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Chic Gear to Suit Net Generation
Roland Piquepaille writes "In this article, BBC News Online says that fashion specialists and engineers are preparing the next generation of wearable computing fashion accessories. Current ones are too conspicuous and expensive. Joseph Dvorak, a researcher at Motorola US, predicts the computers and technology we wear in four or five years time will not draw attention to ourselves. And Dr. Dianne Jones from textile company SOFTswitch, maker of the Burton Amp jacket which integrates an Apple iPod, thinks that the wearable computing industry will grow rapidly. She says that in ten years, 20% of our clothes will incorporate some kind of electronic components. This summary contains more details and references."
She says that in ten years, 20% of our clothes will incorporate some kind of electronic components.
Unless she's including RFID tags, that 20% figure sounds far too high. I can't believe that one-fifth of socks, pants, underwear, shirts, etc will contain electronic components in 10 short years.
Also, how will all these clothes be cleaned? Will they be safe to throw in our 2003 "stone age" washing machines when 2013 rolls around?
Trolling is a art,
If the impending war against machines wasn't bad enough, now we're gonna have to do it naked.
Current Karma Status: Roadkill
Didn't he also say that in four to five years, everyone would be using his keyboards? We see how well THAT turned out.
I guess this means we'd be wearing a Beowulf cluster?
Interesting, it would mean computing power was greater in winter with more clothing layers.
Sorry for using "interesting" and Beowulf cluster" in the same post.
Troc
Troc's dubious podcast and blog: http://www.trocnet.net
i wont be convinced until I have a pair of nano-khakis that don't force me to "shake" for three goddamn minutes after I take a piss
I guess we need to update the story of the emperors new clothes to include vapourware, coredumps and segmentation faults.
Seriously, PDA's are really coming along, in a couple years you'll have a fully functional computer inside a PDA with free wireless and everything you need. And if you need to hide for a while, its easy to 'forget' your computer in the house or car. You can't really do that with clothing.
From 0% to 20% in ten years? That means about 220 million articles of clothing will be produced in the year 2013 for sale in the U.S. market alone.
Riiight.
Its amazing how much these researchers get blinders on and inflate the importance of their research. There must be a term for this.
A computer in my clothes.. Talk about a dress code!
um... sewing an ipod-sized pocket into a jacket somehow makes her an expert on trends in embedded systems?
Well hell, I can fit five AA cells in my mouth -- I say in 6 months we'll all be living underwater on the moon!
Now where's my consulting fee?
Let it out slowly.
Now chant.
"It's OK to spend part of my day away from computers and the Internet."
Repeat as necessary.
Wiggle your toes and clench your buttocks if that helps. Actually, that's good advice for any time of day.
--- Ban humanity.
Yeah. The world's first yearly-subscription laundry detergent.
Please help metamoderate.
On a related note, the International Symposium on Wearable Computing is being held this October 21-23 in White Plains, NY.
One of these days I'll attend one...
--The more you know, the less you know.
Now wheres my mobile phone?
Oh damn its in the wash..
"You lied to me! There is a Swansea!"
What I want out of wearable computing is an eyepiece or specs that connect to a pda/computer wirelessly that overlays what I see with information.
Doing things like facial recognition and putting people's names under them and maybe some information you wanted to remember about them. Like 'don't ask john about his wife'.
As x approaches total apathy I couldn't care less.
It appears that your boxers are out of date, there exists a security hole that could allow your wang to show. A patch exists that could repair them, would you like to install it?
OK
Always Trust the Microsoft Corporation
I've been violated
Tenner, anyone?
Integrating electronics into clothing gives you a many to many problem, you have to be wearing this for that to work etc. Then there's the batteries, washing, changes in fashion, worn out clothing etc.
The ability to stick this electronic device into that pocket gives you a many to one relationship and will remove any market demand for integrated devices. In fact they are a disfeature[1].
[1] Is that a real word? Go on, pedants you know you want to look it up for me.
Government of the people, by corporate executives, for corporate profits.
Really, Michael J. Fox tried to tell us this in the 80's in BttF3. ;) Self-cleaning and self-sizing jacket, self-tying shoes... very cool. ;)
Wearing technology or technology wearing you?
Imagine an LCD-like dress that can be easily reprogrammed to show any combination of colors and image. I would like to be free from a fashion dictated by somebody else then me.
From a techincal point of view, a shirt calculating your blood pressure , sugar or alcool level in your blood and other medical parameters would be a very valuable tool, as long as it doesn't also broadcast the data like the nasty RDIF tag in theory could.
The Design group @ Phillips have been thinking about wearable electronics for a long time. Check out their webpage for it: http://www.design.philips.com/what_we_do/research_ projects/wearable_electronics.asp.
They published a super-cool book called New Nomads a few years back where they propose some interesting ideas. The book is reeeeeeally hard to find, [you have to order it directly from 010 Publishing from the Netherlands], but the ideas in it, as well as how it is made is way interesting... It even has a soft, thick, deep purple color... Those crazy designers!
