Warable electronics

[dragon]

Kind of cool microchips that can be sowen into clothing and other textiles. There are so many possible applications for this its not even funny such as MP3 jackets, wearable lables, folding flatscreens and many others.

Chipmaker Infineon Technologies is weaving its products into an entirely new fashion industry: high-tech textiles.

The Munich-based company on Friday showed off new prototype wearable chips that it says can be sewn directly into clothing and other textiles.

Infineon's Emerging Technologies Group has developed chips, sensors and packages that allow the processors to be woven into fabrics. Special materials woven into the fabric are used to connect the chips and sensors.

Although the company did not announce plans to put these technologies into production, it said possible uses for the chips could be found in areas including entertainment, communications, health care and security.

Infineon, best known for its DRAM chips, has a large presence in the semiconductor market as a whole. It sells chips for devices ranging from smart cards to automotive electronics and biometrics.

However, new markets such as wearable electronics show great promise for additional revenue outside of its current lines of business, the company said.

"The further evolution of our information society will make everyday electronic applications ever more invisible and natural," said Sönke Mehrgardt, Infineon's chief technology officer, in a statement. "The enabling technologies we presented today are a major step toward this objective."

A wide range of companies are researching wearable electronics and so-called plastic chips, which could lead to flat screens that consumers can fold, intelligent labels, cheap solar cells and a plethora of other devices.

An MP3 jacket
One new application for Infineon's wearable electronics, for example, could be for personal entertainment, the company said.

Infineon has developed a prototype MP3 player that can be sewn directly into shirts or jackets. The player, consisting of a chip, a removable battery/data storage card and a flexible keyboard, includes an earpiece for listening to music.

Infineon will show off an MP3 player "jacket" at Avantex, a kind of fashion show for high-tech textiles, next month in Frankfurt.

The company also said that similar wearable chips could create clothing used in medical applications to monitor patients' vital signs.

These applications would use tiny chips, which convert a person's body heat into electrical energy, to store information or transmit data wirelessly via a built-in antenna.

http://news.com.com/2100-1001-892937.html

[General Zod]

It sounds kind of neat, but it also sounds like one of those things that'll be talked around alot, and then never get off the ground. Kinda like that wearable computer that one company made awhile ago. Not only was it ungodly expensive and sold like shit, but the thing gave you vertigo when using it. Don't see quite as many problems with this, but it does sound a wee farfetched.

And just to nitpick, it's wearable. Not Warable.

[dragon]

It sounds kind of neat, but it also sounds like one of those things that'll be talked around alot, and then never get off the ground. Kinda like that wearable computer that one company made awhile ago. Not only was it ungodly expensive and sold like shit, but the thing gave you vertigo when using it. Don't see quite as many problems with this, but it does sound a wee farfetched.

And just to nitpick, it's wearable. Not Warable.

Picky picky aren't we. What can you expect I been on shift for the last 18 Hours and still have 8 more to go, god I hate 24 hour duty. Anyway even if this company can't make it work there are many other areas that could benefit from the research. Imagine a suit with sensors relaying whats around them onto the skin of the person allowing a bind person to feel whats nearby or GPS tracker woven into your clothing.

And the company that is doing this is alredy have a deal with the German Polize, accurding to the coverage of the trade show, to provide them with vests that can dispaly what ever they type into their computer. Still lots of potential but lots of problems as well.

[Molyneux]

Screw the MP3 jackets...what I want to know is, where are the Spiderman suits? Where are the wall-crawling gloves and boots, where's the smart armor and self-cleaning T-shirts?

I know we have to start small with this kind of thing, but jeez, I'm getting impatient...all this shit that's physically and technologically feasible, but no-one's been putting any money towards it. I'm running out of patience for the supertech, here.

Hell, it's almost the end of 2005 and we still barely have prosthetics that can actually move...forget feedback, when I was a kid I hoped we'd have full VR available by now.