iPhone Heartbeat Monitor Coming Soon

The iPhone hearbeat monitor could soon make online poker even more difficult awesome.

iPhones are already fast becoming something out of a sci-fi movie. Like, say, a Star Trek tricorder, they can be used to talk to your crew and to provide data that helps you understand the world around you. Unlike tricorders, they can also be used to record and play back your own farts. But is it possible for iPhones to become even more creepily futuristic? Apparently yes. According to a recent patent application by Apple, iPhone heartbeat monitors are coming soon.

The wording of the patent suggest the technology’s main purpose will be for security. The hearbeat monitor will be able to distinguish its true owner’s biometric rhythms, so nobody but the person with the right heartbeat will be able to use the phone.

But that’s the boring stuff. The really cool stuff comes later in the patent application. They’ll also be able to do stuff like select an iTunes playlist based on your heart rate. Feeling all tense and strung out? Then how about a little Yanni. Feeling all lazy and lethargic? Some nice death metal should get your butt off the couch, and your heart off its near flat-line.

And that’s where things could get interesting for online poker players. It’s not too far-fetched to imagine having dedicated Heartbeat tables, where everyone playing is hooked up to an iPhone, with their heart rate broadcast to the rest of the table. That would help online poker bridge one of the few gaps between it and the live game – the skill of reading tells from other players. It wouldn’t be particularly scientific (especially because a player at home could just hook their monitor up to their very calm, DWTS-watching wife), but it could be fun. So, Apple, get on it.