Occupy Corporatism
by Susanne Posel
Google’s Project Jacquard is a way to weave touch and gesture interactivity into any textile using standard, industrial looms. Google and Levis hope to manufacture the first smart clothing and furniture using this new technology.
This conductive yarn created by Jacquard and “industrial partners” is a combination of “thin, metallic alloys with natural and synthetic yarns like cotton, polyester, or silk, making the yarn strong enough to be woven on any industrial loom.”
The yarn is so small that it appears to the wearer just like regular stitching.
The tiny electronics sewn into the clothing can “capture touch interactions, and various gestures can be inferred using machine-learning algorithms. Captured touch and gesture data is wirelessly transmitted to mobile phones or other devices to control a wide range of functions, connecting the user to online services, apps, or phone features.”
By using a finger dragging, tapping and swiping, the brightness of the clothing can be controlled . The user could even use this ability “to play/pause/skip tracks on [a] cellphone music player.”
Should an entire shirt be made with this yarn, “the shirt [will] act as a micro-controller with various sensors (accelerometers, gyroscopes, pressure sensors, heart rate monitors, etc) attached.”
With the goal of being able to control the yarn with a smart phone, other possibilities of the use of this yarn include:
• A swipeable pillow that measures comfort
• A teddy bear that responds to touch
• Bed sheets that track sleeping or sexual patterns
• Pants that control a smart phone
Gartner, a tech research analyst firm, predicts that smartwatches will become more popular in 2015 than fitness bands. This trend is expected to grow from 18 million to 21 million units sold by the end of the year.
The next phase for fashion will be the smart garment.
Gartner explains that smart garments may even be the next big thing during this Christmas season.
One of the new products coming to market is from Cityzen Sciences called D-Shirt which has imbedded sensors woven into the fabric that detect and monitor:
• Movement
• Heart rate
• Speed
• Breathing patterns
• GPS location
Angela McIntyre, director of research at Gartner, commented : “Because smart-shirts and other smart-garments can hold more sensors closer to the skin, they can collect more information and produce better data, like the full wave of the heart beat rather than just the pulse.”
McIntyre said: “First-generation smart-shirts have been available from companies like Adidas and Underarmour for a while now marketing them to professional athletes, but we’re starting to see interest from regular manufacturers of garments for a much larger audience.”
As the technology becomes more mainstream, companies will be expected to offer more “choices” in fashion with functionality.
Motorcyclists can now choose the Visijax Commuter Jacket to “improve” their safety.
This jacket has a Teflon coating that makes it water-resistant, and ventilation to keep the wearer cool. Using a rechargeable pack with LED lights and “car-style indicators which activate automatically, even if the rider has both hands on the handlebars” the jacket attributes to less motorcycle accidents – as the company claims.
ConspiracyAnalyst.org 