Peter Kafka

Recent Posts by Peter Kafka

Better Than a Poke! Here’s Like-A-Hug, the Vest That Lets Your Facebook Pals Reach Out and Touch You.

If Mark Zuckerberg is ready to move beyond the hoodie, this may be the thing: A “wearable social media vest” that hugs you when your pals give you Facebook props.

Creepy? Sure! But people thought Google Glass eyewear was nuts too. Now Sergey Brin is showing them off at fashion shows, and getting ready to sell them to the general public.

But Like-A-Hug seems less likely to end up at a store near you, since it is still partially theoretical.

Artist Melissa Kit Chow built one along with classmates Andy Payne and Phil Seaton as part of a MIT Media Lab course. “While the wireless, inflatable vest does exist,” she tells me via e-mail, “we never fully realized the project and did not connect it to Facebook.”

Maybe Zuck can work something out with Kickstarter?

More here, via CNET.

And here’s the video “like a hug HR 1 2” from Chow on Vimeo.

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