In general though, Phillips Design do great stuff with ubicomp, wearable comp, and other cool futuristic ideas, trying to put those things in a social perspective [lots of S&TS and HCI stuff here].
This is terrible. Having computers in clothes will just set off primitive alarms in huge department and food stores.
This will give sleezy creepy $8/hour 'security guards' an excuse to take female customers into back rooms and strip search them in lieu of threats, detainment, or arrest.
Sure, if you're rich, you can sue, threaten, or avoid stores with oppressive and primitive alarm systems (like Fred Meyer).
But if you're not rich, it's just one more mean stupid thing that the technological community has inflicted on the general population in order to find reason to continue to exist.
Thank you,
"Is that a 30 GHz Opteron beowulf cluster in your pants or are you just glad to see me"?
"There are already a million monkeys on a million typewriters, and Usenet is NOTHING like Shakespeare." - Blair Houghton
Went to CompUSA and looked at the only armband they have for my iPod. It's a huge, too-wide band of stretch fabric with the same stupid black leather-and-plastic cover over the iPod itself. Black? Bulky? Did they notice the iPod itself is white and pretty danged sleek? I wanted something that'd be like a watchband to wear, and they gave me scuba gear.
Take a look at technologies that are more mature, and you have a different level of refinement altogether. Binoculars, high end ones, really do give a rip about balance, the strap design distributing weight, and every little detail of focus speed and so on. My Swarovskis cost just under a grand retail, and every little detail of their design reflects thought about how you can use them for days at a time in comfort. No ostentation, just good design.
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
I bought a ScottEVest and I have been immensely happy with the purchase. The only way it looks real geeky is if I am wearing it in the summer with shorts or using it as a vest and even that is not bad. When the sleeves are on it is great. Very non geek. The PAN conduits are a great idea. Almost every pocket has a hole for the pan. Some pockets can be 2 pockets or one pocket depending on your use. My one pocket in the front of the jacket holds both my Walkman (for radio) and my MP3 Player. There's a strip of velcro sealed and it separates the two and prevents them from clanking together. When I want to switch, I pull out the one I want to plug into and pull the plug out of theon still in the pocket, Plug the headphones in, start it and put it back in. I am using regular headphones until I find some COMFORTABLE ear buds. Most buds are either too small or to big. I have found none that are adjustable.
:) It would be VERY hard to make those and have them look non geeky! :)
:) IN any case, judging from the general public's opinion of the ScottEVest when I was in DC at the International Spy Museum (Very cool place.....check it out if you can...even the store is cool), I'd say she's right. The couple who was in the store in the same section of the store as I was saw the jacket when I was poking at the pockets and such and when I showed them the pan that the guy could hide his earbud for his cellular the WIFE thought it was great! Not just the guy! People want to be able to take their MP3 Player with them but they are leary of belt clips and other accoutrements to hold these. A pocket in a jacket or pair of pants is a much more secure method of carrying around these things. Backpacks all over the place now have holes for the headphone cable to come out of. Until bluetooth comes down to a decent price, cables are the way and some people will STILL want to use the cable because it sounds better or is cheaper. Even then you'd want pockets. Most conventional jackets have like 3 pockets. Only one of those somewhat sealed. People don't want to lug a bag and guys definitely don't want to carry a purse or risk an expensive device flying off the belt clip. The Scottevest and those Levi Dockers with teh extra pockets are very appealing...not just to geeks either. Case in point, the burton amp jacket is just too cool....too bad I don't own a iPod!
For my GPS, I have a Radio Shack digitraveler and I run it's cable from the pocket near the sholder to the pocket on the front. When I need to use it, all I have to do is pull the iPaq out of the same pocket and plug it in.
There are so MANY pockets that so far most of mine are empty. I have the storage to take almost everything I want with me all of the time except my laptop and I don't always need it. Now all I need is ScotteShorts for the summer!
Now my question for Slashdotters is why are you TRYING to hide taht your a geek? To me, either you are or your not. You can't alter your appearance much to hid eyour tech obsession. That GPS watch just gives it away!
Gorkman
I think Batman and his belt own the rights to this.
Slashdot Syndrome: the sudden, extreme urge to correct someone in order to validate one's self.
Joseph Dvorak, a researcher at Motorola US, predicts the computers and technology we wear in four or five years time will not draw attention to ourselves.
Heck, what's the point of being a geek if your wearable gear doesn't draw attention?
Queer eye for the geek guy?
LP? as in 12" vinyl? I'm trying to see which pocket that'd go in but I'm having trouble. Anyway, wouldn't it skip?
ooh, you could spool the LP to tape as a buffer and then on to your headphones. *ponder*
Troc
Troc's dubious podcast and blog: http://www.trocnet.net
Error 404: Server not found. User has been pantsed.
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
I can just hear the excuse some girl will come up with to not go out with me on a Friday...
"I'm sorry, I'm defragging my pants that day.