Featured Blog Posts – November 2009 Archive (19)

Biometric Jewelry — The Heartbeat Necklace

Biometeric Jewelry

The Heartbeat Necklace is one of several biometric projects developed by the designer/engineer duo Vanessa Carpenter and Dzl. Vanessa and Dzl make up GeekPhysical, an interactive studio that "create[s] interactive experiences, installations, happenings, or playful rendezvous."

The necklace takes the form of a celtic knotted triangle embedded with a handful of LEDs that twinkle the… Continue

Added by Syuzi on November 30, 2009 at 9:30am — No Comments

Make do and Mend - Earpads

After months of the long cold walk to work (and back) my headphones had started to look a little bit worse for wear. The foam earpads (apparently thats what they are called) on my Koss portapro headphones had worn away and had tears along the edges. I looked into buying some new ones but I decided to try and make my own instead.…

New Ear-cushions with the broken headphones

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Added by Kristina on November 28, 2009 at 10:11am — 2 Comments

Happy Thanksgiving!

Photo by Featherlove Photography

I hope you all have a warm and pleasurable Thanksgiving! Starting Monday we will have a flurry of posts, holiday gift guides for the geeky fashionista and some fun DIY projects to create for your home.

cheers,

syuzi

Added by Syuzi on November 26, 2009 at 10:18am — No Comments

Interactive Wallpaper using Conductive Paint

Interactive Wallpaper

Kirk Mueller, a new media artist, transforms decorative silkscreened wallpaper into dynamic, pattern-changing skins for your walls with the help of the arduino, smart and conductive inks.

Interactive Wallpaper

Mueller's first experimentation (pictured above) used a layer of conductive paint in combination with ordinary ink to create an interactive… Continue

Added by Syuzi on November 25, 2009 at 10:45am — 2 Comments

Don't bother me I'm hibernating

For anyone wondering what I have been up to I have recently been working on the prototype for a new project - the Hibernation Blanket. The basic idea is a crochet blanket laced with lights which pulse in response to your body heat. This can be used to snuggle up in through the long winter nights or it could be placed in… Continue

Added by Kristina on November 24, 2009 at 11:30am — No Comments

Rihanna's Laser Shoulder Pads at 2009 AMA's

Rihanna's Laser Shoulder Pads

Regardless of how you feel about Rihanna's performance at the AMA's, her laser-enhanced costume stole the show.

She looked quite fierce all bondaged up with lasers shooting out of her shoulder pads.

Rihanna's outfit follows Bono's laser jacket and, of course,… Continue

Added by Syuzi on November 24, 2009 at 9:00am — 6 Comments

ON_OFF Switch Bow

Do you want to add an ON_OFF switch to an e-wearable garment without adding a mechanical switch? This could be an idea

Just connect two pieces in series with the device you want to turn on and off. Tie the bow and circuit will be turned on, untie the bow and circuit will be turned off.

Added by Riccardo Marchesi on November 18, 2009 at 2:02pm — No Comments

Interactive LED Garment — Shining Light Through the Body

In it's simplicity and wit, See-thru-me is a one of those projects where the fusion of fashion and technology creates a truly "magical" experience. Developed by Meg Grant, the concept is based on illusion of the body being porous or transparent. When a light is illuminated on the back of the wearer, the LEDs on the front of the garment light up.

The garment… Continue

Added by Syuzi on November 18, 2009 at 11:10am — 3 Comments

TEI'10 Registration Open

Paper Computing Modules by Leah Buechley

TEI, the conference on tangible, embedded, and embodied interaction, is now open for registration.

TEI'10 will all be held at the MIT Media Lab, located in the heart of the MIT campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

If anyone is attending and wants to cover this event for me, please send me a… Continue

Added by Syuzi on November 17, 2009 at 12:35pm — No Comments

Flare - A Wind-sensitive Electronic Dress

Designed and developed by dutch designer Stijn Ossevoort, Flare is an electronic dress embroidered with wind sensitive dandelions. As the wind gently caresses the dress or if you "blow" on the dandelions themselves, a pattern of lights will twinkle across the dress.

