Friday, January 8, 2010

What is the point of making clothing-embedded computers?

People are saying that this will be possible in the near future, but what is the point of it?What is the point of making clothing-embedded computers?
OMG! Can you not think of a zillion things that computer clothing would be helpful for! Everything that computers can be used for right now could be made portable and immediate. What if you could put on a jacket, and read the net, do your e-mail on your commute, without sitting in front of a computer or carrying a laptop or handheld device? What if my coat could tell me how high the particulate is outside so I could take precautions for my asthma, either by measuring it directly or connecting to a wireless broadcast that would have that info? I am particularly interested by ideas about body armor that would monitor the body processes of soldiers and institute treatment procedures (like releasing medicinal chemistry, or stiffening to immobilize a broken limb) in the event of injury or weakening of vital signs. What about a piece of clothing for diabetics that would keep a detailed reading of vital signs, perhaps even monitor blood glucose, and either adminster or notify the wearer to administer treatment when needed. Aside from a hundred million useful tasks,computer clothing could do fun things, like play music, or change color or pattern according to your desires. What about a computer controlled skirt, that could change it's stiffness? It could have a program for ';pleats'; or ';gathers'; slimness or fullness. I could think about this for a long time and come up with even more ideas.What is the point of making clothing-embedded computers?
new one to me
Easier to carry?
You ask some pretty pointless questions, but this one takes the biscuit!


....and why don't you take the trouble to vote some of the answers as 'best answers' instead of leaving them to us?


....try taking a look one day. You might be surprised.
never heard of it
There are lots of benefits, to start with, you don't have to pack your pockets full of gadgets or start carrying a handbag. Also it could make some technologies more comfortable to use. For example, if you had a hoodie, with built in speakers and a mic, with a bluetooth connection, it would be a lot more comfortable than earbuds and noise cancelling technology would prevent it from annoying the people arond you. It could be used with a personal music player, or a mobile, or if you have a decent speech recognition system in your laptop or palm top, you could operate it without having to open it. There are already clothing embedded remote controls available and there will soon be a clothing embedded flexible display. Before long larger gadgets will have been developed to the extent that they can be integrated into the fibres of your clothes also.





Imagine having a hooded coat, or one with a big colour. You can copy music files or podcasts to the integrated memory and listen to them while you walk to work. Without trailing wires or a bulge in your pocket... not one that wasn't there before, anyway. Especially handy for girls too, who don't often have a convenient pocket and don't like carrying handbags.





I could go on and on, but as far as technology is concerned we are only limited by our imagination.
so you can wash your clothes and ruin your computer at the same time ?

No comments:

Post a Comment