Smart PJs: App-Compatible Pajamas for Bedtime Stories
We've seen Google's connected glasses, smart watches and even smart shoes, but smart pajamas - as in the clothing you sleep in? Yes, they're real and available now for kids.
But don't worry they don't have embedded computer chips in them. The $25 Smart PJ's,which are available in pink and blue, have 47 colorful dot patterns that work with an app. When a camera on a tablet or phone is held over the dots, the app will launch an interactive bedtime story or show other types of educational content, including photos of animals or objects.
"The Smart PJ's have gone through a lot of trial and error," Juan Murdoch, the creator of the Smart PJ's, told ABC News. "We had to create new scanning technology. It's not just QR codes - we had to create them from scratch." But Murdoch, a realtor in Idaho, came up with the idea two years ago, not when he was reading to his one of six children, but when he saw QR codes in a meeting.
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"We were talking about QR codes that we put in our signs and I just thought of bedtime stories on kids' PJs. I had to get up and leave the meeting to see if they existed. I called a patent attorney and we got to work on it," he explained. Over the last two years Murdoch has invested his own cash into the three-person company.
The PJs are compatible with the iPhone, iPad and Android phones and tablets. The companion app, which is available through the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store, has over 40 books and games. Murdoch said there will be more apps out before the holiday season.
The pajamas are available in kids sizes 1 through 7. But that's just where the sizes end for now. Asked if the Smart PJ's might ever come in adult sizes, Murdoch said: "There are lots of plans in the works."