Tech Shout!

Ever felt that the position of your home furnishings was seriously throwing your mystical chi or life energy out of balance? Then put your mind at rest. Motorola has patented a new kind of PDA that evaluates a property’s Feng Shui rating by measuring positive and negative chi and awarding plus and minus points accordingly.

“Feng Shui principles are widely applied in the fields of interior decorating and real estate,” a company spokesperson explains.

The device houses a camera that checks the colour of the property, a microphone that listens for noise from nearby roads and factories and a compass to find north – a crucial factor for Feng Shui enthusiasts. It can also measure the strength of AM and FM radio signals from local radio transmitters and connect to the nearest mobile phone base station to check for indications of cellphone signal strength. Weak radio signals indicate positive chi but strong signals mean negative chi and lead to a poor Feng Shui rating.

This PDA patented by Motorola will also have a three-dimensional Hall-effect sensor for measuring the strength of electromagnetic fields and to form a compass to determine the geographic direction in which the main wall of the house faces.

When you want to carry out Feng Shui analysis of particular building or location you just have to take some pictures of the surrounding area, point the phone to the main wall of the house and press the button. The phone will do everything else. The results can be display as a summary indicating positive, neutral, or negative chi, or you can get detailed report about the chi rating for every parameter measured.

As more and more mobile phones are churned out by various vendors the engineers seem to be getting more and more creative. Looks like city dwellers may get a chance to improve and enhance their lifestyle with the help of this PDA.