Lux et Deco a French retailer of LED (Light Emitting Diode) jewelry and all kind of LED enabled interior accessories has added a unique product to their program, a LED Glove that put light into your finger tips.

Pointing to something or someone gives a new meaning to the term ’shedding light on it’.

The battery bowered glove has LEDs on the tip of each finger to brighten up your life … maybe.

I am not sure if the LED glove does have any practical use although the suggestion on Lux et Deco’s Website makes the claim to improve the ‘visibility of police officers, security, firefighters, mechanics to get on your car engine …‘

Nevertheless, Lux et Deco sells the LED Glove for €29.- ($45.-) a pair. Maybe they can light up your next party or help you finding the keys in your bag when coming home after a heavy night out.

Not everything in live has to be serious and not every stuff people by for their outfit is covering a need but is there just for a bit sun (LED) shine in life

[technabob via Gizmodo]

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Burton, well known for the fashion-street-skating-snowboarding brand and the very first brand that commercialized an interactive backpack added a BoomBag or Ghetto Blaster backpack to it’s range called: Feedback Pack.

Actually, the Feedback Pack has been available since 2007 but Burton made a style makeover for a Spring 2008 launch with cool looking designs.

The Feedback Daypack has a built-in stereo speaker set, an amplifier and auxiliary input allowing to connect any portable audio player or a laptop that has an 3.5mm headphone plug. A tear-off CD storage panel fits underneath the zippered speaker cover.

The large main compartment comes with a laptop sleeve. A great feature for skater: the Feedback includes vertical skateboard carry straps.

The speaker module as well as the backpack itself is weather resistant so there is no worry if you walk down the street in rain. The Feedback Pack will keep on playing.

Available in Rock Salt Bullet (my personal style favorite, see photo above) and True Black Strict Plaid, the Feedback Pack can take a lot of stuff on board measuring 19in x 11in x 9in / 48cm x 27cm x 22cm adding up to a volume of 24l.

There are many online stores selling the Feedback Pack for $ 89.95 for example following this link.

Burton’s choice of speaker technology might not be as ‘magic’ as the NXT technology but it does give good sound quality and most important: another option to have decent background sound while skating, a basketball game or just relaxing in the great outdoors.

As there was a time in the 80s and 90s where a Boom box or Ghetto Blaster was a must have item, it seems the 21st Century equivalent will be the BoomBags.

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We have posted a few days ago the story of the HandTalk communication glove from a team of students at Carnegie Mellon University that translates American Sign Language (ASL) into speech via a cell phones running text to speech software.

A great and useful looking concept that could help to bridge the communication barrier between deaf people and people not familiar with the ASL.

it turned out that this very same concept is not as new as it looked. We got quite some comments and emails pointing out that such concept was created back in 2001 by Ryan Patterson.

To give credit to the person how originated this idea we are very glad to introduce the inventor of the Original Hand-Talk glove.

The background story of Ryan’s Sign Language Translator goes like this: Ryan was looking for an idea for a science fair project and during his search he remembered “… a time when I was at a restaurant and saw some people who were deaf and needed an interpreter to help them place their order. I thought I could try to develop an electronic method that would make it easier for people to communicate.”

Seven month later Ryan demonstrated his Sign Language Translator which made big headlines and won some interesting prices.

Ryan’s Sign Language Translator was a Grand Award winner in the 2001 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, the first place winner in the individual category at the 2001 Siemens Westinghouse Science & Technology Competition, he received top honors and a $100,000 scholarship at Intel’s Science Talent Search.

Last but not least, Ryan’s project was among the Best Inventions 2002 of Time Magazine.

Ryan’s Sign Language Translator consists of two separate components, a leather golf glove that has ten flexible sensors sewn into it which monitor the position of the fingers by measuring the electrical resistance created by the fingers as they bend.

A small micro controller on the back of the hand converts the change in the electrical current into digital signals and transmits them wireless to a computer. The computer then reads the numerical values and converts them into the letters which appear on the screen.

Given the technological advancements since his invention in 2001, it’s easy to imagine to use an smart phone instead of a computer and feed the characters into a text to speech software to have a portable system as demonstrated by the Carnegie Mellon team.

How could we miss this story during our research for the HandTalk glove.

I am not sure if the team at Carnegie Mellon University knew about Ryan’s project or ‘re-invented’ the same concept a second time but they do mention on their project Website a competitive analysis listing 3 different projects related to gesture sensing gloves but somehow missed out Ryan Patterson’s Sign Language Translator.

The question now is: when will we see an ASL glove coming to the market and help to bridge the communication gap this great concept is able to accomplish? Maybe the technology available in 2008 makes the industrialization possible?

[sources: Time Magazine, NIDCD]

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REEBOK, a top name when it comes to sport apparel and fashion is joining the list of brands who add interactivity to their products.

Reebok’s first product in the Interactive Fashion segment is the NXT Speaker Backpack featuring a complete stereo sound system seamless integrated in a cool backpack design in Reebok’s signature style.

The NXT flat panel stereo speaker at the bottom of the bag blends into the design while delivering impressive audio quality powered by 2x AA batteries from any device connected via the 3.5mm audio jack.

