Jan 22, 2011: LED-lit teeth

[Undertoad]

Say it ain't so! It's so. The Japanese - who else! - are falling for this fashion accessory, mini LED lights affixed right behind your teeth so that when you grin, your teeth are all lit up.

You can flash, change colors, have all kinds of effects.

The idea was brought forth for an ad campaign but now it's catching on and youngsters are walking the streets with these things. Look Japan, just because you can do something like this doesn't mean you should.



Hopefully this is temporary.

NY Times

[Pico and ME]

As long as its done in fun, like those light ropes you can get at amusement parks. As a fashion accessory? Naw.

[BigV]

AWESOME!!!

[Juniper]

Oh, they sell those little LED mouthpiece thingies all over the place here - the kids like to use them at football games, Kings Island, etc. Silly but harmless. They're like retainers.

[Slight]

That the flashing syncs up - is "Children of the Korn" go to Tokyo - kind of freaky. The sound the device makes kreeps me out too.

[Adak]

Next step, the kids all start swallowing alarm clocks, and wirelessly get and flash the time, on their mouths - while sounding the appropriate chime every 15 minutes.

Making them an improved (digital and flashing) version of the crocodile that swallowed the clock, in the Peter Pan story.

What will they think of next?

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by Adak

Next step, the kids all start swallowing alarm clocks, and wirelessly get and flash the time, on their mouths - while sounding the appropriate chime every 15 minutes.

Making them an improved (digital and flashing) version of the crocodile that swallowed the clock, in the Peter Pan story.

What will they think of next?

I've often wondered by computer aides for the handicapped, especially the developmentally disabled,
have not been created wherein the "mouse/keyboard functions" are positioned
in the mouth and controlled by jaw and tongue.
Seems as though artificial speech could be a natural way to program that way.

[Sperlock]

I couldn't help but think that this is something that would be used in a Doctor Who episode. There's something creepy about a group of them together with the LEDs being in sync.

[Knight f3]

The people in the United States aren't the only ones obsessed with a "brighter smile"

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

I've often wondered by computer aides for the handicapped, especially the developmentally disabled,
have not been created wherein the "mouse/keyboard functions" are positioned
in the mouth and controlled by jaw and tongue.
Seems as though artificial speech could be a natural way to program that way.

Er... because if you have enough muscle strength and cognition to operate an artificial speech machine with your jaw and tongue... you could just talk. There are, however, mouth-operated devices for people with physical disabilities that can move a wheelchair around, or reach for things.

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Look Japan, just because you can do something like this doesn't mean you should.

Unless it involves porn.

MMMMMMmmmmmmmm...Japanese porn.

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

Er... because if you have enough muscle strength and cognition to operate an artificial speech machine with your jaw and tongue... you could just talk. There are, however, mouth-operated devices for people with physical disabilities that can move a wheelchair around, or reach for things.

Clod, I didn't say it very well.
I was trying to get across the idea that no matter what moments the person made
with their jaw and/or tongue, those movements could gradually be learned and interpreted (and filtered)
by the computer to be translated into speech or other more purposeful actions.
Sort of like this game

I've been off put by some learning situations where so many different actions
need to be coordinated and perfected... such as hand-eye.

I once saw a demonstration of an artificial hand where a deaf-blind person could finger-spell on the hand and a computer translate it into speech.
It also worked in the other direction... with speech-recognition the computer
would manipulate the artificial hand into finger-spelling to be read by the deaf-blind person.

[Phage0070]

Culturally this is even more bizarre than it seems to the Western world. The ancient Japanese blackened their teeth as seeing the white of teeth was considered similar to the white of exposed bone. Add to this burial ceremonies that involve manipulating bone chips with the equivalent of chopsticks and this fad is analogous to Americans wearing LED-lit G-strings while riding around electrically propelled coffins stenciled with the names of their oldest relatives.

Japan has to be the best example of cultural shift due to technology in recorded history.

[BrianR]

I'd like a pic of that, Phage. Pretty please?

[Shawnee123]

Just so damn wacky.