Wearable Electronics

January 23, 2006 UPDATED IMAGE LIBRARY Motorola and Burton Snowboards have announced the commercial availability of the Bluetooth-enabled Audex Jacket Series. Jointly developed by Motorola and Burton to bring wearable technology to active consumers, the new Audex jacket allows winter sports enthusiasts to experience seamless connectivity -- at the touch of a button -- from one environment to the next. At the center of the Audex jacket is a control panel located on the left-hand sleeve, allowing for simple and easy access to your incoming and outgoing calls, and music selections. Connect a compatible Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone to the panel wirelessly, while hooking up your iPod player via hidden, unobtrusive wires within the jacket. Speakers and a microphone are located in the hood for taking and making calls as well as listening to music.  Read More

January 16, 2006 Apple sold 14 million iPods in the Christmas quarter of 2005. Which accounts for why there are 700 iPod accessories soon to be wearing Apple’s “Made for iPod” logo – 700 different products which are all iPod accessories - no wonder Apple decided to charge a fee to trade off the success of its iconic MP3 player. As we’ve already noted, the world’s automotive manufacturers are clamouring to offer iPod integration and now the first wave of wearable technology manufacturers are doing likewise. One of the latest announcements is from Kyono which is marketing what it hopes will become the male equivalent to a woman’s ‘little black dress.’ The BlackCoat Work is a lightweight jacket made from water resistant stretch cotton and is scheduled for release in March 2006 at US$179. The BlackCoat Work is one of four new lightweight outerwear designs for Spring 2006 that will include integrated controls for Apple iPods. As with similar MP3-player jackets already released, the BlackCoat Work user hooks the iPod up to the jacket and controls the play, pause and volume controls from the sleeve.  Read More

January 14, 2006 Invented in 1873 by Levi Strauss, Levi's Jeans are the original jeans and have long since become the most recognised brand and most widely imitated product in the history of apparel – and somehow it seems entirely appropriate that Levi’s is getting together with the world’s modern day technological equivalent brand – Apple’s iPod - the lowest (figuratively of course, Steve) common denominators are getting together and we expect the synergies to be very powerful. Levi's is planning to introduce RedWire DLX Jeans in the Northern hemisphere autumn of 2006. Designed for both men and women, the jeans will seamlessly integrate an iPod docking cradle built into the jeans and "invisibly" housed within a side pocket. There’s also a special joystick incorporated into the jeans' watch pocket to enable easy operation of the iPod without removing one’s hands from one’s pockets.  Read More

January 12, 2006 The Macworld Conference and expo regained some of its former sparkle yesterday, with Apple’s star again on the rise thanks to the iPod becoming the high-tech darling of the masses and the announcements of Apple’s new Intel relationship. One announcement that missed prime time yesterday but could be very significant in the near term was MicroOptical’s myvu personal media viewer. The myvu viewer, which comprises eyewear with built in video viewing and audio systems, significantly enhances the way people watch video with an Apple iPod. We’ve previously written up the success of the MYVU in France, where under the Orange brand it is paired by France Telecom with a Samsung D600 cell phone, but when the masses realize they can can have a hands-free, heads-up access to a large virtual screen by connecting to their video iPod, well, cyber serf city will never look the same again.  Read More

January 11, 2006 There’s always a better way. No matter how clever an implementation, there’s always some improvement to be had and our “bloody marvelous idea” award of the day goes to the TuneBuckle - a unique and innovative way to protect and transport your iPod nano – turn it into a belt buckle. Made from high grade metals (aluminium or stainless steel) and leather, the TuneBuckle comes in sizes 30-46, and will cost US$49.95 when it goes on sale.  Read More

January 7, 2006 One wonders what we might carry with us “digitally” a decade or two from now, with memory and storage capacity getting larger and much more affordable every day. Imation got us thinking about this by showing several interesting concepts for carrying digital files at the CES – the 256 Mb Flash Wristband and the 4Gb Micro Hard Drive. They’re interesting concepts, particularly the wristband, but just think that a decade from now the bang-per-buck factor will have improved by several orders of magnitude.  Read More

November 17, 2005 For ubergeeks, and presumably for children learning how to tell the time, the SHREWD is a symbiosis of LED & analogue technology that looks for all the world like a normal stainless steel watch. Press the button though, and a red LED display lights up with the digital time displayed. When the LED display is off, there is no hint on the watch face that this feature exists. There are more features, but that’s the coolest one. Costing US$189.95, the SHREWD can be purchased here.  Read More

October 16, 2005 O’Neill Europe recently announced the latest addition to the H.2 Series range of wearable electronics with the arrival of the ‘Fat Controller’, a snow glove that incorporates a wireless remote control for Apple’s iPod MP3 players. A limited number of the new gloves will be distributed throughout Europe this coming winter at a retail price of EU139 Euro. The ‘Fat Controller’ uses radio frequencies to relay instructions to a module installed on top of the iPod. Tune selection is managed from a small, thumb-controlled joystick woven in to the top of the right-hand glove that mirrors the behavior of the iPod’s scroll wheel. By nudging the joystick to different points of the compass the wearer can play/pause, adjust volume and skip tracks without having to remove the iPod from the inner sanctums of a snowboard jacket.  Read More

September 13, 2005 Not long ago, we were waxing on about the incredible feat performed by Motion Research in bringing the world's first consumer Heads Up displays to market for motorcyclists, cyclists and auto racers. Now we're equally as enthusiastic about the company's new consumer Heads Up displays, knowing full well that the functionality afforded by the displays could change the face of the modern workplace. VersaVue Heads Up displays are now available for commercial and industrial applications.  Read More