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Toys

Techno Jacket 216

Posted by michael from the gives-a-whole-new-meaning-to-"patch-cable" dept.
Feersum Asura writes "Clothes equipped with fully integrated computer networks have been designed and developed in a joint venture between clothing company Levi's and electronics company Philips, following three years of intensive research. For more information visit the BBC website." I wouldn't be caught dead in one of these. Update: 08/16 11:11 AM by michael :More photos!
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Techno Jacket More

Techno Jacket

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  • Wow (Score:1)

    by Maran ( 151221 )
    From the article:
    "Clothes equipped with fully integrated computer networks have been designed and developed..."

    Just think, 8 player Quake 3 games over your favourite anorak...
    ^_^

    Go on, I've got to say it - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these

    Maran
  • When will society realize that the only piece of technology that we'll ever need to wear is our comlinks!?

    THREE TO BEAM UP!!!!

  • ROFLMAO (Score:3)

    by ebbv ( 34786 ) on Wednesday August 16, 2000 @04:48AM (#851487) Homepage

    someone needs to print this article out in colour, laminate it and save it.

    you know those articles from the 60s we read where they predict a jetsons-like world with flying cars, et cetera, which make use fall on the ground and roll around with laughter?

    well, in 30 years, this is the article people will read and die of laughter.

    oh...my...god.
    ...dave
  • I disagree: This suit will guarantee your privacy

    You're right - I should have said 'anonymnity,' which is different from 'privacy.'

    much as some glasses guarantee that the wearer won't get anyone pregnant anytime soon

    Heh. A friend in grad school used to call Birkenstock sandals "birth control shoes" for that reason...

  • Personally, I don't know how comfortable these could be. There would be bulges everywhere. How comfortable can it be to have a remote control attached to your arm, a cell phone at your side, and an mp3 player by your shoulder?

    Admittedly, it's an interesting idea, but I honestly can't see people wearing them. Maybe something with a microphone in the collar for a cell phone, but I think anything much more than that would be too bulky or heavy.

    Also, I disagree with the BBC's calling this "geek chic." Just because we're geeks and like technology doesn't mean that we want to look stupid and uncomfortable. These things just won't work IMHO.

  • More like:

    "Honey, the washer isn't starting."

    "Oh, you see, that's because our son's Novell pants won't wash in the same WinCE-powered appliance with that Philips jacket of yours... Here, I'll write a little perl script... hmm... hard-code the wash and rinse cycles... almost working... have to add the laundry detergent manually... ... *humm* Hey! It works! Isn't technology liberating!"

  • Yeah, wait until it rains the first time. You might just get caught dead in one of those...

    kwsNI
    • Blue Stain of Death got you down? See me today!

  • BTDTGTTS - others did this before (Score:3)

    by nellardo ( 68657 ) on Wednesday August 16, 2000 @08:28AM (#851493) Homepage Journal
    Aside from research efforts like the Media Lab at MIT, there have been other products developed and released. About two years ago, Sony displayed a vest in this vein in the windows of their Madison Avenue store - designed by Diane von Furstenberg no less, in a pale blue that coordinated with VAIO purple and brushed steel, pockets sized for a cell phone, an MD player, and a PCG-C1X laptop (the one with a camera). It looked a lot dressier than these jackets.

    Some smaller companies have been making jackets in the same vein, often out of Kevlar (now all it needs is thermoptic camouflage (okay, so I was watching Ghost in the Shell last night)).

    And of course you can buy vests specifically designed for the many wearable computers out there.

    Cool to see more minds thinking about it, though. Maybe someone will get it right eventually.

  • Forget the jacket, let me know when the Techno-Trousers are available -- as long as they haven't gone wrong [aardman.com]!
  • Is that an rj-47 jack you've got in your Levi's or are you just happy to see me?

    www.ridiculopathy.com [ridiculopathy.com]
    today: democrats protest their own convention, shut themselves down

  • and the obvious one if you're a windows user : my shirt turned blue ... again.

