iBreath, Your New Year's Eve Drinking Buddy?

The newly released iBreath, an alcohol breathalyzer accessory that attaches to your iPod and iPhone, is the newest addition to the list of Apple-friendly alcohol apps and devices (you know, Drunk-Dial and Taxi Magic?) and I think it's pretty brilliant. The iBreath, created by David Steele Enterprises Inc., sells for $79. It claims it can measure your alcohol content within two seconds and within .01 percent accuracy—and it even doubles as an FM transmitter. (The marriage of personal science with FM transmission capability seems a little odd, but what the hell.) What's next: an iSugar glucose meter? Maybe an iClean personal STD test?

Laura Dean-Mooney, national president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, has come out against the iBreath, telling the Los Angeles Times that kids will just use it for drinking games and no one should drive with any alcohol in their system no matter what, and we should all just take public transportation. If you are falling down drunk, obviously calling a cab is the only thing you should be doing. But this device could be useful for those who have two glasses of wine at dinner, or two cocktails at the bar, and might not realize that even if they don't feel tipsy, it's not too hard to surpass .08 percent blood-alcohol content. And until public transportation in many cities is more widely available after last call, and kids start thinking that Monopoly is more fun than drinking (i.e., never), iBreath fills an intereresting gap.

—Kathleen Flynn