Monday, March 19, 2007
Illuminated Handbag by Wiedamark
Materials: A light-emitting fabric that blends optical fiber with other fibers. Color/Finish: Red Type of Bulb: LED. Other Info: Light-emitting fabric is activated by a tiny battery or direct current.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Animated Retro Table Tennis Shirt
Simply pop two AAA batteries into the concealed pack, push a button and voila! Amazing animated glowing old skool gaming on your chest. The two automated computer players are very talented and never seem to miss a shot… but you might want to watch for several hours just to be sure.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Bracelet Phone Concept by Designer Tao Ma
This is one of the coolest concepts for a phone. It’s a stylish bracelet that vibrates when you receive a call. To answer, just unfold it and press the necessary “diamond”.
Tao Ma Portfolio| Via Techmeme and Yanko Design
Thursday, March 08, 2007
PCB007 - Wearable Technology - Where Fashion Meets Technology
The 1st WT congress “Where fashion meets technology” will be held parallel with the sports equipment and fashion trade fair ispo sport & style on July 8-10, 2007 in the International Congress Centre (ICM) Munich at the New Munich Trade Fair Centre.
Distinguished companies like for example Apple and Bluetooth will be also present with exciting, informative speeches. The congress will be supported by Bayern Innovativ, ESA European Space Agency, Innovention, ispo sport & style, Bitkom and Navispace.
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Benedetto Vigna: The Man Behind the Chip Behind the Wii
An interesting article in IEEE about where the designer of the MEMS motion sensor in Nintendo’s Wii wants to take it next.
Vigna says the Wii has been the biggest application of all “because the MEMS chip is the core of the product.” (To be sure, the motion detector doesn’t do the whole job by itself; an infrared system helps, by setting the player’s initial position.)
In recognition of his work, ST recently made Vigna the general manager of its MEMS product division. That means he has to plan for the long term.
First he wants to make the sensor even smaller, even cheaper, even tougher. “I want it to fit in all kinds of places—shoes and textiles, for instance, where it might be useful for medical monitoring,” he says.
“Then I want to make a three-dimensional gyroscope, to measure rotation around three different axes. Today, such products are quite big, a cube 10 centimeters on a side. We want to do this in less than a 30-millimeter cube, to serve as an image stabilizer in cameras and to track a person’s position in the intervals when he can’t get a GPS signal.”
Better still, he adds, would be to throw in a magnetic detector, freeing the navigator from GPS altogether. It would be yet another marvel from Lilliput—the smallest compass ever sold.
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Piezoresistive textiles and organic electronic fabrics
Many researchers such as Rita Paradiso in italy (Smartex company) are now developping interesting e-threads and e-yarns that are sensors or transistors. Piezoresistive sensors, fabric electrodes and textile connections are integrated. and knitted in one step process given rise to comfortable sensing garments. Some Electrically Conductive Elastomer composites show piezoresistive properties.
Fibretronic Signs Agreement with Apple Computer
Fibretronic has announced the signing of a deal with Apple Computer securing entry into the ‘Made-for-Ipod’ licensing programme. This agreement enables Fibretronic to develop and market ready-to-integrate iPod control products for wearable electronics applications in garments, bags and other soft-goods.
Friday, March 02, 2007
senSAVE (Sensor Assistance for Vital Events) Shirts for Medical Monitoring
Via medGadget
Six Fraunhofer Institutes in Germany have spent two years working on a system that can record the main cardiovascular functions 24 hours a day over a long period of time, even away from the doctor’s office, and enables communication with qualified medical staff.
The key components of the mobile health assistant were developed in a joint Fraunhofer project entitled senSAVE® (Sensor Assistance for Vital Events). Along with comfortable, easy-to-wear sensors that constantly measure all the necessary data and transmit them by radio to a PDA, the assistant has the necessary software to collect and analyze the flood of information and send it via Internet or mobile network to a telemedical support center, where trained staff can assess how critical the situation is, advise patients over the phone, and call a doctor if necessary.