    Of course : asking a woman with a blue shirt if you may press alt-ctrl-del might get you a slap in the face
  • I just heard on the news these jackets are available in the more expensive Dutch clothing shops. That's great. Now I still can't afford them, but at least I can't afford them around the corner!
  • Is it just me, or could they make this stuff hidden to make it more "cool" and less intrusive. I'm a full on geek, but I don't need to show it to everyone all the time. I rather like the James Bond approach, rather than looking like a some kind of super hero from a bad comic.
  • The Webcamers [webcamer.com] of Printemps, the Paris department store, are way ahead. Printemps offers a unique online shopping service - they assign you a Webcamer, equipped with rollerblades, cell phone, webcam, and laptop, to go around the Paris store and shop for you. Live.

    Printemps sometimes sends their skaters out to do webcasts. The last one was at the Cannes Film Festival.

  • Cell phones embedded in tennis shoes???

    Bah! That's nothing new. Agent 86 had a shoe phone in the 60's.

    -Kazir dc:

  • smart armor for the road? (Score:3)

    by xeno ( 2667 ) on Wednesday August 16, 2000 @09:15AM (#851501)
    Hmm. A few days ago, an inattentive boob pulled out from a side street in front of me, totaling my motorcycle and sending me to the hospital. It would have been quite nice if my gear contained impact sensors and sent a message to my wife that there had been an incident, and whether to pick me up at the hospital or morgue based on lifesigns.

    Given that I'm serious about integrating a bike-mounted GPS unit, radar detector, trip computer, and a small x86 system with a solid-state disk (for music, nav, communication) with display (mounted on the sleeve or upper thigh for visibility while riding) and other i/o (speaker/mic in helmet, minimal handlebar-based button input), it doesn't seem all that farfetched to add a couple of serial inputs such as impact, IR-based heartbeat, temp, and position. If you're wearing a big honkin' darth-vader-lookin' suit anyway (search for Aerostich or Cortech suits if you're unfamiliar with these) -- why not go to town with it?
  • Underwear with a pager (or pocket for such) in the front. (Set it to vibrate)
  • "Does this jacket remind anyone else of the jacket Marty McFly wore in Back to the Future 2? he puts it on, it resizes to fit him, he get's wet, it blows him dry... "

    I'd like a pair of boxers that could do that.

  • "Experts are predicting that this latest "geek chic" will lead to even further technological advances in the future."

    Is it just me, or does big business have a really terrible track record of predicting "geek chic"? Such that, when they say (however obliquely) it's going to get adopted either by geeks or by those trying to look technologically savvy, it's a good signal to go short their stock? ;)

    -TBHiX-

  • Um, Ok. These are technically just jackets. Which look like the type those guys run around in on the tarmac at airports.

    I was expecting, what...

    A ball cap with monitor, speakers and microphone stitched in

    Diapers with poop alarm

    Stain detecting white shirts

    Socks which zap foot fungii

    Techno Trousers!

    Ties that detect stupidity and strangle the wearer

    Underwear which atomizes an odor neutralizer upon detection of methane

    I mean, please use technology for something we can all benefit from, ok?

    Vote [dragonswest.com] Naked 2000

  • All those features, but no pocket protector? What a ripoff! I don't think it's documented what happens to a P3 when it gets flooded with fountain pen ink. No way I buy one of those things until they get some kind of ink resevoir system in those pockets, no sir-ee.


    luckman

  • DOH. And the answer would be.... "Yes" :)
  • For someone who regularly forgets to put his washing in this could be great news! I forsee remote clothing administration! Soon I will be able to assign my clothes IP addresses and wash them remotely, then get them to hang themselves out to dry.

    I can't wait!
  • hehe, no more lost socks in the drier :o)

  • I mean really, it doesn't even have the essentials... Where are the holsters for your palm pilot? I mean if it doesn't have a PDA what good is it?

    Just me, but it seems like a really silly idea to have this all integrated into clothing. What about other things like upgrading your current clothing? I'd like an extra few meg to hold more MP3's. Or I think I'd like a VR implant so I can play Quake III.

  • Now the borg of the fashion industry become real borg. When does Tommy come out with his version.

    We are the fashion borg, your chromatic and dimensional distinctiveness will be added to our own. From this day forward, you will dress like us.

    Even the borg dress differently, but I wonder if greys are in?

