innernet

(IN.ur.net)

n.

Wearable or ingested computer technology that monitors internal body functions. Also: Innernet.

Example Citation:

[Kuzuhiko Nishi] envisions nanocomputers...that will be worn on our skin and...their tasks will include measuring changes in blood pH values, monitoring heart disease, and warning us not to nibble on those extra calories. This is a vision of the computer as scold, nannying us through the networked connections in our lives. According to Nishi, these connections will soon be moving from the Internet...to what he calls the innernet."

— Thomas A. Bass, "Dress Code," Wired, April 1998

Earliest Citation:

Healthcare stands to benefit immensely from what he called edible computers that may someday be ingested to monitor and record bodily functions that may be used in diagnostics and treatment.

Negroponte refers to the futuristic device as the "Innernet."

"It will do more than a watch-like monitor to make measurements," Negroponte said. "When I go to the doctor and say I don't feel well, it's like asking him to throw out a few darts and maybe he'll zero in on the problem. But if I can give him measurements from a monitor in my body, say for the last 24 to 48 hours, he could better diagnose what's wrong."

— Diane Kaminski, "Information Authority Reveals World's Bit Map to Future," Medical Industry Today, December 9, 1997

Related Words:

affective computing

annotated reality

augmented reality

e-textile

Evernet

memory glasses

sneakernet

swivel chair network

wearable

Categories:

Hardware

Biology