I know this device is for the autistic, but surely we can think of a few other groups who could use this. Copy and paste into word and use Edit-Replacewith to delete "autistic" and plop in "inlaws," "blustering entrepreneurs," or "people with dubious personal hygiene living in their parents basements." Hours of fun for the whole family.

Device warns you if you're boring or irritating

• 29 March 2006
• NewScientist.com news service
• Celeste Biever

A DEVICE that can pick up on people's emotions is being developed to help people with autism relate to those around them. It will alert its autistic user if the person they are talking to starts showing signs of getting bored or annoyed.

One of the problems facing people with autism is an inability to pick up on social cues. Failure to notice that they are boring or confusing their listeners can be particularly damaging, says Rana El Kaliouby of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "It's sad because people then avoid having conversations with them."

Doesn't the whole thing still apply when you do this:

A DEVICE that can pick up on people's emotions is being developed to help geeks relate to those around them. It will alert its Babylon 5-obsessed user if the person they are talking to starts showing signs of getting bored or annoyed. One of the problems facing people with an unstoppable tendency to quote extensively from Monty Python routines is an inability to pick up on social cues. Failure to notice that they are boring or confusing their listeners can be particularly damaging, says Rana El Kaliouby of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "It's sad because people then avoid having conversations with them."

Sad, yes, but only right and just.