Now the iPod can answer the question: Am iDrunk?
A new product called the iBreath turns Apple Inc.’s iPod into a breath analyzer to detect alcohol.
The $79 accessory plugs into the iPod and functions like a field sobriety test. The person using the iBreath exhales into a retractable “blow wand,” and the internal sensor measures the blood-alcohol content. Within two seconds, it displays the results on an LED screen. A reading of 0.08 or above sets off an alarm, signaling a blood-alcohol level above the legal driving limit in all 50 states.
“We are absolutely not advocating drinking and driving, but we know that people just don’t observe that,” said Don Bassler, chief executive and founder of David Steele Enterprises in Newport Beach, Calif., an online retailer and creator of the iBreath. “We don’t want people to think that this makes it all OK, but it’s a safety device that we hope people will use, and it may save lives.”
The iBreath is among a growing number of products for the iPod and iPhone designed to combat excessive holiday reveling. A new application for the i Phone called Last Call provides a tool to estimate blood alcohol content (as well as a list of attorneys specializing in DUI cases.)
Bassler said he got the idea for the iBreath from conversations with friends, who expressed concern about their older children attending parties and drinking alcohol.
“You know how they are, they’re going to sneak it if they can. They don’t listen to their parents, but they listen to their iPods,” Bassler said. “One friend suggested, ‘Wouldn’t it be great for these kids to have breathalyzer iPods?’ I said, ‘Hey, there’s a product there.’ ”
Bassler spent a year and a half developing the iBreath, which is compatible with the iPod nano, the iPod classic and the iPod touch. It also will work with the iPhone, Bassler said.
The hope is that the iPod’s cool factor will take away some of the stigma of acting responsibly and using a breath analyzer, Bassler said. That’s also why the device doubles as an FM transmitter for broadcasting music on the iPod to an unused radio frequency. “We figured, OK, if it’s only a Breathalyzer, the chances are this thing is coming off the iPod and sitting in the drawer,” Bassler said.
