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Scientists create smart phone that doubles as your nanny
"Stop drinking and call your mum"

By Jo Best

Published: Friday 26 November 2004

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are working on software that will get to know you as well as your best mate - and even offers you advice.

Two MIT scientists, Nathan Eagle and Sandy Pentland, are working on the 'mind-reading program', according to New Scientist and are currently running the software on 100 Nokia smart phones that they've given to students to try out.

The software is designed to get to know people's habits by studying behaviour with pattern recognition software - for example, studying location to find out how long the phone user spends at home or work and logging which people the user spends the most time talking to.

It can then make suggestions based on the user's habits and diary - calling someone the phone user hasn't spoken to for some time or warning them not to drink too much before an important meeting, for example.

Eagle told New Scientist the phone may be able to analyse how good a relationship is by how often the user calls a certain friend. "It might even pick up on a flirtation before you notice," he added.