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The $45 Smart Water Bottle

A runaway crowdfunding campaign will give rise to a bottle that tells you when you’re not drinking enough. 

We already have an absurd selection of gadgets to tell us what our bodies are doing. But do any of them track water intake in real time? Yes! The body-tech craze has (almost) reached your water bottle.

HidrateMe is crowdfunding its first production run on Kickstarter with a goal of $35,000. So far, it’s raised over $450,000. Clearly there is a strong need here.

HidrateMe’s companion app helps you set a intake goal and automatically adjusts it based on your activity level and the weather around you. The smart water bottle tracks your intake against your goal in real time.

The best part? It softly glows when you’re behind on your glugging.

The rush to make everyday items “smart” certainly feels like it’s gone overboard, but measuring water intake is probably a good use of your Bluetooth connection. Particularly for casual exercisers, dehydration can sneak up on you. The question is whether, like the 5,000 people who donated to the Kickstarter campaign so far, you need to spend $45 to fix this problem.

You have until July 13 to decide.