Slashdot Mirror
Philips Shows Light Emitting Clothing
Paul Cobbaut writes "From Physorg: Philips Research intends to impress the visitors at this year's IFA (Internationale Funkausstellung) with a world-first demonstration of promotional jackets and furniture featuring its innovative Lumalive technology. Lumalive textiles make it possible to create fabrics that carry dynamic advertisements, graphics and constantly changing color surfaces. Here is the Philips Press Release." Obviously, all Devo videos will need to be reshot using this valuabe new technology advance.
The possibilities for the PRON industry abound.
Now they can show it all before they take it all off.
Sweet! Now I can build the perfect Tron suit that I always dreamed of! Hopefully, no one will think I'm weird when I wear it to work...
Like there is not already too much light pollution in the world. And advertisment .. and lightboards .. and .. and ...
What might be annoying is if you wear a helmet with LEDs the whole time and you paint a line behind you (the same color as your glowing suit) while making speeding noises. You then insist that no one can cross those lines lest they are destroyed. Now that would be annoying.
Oooh, there is one big market waiting for this. Who cares about advertising, visibility is even more important. Dayling running can be made safer with clothing that shifts geometric patterns and shifting colors. Ads on the clothing could be used to reduce the price so people actually wear it... and if not ads then perhaps some customizable imagery would be good to.
Still, the safety aspects are hard to ignore with stuff like this. If the power use is low enough then self lighting (pulsing/blinking) emergency gear would be another great application (think of aircraft seats, lifevests, etc). Get lost in the woods then at night a tent or even your jacket if woven with this material could be set to flash etc.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
As a bicycle commuter (somewhat rare in this Midwestern, Rust Belt, automotive driven state), I can see where Lumalive would be useful for safety gear. Instead of hanging a handful of 'blinkies' off the back of my bike, my whole back could be one big flashing signal. Perhaps a glowing 'slow moving vehicle' triangle of a square foot or so would be more attention-getting than what doesn't work now (lights, high-contrast clothing, evne high-viz yellow jackets don't help half the time).
You could have windbreakers with the name of a gang on them that turn black on command. Or suits that dazzle everyone letting you escape. Active camaflauge. There are so many uses of this technology.
Inventions have long since reached their limit, and I see no hope for further development.-- Frontinus, 1st cent. AD
Can we get this clothing to accept user input? I've always wanted to play pacman on my chest. 2 player battleship anyone, I play my front, you play my back?
Come to Australia so we can strip search you and rob you of your internets, pr0n, rights and freedoms.
I bet this guy is happy
But it can be a very cool tech.
Imagine these clothes are sold with a wireless interface in the future, which IMHO is a reasonable idea, geeks in school could learn to hack them and write "kick me" on the back of the violent kids while staying at safe distance.
They're not alone - try Luminex for fibre optic threads in clothes and Elekson for pressure sensitive fabrics....
I can just imagine the neds trying to impress each other with their new shell suits on the street corners on friday nights.
Thank you for this advance in fabric technology Philips.
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In fact: Is one of the captions of the picture. They seem to just be concerned with better advertisement on people's bodies for brand names. Yuck. Or perhaps just the showy aspect of this. It's quite possible that these lack the power to produce lights bright enough for safety gear. Remember that a reflective jacket these days uses the driver's headlights to reflect a pretty bright light.
Slashdot T-Shirts!!!
;-)
Imagine proudly advertising to the entire world that you are a complete nerd! Yay!
The right to offend is far more important than the right not to be offended. (Rowan Atkinson)
Why, I thought that was nyl-on impossible!
..Sorry.
That guy with a glowing @ on his back looks so hip, like he's totally part of the Internet Revolution!
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
I can't wait for this - google can now give it away as Adword supprted clothing.
I think I'm going to patent "Pay per Prod" quickly.
ccalam - acoustic versions of new songs.
The google ads alongside the article were about Areva or Chernobyl. Is this fabric radioactive?
