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Monday 2 September 2013

I've got nothing to wear!

It's been a long time since the last post.  Time's arrow has moved on with the passing of  the summer holidays and now it's the beginning of a new academic year.  So welcome back to school.

Hey! Good lookin'
It seems that the latest hot thing in gadget land is wearable tech: computerised technology that you can wear.
The latest craze seems to have begun with Google Glass: specs that include a video camera and a voice controlled computer  that responds to voice commands.  It also includes a small mouse control button in one of the arms to save you the embarrassment of having to shout OK GLASS in noisy situation while everyone wonders why you are talking to yourself.

What the time?
Samsung and Apple are thinking about similar head based wear.  But in the meantime they've produced or about to produce wrist based watch/phone/mp3 player type computers.  It is even possible to view movies on these wrist based devices.  Some come with a stylus so you can use them to browse the internet and send messages.


Light up the catwalk with an LED Dress
Wearable tech is finding its way into clothing.  It is possible to get LED dresses to wear.  This is the same technology that goes into flat screen TV's and computer monitors, but flexible.  As a result the dresses can change colour as the wearer moves around. Maybe in the future high quality pictures or adverts can be displayed on the dress.  There is also clothing available, that changes colour according to how hot or cold the person is, adding another meaning to "Your're Hot! Today."

Wearable tech is also making its presence felt in the field of medicine, with clothes available that contain monitors for temperature, heart rate, motion detectors and hydration of whether you need a drink or not. Shoes can even contain step counters measuring force and well as the number of steps.  As you walk the shoes can even generate power for charging other devices.

It's a smart bone cast
Rather than use old plaster casts to set bones, technology has found its way into helping people to recover from broken bones.  Monitors are included that tracks muscle activity and then suggests exercises to keep affected muscles active to speed up recovery.   The down side is of course, you can't get people to write 'get well soon' messages on your cast.  Ho Hum!



One ring to bind them all!
And those smart people at MIT in the states, have developed a ring that works like a credit card.  Instead using chip and pin to pay for things, customers would place a ring against a reader for money to rapidly change hands.  Quick payment for sure, but does it given muggers an incentive to go around chopping off fingers to get their jewelry?


Technology is only skin deep!
So far we've done eye wear, we've done clothes, we've covered health and we've done jewelry. What's left?  Well some people are having their personal information embedded on their skin in tattoo's in the form of a circuit board.  The information in tattoo's can be read by special readers without you even having to into contact with anything.  They can provide name, financial and health information and even your location.  Spooky!

So technology is moving away from the desktop pc, the phone and tablet, into what we wear.  What kinds of devices would you like to see in clothes.  Wi-Fi hot spots embedded in hats possibly?  What about a keyboard printed on your shirt sleeve?  What about clothes that are free but are sponsored by companies who can change their adverts on the front  using wireless technology. How do you feel about tattoos being used to track your movements?  Have your say.

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