  • I'm sensing a fad here... instead of pulsating plastic mood rings or mood lipstick, we'll have people obsessively displaying and comparing various bodily statistics and metrics, and using the clothes as chameleonesque mood indicators. "Ooh, baby, with a heartrate that low, I bet you'd make a /great/ lover!"


    Or something.

  • Mom: "Matthew! How many times have we told you?? Don't go over to Timmy's house, he's a bad influence!"

    Kid: "But, but.."

    Mom: "No excuses, we have the video surveillance and the GPS data to prove it. You're grounded!"

    *Mom rips off speakers and game console arm, just like the borg her son has become*

    Kid: "NooOOoOoOOoOoOoo!!! I've been cut off from the collective! Make the voices come back, Mommy!"
  • Better change that name, Old Navy [oldnavy.com] might sue you for trademark infringement. Does anyone else think they have the most annoying commercials for those Technochino pants?
  • I just hope to someday get a 31 minute pizza...
  • Almost a Thousand Bucks for a jacket that makes you look like a extra on the Simpsons. What's next, pants that ring your girlfriend when you check into a seedy hotel for an hour?

    I just hope they didn't put the cell phone next to your brain [cnn.com]

  • I suppose you'd have to expect them to be made of synthetic fibres, but I'd really rather have something made of denim, hemp, or even wool.

    I suppose there's nothing stopping me from making my own, aside from my lack of skill, and the poor availability of machine washable electronics...

    Oh, yeah, that's why I have pockets. Never mind

  • Your best bet would be to get that kind of (army?)west they're using in the stargate movie... I guess you would'nt need it to bee bulletproof though... :)

  • This is 911, how may I help you? (Score:4)

    by Riplakish ( 213391 ) on Wednesday August 16, 2000 @06:16AM (#851519)
    Caller: Yeah, some script kiddies have hacked into my clothes and are running a recursion algorithm on the zipper of my pants. I've got tracks-marks on my penis from all the zipping and un-zipping. Can you get it to stop?

    911: What OS are you running?

    Caller: Debian 6.1.

    911: Sorry, we only support Red Hat 9.3. Thank you for calling 911. [Click]



  • I definitely am waiting for the Victoria's Secret versions of these things. Imagine the possibilities..... the imagination runs riot. A sniffer?

    On the flip side, maybe by overanalysis, you could find out things that you really just didn't wanna know!

  • This would be great to take camping with you. Run out of toilet paper, just run a couple of printer tests, and voila!
  • what first comes in mind... washable at 30 degrees Celsius?
  • If my mom was right, these things could save your life. She always said wear clean underwear in case I got in an accident. Connect these to your self-driving car, and you'd never get in an accident if your underwear was dirty!

  • I wouldn't be caught dead in one of these. (Score:3)

    by davonds ( 196851 ) on Wednesday August 16, 2000 @04:34AM (#851525)
    If it rains, you might be.
  • The best use for this would be to "accidentally" bump into someone wearing a technojacket turning the "network" of fine wires in the fabric into one big heating element. Lets see them try and claim on the warrenty for the melted mess they would have left.

    "Honest, I was just walking along when it started raining!!!"

    Bob.
  • most annoying commercials

    Um.. don't know if I've seen them, I watch so little TV. Someone had some awful tech-vest commercials a while, back, no networking or anything fun like that. Just the kinds of vests the rural kids wore (probably because their fathers hunted in similar), remember blue jeans, before being fashionable were the clothing of laborers.

    I guess this would make sense along that last thought, the Levis Techno-Jackets look like Airport Groundcrew outfits, how better to impress your friends than to look like a baggage handler?

    Vote [dragonswest.com] Naked 2000

  • Yes! (Score:3)

    by pen ( 7191 ) on Wednesday August 16, 2000 @04:34AM (#851528)
    Does anyone realize what this means? Endless possibilities for new pickup lines!

    "Hey baby, wanna cluster?"

    --

  • Tech-Jacket (Score:3)

    by basscomm ( 122302 ) <basscomm&crummysocks,com> on Wednesday August 16, 2000 @04:34AM (#851529) Homepage

    How cool would it be to ping your laundry?
  • Great, but what will I wear during the summer? or if I ever go to the southwest?

    Doesn't putting a laptop in a ski outfit seem a little silly? I mean, yes, I ski poorly and I imagine I'd wreck it in like - a bunny slope or two, but even experienced people crash and burn (ABC's "the agony of defeat" from the 80's scared me to not ski until very recently).