....I can finally get to work on my teletubbies Hallowe'en costume, complete with working belly screen?
Now, I wonder where I can find stock footage of that monk incinerating himself in protest from the Vietnam Conflict?
I predict bed-sheets with built-in mood-lighting.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not entirely sure about the universe - Einstein
How disappointing :( I was really hoping that the Internationale Funkausstellung would be some Parliament/Funkdadelic style gathering of Interplanetary Funksmanship. Now that's a group of people who would be in to light emitting clothes.
ant.
Now you don't have to waste time getting your friends to apply text to your cloating with post-it notes:
3 7/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/87457200@N00/2270910
You're too late
Leave it to Philips to invent some great technology and then blow the marketing. They have a great history of doing that.
Come on, if even slashdot can come up with applications that are far more marketable then "advertise on my back", why can't Philips ?
Sig (appended to the end of comments I post, 54 chars)
Did clothing manufacturers start making clothes from dark matter without telling anybody? No wonder there are so many emo's around!
---- "XML is like violence. If it doesn't fix the problem, you aren't using enough."
Ads here, ads there, ads everywhere.. But i must admit this is indeed a unique way of going about it. Wonder what will be next..
the world is spherical
Back in the mid 90's Prof. Thad Starner and some of his grad students at MIT did a jacket like this for visual feedback as a part of the wearable computing research they were doing.
an array of LED's just below the outer shell so they shine through, exactly like how they did it. But they were also using conductive threads as well as other tech that made it not only feedback but to control it by touching certian embroidered spots composed of the conductive thread as a sewn on keypad.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Imagine Ben Stein's voice as you read:
Craptacular
Burning man and burners will be the largest consumers of this product. Just as they are curntly the largest group of users of LiveWire.
(Burning man rocks -- I wish I could go this year, but I can't make it.)
Ian Ameline
Now, to add some photosensitive materials, and you get a kick butt game of laser tag that can show where its been hit.
meh
Honestly, where else are you going to find terms that match with glowing things that aren't supposed to normally?
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
This could potentially bring an end to the expression "Stick it where the sun don't shine", if my shorts can illiluminate such dark corners of the universe.
"We are all geniuses when we dream"
- E.M. Cioran
On how long it will take for someone to dress-up in a glowing green outfit and pretend to be an alien?
I'd say about 5 minutes.
If "disco" means "I learn" in Latin, does "discothèque" mean "I learn technology"?
Its going to be great to see a virus spreading though your local GAP.
Times Square's glitzy neon lights were revolutionary in its day, but information overloads like that are quickly tuned out to the point where I would guess the percentage of people who work or live nearby who could actually name more than three or four Times Square ads from memory to be very low. As is all I can pull off the top of my head are Coca-cola and the big steamy Cup-O-Noodles, even though I've taken regular walks through the area for roughly 12 years. Because nothing positively enhances my mood like tons of stupid blinking flashing crap made to distract me and sell me things.
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
The thing that concerns me most about this would be the potential application in reviving disco. Then comes roller disco and then Kryogenics is used to bring back the decesed members of the Gibb family. AND IT ALL STARTS with the sequins for the digital age.
My jeans cost £3. Look, no badge, no brand. Equivalent Levis, £40.
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-for the wave of UFO sightings
sudo ergo sum
Now we can put ads on shirts how awesome is that. There are several bands out there that I wish I had shirts for. Thank you Philips.
Can I bum a sig?
Ok, he IS talking about the signs on the pedestrian crossing. Its too early to think.
The other signs are annoying though.
People tend to drive the direction they're looking.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Target_fixation
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How long is it onna be before people use their mobile phones to hack other peoples clothes?
A complete color change capacity would be great, though. No more shopping for the perfect tie to match each suit. Just think about it matching hard enough and ....voila!
Pandering to the lowest common denominator would be less frequent if more people were prime numbers.
