Remember all those times when you speak to one of your loved ones over the phone and you simply feel the need to hug the other person, but can't do so? Well, it seems that modern technology has developed a solution even to this problem, namely the Hug Shirt developed by the CuteCircuit company, a piece of clothing that will allow you to interact with other people from a great distance.

But what is this "magic" shirt? The Hug Shirt is nothing more than a very hi-tech Bluetooth accessory for Java enabled mobile phones (it includes specialized sensors and actuators), capable of transmitting the "hug" data to the handheld, which, in its turn, passes it on to the recipient's phone (and, thus, to his/her shirt). Yes, "hug data" does sound a bit weird, but the aforementioned sensors are capable of recording the strength of the touch, the skin warmth and the heartbeat rate of the sender, while the actuators recreate the sensation of touch, warmth and emotion. Moreover, if the sender doesn't have a Hug Shirt, he/she can create a "virtual" hug via the Hug Me java software (required for using the device) and send it to the recipient as easy as sending a SMS.

Another great thing about this device is that, contrary to what you might have thought, it can be washed quite easily, as the smart technology pads placed inside the shirt can be removed for washing and placed back in afterwards, without any significant technical efforts, since they are completely plug and play. The Hug Shirt works with any Java-enabled mobile phone on any bandwidth (900 Mhz, 1800 Mhz, etc.), uses rechargeable batteries and is manufactured using RoHS components, meaning that it's completely lead-free and non-toxic. No words on the pricing and availability yet, but since the device has been nominated as one of the best Inventions of 2006 by Time Magazine, it will surely hit the market sometimes in the near future.

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