I'm a chronic drinker. Water, coffee, tea, beer, cocktails, whatever's in front of me: I guzzle it down. It's basically an oral fixation, informed less by thirst than a nervous tic that good ol' Doctor Freud would doubtlessly arch an eyebrow at. My wife, on the other hand, will forget to drink water for the better part of a day.
I think I should probably get her this water bottle, then: it begins glowing to remind you to take a sip.
It's called the HidrateMe, and think of it as the water bottle equivalent of the notification light on a Blackberry. The bottle syncs with your phone over Bluetooth to track your water intake thanks to a tiny sensor inside that can tell whenever you drink and how much. A connected app then applies that to your daily water goal, which the app calculates based on your height, weight, and sex.
To be honest, the fact that we, as a species, think we need water bottles that tell us when to drink water is kind of stupid. If it weren't for the fact that my very smart wife has this exact same problem, I'd dismiss the HidrateMe as the first Kickstarter ever launched by a Darwin Award nominee. As it is, though, I find myself wondering if getting my wife a bottle like this would mean I wouldn't have to send her the following text message twice a day: "Have you had enough water today?"
It also helps that, for a water bottle, the HidrateMe is very attractive. The 24-ounce bottle itself is made of BPA-free, dishwasher-safe plastic, and features a lidded, fractal design that resembles a phosphorescent icicle. The battery lasts one year, and available colors are iceberg white, bamboo green, ocean teal, crystal pink, and obsidian black.
Now on Kickstarter, the HidrateMe is available for pre-order starting at $45. Get one here.