The iPlug: A New Generation of Pacifier

"Schnuller". Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0-de via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Schnuller.JPG#mediaviewer/File:Schnuller.JPG Modified by Lynn Locifero.

Binky, Dummy, Pacifier: Whatever you call it, it’s just a piece of rubber and plastic for babies to chew on. But Ultimate Universal Technology Corporation (UUTC), the makers of The iPlug™ have added modern electronics to produce a leaner, smarter, more capable pacifier. The base model includes a “nipple chiller” to prevent your child from overheating on hot days, a shortwave radio beacon so you never lose your iPlug, and a 2 megapixel pinhole camera.

Chris Williams, a product developer for UUTC, explains how the idea for the iPlug came about:

You know how it is when you just can’t sleep? Well, when you can’t sleep and a crying baby just crawled into your bed, that’s significantly worse. And then, when you can’t sleep, and there’s a crying baby in your bed, and the baby’s pacifier is at your mother-in-law’s house or left in the park—well, words fail me. At any rate, this is the situation we were trying to prevent by introducing the iPlug. How did we actually think of it? One morning, Marlene and I were sitting around, trying to think of horrible things we could do to babies. Then, we decided we’d build a pacifier that would help prevent some of those awful things.1

As UUTC marketing director Marlene McCorkle says, “for the modern parent, this is the only responsible way to sooth your child,” provided, of course, you don’t forget to charge your iPlug regularly.


Featured image based on a photo by Jacqueline Godany. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 DE.

  1. Note that the iPlug is not intended to protect babies from physical harm of any sort.

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