Webelow Wear

Electronic tattoo filled with sensors reads your vitals and reports them wirelessly.

John Rogers and his team at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign improved their first attempt at stick-on electronics tattoos and have created a more durable product to withstand up to 2 weeks of use. With electrodes, sensors, wireless communication the device attaches to the skin with a rubber stamp. Once connected the temporary tattoo reads the users vitals and reports them wirelessly.  This means patients who have had surgery can still be under the watchful eye of a health provider without having to physically take a bed in a hospital or sit in a doctor’s office.  While research continues to improve the tattoo’s  wireless capabilities, Roger estimates that the product should be available for commercial use through MC10 in less than 2 years.

Proverbial Wallets from MIT Media Lab

John Kestner and his team at MIT Media lab developed a series of wallets to help consumers control impulsive and often financially harmful spending habits.  Most of us use debit and credit cards for our day-to-day transactions, but many of us may not be checking available funds, or balancing our checkbooks on a regular basis to make responsible spending decisions.  Enter the Proverbial Wallet Series. The objective of the series is to communicate the user’s financial status in tangible forms to (hopefully) affect the users spending habits in a positive way. So how will a piece of leather and some hardware keep you from falling victim to big-shiny-buy-10-get-1-free purchases?  With actuators, control circuits, and Bluetooth communication, each wallet connects to your bank account and uses that information to update the wallet and notify the user through an action.

Bumble Bee

Using a vibrating motor, the wallet alerts the user of a processed bank transaction with a quick buzz.  If you hear too many buzzes, either you’re spending too much money, or someone else is.

Proverbial Wallet Series: Bumble Bee

Mother Bear

When a vibrating back pocket, or public shaming aren’t enough, the Mother Bear takes wearable wallet protection to a new level.  Based on the users  budget, the resistance of the hinge and motor in the wallet increases as you approach your budget ceiling. Granted, Mother Bear, won’t stop you from ballin’ out, but she will “nag” you about saving and even stand in the door way of wasteful money spending right before you walk past her and do it anyway.

Proverbial Wallet Series: Mother Bear

While all three are still prototypes, a new wallet combining all three functions should be released shortly. We’ll keep you updated.

Check out the demo video.

MACHINA's Midi Controller Jacket v1.0

MACHINA, a group of independent developers and designers living in Mexico,  has created the Midi Controller Jacket ($285-$2600), an advanced functional yet fashionable wearble, that transmits music notes to a speaker based on the user’s movements and interactions with the jacket sensors.

[Insert sped up record rewind sound here]

This means beat makers with dancing skills, or dancers with a penchant for music making can create killer beats with the pop-and-lock of an arm. Potentiometers, four push buttons, a flex sensor, and a joy stick can be configured by the user through a mobile app.

Making music not really your gig? No worries, because their fully funded kickstarter video explains that MACHINA is also working on a HACKSTORE with open source code, where users can upload their own presets and programs to add more functionality to the jacket like mixing videos or interacting with a Kinect.

With a ton of other products under their belt, including thermochromic t-shirts (that remind us of this interesting Polar Ice Cap Shirt), MACHINA is definitely a group of wearables celebrities we’ll be looking out for.

Check out their demo video below for more information.

Microchip Technology business development manager Lucio Di Jasio and the BodyCom

This week at Embedded World, Microchip Technology released the BodyCom Development Kit ($149), a network of sensors that communicate through the human body.

The technology is similar to that of an access card you use to enter a secure location (your apartment, dorm,  or office building). The difference being, instead touching your card on the receiver pad by the door,  as long as the BodyCom mobile device is in your possession, you only need to touch the receiver pad with a body part.

Lucio Di Jasio, business development manager at MicroChip Technology, explained that BodyCom is already being used in different applications. “One customer has a bike helmet – the bike won’t start if you’re not wearing the helmet”, says Di Jasio.

You can read the full press release or check out the demo video on YouTube.

Via [Engineering and Technology Magazine]

Today on Adafruit’s “Wearable Wednesdays” we learn how to make the LED Ampli-Tie with Flora. Using FLORA, the Electret Microphone Amplifier, Flora NeoPixels, and conductive thread, you can stand out in your next interview or stockholders meeting wearing a tie that lights up in reaction to sound.

