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By Deborah Netburn McClatchy-Tribune News Service
The Paducah Sun
Apr 04, 2012 | 321 views | 0
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McClatchy-Tribune News Service
This week Fitbit debuted the Wi-Fi-enabled Aria Smart Scale -- a scale that lets users weigh themselves and then digitally send that information to a website where it can be made public for their friends and family and strangers to see.
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Talk about over-sharing. A company called Fitbit has unveiled the Aria Smart Scale _ a Wi-Fi-enabled device that lets users weigh themselves and automatically publish the results online, where it can be viewed by family, friends and even strangers.
Some might be more motivated to hit the gym or lay off the macaroons if they knew their weight was being broadcast on the Web. Others might see it as embarrassing.
To be fair, the raison d’etre of the Wi-Fi scale is not to announce your weight to the world but, rather, to send the data to Fitbit’s website, where it will be incorporated into fancy charts and graphs to help you track your weight-loss goals. And although you are welcome to make this information public, the default setting is to keep it private.
The Aria Smart Scale, which comes in black or white, also measures body mass index and percentage of body fat. It can be pre-ordered online for $129.95 and will start shipping in May.
Fitbit has a history of making electronic fitness tools, including the Fitbit Ultra: a pedometer that tracks how many steps you’ve taken, how many stairs you’ve climbed and how many calories you’ve burned doing it.
