Archive for the ‘fashion-tech’ Category

Geek on the Cheap #123:
TEI ‘10 – Best Conference Ever

Monday, February 1st, 2010

TEI Studios from jay silver on Vimeo.

So I went to the TEI Conference last week and had a fantastic time — learning, meeting people, having braingasmic fun. This conference concerns itself with the interlinking of the digital and physical worlds through tangible interfaces, whole-body interaction and interactive surfaces.

There were about 230 attendees from around the world and everyone was brilliant, accomplished and collaborative. Although English was the lingua franca, people were gabbing in German, Japanese, Portuguese, Swedish, Chinese (just to name a few) — a refreshing breeze through my Brocas since I live in very white Vermont.

Of course, right off the bat, I went to the wrong building. Somehow I didn’t know that MIT has built a brand new Media Lab building, a cross between an Apple store and Kubrick’s 2001 — very white with lots of glass, a floor-to-ceiling central atrium with wrap-around labs and walkways criss-crossing from one side to the other. Apparently I have no sense of direction at all whatsoever, because the second I was off the conference floor I was lost. (Though quite happily so.)

A couple of photos I took from the ground floor - click the image to see a slideshow

I had planned to tweet during the papers, but I couldn’t get past the rudeness of having a computer in my lap while someone’s presenting. I know from first-hand experience that it’s awful to look out at an audience and not find anyone looking back at you. And I didn’t tweet from the hotel because you had to pay for wifi, which I refused to do (yes, I’m cheap).

However, I did shoot a few videos, and this week’s Geek includes a couple that describe the breadth of the work shown at the conference.

The Soft and the Hard

We all use interfaces every day — our phones, microwaves, light switches, cars. We push a button, click a mouse, swipe a finger. We expect them to be where they always are which is, in fact, considered to be good design.

However, what if an interface is temporary, ephemeral? Do we really need to know where it is all the time if we know what it is? And what if the interface requires great care in its handling? Does this make it more precious or the work it accomplishes more dear? These are just a few of the questions that come to mind with the work of Tanja Doring, an integration of art and technology:

With Soumitra Bhat, however, we have a lovely synthesis of music, technology and social impact. He has created TouchTone, an electronic musical instrument for children with cerebral palsy. It’s a clever way of giving these children access to the joy and therapeutic benefits of making music. Normally, their limited physical abilities make it impossible for them to play a musical instrument.

These two innovations describe the breadth of work presented at the conference — from concrete applications of interaction design to more abstract ideas of how we might use the various properties of physical objects in combination with either current or projected computational and/or electronic capabilities.

Stay tuned for more next week — workshops (and kits). The video at the top is just a tease of how cool they were.

Geek on the Cheap #111:
The Holidays Are Creeping Up

Monday, November 9th, 2009


Yes, it was just Halloween but Hanukkah/Xmas/Kwanzaa (in order of appearance) are just around the corner. So here are three DIY projects to get started on, in order of difficulty (though none of them is truly difficult). Two of them require a minimal amount of sewing and one involves duct tape. Take your pick:

Cellphone Beanbag Chair
ThinkGeek customer photo of cellphone beanbag chairWhy does your cellphone need a beanbag chair? Because it needs to relax after getting poked all day by somebody’s gigantic meaty fingertips. Never made a beanbag before? It’s easy: 1) cut out 2 circles of fabric, 10 inches in diameter each; 2) put the “right” sides (the sides you want to show) of the fabric facing each other and sew the edges together, except for about 2 inches; 3) turn the fabric rightside out; 4) pour in dried beans until the bag is about 75% full; 5) stitch up that 2-inch hole. Now if this is too much work for you, ThinkGeek is selling them for a mere $9.99. Be sure to check out the customer action shots. Those are some happy, relaxing devices.

RFID-Blocking Wallet
What’s RFID and why do you want to block it? RFID is radio frequency identification — the technology used to tag and track animals in the wild. It’s also used in some credit cards, many corporate IDs, and in U.S. and Euro passports. Why should you care? Because an RFID can be hacked with $8 worth of gear. So for $8, a thief can steal your credit card name and number or any other information stored in your RFID-enabled card. Or weirder yet, your movement could be tracked if someone wanted to know where you were.

