We really really really don't like writing about Kickstarter projects, no matter how successful the funding is. But sometimes, you've just got to pay attention. Like when we hear about something like F.lashes: a digital eyelid accessory that sticks on like fake eyelashes (eyelash adhesive) and blink in various patterns. If this still sounds like a great idea, consider this: … [Read more...]
About Pugi Kohl
Smarty Pants: Nadi X Yoga Leggings
Even with all the hype about the “intersection of fashion and technology,” you don’t often run across clothing that gets written up in Vogue, WWD, and Wired. However, Nadi X yoga pants from Wearable X seem to tick a lot of boxes for both the fashion-forward and technology junkies—and even some yogis. The company calls their product “Nadi X Pant & Pulse,” and its … [Read more...]
Rings: How Smart Can They Be?
A couple of years back, smart rings looked like they might be the coming thing. We checked out the Neyya ring from India, London-based Kerv, and there were even rumors of an elusive Apple iRing. And while none of them—with the possible exception of the iRing—seems to have had an appointment with Mount Doom, consumer response was and remains underwhelming. Into this … [Read more...]
EZ Tags for Humans in Transit
Anyone whose commute involves a toll road will attest to the convenience of EZ tags that let your car whip through the toll areas without stopping—or in some places, even slowing down. Garmin and the Chinese company Watchdata Technologies, in conjunction with EZ-Link, have come to the rescue of the footsore in Singapore by adding am NFC chip to their fitness trackers. The … [Read more...]
The e-Skinny on Xenoma’s Smart Shirt
Tokyo-based Xenoma has incorporated its Printed Circuit Fabric into e-skin shirts that can track movement and gestures—bending, twisting, stretching—analyze your breathing and remind you to sit up straight. It also has possibility as a game and AR controller. All this, and it’s machine washable. The shirt’s fabric has flexible wires and sensors hidden in it and the company … [Read more...]
The Worm Has Turned: Graphene into Silk
Graphene might a 21st century’s philosopher’s stone: flexible, strong, fashionable material that’s also conductive; the goal is fabric that can support technology without being clunky about it. Scientists at Beijing’s Tsinghua University have come up with the idea of combining silk with graphene—conductive carbon one-atom thick -- by feeding it to silkworms. It works, … [Read more...]
Homeland Security Backs Wearables for First Responders
The Department of Homeland Security does more than patrol borders and run airport checkpoints. It's also busy in the world of technology. Through the Security Science and Technology Directorate’s EMERGE 2016 program, DHS supports wearable technology research for first responders. The program matches strategic partners, startups, and accelerators to expedite research and … [Read more...]
Shirt to Self: Stop Slouching!
The concept of clothes that electronically improve posture might bring to mind a sweatshirt concealing a robotic brace that grabs slumping shoulders and jerks them into place. Or it might make you think of attractive clothing that more subtly and discreetly urges you straighten up; for instance, Dutch designer Pauline van Dongen’s new smart shirt, FysioPal. This is not the … [Read more...]
Knit Picking Your Music with Cyberknitics
The first knitted socks date to Egypt in the 1100s. (They must not have fit or they would have worn out instead of surviving all those centuries.) And hand knitting is still popular today, even though the cost of yarn frequently means it is much cheaper to buy ready-made; but, you know, arts and crafts and all that. Knitting has longevity. It has not yet been ousted by … [Read more...]
Cancer and Wearable Technology: Home Visits without the Visit
Cancer treatment has become comparatively easier to live with over the past decades, without actually becoming out and out palatable. And for a lot of patients, the treatment is still worse than the disease. Not that living with the disease is ever a walk in the park. A friend of ours who knows once said that deciding whether to undergo treatment for cancer was like deciding … [Read more...]