Science Brings You Brighter Pants

HobbySpacer writes "Ignored at parties? Now you can really shine in your new wild and crazy pants made from a fabric woven with scintillating light fibers and lit by LEDs. Optics.org reports on the debut this month of "sparkly clothes" made by the Italian company Luminex. The fibers were originally developed for particle physics experiments (first the Web and now this!) Science, leading us on to a brighter future..."

Comments

A lot more disturbing is this:

[uradu]

http://optics.org/articles/news/8/7/1/1

Why does the world need this again?

Re:A lot more disturbing is this:

[mgblst]

And in other news, Scientists have still failed to find a cure for cancer.

thx fark!

Re:A lot more disturbing is this:

[Sylver Dragon]

Maybe its just the technophile in me, but that is cool. No more being a slave to what someone else thinks is cool and silkscreens on a shirt, now I can just download a new picture/saying/logo whatever to my shirt.
I'll never have to change my shirt again!!
Well ok, that might start to smell a bit, but it would be a nice cheap way to have a shirt with my own design on it. Not to mention that most of the shirts with decent artwork on them are little more than styalized company logos. Is it just me or does it seem silly to pay a lot of money to advertise for a company? I mean, they want me to pay them $20 to become a walking billboard for thier logo/slogan, WTF?
Also with this same technology and a good vidoe capture card and I could make some good wall scrolls.

Re:A lot more disturbing is this:

[uradu]

> No more being a slave to what someone else thinks is cool

I think you'll find that the reality will be very different. Probably the first companies to offer these shirts cheaply WILL be these shirt companies that will sell you that animated shirt for $40 in exchange for wearing a hard-coded GAP ad. You just know that many companies will introduce work uniforms with rolling commercials (e.g. pest control, plumbers, electricians, phone companies etc.). Before you know it, you'll be walking down the street and seeing a sea of moving pictures on the backs of people in front of you. Shades of Diamond Age anyone?

Re:A lot more disturbing is this:

[Sylver Dragon]

Damn, and that was a really enjoyable bubble you just burst.
On the other hand though, how long before someone figures out that an ad-free shirt system would be a viable way to make money, sure I have to pay $100 for it, but to have it ad-free...
Also, there is alway hacking. Though I guess that might be a DMCA/CBDTPA/LOSLAWMANBWTOSMCTTALN violation. I can see it now, "Sir, you are under arrest for removing the GAP logo from your shirt."
The clothes company will start saying that we need to close the analog hole, "People are buys shirts with embroidered logos and then using rippers to remove the stitching. This is to the clothes companies what the Boston Stragler is to a woman alone at night!"
Legal battles will ensue, laws will be written and tossed out of courts, in the end people will lose thier right to wear what they want...
Ok, that's just silly, but I think we'll be able to to get a logo/commercial free shirt, if we are willing to pay for it.
P.S. LOSLAWMANBWTOSMCTTALN (Lots Of Stupid Legal Acronyms Which Mean Absolutly Nothing But When Typed Out Sound Much Catchier Than The Actual Law's Name)

Implications? (-1 redundant probably)

[illusion_2K]

From the article:

" In the future the company is hoping to turn the clothes into a 'smart' material, capable of measuring pulse or body temperature and responding to environmental stimuli."

Well, I for one think that the implications of mood pants are pretty obvious...

Re:Implications? (-1 redundant probably)

[blazin]

I'm gonna need to find me a bunch of stuff that goes with green in that case...

Jump the Shark

[bwt]

Did the science category just jump the shark?

Re:Jump the Shark

[Snafoo]

I haven't heard that circumlocution before.

For everyone else out there who's in the same boat, as it were, but hasn't gotten around to adding a google luckbutton to your Mozilla derivate,

http://www.jumptheshark.com/

Soft watches, please

[Observer]

Ever since I first read it mentioned in passing - "it's a Bulova Dali" - in one of Larry Niven's stories set in Known Space, I've wanted to have a Daliesque flexible and functional watch woven into the cloth of a shirt cuff. Now, as the technology is gradually approaching the point where this might be feasable for the first time, we get... Disco Trousers?

Oh dear.

--
Bulova(r) is a registered trade mark of Bulova Corporation. Dali ought to be a registered trade mark, given his eye for the commercial main chance.

Re:Soft watches, please

[Tablizer]

How about starting a trend where your watch is on your butt.

Then when strangers ask what time it is, SHOW THEM!

Excellent Efficiency! Captain

[Tablizer]

It makes it easier and quicker to know who to shun at parties. Girls then don't have to actually talk to you to know you are a dweeb.

Brighter Pants? What I need...

[David Leppik]

is a pair of emergency pants!

Pants that need batteries?!

[OmniSynth]

When glow-in-the-dark clothes just aren't good enough.

Actually, if done tastefully (ha!), you might end up with some pretty nifty stuff.
I refuse to walk around as a floresent marquee all day though.
Not to mention that it's going to be hell for teens trying to sneak back home after curfew.
Quick! Turn off your clothes, or your mom will see us!

Rudolph with your pants so bright, won't you guide my rave tonight?
Sorry. It might be too early for that last one.

wallpaper and customized skins!

[Vuzz]

How about pants with downloadable skin from the net to go with it. Feels just like Winamp.

Better yet, wallpaper for your pants and shirt!The possibilities are endless.

--Vuzz

Re:wallpaper and customized skins!

[Suidae]

How about clothing with wireless networking so you can be a walking billboard in exchange for cheaper admission to themeparks?

And you could have the chance of hacking someone elses pants.

Imagine if everybody at a sporting event had network addressable clothing, the stands would be one huge scrolling marquee.

Re:wallpaper and customized skins!

[netsharc]

The mental image of man staying in the middle of a theme park with a picture of the surroundings on his shirt brings "What about invisibility!" to my head. Well not really, but a chameleon-esque clothing that makes you blend with the background would be cool. Then we can just blend into the lockers in the girls' locker room..

Pants

[sulli]

Fluorescent pants are still optional, except for you.

Glowing pants?

[inio]

pffffff... Glowing pants?

What the world really needs are glowing undergarments!

Oh, whoops, seems they have those covered (in the middle).

Re:Glowing pants?

[Tablizer]

Glowing condoms? I dunno.

"Mommy! can I sleep in your bed tonight? I saw a ghost worm barfing in the neighbor's window and I'm scared!"

Interesting, BUT

[glh]

I think it is a nice concept, but I don't like the fact that it needs a battery. I wondery why they can't make it work off human body heat (like armpits and groin)? Perhaps the battery wouldn't be a problem if it was soloar powered (maybe it is?).

One disturbing implication we can all relate to

[Zen Mastuh]

Say you wear one of these shirts and someone hax0rz The Gap's image server with a goatse.cx redirect. Imagine trying to explain away that one!

Re:One disturbing implication we can all relate to

[uradu]

> Imagine trying to explain away that one!

Especially if the image is on your back and you have no idea it's been changed.

Re:Tetris!

[darkwiz]

This gives me some really bad mental imagery involving the straight line and 'L' shaped pieces...

At least we don't have a pure brown LED yet...

Re:Solar powered lights...

[ahfoo]

Try this link. A/