Do you own anything that really shows the world what a geek you are? Now, I mean geek in a cool way not in a thrown in a high school locker way. Besides, you are an adult, you can’t even fit in lockers anymore. So with that in mind, it’s about time you got serious about showing off your geek cred. Let me open your peepers to this Arduino-controlled LED watch.
This piece of nerd-chic tells time with a series of brightly glowing LEDs on an exposed PCB. If you didn’t know what either of those acronyms mean then this is not the watch for you. If you did, however, then you may want to track one of these down. The watch also tells perfect time, if you are worried about ..read more
Posted in: Concept Design, Do-It-Yourself Industry Leaders, LED, Watches
An Atlanta designer has upped the ante on fan-made Daft Punk related merchandise. Harrison Krix has cobbled together a Daft Punk inspired helmet that is so cool, so amazing to look at it, that it may be better than anything the band can come up with themselves.
First of all, it’s Arduino-controlled and uses LED lights to get that flashing effect. You can use a computer or a smartphone to change the scrolling text to any thing you like. Do I sense a bad knock knock joke coming on? Maybe that’s just me. Anyways, you can watch how he built the thing via a video he posted on Youtube. You can also use that Youtube to him sad, pathetic messages begging to borrow it just for Halloween or your kid’s birthday ..read more
Posted in: Concept Design, DIY - Corner, Hats, LED
The field of study that creates bionic limbs has been making great strides lately. So much striding, in fact, that it can be hard to keep track of everything. Of course, that is why we are here. But for that rare occasion you’d rather watch one of those new-fangled moving pictures instead of reading there’s PBS. The channel has just released a very informative documentary on the state of the industry.
The docu, linked here, interviews many luminaries in the field, including Dean Kamen and a number of other inventors. It’s an illuminating 11 minutes and, come on, we both know you weren’t doing anything that great to begin with.
The full transcript can be found here if you don’t feel like watching.
Posted in: Do-It-Yourself Industry Leaders, Tactile Feedback
Ah, the humble GPS. It’s in our phones. It’s in our computers. It’s not, however, in our carry bags. Not until now, that is. A Chicago resident known simply as Josh has been toiling on a project to put the global positioning in backpacks and bags. This could be a boon to the hopelessly lost. Now we don’t have to whip out our phones every time we are lost, which is approximately every two seconds. It’ll be right there on our bags!
This bag can actually fool people into thinking you know which direction you go. You don’t have to look at it, ever. It works by constantly monitoring your position versus your destination. Then, it sends you vibrations to let you know if you are going the right way. Simple ..read more
Posted in: Backpack, Bags, Concept Design, DIY - Corner, GPS
We all love dresses that light up. You know it. I know it. Charlie Bucket knows it. That’s why the famous designer has concocted the Fluid Dress. This dress is composed of more than 600 feet of tube lighting, make it the brightest dress on the runway, driveway or wherever it is you’d wear this thing.
The oddest design choice comes with the power source. It takes a lot of power to keep 600 feet of knitted tubing lit up, so you have to literally wear the power source. This comes in the form of a backpack, which can be seen standing behind the dress. Just be sure not to cross the streams, though.
In all seriousness though, this thing is knit beautifully and would make the right gal(Or crossdresser, no hatin’) ..read more
Posted in: Dress, LED, Runway, Textile Circuit, Textiles, Wearable Tech
Necklaces and earrings aren’t usually the purview of this site, but take a look at these! This matching set was made with discarded diodes and capacitors, not to mention all kinds of other nerdy paraphernalia. So much beauty. So much geeky elegance.
Again, not our usual thing. But in a sense it’s wearable tech, right? Watch a timelapsed video of the earrings and necklace right here. Enjoy.
Posted in: DIY - Corner, Earwear
You have a smartphone that tells you when you have new emails, but do you have a shirt that does the same thing? Didn’t think so. You know who does, though? Two industrious modders known as Chris and Madeline. This husband and wife duo has created a t-shirt that lets you know when you have new emails.
It gets this done using an Arduino Lilypad microcontroller, a few LEDs, conductive thread, and a Bluetooth dongle. The result? A flashing light when your friends and family are letting you know what is up, or when an African prince lets you know you are about to be the proud recipient of a billion dollars.
If you are interested in cobbling together your own, check out a video on the procedure here.
Posted in: Bluetooth, Concept Design, DIY - Corner, LED, Shirt
Take a silicon keyboard and a pair of jeans and you can also attempt this. Zach, the brave builder, took a laser cutter to make the key holes and then stitched in the keyboard. Since the keyboard had to be cut, only the left hand works. For a DIY im sure someone can figure out how to get the other side to work. It is cool to see people attempt to make wearable tech. Keep it coming!
Posted in: Button/Switch, Components, Concept Design, DIY - Corner, Do-It-Yourself Industry Leaders, Keyboard, Pants, Wearable Computing
Textronics, a leader in textile sensor technology, is now offering a DIY kit for people interested in developing heart rate monitoring textiles. This marks the first time that Textronics is offering and official kit for purchase.
The Developers Kit offer 12 textile sensors, a variety of knit tubes, wrist cuffs and chest straps. Additionally they include conductive thread and 2 transmitters with the kit. These transmitters are compatible with most analog heart rate monitors like Polar.
The kit which sells for $100.00 is a very thorough kit to help anyone start anyone get started in the vital monitoring garment game. This can open the door to many fitness and sporting tech garments. It is always great when an industry leader can offer these kits to the general public. Making it easier for ..read more
Posted in: Components, Conductive Yarn, DIY - Corner, Do-It-Yourself Industry Leaders, Intelligent Clothes, Safety, Sports, Tech Clothing Industry, Textile Circuit, Textile Switch, Textronics, Vitals Monitoring, Wearable Tech
