Electricfoxy mentors Roosevelt students (part 3)

Well, Meron and Tsedey have done it...they completed their year-long senior project and recently topped it off with a final demo and presentation. I must say how impressed I am at the amount the girls learned and with their dedication to see this project through. There were a lot of twists and turns in the project that could have easily been discouraging. For the past few months, I’ve been working with high school senior girls, Meron Shiferaw and Tsedey Tadesse, at Roosevelt High School in Seattle on a collaborative, cross-disciplinary project. The project introduces the young women to both technology and fashion and how to merge them into a new experience in the shape of an interactive gown. The project had its roots in a course Meron took at Roosevelt HS last year — Introduction to Computer Science. That course, taught by Andrew Davidson, introduced students to the basics of computer science and engineering. During this project, they completed 6 phases that taught them interaction design, basic electronics, intro to eTextiles, basic programming, fashion design and fashion construction.

Their project concept uses technology to push the boundaries of traditional Ethiopian wedding gowns. The interaction takes the participant through a playful story of the modernization of traditional Ethiopian wedding gowns that started with handmade gowns with a single ornate pattern around the bottom edge and slowly became more ornate and shorter in length through the generations.

Here's how the project turned out...

At one point of the project, Tsedey took a trip to Ethiopia and purchased hand-made traditional wedding gown fabric for the project. Each floral pattern in the fabric was used to diffuse the LEDs that were embedded in an inner lining.

The transition and animation of the LEDs told the story of the modernization of traditional ethiopian wedding gowns.

Meron Shiferaw (left) and Tsedey Tadesse (right)

For more info on the girls' process, go to part 1 to see how they got started and part 2 to see the hurdles that they had to overcome.

Special thanks to Kevin Wong Photography who took the gorgeous final photos of the project.

Google plans to launch augmented reality glasses

Google unveiled one of its secret projects from the Google X laboratory on Wednesday via its Google+ platform, called "Project Glass." Google's idea is this: In the future, we will be able to wear eyeglasses that let us interact with our surroundings in a completely new way. Using pieces of smart glass with a heads-up display (HUD), Google's wearable solution mixes communication technology like social networking, calling and texting, with real world elements like people, places, and things. Continue on International Business Times. According to TechCrunch, Apple and Facebook should be terrified of Google-Tinted glasses. "Google’s augmented reality eyewear is coming to disrupt your face and your business model. If you don’t even have to pull your phone out to take a photo, get directions, or message with friends, why would you need to buy the latest iPhone or spend so much time on Facebook?

It could be a year before Google eyewear reaches stores, but that’s why these and other tech companies need to strategize now. If they wait to see if the device is a hit, the world could be seeing through Google-tinted glasses by the time they adapt. Apple and Facebook’s bet might be to team up…

Despite its lack of hardware experience, Google is the best positioned company to make, or at least provide the software for eyeglass computers. It has Android, Google+, Maps, Gmail, Gcal, Latitude, and more. Glass might go belly up, but if not it could breathe life into some of these sluggish services." Continue reading on Techcrunch

Where's Microsoft in all of this?

From a design perspective, I worry about the aesthetics of both the hardware and the interface and the usefulness of the experience. Nobody sets out to look like a dork. If I am asked to wear it, it has to be beautiful. I have to want to wear it and I'm not convinced that they nailed it with this version of the design. And this concept has been around for decades. Why is this version better and does it really make me want to use it over my phone?

Image from International Business Times

A Nike MAG Sneakers Show & Tell

Electronic footwear has been making its way from the high-fashion runway (check out fashion designer Edmundo Castillo's latest light-up stilettos, the Light Sandal) to the sports industry. Nike's footwear guru Tinker Hatfield and designer Tiffany Beers show off the 2011 Nike MAG Sneakers that was a limited edition design based off a Back to the Future movie prop. Here's their process and how they made these light-up dream shoes.

Image via undergroundsoles

MSR explores wearable touch and gesture

Microsoft Research Redmond researchers Hrvoje Benko and Scott Saponas have been investigating the use of touch interaction in computing devices since the mid-’00s. Now, two sharply different yet related projects demonstrate novel approaches to the world of touch and gestures. Wearable Multitouch Interaction gives users the ability to make an entire wall a touch surface, while PocketTouch enables users to interact with smartphones inside a pocket or purse, a small surface area for touch. Both projects will be unveiled during UIST 2012, the Association for Computing Machinery’s 24th Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, being held Oct. 16-19 in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Make Every Surface a Touch Screen

Wearable Multitouch Interaction turns any surface in the user’s environment into a touch interface. A paper co-authored by Chris Harrison, a Ph.D. student at Carnegie Mellon University and a former Microsoft Research intern; Benko; and Andy Wilson—describes a wearable system that enables graphical, interactive, multitouch input on arbitrary, everyday surfaces.

