Consumption

A study has found that college students with social anxiety and depression were more driven by social motives to ‘pregame’ or drink before heading out to a social function and experienced more negative consequences as a result of pregaming.

A study is suggesting people with high self-control regarding what they eat are likely to consume more food if they touch it directly with their hands. The findings reveal food can taste better when we touch it as opposed to eating it with utensils.

Bistro is an automatic cat feeder and health monitor that uses facial recognition technology to ensure the food is going to its intended recipient. It also monitors your cat's food and water consumption, along with its weight and eating habits.

The Vessyl, designed in conjunction with Yves Behar of Jawbone fame, is a smart mug that automatically detects and analyzes whatever beverage is poured into it. It has an inbuilt display to show the results, or it can be synched to display details on a smartphone in real time.

The Bevometer, an adaptation of the traditional koozie (aka stubby holder or coldy-holdy), is designed to take the guesswork out of consumption by keeping count each time you exchange a full drink for an empty.

Canadian smart energy company Energy Aware has developed a product called Neurio, which is designed to help users monitor domestic energy usage. The package includes a Wi-Fi sensor that's installed in the breaker panel, cloud-based analysis and an app known as Wattson.

The “MyPower Energy Platform” being developed at the University of Sydney is built around a smart plug that transmits collected information to the cloud every 30 minutes so users can monitor the energy usage of individual appliances.

The Swap-O-Matic is a vending machine that allows people to trade items with one another.

Microsoft's Hohm website uses personalized data from consumers' home energy consumption, and offer recommendations to save energy and reduce energy bills.

Despite the U.S.’s purported desire to wean itself off the teat of foreign oil a new study from automotive data provider, JATO Dynamics, reports that the U.S. car market is still almost twice as polluting as Europe and Japan.

Energy-saving Wattbox is designed for easy use and encourages homeowners to save energy via simpler controls and intuitive learning.

Watching TV was once a social activity that brought people together. The whole family watched the same program on the same TV and at work the next day, most people had also seen the same program. This is no longer the case.