There was one News.com story today that creeped me out way above and beyond the rest: “Wireless to organize, or even save lives.” Will wireless technology reach a point where chip sensors tell you when your elderly parent is having trouble breathing? According to this news article, perhaps – and it may even be able to do a whole lot more.

James Canton, president of Institute for Global Futures, a consultancy that advises on trends, says sensor chips may one day even be embedded into underwear to send laundry-related text or voice alerts to cell phones. “It will tell you when it needs to get cleaned,” he said and suggested a potential prompt: “Stop using that bleach on me because it’s shrinking me and if I shrink any more, you’re not going to be able to wear me.”

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I don’t want a sensor chip anywhere near my underwear. Can you image the magnitude of irate women who are completely ticked off because their chip told them that their underwear is shrinking? Oh yeah, that’s about as close to “You need to lose weight” as you can get, technically speaking that is. Junk in the trunk? I think trash-talking chips could possibly create a niche in the market, but that’s a different news story entirely. Check out what other TechRepublic members had to say about this article in the Discussion Center.