You can check out the YouTube Video for step-by-step instructions.

While out at the infamous Duke Street skate park watching eight year olds kick and tres flip all over your faces, a light emerged and stole the attention.

Skatepark Kid A was rocking one of these boards and we had to take a closer look.  Purchased for only $60 bucks from Photon Light Boards, it’s not exactly wearable or a means to improve your skating abilities, but it looks pretty damn cool. Even cooler, Skatepark Kid A explained, are the moving images you can get of the board in action.

Above spending $60 for a light up board? Check out this Instructables and make them yourself!

Hitachi celebrated its 100^th birthday this week and held a mini exhibition in Tokyo to demonstrate a few of their up-and-coming accomplishments. Most notably is the next generation of pedometers: The Life Microscope.  Yes! Another wearable tool to demonstrate how incredibly lazy you are.

This is not your office-mom’s pedometer; using accelerometers, this watch-like wearable monitors a myriad of activities and can distinguish amongst them. From sitting at a desk, to playing video games, the data collected through the Life Microscope is easily sent to a software system that can be used to analyze daily actions. Sounds like a cut-and-dry success, but because the device is worn around one’s wrist, one could trick the device into thinking the whole body is moving. This is not for tricky lazy people, but can help health nuts and doctor’s maintain accurate records on daily activities.

While there are a few working prototypes, there is no info on when it will be available for purchase and how big the price tag may be. Competing with Phillips’ DirectLife and Fitbit, The Life Microscope will probably run you about $100.

Via [AkihabaraNews]

More pictures after the jump.

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Really?

Really??

Even the model looks like he’s thinking “Wow, this is ridiculously lame”.

Ok. A shirt that can carry your I-Pad is just wack man. I guess its cool that the screen is transparent so you can show off images, easily connect your headphones all the while being hands free, buuuuuut it reminds us of this wackable innovation and we’re just getting over the lameness.

Granted, Stye Shirt did propose some venues where one could sport this douche-attire and not look so…douchey. FYI if your activity is not on this list and you’re wearing this shirt shame on you.  SHAME!

• Play movies or interactive games to entertain your kids while keeping your hands free
• Show off your photos with a group of friends
• Broadcast a football game while enjoying a tailgate party
• Promote your artwork, music, and other multimedia anywhere
• Advertise your business by playing promotional content while speaking to customers
• Tech-savvy educators can grab students’ attention by creating interactive lessons
• Trade show vendors can run product demos while working in the booth
• Businesses can hire people to be mobile info booths to display interactive info and maps

Via [Tuvi]

Take your studio with you.

This is pretty cool.

The Square Band is a portable square wave synthesizer and is worn like a watch. The band includes eight tone buttons of varying octaves and a light sensor to change the pitch. Using a flexible solar panel, the band is recharged while worn and is powered for that a-ha moment of creativity.  It costs $35 with battery ($30 without) and there are only 4 in stock! But don’t fret – for you DIY’ers out there the creators are taking names for a potential DIY Kit.

Click here to hear a sample of the sounds. The first sample is a run through of each button and its corresponding tone in a controlled environment. The second sample is the tone of each button being pitch shifted via the on-board light sensor.

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Beat On the Block Drum Gloves Complete Set

Website Interface

Arnoud den Besten, Kristo De Pooter, Sam Vesters and Thomas Leterme are students of the Artesis University College of Antwerp who have recently added to the long line of wearable gloves with their latest concept, the The Beat on the Block Drum Gloves. The prototype, made of micro-switches connected to a computer, a backpack with speakers and controls to change the instruments, was created with the intent of bringing together the immigrants and native teens of Belgium. The Gloves, according to Besten the gloves make it possible “…for the youth worker to make contact with immigrant youth who are on the street”.

That is, it is a way for two circles of life – which may normally never cross – to meet, share and grow together by creating music, uploading to the Drum Glove website and building on what others have contributed.  A sort of social networking music making site. While it is still under development the goal of the designers is get people creating and working together.

Check out the designers video of real drummers trying out the Drum Gloves.

Drum gloves from Arnoud on Vimeo.