wearable

Tattoo-like patch may be future of health monitoring

Engineers at the University of Illinois today unveiled novel, skin-mounted electronics this week whose circuitry bends, wrinkles, and even stretches with skin.

The device platform includes electronic components, medical diagnostics, communications, and human-machine interfacing on a patch so thin and durable it can be mounted to skin much like a temporary tattoo.

What's more, the team was able to demonstrate its invention across a wide range of components, including LEDs, transistors, wireless antennas, sensors, and conductive coils and solar cells for power.

"We threw everything in our bag of tricks onto that platform, and then added a few … Read more

Microsoft Printing Dress: Wear what you tweet

No one ever accused Bill Gates of being a fashion plate, but the company he founded may be developing a new reputation for haute couture.

The Printing Dress is the creation of Asta Roseway from Microsoft Research and Sheridan Martin Small from the company's Xbox division. It's an exploration of wearable technology that also doubles as something you might actually look good wearing. Imagine that.

The material is black and white rice paper, but this is no origami project. Laser-cut buttons that look like old typewriter keys are sewn into the dress. A laptop, four circuit boards, and a projector round out the technology.

The Printing Dress is designed to project what you're putting out on the Internet. Tweets become fashion statements as words flit across the skirt. This sort of wearable technology is not recommended for members of Congress with itchy Twitter fingers. … Read more

Basis strong-arms other wearable body sensors

Wearable body sensors are in. We've got the Fitbit pedometer, the BodyMedia armband, and the Lark sleep sensor on the market, and Jawbone's Up arriving soon. Joining the fray is what may be the heavy hitter in this fight: the Basis Band.

This wrist-wearable sensor offers the most sensors. In addition to measuring motion (which the other products do), Basis also tracks skin temperature, ambient temperature, galvanic skin response (sweat level), heart rate, and blood oxygen level, which it gets by measuring the spectrum of light reflected back from a green laser that illuminates the skin where the device straps on to the wrist.

The Basis runs its Tricorder functions continuously and stores its telemetry for later upload (over USB or Bluetooth). The device itself doesn't have enough smarts to tell the user if they're exercising enough or how healthy they are; the Basis service has to process the information first and gives the user usable information about their health and activity on their own private Web page.

Related links • Fitbit will get you off the couch • BodyMedia FIT armband to use Sprint's 3G network • Lark's silent alarm wakes you, not your bunkmate • Jawbone launching Up, a fitness bracelet

One of the big tricks in the Basis algorithms is its capability to determine your activity--walking, running, typing, etc.--even though the device is strapped to your wrist, where a lot of the motion is obviously unrelated to what the rest of your body is doing. CEO Jef Holove thinks that the company's data processing chops are its secret weapon and the competitive barrier to entry. The sensor technology in the Basis is not exactly rocket science; the cool oxygen sensor is standard medical tech, for example. … Read more

Make music wearing the Imaginary Marching Band

Seems like gloves that manipulate music are this month's must-have fashion accessory. The Imaginary Marching Band consists of several pairs of open-source gloves that let you create music as though you were playing actual instruments. … Read more

Sony's new waterproof wearable Walkman

Sony has revealed the next generation of wearable waterproof Walkman portable music players.

The new W260 series is an incremental update to the line of small, screen-less MP3 players, which have been reviewed fairly well by CNET editors in the past.

Two models will be available this August: the 2GB NWZ-W262 ($59) and the 4GB NWZ-W263 ($79). The newest version of the Walkman W "weighs about 24 percent less and is about two-thirds smaller than previous models," according to the press release. Sony has improved bass frequencies in this latest model as well, for those fitness junkies listening … Read more

Air-purifying gown supposedly soaks up pollutants

Is this the beginning of carbon-neutral clothing? The London College of Fashion, University of Sheffield, and University of Ulster have collaborated on a unique dress that they say could do its small part to save the earth.

The highly experimental prototype dress, called Herself, is sprayed with a mixture containing titanium dioxide. In sunlight, the chemical absorbs pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide. According to the inventors, 40 people wearing such a dress and standing in a 3-foot area could purify about 6.5 feet of airspace in just one minute. We're not exactly fashion experts here at Crave, but that certainly gives new meaning to the term "breathable fabrics." … Read more

Tech-integrated jacket zips up the volume

The next time your 'buds are in and someone stops to chat, you might need to unzip your jacket. Let's just hope that person knows why--your zipper is your MP3 player's volume control.

We've seen wearable technology such as climate-reflecting dresses, but most of these garments are prototypes that will never see the production line (mostly due to high costs and a fragmented manufacturing process.)

Jackets with slits for headphone wires and hoodies with built-in earbuds have also gotten some attention, but neither integrate technology the way Jennifer Darmour of electricfoxy envisions.

Darmour, an experiential prototyper with a knack for interactive garments, took gestures we're accustomed to--zipping and unzipping--and integrated a common gadget control, volume.

Zip is also designed to be a ready-to-wear piece, as Darmour was able to adjust the circuitry and pattern enough to keep costs down in mass production. Sometimes garments with circuitry, like Ping (another design from Darmour), are too complicated to be produced in quantities. … Read more

Looxcie wearable camera: For those afraid to blink

Feel like the world's already too glued to instant communications, on-the-spot mobile photo, and video uploads? Do you feel like there's nothing you can do in public that won't be instantly YouTubed? Well, get ready for Looxcie. The completely awkward-looking earpiece/camcorder fits the bill for William Gibson-style folk who fear ever missing a moment of reality that can't be recorded.

At $199, the 1-ounce over-the-ear Bluetooth headset-cum-camera has the storage capacity to record up to five hours of lower-res HVGA-resolution MP4 video on 4GB of internal memory, although the battery life will only last for … Read more

Biosensor baby PJs track vital signs, behavior

If biosensor onesies sound absurd, consider the plethora of baby gadgetry that's hit the market in recent years: speakers for babies, tweeting for babies, clothing that changes color to reveal babies' moods.

Then consider a few scenarios: parents concerned about babysitter vigilance; mothers going back to work; that several-month window in which babies are at the highest risk of sudden infant death syndrome.

So while Exmovere Holdings, the maker of Exmobaby--supposedly the first baby garment to remotely monitor vital signs and behavior--may be guilty of preying on parents' worst fears, its rather futuristic onesie could also save lives.

CEO David Bychkov explains how it works:

Each Exmobaby onesie will come with a baby-safe, rechargeable Zigbee wireless transceiver that snaps into a pouch. From there, the data is transmitted to a nearby PC or cell phone in order to keep parents and other caregivers informed of a baby's status. This continuous monitoring in real time will allow for an "emotional umbilical cord" between mother and child.

The Zigbee wireless standard uses a wireless local area network (LAN) and is targeted at radio frequency applications requiring lower data rate and battery life. It's also compatible with a wide range of USB and mini SD-slot dongle devices, i.e. cell phones.… Read more