Syuzi's Blog – August 2010 Archive (10)

Soft Circuit Contest on Instructables

Soft Circuit Contest

A large part of the DIY ethos is sharing your knowledge with your greater community. In order to grow the soft circuit and e-textile communities, we really need to share our successes and our failures with each other.

Instructables is having a soft circuit contest next week and I'm challenging ya'all to turn that last soft circuit… Continue

Added by Syuzi on August 26, 2010 at 1:30pm — No Comments

Kicks that auto-check you into Foursquare

Fourquare Auto-Checkin Shoes

For those of you yet to condition yourself to immediately check in upon arrival to a restaurant or dive bar, Casey Halverson may have the perfect shoe hack for you.

Halverson has hacked into the Nike+iPod sensors to create a pair of kicks that auto-check you into Foursquare. Currently his system is limited to only a few venues, but he aims to link it up to something akin to… Continue

Added by Syuzi on August 24, 2010 at 9:43am — No Comments

Nike Wiis

Nike asked 78 artists to hack into a pair of Nike shoes and challenge its function, using sports as inspiration. Created by Paul Jenkins, the project titled Nike78 is currently archived online and will be exhibited at the London Design Festival in September.

Nike Wiis

As you can imagine there have been a few… Continue

Added by Syuzi on August 23, 2010 at 9:00am — No Comments

Wearables: The Future of Gaming?

I acknowledge that the Wii changed— hey maybe even revolutionized—the way we interact and "play" video games. No longer is gaming only an endurance exercise for our opposable thumbs, but, with the introduction of the Wii wireless controller, a full- bodied experience that we can share with our friends.

Personally, I believe networked wearables are the future of gaming. Wearables have the potential to dive deeper into an immersive gaming experience where the… Continue

Added by Syuzi on August 20, 2010 at 11:00am — 2 Comments

Kinetic Fashion

I've been researching kinetic structures and mechanisms lately and I stumbled upon the above video of Kerry Jia Yi Lin's kinetic dress. I had seen this project before but never in live action. It's great to see the garment's movement in relation to the human body.

The garment essentially is a barometer for the wearer's stress levels. It uses a heart rate sensor to trigger movement of the dress.

The project is wonderfully documented at Lin's site so… Continue

Added by Syuzi on August 13, 2010 at 2:24pm — 1 Comment

Illuminated Coats Controlled Via iPhone

Alexander Reeder — Illuminated Coats

Currently in development, The Vanilla Series is a new line of wearables embedded with an LED display (on the cuffs or back of the coat) that can be dynamically controlled via your iPhone.

Switching the graphics via your smart phone is pretty darn cool but what I personally like about the proposed project is its modular electronic design. The sensors in the jacket can be changed and adapted to your needs and preferences.…

Continue

Added by Syuzi on August 10, 2010 at 3:00pm — No Comments

Embroidered Conductive Thread as Interface Controls

Thad Starner and Clint Zeagler from Georgia Tech have developed a series of "fabric manipulation interfaces" to control electronics using embroidered conductive thread. Using simple principles such as closing a circuit via touch and taking advantage of conductive thread's resistance, these gestural interfaces are designed as explorations for various electronic controls including use in military garb (hey it's Georgia… Continue

Added by Syuzi on August 9, 2010 at 10:30am — 1 Comment

Networked Safety Gloves for Firefighters

Developed by Ashwin Rajan and Kevin Cannon, Frontline gloves are a gesture-based communication tool designed for firefighters.

Networked Safety Gloves for Firefighters

The pair of networked gloves allows two firefighters to communicate with each other using… Continue

Added by Syuzi on August 5, 2010 at 12:56pm — No Comments

An Assistive Scarf for Visually Impaired

Katy Perry with her glowy gown may have caught the media's attention, but wearable technology does have a cultural role beyond the glitz and glamour.

If "clothing, [is] an extension of the skin…Electric circuitry, [is] an extension of the central nervous system" ala Marshal McLuhan, then naturally wearable technology can be employed as an exention of our… Continue

Added by Syuzi on August 4, 2010 at 11:00am — No Comments

Social Networking While You Sleep

Alex Dodge Generative Wearable Technology

Alex Dodge, in collaboration with Brooklyn-based tech start up Generative, has developed a set of wearable prototypes that "fetishize the technologi-cal imperative, or the inevitable hybridization of man and machine."

Dodge's wearables are minimal, almost aseptic, in design and reference a sort of uncanny technological purism that feels more insane asylum that science… Continue

Added by Syuzi on August 3, 2010 at 3:15pm — 2 Comments