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美国发明智能钱包 帮助人们理性消费

2010-12-09来源:和谐英语

  Financial transactions have grown increasingly abstract, encouraging wasteful and unwise purchasing habits. Researchers at the MIT Media lab have invented three different wallets - the Bumblebee, the Peacock and the Mother Bear - to help shoppers save money。

  The Bumblebee wallet contains a vibrating motor that buzzes whenever the owner's bank account has a transaction. The length and pattern of the buzzes correspond with different kinds of transactions. The Peacock wallet expands and contracts depending on how much money is in a bank account。

  The Mother Bear, which contains a hinge inside that is connected to a bank account and can be programmed to respond to a monthly financial goal. When money gets tighter, the hinge makes the wallet harder to open, creating a meaningful reminder to stay on target。

  All these three wallets are sturdy enough to survive being sat upon. Each one utilizes a mobile platform called Hands and Fingers. The "fingers" are microprocessors that are embedded in the wallets while the "hands" are the corresponding software that runs on a mobile phone. The wallets communicate using Bluetooth。