’t get it to connect reliably to my WiFi network (D-Link AP, about 10ft from the scale); as a result, most measurements just disappear.