What we really need in clothing is a new type of clothing that can capture the kinetic energy of our movements, then makes that energy available to the devices that we carry with us and are embedded in our clothing. It would be much like the lights in the soles of our footware that light up with every step except that it could be stored in our clothing, then directed toward the devices we carry with us and wear as they need them.
There's no question this will happen. The only question is: Will it be patented or not. Mabye the best practical use of the Slashdot database is that it contains lots of ideas first disclosed here that can be used to disqualify patent applications, thus speeding the free pursuit of the development of the ideas into products or services for the real world by preventing those who would implement them from being obstructed by patents.
I think we're looking at * T-shirts, not specifically /. T-shirts. Because we can change the images, why would we let the logo-owner "own" the shirt, limiting which logo we can display?
One shirt to display them all, one T-shirt to bind them, one T-shirt to play them all, and in the darkness remind them.
--
make install -not war
I think the best use for this would be camouflage. Imagine a cloth equipped with a pocket cam and CPU that tries to mimick the enviroment. Of course it would work better if it had passive lighting (like electronic paper).
This is just the beginning of a world where every possible surface we have will eventually display advertisements... Ever read Stephon's The Diamond Age?
Once we have mediatronic paper and chopsticks, it's all over.
Quit thinking there are going to be ads everywhere just because they put a screen in a shirt. If you haven't noticed, we can print stuff on tshirts already, and sure you see some branded shirts, but you don't go railing off on how bad society is because people wear their free microsoft tshirts. And anyways, since the display can be changed companies won't have a way to make sure their ads stay on the shirts.
from the dear-god-do-i-hate-august dept.
:)
Shouldn't you be able to figure that out for yourself, Hemos? Why are you asking Him?
"Hm. I'm entitled to ramble on about something everyone knows." - Captain Picard
Keep in mind that their own management can't get their own products to work.
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
This will revolutionize the "I'm with stupid" t-shirt industry - now the arrow can always point in the right direction
Did you RTFA? It took an entire back to show an "@" sign. Put all those letters on your jacket and you will have everybody on your ass (literally) trying to read WTF you put there.
Maybe change it to: "If you can read this, you're too close"
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
To repeat what others have said, requires education, to challenge it , requires brains.
Of course this solves the problem with being asked to increase the amount of flare. If ever confronted, you would just have to connect your vest and update to include more. To futher increase the tackiness: include the menu on the vest as well.
Proof by very large bribes. QED.
Now all they need is a camera on each side of the outfit and to display the pictures captured on the opposite side, and you have invisibility-wear!
As a motorcyclist, I will never apologize for being too visible.
In terms of quality, the cheap jeans are higher quality than the designer jeans because they fit my purpose better.
1 .htm
They fit well, the are equally hard wearing and look just as good as the designer pair, in fact nobody can tell the difference without looking at the labels.
e.g.
http://www.fashionunited.co.uk/news/archive/jeans
Scroll to the last story. However, you feel free to just go on paying the 2000% markup. If you ask nicely they'll stamp "gullible" on your forehead at the till.
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Comment removed based on user account deletion
Do you honestly think the idiot driving the Hummer way too fast cares whether she is tailgating you? If you stop in half the distance she can, she will just flatten you and she probably won't even notice.
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
...will never be the same. Imagine the possibilities :)
"The irony when tending a flock of sheep is the dogs you put in place to protect them are genetically mutated wolves"
Shouldn't these people have been working on the cure for the common cold? Or legos that are don't get stuck together as badly, or something else?
Used to see gear like that at raves back in the 1990s. "E-shirts" (t-shirts with electroluminescent panels displaying changing patterns) are still available. And who could forget the LCD belt buckle. Nobody wears that stuff any more, of course.
I'm just waiting for the time when "Kick Me" Is written across someones back via a hack!
Now why is the Hummer driver a she?
I'm surely lacking some info here...
