• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, January 26, 2017

While the Internet of Things will give birth to billions of sensors designed and deployed for the long term, one-shot or temporary connectivity approaches are starting to bloom.

Connected bracelets, or as Disney calls them, MagicBands, allow Disney World visitors to enter the parks, unlock hotel room doors and buy food and merchandise.

Wristbands with barcodes can be quickly printed at the Museum of Science in Boston, allowing visitors to do an instant scan and get a detailed computer analysis of their walking characteristics or check in at the facial recognition station to see what animals cause their pupils to change size. After leaving the museum, visitors can enter their wristband ID online to review their museum activities.

Temporary connectivity now is being taken to another level, targeted explicitly to Super Bowl Sunday party-goers.

Special bags of Tostitos tortilla chips are being outfitted with NFC chips featuring an alcohol sensor near the Tostitos logo on the front of the bag.

The ‘party safe’ bag, created by Goodby Silverstein and Partners, provides a reminder not to drive after drinking by lighting up on the front of the bag a red steering wheel with the message ‘Don’t drink and drive.’

The bag incorporates smart LED lights to generate colors that help illustrate the user experience.

“Our bag comes equipped with a sensor for alcohol detection, a custom manufactured PCB, which is a micro controller, and intelligent LEDs,” said Roger Baran, creative director at Goodby Silverstein and Partners. “The system is calibrated to detect even the smallest traces of alcohol on a person’s breath. The PCB is integrated with the smart LEDs to generate the three colors that make the user experience: blue for standby, red when alcohol is detected and green when no alcohol is detected. The entire system, including sensor, PCB, the ring of LEDs and the batteries, is integrated into the bag, which was printed and assembled in a special process.”

At the top center of the limited-edition bags is a small circle with the message ‘blow here.’

“The instructions on the back of the bag direct people to wait for a full blue circle to appear and blow hard two inches away from the bag, and directly at the sensor on the where they can read ‘blow here,’ said Sam Luchini, creative director at GSP.

Tostitos partnered with Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)  to offer 25,000 party-goers $10 off an Uber ride on Super Bowl Sunday. All they have to do is scan the barcode on the bag, get the code and enter it into their Uber app.

Those with an Android phone only need to tap their phone to the bag to initiate the Uber app.

At the very least, the connected bag could be a great conversation piece on Super Bowl Sunday. At best, it can remove from the road the first 25,000 potential drivers who see the Tostitos lights turn red.