Embracing Technology

Hug addicts, rejoice. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have created an interactive pillow that allows grandparents and grandkids to talk and hug--even when they're apart. To send a hug, you squeeze the pillow and say your grandchild's name.

A voice-recognition program dials junior's number, and the child squeezes his own pillow to talk to you and get a psuedohug (the pillow purrs and radiates heat). "It engages not only our voice but our tactile senses," says Carnegie Mellon's Jodi Forlizzi.

But pillow talks are still a ways off. The institute has filed for a patent but has no plans yet to mass-produce it. Which means you'll have to keep hugging your grandkids the old-fashioned way.