    The only activewear worse than ski wear that I can imagine incorporating electronics in is a wetsuit.

  • The jacket looks fine as long as the earpieces are changed. I wouldn't mind one then.

    It's a great concept, but I would have to say that this is still an alpha release.

    The article didn't go very far into explaining what systems the jacket actually uses. I'd like to read up on those before I go and spend a lot of cash. Good concept, needs work...

    What would happen in the rain?
  • I second that, nothing irritates me quite like
    people prancing around showing off they're new
    gadgets. And what gets me is that they're
    always loud about it too. I wish that they'd
    invent something that you have to be quiet
    for it to work!

    >"spoooon!!"

    hahaha.. I loved the Tick. Too bad its
    not on anymore..

  • My New Business (Score:5)

    by mr.ska ( 208224 ) on Wednesday August 16, 2000 @04:35AM (#851533) Homepage Journal
    MCSE Tailor

    trousers defragged while U wait

    suits pressed and reformatted, 1 hour

    This Week's Special: upgrade the memory in your UnderWare and receive a pair of USB socks

  • All I need is some computer pants. Then my girlfriend would see me and say, "Hey darlin', is that a hard drive in your pants or are ya' happy to see me?"
  • can you say hoaxs
  • Scroll down to the bit that says [philips.com]

    Keeping track of the kids is easy in this smart kidswear concept which incorporates GPS-driven locators and miniature camera's allowing parents to ensure they're safe, while a computer game console worn on the sleeve keeps the kids happy.

    That's my daughter in the silver jacket :-)

  • There are always 'rather more accurate' articles in the Guardian. The crosswords are better too.
  • As the years rolled by, my sheer hatred of Michael for what he had done to my family's name came to a crescendo. And then, he himself let me know how to get my revenge, albiet inadvertently.

    I broke into his house and stole to his bedroom. There, sleeping in his four poster bed, was my enemy.

    I pulled the pillow from the other side of the bed, gently, so gently! And then I leaped upon him, pressing the pillow to his face.

    A mightly struggle ensued. He beat at me with his mighty fists, and thrashed against certainty. But, as the outcome must be in my favor, his hands were like the fluttering of moths, and then they were still.

    I opened the box I had brought with me, and pulled out the Levis(R) brand Techno Jacket I bought for this occasion. It set me back about 600, but worth every penny for this humiliation.

    I dressed his corpse in the jacket, grabbed the box and left the house. I drove to a 7-11, and from there, used the pay phone to call the police. I gave them the sparse details, and then hung up the phone.

    Who knew that the instrument of my revenge would be something he had clued me in on..."I wouldn't be caught dead in one of these."

  • that before in Back to the Future 2 ;)

    now if it was one-size fits all ... and self-drying... that would be cool ;)

  • Dangerous (Score:4)

    by pigpogm ( 70382 ) <michael@pigpog.com> on Wednesday August 16, 2000 @04:56AM (#851540) Homepage
    There's some areas people are mugged for their old trainers.

    I think i'd worry about walking round in a jacket that everyone knows has £600 worth of electronic stuff sewn into it.
  • Another inaccuracy in the BBC article... the red jacket is a very early prototype and doesn't look anything at all like the Philips/Levi jackets. The little keypad (bizarrely subtitled "Advanced technology could rob people of their privacy") is actually off the new jacket.

    Off hand I don't know of an online site with a full picture of the jacket, I'll post it if I find one.

    Asher Hoskins
    Philips Wearables Project
    (not official PR person, yadda, yadda...)

  • When I was at Disney World in Florida a couple of months ago, they had a jean jacket that had a computer built into it. You push buttons that are made out of some kinda conductive thread and it plays piano notes. It had a battery pack that was sewn into the inside of the coat. I can't remember who they said invented it a couple of years ago, but the guy running the exhibit said there were a lot of people working on technology built around it. And yes, it could be washed, and no, you wouldn't be electricuted if you got caught in a rainstorm any more than if your amphibious Stomper (showing my age on that one) just happened to be in a pool with you.
  • Damn. Blew my one-liner in the subject field. Nothing left to say.
  • 1. How long till they port Linux to this? [w/mods of course, maybe using those mini web server gadgets]

    2. Imagine a beowulf cluster of these [again modded w/mini computers]

    You may all now return to intelligent conversation.