RFID-blocking walletBut with a little aluminum foil and duct tape, you can make your own RFID-blocking wallet. Yes, I know, this sounds suspiciously crazy, as though I’m telling you aliens are reading your brain waves — beware! But RFID isn’t alien; in fact it’s pretty simple technology. And the ease with which it can be hacked is well known. In fact, there are RFID-blocking wallets and cardholders on sale at Amazon for as little as $14.39. But wouldn’t it be more fun to Macgyver your own? (My husband wants one of these.)

Touchscreen Gloves
Touchscreen glovesIt’s getting cold here in Vermont, which means I’ve switched from my zip-up fingerless driving gloves to my boring-but-vastly-warmer fleece-lined gloves. This also means that in order to use a device with a capacitive touchscreen, such as my iPod Touch, I need to take off said fleece-lined gloves. Brrrrr. Instead, I would prefer to be able to control my device with those toasty gloves still on my hands. And no, I don’t want sew some funky fingerhoods on fingerless gloves and have to fool with them every time I want to poke my device. What to do?

Easy fix. Sew patches of conductive thread on the tips of your gloves. This allows the conductive property of your fingertips/thumbtips to reach your device. I must admit, this is my favorite project of the three here and I will soon be updating all my winter gloves. You can find full instructions at GirlieGirl Army. And yes, you clever cheap geek, conductive thread is not cheap compared to everyday cotton thread. But there are many fun things you can do with conductive thread. For example, you could mod gloves for your friends, make a robot t-shirt with LED eyes or create a winter hat that lights up from front to back. To see more projects, go to Instructables.

Exploring Tech in Fashion with Hussein Chalayan

Friday, July 17th, 2009

It’s funny how once you become aware of someone, they suddenly pop up everywhere. That’s what happened to me with Turkish-born, England-based fashion designer Hüseyin Çaglayan, aka Hussein Chalayan.

A couple of months ago, I came across a video of Chalayan’s 2007 Spring/Summer collection which was more of an art performance than a fashion show—dresses morphing from 1906-style to 1916 to 1926, from 2009 to 2029, zippers v-ing, panels spreading, hemlines magically lifting, ruffles self-plumping. Right up my alley—a gorgeous melding of fashion and technology. Although it did also occur to me how useless the clothes were, purely conceptual and unwearable.

Then, not one month later, I read a report that Michelle Obama wore a printed silk dress from his 2009 Spring collection when she was in London. Lo and behold, Chalayan is one of those rare artists who can balance blurry long-range vision and mundane sharp focus. He creates both fascinating and technologically sophisticated “art” shows of fashion while producing wearable fashion separately.

Which makes me wonder, is it necessary to do these two things in isolation from one another?

LINKS:
- Hussein Chalayan

Ascii Heart Necklace

Monday, April 27th, 2009

ASCII heart necklace by Becky Stern

Okay, I was initially impressed by Becky Stern because I loved this ASCII Heart necklace she made in her metalworking class.  Then I saw the LilyPad Arduino Blinking Bike Bag Patch tutorial she submitted to Instructables.  What I especially like about this project is that she’s using the ability to illuminate clothing for a purpose.  She’s someone to watch.

LINKS:
- Sternlab (Becky Stern’s website)
- Craftzine.com: ASCII Heart Necklace

Create wearable technology with your sewing machine and LilyPad Arduino

Sunday, June 22nd, 2008

Turn-signal biking jacket by Leah BuechleyLeah Buechley is a postdoc in computer science at UC-Boulder. Sound boring? No way! Her research focuses on e-textiles and she’s part of a Craft Technology group at the university.

Remember Diana Eng from Season 2 of Project Runway? Leah Buechley’s work is much cooler. In fact, she’s created a kit you can use to make your own interactive fashion — from turn-signal biking jackets to LED tank tops.

Once you know how the electronics work, sew away. Or once you learn how to sew, add the electronics. Wearable tech is the wave of the future, both as decoration and tool. Be on the vanguard.

Links:
- Leah Buechley [UPDATED: this is her new position at MIT]
- LilyPad Arduino
- Diana Eng

Wearable Tech fashion show: Second Skin

Friday, May 30th, 2008

I won’t post another story I’ve seen on Boing Boing for at least a week — I promise — but I just couldn’t resist this one:

Xeni [Jardin] goes backstage at a wearable technology fashion show held at the San Francisco Exploratorium, and tries digital and analog clothing on for size.

LINK:
- Jeni’s BB story