the hug shirt

This was voted one of the best inventions of 2006 in Time Magazine. It's a shirt that can be programmed with the "hugs" of different loved ones (their body temperature, heartbeat, placement of their hands, how tight they squeeze, etc), and then said loved ones can "hug" you from afar by sending a message from their cell phone to the blue tooth device inside the shirt. 

From their website:

The Hug Shirt™ is not meant to replace human contact, but to make you happy if you are away for business or other reasons and you miss your friends and loved ones! It also has some very interesting applications in the medical field with the elderly and children. And is fun to use and very soft!Interfaces and systems must be intuitive, natural, and compatible with our emotional status. 

Combining emotion and technology should be part of every design process. An increasing mobility of humans throughout the globe, due to business or study reasons, has brought family members to spend most of their time apart from each other. Humans need physical contact with each other. Technology should allow for a pleasant Human-Human Interaction.

Adults, especially elderly people living far away from their families, deprived of tactile contact for a long period of time will tell you just how depressing it feels. A hug, a handshake, a pat on the back, and a kiss are all very important and bring us close to others. People need to be touched at least 70 times a day! Start noticing how many times you shake hands or hug a friend, and you will see that it really makes you feel good, and if you didn’t get enough hugs give us a call and come visit!