OK, we all know that the Japanese market is a little ... different. Here's another example. The publication Tweaktown reports on a bra that will only unfasten when the wearer's heart rate indicates "true love." (Apparently, there's a problem in Japan with people unfastening women's bras on the sly.) The smartphone app that syncs with the sensor can supposedly differentiate … [Read more...]
Tech-Enabled Outdoor Clothes Are At Least 5 Years Away
We spent most of last week on the road, a bunch of it at the Outdoor Retailer trade show in Salt Lake City. We wanted to scope out what the activewear industry was doing or thinking about wearable tech. The answer turned out to be: not much. In fact, we'd be surprised if there will much activity of scale with wearables in that segment for 3 to 5 years. You probably don't … [Read more...]
Dance Party Wearables Project
This one fits more into the category of project than than product, but it was so well executed and documented that it's worth sharing. Samuel Clay, a photographer here in Brooklyn, likes hacking and sewing. For New Year's Eve, he and his girlfriend were invited to a dance party and encouraged to wear wearable tech. (How come we're not invited to stuff like that?) So he … [Read more...]
Netatmo’s June Tracks Sun Exposure
People who work around radiation have long worn exposure monitors. And more and more people are wearing movement trackers. So why not wristware that monitors excess exposure to the sun? Why not indeed? Neatmo (which heretofore has made connected weather stations and thermostats) has introduced June, a jewel-like bauble that hangs on a slender leather strap, and which tracks … [Read more...]
A Trench Coat that Reacts (Favorably) to Chocolate
This is guaranteed to you smile: a trench coat that lights up and otherwise reacts when its wearer eats a Cadbury bar. They call it the Cadbury Joy Jacket. It's the brainchild of Hirsch&Mann and the PR firm GolinHarris. It's a stunt -- not something that could possibly be mass produced -- but lots of fun. Take a … [Read more...]
CES: CSR and Cellini Team for Connected Jewelry
The British chip company CSR and the boutique jeweler Cellini have produced a pendant with a light that flashes when your phone gets a notification. It's a lovely piece of silver and a good demonstration both of system miniaturization (on the CSR1020 platform) and a sensitivity to fashion. The light seems a little less than subtle, but it's probably better than haptic … [Read more...]
CES: Intel Shows Edison, a Wearable Computer on an SD Card
Fights among microprocessor companies happen on a platform-by-platform basis. Intel won desktop computers, ARM processors are popular in phones, AMD has a grip on the graphics market. The latest battleground is wearables, with Freescale (among others) staking a claim. But at CES, Intel made it clear that it's coming heavy in the wearables market, and it's going to do it with … [Read more...]
Zackees Founder on Art and Commerce
We wrote recently about the teched-out bicycling gloves being developed by Zackees. Company founder Zach Vorhies, whose Kickstarter went live today, has written an exclusive for Wearable Tech Insider about how you get from wearable art to a wearable product. Here's Zach: The most important question when you get from artistic clothing to something practical is: “What … [Read more...]
The Microsoft Bra
It turns out that Microsoft is working on things besides tablets, enterprise infrastructure, and office productivity apps. Some researchers are working with ladies' undergarments. To be more accurate, researcher Mary Czerwinski is looking into how stress can lead to overeating (PDF), and she's tracking it by placing electrocardiogram and electrodermal sensors in brassieres. … [Read more...]
Lots of Talk and Action in NYC Wearables; Event Reports from Eyebeam and HUGE
WTI was out a lot last week, seeing a bunch of new wearable products here in New York City and listening to some interesting ideas. Not much trend or narrative emerged -- the wearbles business isn't quite mature enough to cohere that way -- but some patterns may be starting to peek out. Eyebeam, a gallery in the Chelsea section of New York, has an ongoing research initiative … [Read more...]