I couldn't find a lot of information on the technology or how the dress itself was made — more to come later.…

Flare - A Wind-sensitive Electronic Dress

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Added by Syuzi on November 17, 2009 at 12:21pm — No Comments

Soft Technologies — From Knitted Radiators to Heating Curtains

Knitted Radiator

Swedish designer Hedvig af Ekenstam transforms the common household device — the radiator — into lovely decorative items for the home. Ekenstam knits radiators from twisting and turning heating cables, creating exquisite lightweight screens.

Knitted Radiator

Her second radiator design,… Continue

Added by Syuzi on November 15, 2009 at 6:05pm — No Comments

Cute CIrcuit's Galaxy Dress Video

Quite amazing. if you missed the blog post, read about the Galaxy Dress…

Added by Syuzi on November 13, 2009 at 10:35am — 1 Comment

Acupressure meets Wearable Tech

E-pressed

E-pressed is a warm, cozy sweater that monitor's the wearers "inner state" via a custom galvanic skin resistor sensor and creates awareness of "negative emotions" by communicating to the wearer and others.

Rather than asking how someone is doing, e-pressed visually communicates the individual's level of anxiety, fear and sadness and invites others to interact with the wearer by pressing… Continue

Added by Syuzi on November 12, 2009 at 10:55am — No Comments

Captain Electric: Wearable Human-generated Power

Wearable Human-generated Power

On and off the runway, fashion that rivets our imagination is often lyrical, transformative and even subversive. Fashion, of course, is sensitive to the cultural mood of its time. With "renewable energy" being the current muse in politics, the Captian Electric collection of three electronic garments "Itchy, Sticky and Stiff" that harness energy from the body certainly captures the current… Continue

Added by Syuzi on November 10, 2009 at 1:28pm — No Comments

Nike Sneakers from Recycled Circuit Boards

Circuit Board Nike Sneaker

I've seen lots of recycled circuit board jewelry, but none that compares to the intricate handiwork of artist Gabriel Dishaw's sculptures made from recycled metals and electronic scraps.

Circuit Board Nike Sneaker

Check out those laces! I simple love the switch! Nice work.…

Circuit Board Nike Sneaker

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Added by Syuzi on November 9, 2009 at 8:34am — No Comments

Lilypad Arduino Circuit Layout Tool

Arduino Lilypad Circuit Layout Tool

The Lilypad Layout is a tool available on Openprocessing.org that allows you to visualize or digitally sketch out a circuit before you begin sewing.

Personally, I'm a pencil and paper gal but this tool can be an easy way to quickly visualize a simple circuit using all the Lilypad Arduino components. I do… Continue

Added by Syuzi on November 4, 2009 at 11:41am — No Comments

Happiness Hat

Lauren McCarthy's "Happiness Hat" forces you to smile and, if it detects that you're not smiling, provides "pain feedback" in the form of a pin in the back of your head.

The Happiness Hat is a wearable device that detects if you're smiling and provides pain feedback if you're not. An enclosed bend sensor attaches to the cheek and measures smile size, a servo motor moves a metal spike into the head inversely proportional to the degree of smile. Through repeated use of this… Continue

Added by Nikola Delikatesla on November 3, 2009 at 10:40am — No Comments

Gesture-controlled Wearable "Sleeve" for Playing Tetris

Another interesting project developed as part of the physical computing course at Chalmers Tekniska Högskola is an armband made from conductive textiles and threads that is used to control and play the game of Tetris.

The armband (or sleeve) uses the sway of the wrist to move the pieces left and right, clenching of the fist for rotation, and the extension of the arm to make the pieces fall.

The… Continue

Added by Syuzi on November 3, 2009 at 9:40am — No Comments

Wearable Virtual Guitar Controlled with your Hands

The AIRduino Guitar is a wearable virtual guitar that is "played" with two hands much like playing Air Guitar.

The system consists of a "stick" that triggers sound, a glove that sets the tone and an Arduino of course.

Using ultra sonic sensors to measure the distance between the hands, the distance of the string to glove changes the tone from low (far) to high (close). An accelerometer is used to trigger sound.

The AIRduino Guitar was… Continue

Added by Syuzi on November 2, 2009 at 1:09pm — No Comments