“We wanted to capitalize on the tremendous surface area the real world provides,” explains Benko, of the Natural Interaction Research group. “The surface area of one hand alone exceeds that of typical smart phones. Tables are an order of magnitude larger than a tablet computer. If we could appropriate these ad hoc surfaces in an on-demand way, we could deliver all of the benefits of mobility while expanding the user’s interactive capability.”

The Wearable Multitouch Interaction prototype is built to be wearable, a novel combination of laser-based pico projector and depth-sensing camera. The camera is an advanced, custom prototype provided by PrimeSense. Once the camera and projector are calibrated to each other, the user can don the system and begin using it.

Continue reading about Wearable Multitouch at Microsoft Research...

PocketTouch: Through-Fabric Input Sensing

PocketTouch: Through-Fabric Capacitive Touch Input—written by Saponas, Harrison, and Benko—describes a prototype that consists of a custom, multitouch capacitive sensor mounted on the back of a smartphone. It uses the capacitive sensors to enable eyes-free multitouch input on the device through fabric, giving users the convenience of a rich set of gesture interactions, ranging from simple touch strokes to full alphanumeric text entry, without having to remove the device from a pocket or bag.

Benko also stresses that both Wearable Multitouch Interaction and PocketTouch are evolutionary steps of a larger effort by Microsoft Research to investigate the unconventional use of touch in devices to extend Microsoft’s vision of ubiquitous computing.

Continue reading this article at Microsoft Research... Main image from Compliance Research

You may now ditch your trainer

I recently wrote an article for Seattle design firm, Artefact, about the exploding trend in wearable fitness devices that are entering the market. Here's an abbreviated version. Read the full article here. ......

Make some room in your junk drawer – that old pedometer is about to find a new home.  The market is exploding with new technology targeting both consumers who want more control over their personal fitness and those looking to change their lifestyle to improve their overall health.  This emerging trend centers on the idea that we want to collect biometric and environmental information on what we do, how we eat, when we sleep, and even how we feel.  Some folks call it the Quantified Self movement, which is a fancy name for people that like to collect data on their daily habits to analyze or share with others.  From established brands like Polar and Nike, to upstarts such as Jawbone and other independent manufacturers, the personal fitness space is getting crowded with wearable devices that can collect personal data and talk to our ever-present smartphones.

Despite the proliferation of gadgets, it’s difficult to pinpoint one that really stands out.  A lot of the new wearable devices count calories and track users’ movements, so companies are trying to differentiate themselves through accessories, add-ons, and feature sets that, for good or bad, approach the challenge of data collection and analysis in similar ways.  Still, there are some interesting options out there, so let’s take a look.

• It’s all in the wrist. What’s old is new again.  Wristwatches are ubiquitous, making them ideal for companies like Polarand Garmin to convert them into wearable computers. Capable of handling many functions that were up until very recently, the domain of much larger devices, these multitasking timepieces are becoming more robust, offering a lot of functionality that let runners and bikers leave their phones at home so they can exercise without distraction.
• New wearable options. Beyond the wrist, other solutions come in designs that can be clipped, Velcroed, or hung form your body.  Despite their migration away from the wrist, the data collection options remain similar.
• Make it social. Where once products differentiated themselves with social networking capabilities, we’ve come to expect our products to share with the world.
• Not-so-everyday products. Just as TVs are becoming more and more connected, so too are other common household items.Fitbit has been doing a nice job with their Ultra wearable device/iPhone app solution (a lightweight clip/iPhone app combination) and is now extending the experience into everyday objects.

Continue reading the full article at Artefact.

Jacob Sutton’s L.E.D. Snow Surfer

Fashion photographer and filmmaker Jacob Sutton films Artec pro snowboarder William Hughes wearing a snowbaording suit entirely enveloped in LEDs made by designer and electronics whizz John Spatcher. Sutton filmed this gorgeous short on the slopes of Tignes in the Rhône-Alpes region of south-eastern France with one of my favorite cameras, the Epic Red. The short is absolutely mesmerizing...

“I was really drawn to the idea of a lone character made of light surfing through darkness,” says Sutton of his costume choice. “I've always been excited by unusual ways of lighting things, so it seemed like an exciting idea to make the subject of the film the only light source.” Sutton, who has created work for the likes of Hermès, Burberry and The New York Times, spent three nights on a skidoo with his trusty Red Epic camera at temperatures of -25C to snap Hughes carving effortlessly through the deep snow, even enlisting his own father to help maintain the temperamental suit throughout the demanding shoot. “Filming in the suit was the most surreal thing I’ve done in 20 years of snowboarding,” says Hughes of the charged salopettes. “Luckily there was plenty of vin rouge to keep me warm, and Jacob’s enthusiasm kept everyone going through the cold nights.”

Continue reading at nowness. More on Gizmodo.