Free beer is never free as in speech. Free speech is always free as in beer.
special necktie for the office Christmas party. Seriously: Novelties, safety, team uniforms (ads), kids' clothes... Underwear? Probably not on the first date. Great for corporate swag though. Put me down for a necktie.
"No fear. No envy. No meanness." Liam Clancy
The very first application they mention in the article is advertising. That should come as no surprise based on how many idiots are more than willing to walk around like billboards for clothing companies. But... this is far worse. Can you imagine how many stupid people will jump at the chance to run around with the Sprint or Verizon logos and accompanying video ads playing non-stop on their clothes just to get "free" minutes or a "free" phone? Or what about "free" DSL, Satellite or Cable? Where is the dignity in that? I'll bet the same fuckers who sell out their friends and family to DirecTV or some long distance company to get "free" credits will jump all over the opportunity to be a walking ad. Disgusting. Humanity is vile.
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
Oh great, now they're going to to have the 'TSAA', to protect the tee-shirt artists from shirt emulation.
e s/downloads/ldm-lighting_14-0_h.jpg
Here is the hi-resolution version in case anyone cared:
http://www.research.philips.com/newscenter/pictur
This is ancient history. I have been doing this type of stuff for years.
www.well.com/~allyn/newpictures.html
Cleara
The one who almost ran me over in her efforts to get around my Vespa so she could run a red light was a she.
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
(Officer into his radio)
..suspect wearing a red.... no.. yellow... no... blue....
..........He's wearing a jacket... don't ask about the color."
"in persuit of perp.
"The binocular guy nods, reaches up with one hand and presses a lapel switch. The next time he turns around, a word is written across his back in neon green electropigment: MAFIA. The older guy turns away; his windbreaker says the same thing. Hiro turns around in the middle of the gangplank. There are twenty crew members in plain sight all around him. Suddenly, their black windbreakers all say, MAFIA. Suddenly, they are all armed."
"The Greens lynched a hacker in Chicago. Last month, but I think the body's still hanging from the old Water Tower."
The article forgets to tell us WHAT KIND OF LED? I highly doubt it is an actual LED since they are to big. If it's fully integrated into the fabric then it could be a Organic LED or PLED (polymer led).
What do you think the LED is?
\
so, i can look forward to a future in which a typical walk through town will involve punching dozens of people in the face as hard as i can?
free software, open standards, open file formats, no software patents.
The psychedelic equivalent of identity-obscuring shadows/pixellation and voice distortion for whistleblowers on television news magazines, the scramble suit was introduced by Philip K. Dick in his novel "A Scanner Darkly". Give it a few years before somebody does this for Halloween, now...
This would be a cool technology.
I'd like to draw my own designs.... have it cycle through some of my artwork.
who sees the camouflage potential here? Think Predator (the movie)...
Why should something like this be restricted to clothing? Maybe it could be used for one of those pull-down window view screens like from Back to the Future Part II.
That these would be a fun think to remotely hack? I wonder if they can be programmed via wifi... Oh, the possibilies of public embarrassment! :)
-- If we don't stand up for our rights, now, there will be no right to stand up for them later.
I don't know about anyone else, but I don't want my sofa covering to influence my behavior at all...
Judges and senates have been bought for gold; Esteem and love were never to be sold.
Porno convention anyone?
Hm. The first thing I thought when I was the article was that this would be great for large-scale search & rescue operations. Piles of "plain vanilla" uniforms could be instantly programmed to display the rescue operative's name and unit on the back, color-coded. A flick of a switch could cause the uniform to blink an "I've found a survivor" pattern, to draw attention. Why are these guys only thinking of ad space?
I can see it now. In order to subsidize my prescription drug benefits, I'll have to wear one of these that says: "Another happy Viagra customer!"
Most rooms are stationary...unless you get lucky with said pretty secretary and the earth moves for you!
Most rooms are stationary...
Speak for yourself! Obviously you're not a carney.
We hope your rules and wisdom choke you / Now we are one in everlasting peace