Is buying a ‘smart nappy’ really such a clever idea? | Arwa Mahdawi

Anxious parents may see the appeal of measuring their baby's vital signs - but sharing your child's data with a private company may not be wise

This week's instalment of innovations no one was waiting for is brought to you by Pampers, which has announced a "smart nappy" system. Lumi consists of a sensor that you stick to a specially designed nappy; the gizmo then beams information about how much your little bub is peeing and sleeping to a dedicated app. You can complement this with a video monitor that links to the app and tracks room temperature and humidity. Voili: your embarrassingly low-tech baby is now a sophisticated analytics machine.

If you can't wait to start a more data-driven relationship with your newborn, I am afraid to say there is no word on when Lumi will launch in the UK (it arrives in the US this autumn). If you are in South Korea, however, you can grab some Huggies smart nappies; these let you know, via Bluetooth, whether your baby has urinated or defecated. A truly brilliant update to the obsolete technology known as "your nose".