Slashdot Mirror
Solar Powered Jacket Charges Your Gadgets
blorg writes "Wired News has a story about a new jacket from SCOTTeVEST that uses flexible solar panels on the shoulders to recharge gadgets in the pockets. The idea is that you can now keep all of your gadgets charged, even if you are spending an extended period of time away from a power source. The solar charging is an addition to an existing jacket with features including 42 hidden pockets that can be wired together through the jacket lining."
I didn't see any mention of a pocket for my penis.
If I was a pilot, I'd be far more worried about some twenty-year-old in a fighter with a bunch of heat-seeking missiles than by a passenger with a jacket.
This guy has been pushing this idea for years in Chicago, though I think he recently moved operations somewhere to save on 'expenses.'
/soooo/ cool because it had a walkman-shaped pocket (and a matching headphone-shaped one too) on the outside with a hole for your headphone wires. (The walkman pocket was the size of a paperback dictionary, but that's another story). Anyway, the thing was over a hundred bucks, which was just laughable. Anyway, that's what I thought of when I saw the original eVest.
/less/ stuff these days.
Granted, this is all my opinion, but it really speaks volumes on the state of tech innovation in Chicago.
Guy (lawyer maybe?) wants to be a tech entrepeneur and make buckets of money. Comes up with half decent idea, using connections and VCs desperate inability to turn down deals in 1999, gets funding. I have to say, back in the day when a phone/pda didn't do all this stuff, I was intrigued. For about a second, until I realized that for $300+ I could buy my own vest and wire it however I wanted. Then it reminded me of this vest I saw in 1984, which was
The problem is, he doesn't want to make a couple of handcrafted products, he wants to sell millions, and have them in Sharper Image, Harrington's, etc. He has succeeded in getting PR in Wired and NT Times, no small feat, if you consider this idea is getting stale, and most geeks I know want to carry
In order to get anyone to keep noticing it, it had to become the uber-vest. 42 pockets? For $300-400. Are you f&%)ing kidding me? You can get a cheaper/nicer vest for flyfishing or photographers, and load it up all you want.
Like I said, a sad state on the 'lemme in on the tech cash' mentality of innovation in Chicago in the last few years. IMO, of course. Probably I am most annoyed at his inability to just produce a product without trying to make it a billion dollar home run. I'm surprised he's still getting PR on this nonsense.
...you power your solar jacket