Maybe if Microsoft stopped making bras and started focusing on operating systems, they wouldn’t be losing so much ground to Apple. But they’ve made one now, so we might as well take a look at it.

This new ‘smart bra’ monitors it’s owner’s mood, with the intention of preventing stress-related overeating. Mary Czerwinski, a research manager with Microsoft’s Visualization and Interaction Research Group, makes it her life’s ambition to see how technology can help better manage stress.

“It’s mostly women who are emotional overeaters, and it turns out that a bra is perfect for measuring EKG,” Czerwinski told Discovery News.

Thankfully, women need not buy a new bra, but rather attach a removable sensor. Data is sent to – yes, you guessed it – a smartphone app, where the women can track their moods. Researchers were able to see whether the women were stressed based on the data from the bra, proving that a wearable, mobile mood-detection system is feasible.

Like a mood ring that actually works.

The goal behind the project is to better inform women about their mood-patterns, and help curb stress-related-eating. Believe it or not, they also tried putting a sensor in men’s underwear. But it proved to be too far away from the heart to be effective.

The researchers noted:

We will continue to explore how to build a robust, real-world system that stands up to everyday challenges with regards to battery life, comfortability, and being suitable for both men and women.

[Source : Cnet]