It was a challenging task to find suitable electrodes for channeling the ECG readings, as they would need to be in permanent contact with the patient’s skin for days at a time. The Fraunhofer researchers developed a highly flexible dry electrode that can be woven into the elastic fibers of a sensor shirt. Potential wearers are fitted with their own tailor-made sensor shirt. The sheer pressure of the garment is sufficient to establish contact between the skin and the adhesive electrodes. A second layer of fabric covers the sensor wiring and the electronic circuit board.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Solarjo - Power Purse
Via Crave
The bag is covered with small solar panels that can power cell phones or any other gadgets through a USB port built into its interior. MobileWhack says the ingenius purse was designed by a student at Iowa State University and marketed through Solarjo, “a company that produces unlikely items from something that looks quite ordinary.”
Monday, February 26, 2007
Future dress code: Very smart (CNN International)
From micro-tags in bags to vibrating vests, computing is moving from our desktops and portable gadgets to a more integrated relationship with our lives—through our clothes.
It’s more than just incorporating an Mp3 player into a jacket. Engineers working in the field of pervasive computing are aiming to create smart fabrics, embedded with computer chips and sensors that will enhance and possibly even save our lives.
Dott 07 (Designs of the time 2007) Our Cyborg Futures: Me, or Machine?
Dott 07 (Designs of the time 2007) is a year of community projects that explore how design can make a positive difference to our daily lives.
An initiative of the Design Council and the regional development agency, One NorthEast, Dott 07 enables communities and individuals in North East England to collaborate with designers in real-life situations. These projects are small but important examples of what life in a sustainable region might be like.
It culminates in a twelve day Festival in NewcastleGateshead in October 2007.
Our Cyborg Futures: Me, or Machine? looks at the shrinking divide between us and the technology we use. From prosthetic body parts, to smart textiles and wearable computing, a range of technologies is penetrating the different ‘skins’ we surround ourselves with - from our biological skin, to the clothes we wear, the buildings we live in, and the communication networks we connect through.
The Cyborg show will range from robots designed to help elderly people, through state-of-the-art devices for health, care, fashion and sport, to devices that connect our minds to communication networks.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Microscopic chain-mail could link wearable gadgets
Microscopic chain mail made from miniscule metal links has been made by US researchers. It could ultimately be used to create textiles with sensors and other electronics built in.
Jonathan Engel and Chang Liu at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, made their chain mail using manufacturing techniques borrowed from the microchip industry.
The fabric could be used to make smart clothing, says Liu. “We are interested in perhaps using it as a flexible textile or fabric that has properties like sensing or heating.”
Deadline extended! CTIA’s 2nd Annual FIM Scholarship Program
The deadline has been extended to March 5, 2007 so there’s still time to submit!
CTIA is proud to bring you the 2nd Annual FIM Scholarship Program – open to Technology and Fashion University and College Students. The focus of this project is to combine wireless technology & fashion and produce visions of the future in Wearable Wireless Communication Technology.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
La Perla Launches Attraxionbra at CTIA’s Fashion in Motion Technology Fashion Show
Visit the CTIA Fashion in Motion technology fashion show in Orlando, Florida, USA in March 2007 to see a world exclusive preview of La Perla’s Attraxionbra. The Attraxionbra was developed by The La Perla Science Department in collaboration with Alexandra Fede, the European scientific researcher who is at the forefront of the integration of fashion, technology and science.
The objective of this project is to create a new underwear concept that will allow those who wear it to extend their communicative impact and influence interpersonal relations in a positive way. Concepts such as “femininity” and “seduction”, which have always belonged to La Perla’s system of values, can acquire new meanings through the use of technology at the service of emotions.
CTIA’s technology fashion show, Fashion in Motion, is a collection of the most innovative and creative products and prototypes in the wearable wireless arena. This couture style fashion show features the latest wireless devices, accessories, technical textiles, smart fabrics, and fashions available today, along with the futuristic visions of tomorrow.
Made With Molecules
Designs inspired by nature by Raven Hanna (above image from 2007 AAAS meeting in San Francisco). Includes such items as the serotonin necklace, neurotransmitter earrings, and estrogen jewelry. Each item includes a card describing the science that inspired it.