The latest news in wearable tech is that everyone is talking about wearable tech.
At the beginning of the year this trend looked strong, but it's completely outstripped expectations, pushed by the Smart Watch Bubble and Glass-mania. (Click here if you want to see Robert Scoble wearing Glass in the shower. A tad NSFW.)
Just announced, and disturbing: the Jawbone UP is being opened to developers as a platform.
The device will soon be able to monitor everything about you, and then how long before insurance companies or employers are requiring that people wear them and penalizing them for health behavior violations?
Also, researchers at Purdue have now developed LED glasses that let you read while running, syncing up moving text with your moving head. And there are HUD ski goggles (the Smith I/O Recon and the Oakley AirWave), because it's all about the sensors right now. We are getting quantified.
People are doing crazyVR stuff with the Oculus Rift. Since we're still perfectly happy with the level of immersion provided by text and there's plenty of Wincest on Ao3 we haven't read yet, we'll be late-adopting on the VR tip.
New RFID research means flexible, ultra-thin tags could soon be showing up in all kinds of fabrics. Internet of things, meet closet; you're going to be great friends.
Also just announced, the world's first 3D-printed wood necklaces, from Hot Pop.
In news about tech that enables better wearing, the Kickstarter for Wool&Prince's wash-only-once-per-100-wears shirt is at $253, 583.00 of its $30,00.00 goal. We say "ew".
Virtual fitting rooms are proliferating; Fits.me recently closed a bunch of Series A dollahs (actually, pounds, since they're based in London) and is looking to push into the US market. And finally, if your favorite etailer doesn't have a virtual fitting room solution yet, we love custom-fit clothes from Constrvct in the new "Glitchaus" designs.