    -={(Astynax)}=-
  • you know, it might actuallyh be cheaper if they just made clothes with more pockets...
  • Great! Now all we need is to get this thing running on human sweat (or motion) instead of battery power. Once we get apache running, I'll lose 20 pounds a week!
  • "wearer has exceeded quota" or some ish...
  • Philippa Wagner, of Philips Design, said clothing was currently being developed which could be used to monitor people's health, with the fabric itself acting as the electricity conductor

    Just what I have always wanted - a fully conductive outfit to wear around during lightning storms!!

    WOO HOO
  • I think I just crashed my pants!

    Did you dump core into them?
    --

  • How would you tell if someone just had a mild nervous twitch from the embarrasment of wearing the thing or was suffering a DOS attack?

    Any bets once these start selling (if?) they release a line of firewall over and underwear depending on whether you want to protect your clothes from the outside world or yourself from your clothes.

    "Why are you walking funny?"
    "I'm trying to defrag my underwear!"

    Bob.
  • who cares, america won't get any of this stuff for another 5 years I'm sure, and then there will be so many different companies doing this and none of them would be compatible. we need to stop letting business majors control the technology in america.
  • Could it be that my Michael Jackson jacket with the built in boom-box is coming back in style? well all right...
  • .. to hack into Natalie Portman's G-String?

    Your Working Boy,

  • Re:Tech-Jacket (Score:5)

    by dsplat ( 73054 ) on Wednesday August 16, 2000 @05:02AM (#851557)
    Obviously, there is a tie-in between this an a recent Slashdot poll [slashdot.org]. With this jacket and a networked washer and drier, your laundry can set the correct cycle itself! Imagine the uses:

    "Honey, the washer is refusing to start."

    "That's because your white shirts won't allow it to until you remove our son's red shorts."

  • Three years of intensive research? All they needed was a Gore-Tex jacket, a Nokia phone, a Palm Pilot, a Diamond Rio, and a roll of gaffa tape.
  • What if someone were to crack your clothes?? Just imagine the damage that could be done assuming one added certian...peripherals.
  • I don't know about you, but I don't want my shoes that close to my nose...
  • How many of us are going to be fooled by the coming wave of "geek chic" fashion design?
    I am! It's a collective dellusion I want to be part of.

    Seriously, if Info-Charms [infocharms.com] comes out with some ear-rings that have some useful gadget/feature I'd even get my ears pierced.

    Mind you, all I'd like at the moment is a mixer for my MP3 player and mobile phone, so when I'm walking down the street listening to my music I don't have to rely on the vibrating alert to know that my phone's ringing. Aim big, start small.

  • This would go nicely with the eHolster [eholster.com].

    They don't call us webslingers for nothing.

    Kevin Fox

  • No! (Score:4)

    by guran ( 98325 ) on Wednesday August 16, 2000 @05:09AM (#851586)
    403: Connection refused

  • I dunno -- one of the best things about being a nerd is the knowledge that if I go out of town and leave my phone, pager, Palm, laptop, and no phone number where I'm staying, the situation at work can degenerate into tight knots of people blaming each other as to why the DB server is down, they can't get their email, and nobody is getting any Quake time in.

    I sure don't want people being able to beep my skivvies to let me know that they got a Word document with a macro virus.

    I think we can file this under "Lamer". Just like those hilarious white-bread suburban boys who dress in some vaguely percieved "gangsta" style, thinking it gives them an "image". Think of the guy in the next department who has a Dual PIII at home running "Linux 6.0", but mostly uses it to surf the Web. There's the target market...

    (But, I have to admit, I'd REALLY like to see some of those Victoria's Secret models doing the runway with these things on...)

  • "Why, yes, I'm a self made man... I just ran make on myself this morning..."

    Vote [dragonswest.com] Naked 2000
  • "Insert ... here
    How about this one from the bottom of the /. page:

    On-line, adj.: The idea that a human being should always be accessible to a computer.

