Books from Finland - A literary journal of writing from and about Finland.

Culottes: 18th-century smartwear. Picture from ‘L’art du tailleur’ by Diderot & d’Alembert. Wikipedia

Eat your heart out, Angry Birds? Ever since the global success story of the Nokia phone company, Finns have been trying to rule the world with global electronic products. Among the latest achievements are analytical undies. The Finnish company Myontec has invented underwear embedded with electromyographic sensors, which measure the workings of your muscles and send the data to a computer.

Last year The New York Times gave the pants third place on their list of ‘32 Innovations that Will Change Your Tomorrow’.

What, you’re not athletic? You might stir from your sedentary slumber if your pants let you know how pathetically little you work out for your own good.

In late January Myontec’s smartshorts won the Sport & Fitness category at the Wearable Technology Innovations World Cup 2013/2014 in Munich. Who knows how far, globally, this will go? Smartpants, smartphones: perhaps your knickers will start talking one day – thus combining the advantages of two electronic appliances in which the Finns have expertise.