PARIS, March 8: Lovers may be on the other side of the ocean, but they can still enjoy a drink together. Here’s how, New Scientist reports: A hi-tech wine glass that glows warmly when a distant partner picks it up or takes a sip.

The prototype gadget is the brainchild of Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab, the British weekly reports in its latest issue.

Jackie Lee and Hyemin Chung, experts in interaction between humans and computers, incorporated light-emitting diodes (LEDs), liquid sensors and wireless links in a pair of glass tumblers.

When either person picks up a glass, this makes red LEDs on their partner’s glass glow gently.

And when either puts the glass to their lips, sensors make white LEDs on the rim of the other glass glow brightly, so that the other can tell when your partner takes a sip.

Tests on the so-called lovers’ cups have been carried out in separate labs, and ‘people feel is if they are sharing a drinking experience together’, Mr Lee told New Scientist.

The technology could also have a more practical use — in hospitals or old people’s homes, for instance, to check that patients or the elderly are drinking enough water. —AFP