    ---
  • Can you imagine a bunch of these on a packed train setting each other off like a minefield that's been packed too dense - each one being flung into another when they touch? That's a pay-per-view event if I've ever heard of one...
  • No, but there are some glasses that turn completely black so you don't see anything that might alarm you.

    (On a serious note, real photo-chromatic glasses rock, I'm never buying normal lenses again.)

  • I hope they don't seriously try to do this with a clamshell portable like the picture indicates. Surely a pen-based tablet of some sort would be infinitely better. (Actually, if anyone has been tracking the evolution of this activity and the specific equipment used, I'd be most interested in checking it out.)
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Core technology borrowed from MIT? (Score:3)

    by HEbGb ( 6544 ) on Wednesday August 16, 2000 @05:11AM (#851614)
    I remember reading about computers and circuits being embedded into clothing being developed at the MIT Media Lab [mit.edu] a few years ago. They had, in fact, a Levi's jeans jacket that played music when you touched the buttons [mit.edu] (which were actually just metallic thread). They might have had embedded networking, as well.

    If they used this technology, which it looks like they did, don't you think the students at MIT who did the original work should be given credit for it?

    Then again, looking at the monstrosity Levis/Philips came up with, the students are probably happy not to have been associated with it. :)
  • If I forget to close a table tag and someone views me with Netscape, will they only see my head?

  • Re:Dangerous (Score:4)

    by pigpogm ( 70382 ) <michael@pigpog.com> on Wednesday August 16, 2000 @05:32AM (#851619) Homepage
    A webcam in your pants! Live sweaty genitals!

    Ur. Perhaps not.
  • To tell you if you're dropping packets,and when you need to launder them.

  • Inaccuracies in the BBC article (Score:5)

    by asherh ( 149627 ) on Wednesday August 16, 2000 @04:37AM (#851635)
    The BBC online article contains a number of errors: the clothes do have a network, but it's for linking together a phone, mp3 player, remote control, earpieces and microphone and not so that 'the wearer [can] be fully connected to the world wide web at all times' (although later versions may well be able to do this).

    As for 'Disadvantages of the jackets include the possible implications of network crashes and the effects of rainstorms on techno-clothing while being worn.': the network in the current jackets is passive, and therefore there's nothing to crash, and the jackets are designed to be machine washed and so a little rain (or indeed a great deal of hot soapy rain) really isn't going to bother them...

    There's a rather more accurate article in the Guardian online at: http://ww w.guardianunlimited.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4 051264,00.html [guardianunlimited.co.uk]

    Asher Hoskins
    Philips Wearables Project
    (a engineer, not an official spokesman! go speak to Philips PR if you want one of those!)

  • This technology could be useful... (Score:4)

    by OneFix ( 18661 ) on Wednesday August 16, 2000 @07:31AM (#851636)
    If used in less "obtrusive" ways. The kid's jacket seems like it might be going in the right direction...but how about a jacket for climbers, skiers, or sailors with one of those GPS locators built-in.

    The jacket could monitor movement and conditions. If the wearer doesn't move in a few hours or pulls on a strap (some sort of manual activation)...it would send out a signal. It would be a great idea to find skiers burried after an avalanche, or locating sailors lost at sea.

    I could also see a sort of built-in weather radio (much like NOAA in the US uses) that would inform the wearer when severe weather conditions were expected. It should be relatively simple, but it could save alot of lives...
  • Seriously, the possibilities for electronics embedded clothing are pretty endless. Imagine:

    - Cell phones embedded in tennis shoes
    - Jacket-Fax
    - a virtual 80" screen from your ball cap
    - personal certificates in your undies ( who would want to steal an old pair of underwear?)

    Just don't forget any of it anywhere, or you'll be screwed :)
  • Advanced technology could rob people of their privacy.

    Forget technology; what will rob you of your privacy is looking like a freak in a suit like this.

  • Disadvantages of the jackets include the possible implications of network crashes and the effects of rainstorms on techno-clothing while being worn.

    This sounds scary when you consider the fabric itself acting as the electricity conductor. A quick rain storm could fry you or what?! how much power would something like this take to run?

