The best part about alarms? It wakes you up so you can get to work or whatever. The worst part? It wakes everyone else around you up also. Lark is attempting to solve that age-old problem with their silent alarm clock kit, available for iOS devices on June 14th.
The item works by turning your iPhone into a silent vibrating device, which promises not to wake the person sleeping next to you. Let them get their beauty rest, why don’t you? It will set you back $129, which seems reasonable. However, we suggest having your sleeping partner buying it for you since it is they who will be getting the more restful sleep.
It is only for iOS devices but the company has alluded to Android being in the offering soon.
Posted in: Lark, Mobile Phone Technology, iPhone Integration
Fashioning Technology is hard at work at a conference to be held at the forthcoming SXSW festival. Wait, isn’t Austin’s SXSW primarily for hip bands and movies? Yes and yes. That doesn’t mean the event isn’t ripe for some old-fashioned wearable tech!
The exhibition will be help March 18th and 19th in, obviously, Austin Texas. It is going to be part-conference and part-runway show, with a host of notable attendees showing off their best and brightest tech garments. Scheduled to appear? Klight, designed by Mareike Michel, Laser Suit from Wei-Chieh Shih, Petal Dress by Amy Winters, 3Elctromode with designs from Valerie Lamontage and Magalie Cn, Bats Have Feelings Too by Lynne Bruning and the Twinkle Pad by Diana Eng. That’s only the beginning.
Here is a video advertisement for the event. If ..read more
Posted in: Fashioning Technology, News, Techno Fashion, Trade Shows
True computational clothing is the holy grail of this site We all want to be draped in microchips that can do whatever it is our imaginations can cook up. Well, we’ve just gotten one step closer to realizing that dream. Researchers from IMEC have created a cheap (About 1/10th the cost of microchips), bendable microprocessor.
How does this work? The researchers layered a plastic substrate, gold circuits, organic dielectric, and a pentacene organic semiconductor to create an 8-bit logic circuit with 4000 transistors. Yeah, that’s a whole lot of words. Let’s just say they merged the bendy and the not-so bendy into an amalgam of wonderfulness.
Thus far, they only engineer 6 processes per second, which won’t make it win any intelligence contests anytime soon. Still, it’s a good start ..read more
Posted in: IMEC, Tech Clothing Industry, Wearable Computing, Wearable Tech
Alphyn Industries have officially released their PADX-1 Ledge jacket. This innovative piece of clothing features a “kangaroo pouch” that can be outfitted with an Apple iPad.
The PADX-1 Ledge is a form-fitting polyester and silicone pullover jacket with a zippered pouch in the center that the iPad rests snugly in. It makes access to the touchpad-enabled device convenient and easy. This is perfect for you iPad users that are constantly on the go. It’s also perfect for those of you practicing baby rearing.
The unit is out now and costs $285. Order it at the company’s website.
Posted in: Accessories, Clothing, Jacket, Techno Fashion, Wearable Computing
Withings has brought blood pressure monitoring into the 21st century with their iPhone-enabled monitoring device. The company is best known for a series of connected scales, but have now branched into the weird world of mobile-phone related medical devices.
This is the world’s first iPhone-enabled blood pressure monitor. Here’s how it works. Plug the arm band into your iPad, iPod touch or iPhone, download the free app and start the process. All of your information is stored on the cloud online so no worries on that front. This is a good thing, since it was worries that caused you to need a blood pressure monitor in the first place.
It is available now at around $129.
Posted in: Mobile Phone Technology, Other Products, iPhone Integration
Digits conductive pins are the perfect solution for cold weather texting. These pins simply snap on your favorite pair of gloves and, voila, you will no longer type gibberish. Thank goodness for the parent company Quirky for realizing this annoying problem.
They work on most gloves, provided they are knit. Digits don’t go well with leather. Digits are animal friendly, I guess. In any event, these pins are much more convenient than related gloves made for this use, as they can be swapped out for different gloves depending on what color gloves you want to represent your winter gloom.
They are available now for around $14.
Posted in: Gloves, Mobile Phone Technology, Quirky, iPhone Integration, iPod Fashion
The world of hat technology has hit some cool strides as of late. NeuroSky kicks it up even further with their bizarre Brain Athlete golf visor. This golf visor comes complete with a batch of EEG sensors that will measure your brain waves as you play your favorite leisurely sport. Don’t worry, it can measure your brainwaves even when you aren’t on the links also.
How is this useful? Well trainers can measure the results in real time as the information is sent into the cloud. This would be good for figuring out if you are the next Tiger Woods, be it in the golfing world or the world of seduction. Short answer, you are probably not but you can still dream!
The visor cap is available now but comes from Japan ..read more
Posted in: Environmental Monitoring, Hats, Intelligent Clothes, Wearable Tech
SenseBridge has released their innovative Heart Spark pendant. This neat little gadget blinks along with your heart beat, letting the world know you are a human and not a vampire. Sure, we’ve had some cool jewelery in the past, but nothing that stopped vampires from spreading!
How does it work? The pendant has a wireless receiver and gads of LEDs tucked in to it’s circuitry. It senses the movement of your heart beats, and blinks accordingly. This is a simple concept but is sure to illicit “awww”s and “wtf”s in equal measure. Either way, that’s cool!
It’s $69 and available now. Go get em tigress.
Posted in: Accessories, Intelligent Clothes, Other Products, SenseBridge, Wearable Tech
Swap is making all of our Dick Tracy dreams come true with the release of their Rebel watch/phone hybrid. This quad-band GSM wearable wrist unit comes packed in with a 1.46-inch color touchscreen and a built-in camera for both video and stills. Is that all it does? Heck no!
The Rebel also features a hidden USB port, to which you can load MP3s, videos and whatever else that suits your multimedia fancy. It has 2GB of microSD storage so load it all in. It also does FM radio and comes with a bluetooth headset for you professional types. It’s also, obviously, a functioning phone.
It costs around $300 right now which really isn’t too bad considering the coolness and portability factors.
Posted in: Mobile Phone Integration, Mobile Phone Technology, Swap, Watches, Wearable Tech
