Can a new tech gadget solve your diet issues?

We have to confess that we spend far too much time reading about the electronics trade show that happens every year in Las Vegas. It’s addictive to read about all the nifty new gadgets. The problem is that it’s usually hard to understand exactly what they’re supposed to do. But there’s one gadget this year that is very to understand – and that may be the reason for the amount of web publicity an “electronic fork” is getting. 

The premise behind the electronic fork is simple – it nags you to eat slowly. Specifically, per the Boston Globe, “The fork contains a motion sensor, so it can figure out when it’s being lifted to the mouth. If it senses that you’re eating too fast, it warns with you with a vibration and a blinking light. The company believes that using the fork 60 to 75 times during meals lasting from 20 to 30 minutes is ideal.”

No, it can’t tell what you’re eating, or the size of your bites, so we have a funny feeling that it may be easy to get around the warning and not realize the benefits. And $99 strikes us as a bit rich for something you can easily fool. However, it is certainly far less harmful than many diet supplements or fad diets, so there are probably worse places to spend your money if you’re looking for a diet aid.

(Photo from Julie Jacobson, AP)