    When did just keeping your mobile phone, a portable audio device, a remote control panel, a microphone and headphones in your pockets become passe?
  • That ski-jacket is a step in the right direction, IMHO. I'm thinking along the lines of body warming, temperature detecting (core temp too if you combined a speaker and thermometer for your ear) Put some of the spec-ops throat mic's in, a radio transponder for locating, and motion capturing devices for recharging the powersupply, and this would become a must for Helo-skiiers... or whatever its called (jumping off helocopters on a virgin mountain).

    For the pranksters, you could include ultrasonic speakers to cause a little avalanche to eliminate the competition (in competitions of course!).

    Then of course, there are night vision goggles... just because. And to put a Dune spin on things, lets add some gas collector/converter in your pants. Just think, everytime you fart, you recharge your gas powered burner (which is in your emergency kit). So burritos for everyone, before you mount up!

    Actually, back to a more serious note, I can see this kind of technology being put into those folks' polar wear... you know, those guys that like to explore the North and South 'poles'. I could personally use some of that for diving.

    However, I think most of those are silly, but I wouldn't be suprised at all if it caught on with some looser group that defines success as having the latest, not necessarily the greatest!

  • It'd be great to have some undergarments equiped as such so that it could control both my bladder and bowel movements. I suppose this would represent extreme operating conditions and would make for a good stress test of the equipment.

  • Please pay no attention to the vocal but silly majority that is only coming up with dumb one-liners in reaction.

    I think these look kinda cool. Between the cell I carry on my hip and the MiniDisc player with behind-the-head headphones hiding in my inside jacket pocket, I can assure you that some people would want these. I'm sure the prices will be pretty steep for at first, but who knows what might catch on, eh?

  • Better Pics (Score:3)

    by dmccarty ( 152630 ) on Wednesday August 16, 2000 @08:07AM (#851684)
    Here's a link to the high-resolution pictures [philips.com] on Philips' web site that bypasses the "Registeren nieuwe user" registration form. (What's that?--some kind of Jar Jar babble?)
    --

  • Geek Chic? Ha! (Score:4)

    by SecretAsianMan ( 45389 ) on Wednesday August 16, 2000 @05:51AM (#851685) Homepage

    Experts are predicting that this latest "geek chic" will lead to even further technological advances in the future

    How many of us are going to be fooled by the coming wave of "geek chic" fashion design? Blame it on the opening-up of Internet society to the average person, or whatever, but it's coming. The world will be barraged with semi-sentient 'designers' and fashion industry marketroids, telling everyone that they want to be geeks and they can be geeks by wearing these clothes. Think about these fashion people:

    • They aren't geeks.
    • They don't know any geeks.
    • They have no idea how a geek really thinks.
    How exactly are these people going to create geek clothing? Easy: They aren't. What's most unfortunate about this trend is the potential stampede of sheep...err, people...who think themselves geeks just because they're wearing the geek chic clothes. We certainly don't need Cherry Cheerleader and Joe FootballPlayer going around saying "Behold, I am geek"! The geek subsociety has traditionally been our refuge from those people. If we let this fad catch on, it will destroy our heritage. We aren't, and will never be, mainstream; anyone saying so is a liar.

    All of that IMHO. Or maybe I should calm down. :P)

  • Forget these things, I want a taser jacket. A company in california used to make bomber jackets with a built in taser. The battery sat in the breast pocket and the jacket was woven with fine wires to carry electricity. You armed it by pressing a button in one sleeve and anyone that touched you got a nasty shock. Cool for feeling safe on a subway.

    I remember seeing Richard Hart wearing one of these on the Next Step on Discovery channel back before he left for C|Net or whatever he is doing now.

  • Oops ... (Score:5)

    by gcondon ( 45047 ) on Wednesday August 16, 2000 @04:43AM (#851695)
    I think I just crashed my pants!
  • From the end of the article:

    > Disadvantages of the jackets include the possible implications of network crashes and the effects of rainstorms on techno-clothing while being worn.

    They must be joking! I think it would have been more accurate to write:

    'Disadvantages of the jackets include the fact that you look like a complete prat and that the wearer will probably suffer fatal beatings by members of the public on account of their appalling clothing.'

    "Techno Clothing"? "Totally Sad" clothing more like. Better to wear normal clothing and have people suspect you are a geek [0], rather than wear this jacket and confirm the fact.

    best wishes,
    Mike
    [0] Not nerd.

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