Personally I like the use of the NXT speaker technology when adding sound into bags as it allows a ’soft’ integration using the bags ‘natural’ materials such as EVA for the speaker membrane. Whit NXT technology there is no need of any additional or different material that would make bags or backpacks look geek like.

NXT’s flat-panel speaker technology transforms the backpack itself into a speaker for portable devices and even a laptop.

Reebok’s NXT Speaker Backpack is tough enough to withstand harsh conditions of school, business and travel.

The Reebok NXT Speaker Backpack is available at this UK online store for £69.99 ($ 136.77) but online for shop pick up at the moment. There are a couple of online retailers from Germany that sell it online for €129,90 ($ 201.-) like this online store.

It is a pleasant surprise to see such a low price at the launch of the Reebok NXT Speaker Backpack. Style and function wise the Reebok is similar to Quiksilver’s NXT sound backpacks which come for a very steep price of $ 500.- and more.

Getting the price of sound enabled BoomBags to a more ‘tolerable’ range will help to bring this product concept to a larger audience. The uses are manyfold: music can be enjoyed without earphones (where appropriate), have a ‘real’ sound background for a quick PSP or DS game or a magic sound system for presentations ‘on the road’.

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ONO Running demonstrates how glowing sneakers can provide safety and a bit of fun. These Glow sneakers have the potential to (r)evolutionize sneakers for runner.

This may be a bold statement but I do believe the ONO Glow sneaker concept does add the high value of being more visible during running in low light condition and at night. Higher visibility means less likeliness to get hit by a car when running cross country.

The inventors of the ONO Glow sneaker Matt Galica and Elliott Temkin had such close encounters with cars during their regular runs and decided it’s time to change this.

They looked for a solution to ensure the visibility in any condition. After using reflective gear they realized quickly it’s short comings as such reflective products need light shining on it to visible.

Another wish was not using add-on accessories as they can be easily forgotten when leaving home. Add-on items have also the ‘habit’ to be just an add-on and as such not fitting well and might interfere with the running.

Their solution: using the entire sole of a running shoe to make runners more visible without the need for any add-on.

That’s what I call the perfect Wearable Electronic concept: add functionality to clothing items without changing their wear purpose and comport.

We asked Matt Galica how ONO Glow works: ‘The light comes from three color LEDs which is diffused through a particularly elegant substrate, a sophisticated type of side-emitting fiber optic that distributes light along its length giving 360 degrees of continuous illumination.‘

‘ONO Glow is designed in such a way that should you not want to light up, the Glow can easily be turned off by pressing a button on the side of the sole and the fiber optic element will blend discreetly into the mid-sole of the running shoe.‘

Although the illumination is the main feature of the ONO Glow, there is another technological highlight, the power source for the light. According to Matt, ‘… it will be powered by a rechargeable battery that never needs replacing, and our innovative charging solution means no exposed terminals and nothing to plug into the shoe.’

Highly interesting statement which sound to me like inductive charging as you might have seen on tooth brushes. Very smart, very clever and a perfect solution for a shoe where keeping a charger socket clean might be a too big of a challenge.

To add a bit of personalization to the ONO sneakers, the light’s color can be selected to fit everyones preferences and taste. A nice finishing touch of a great concept with many elegant solutions.

Check out the video to see yourself the sophisticated glow of the ONO sneaker:

The ONO Glow sneaker is at a demonstrator stage at this moment but Matt and Ellitott look for funding and business partners to start production of the first ONO Glow sneakers as soon as possible.

Anyone interested in a partnership can contact Matt and Elliott via their website or drop a note in our comments.

Let’s see if the ONO Glow can hit the stores and running tracks before the end of this year, just in time for the short daylight season.

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A few days ago we had the story of the Hood.e running, a concept design that demonstrated the integration of speakers into a Hoodie. The creator Tim Dubitsky is looking now for commercialization partners.

To my surprise and some search on the WWW, I did find a Hoodie with Stereo Speaker system integrated into the hood, available for you to order and rock away.

Stressed and Depressed Ltd, a new UK fashion label specializing in the street-wear market, is behind this amazing piece of Wearable Electronic.

This Hoodie is using NXT’s SurfaceSound technology designed into a Stereo Speaker Insert module which can be easily clipped directly into the hood of any Stressed and Depressed hooded garment.

The speaker insert is a stereo speaker system which is made from 2mm EVA foam panel speakers connect to a 3 watt amplifier which is powered by 3 AAA batteries. Via a 3.5mm headphone plug any iPod or other MP3 player will work with this Hoodie.

As I mentioned in the Hood.e article, making a detachable speaker module would eliminate the problem with a washing machine proof speaker system. Stressed and Depressed has solved this elegantly with the detachable unit and added the NXT technology to keep the speaker part soft.

An added bonus of a modular system is the technology (hoodie sound) can be moved from one garment to another as long as it is ‘made for hoodie sound’.

The sweater itself is made from 100% cotton and available in black or white zip-up or pullover designs. The hooded sweaters with stereo speaker retail for £55.- ($ 107.50) by Stressed and Depressed but shipment to mainland UK only.

I like the guys from Stressed and Depressed, putting this unique and for sure a lot of comment catching product on the market.

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If you are working on a cool DIY Wearable Electronic project and want to add some bling to it, check out the latest Wearable Electronic DIY module from Aniomagic called the ‘mimeolight‘.

This module must be one of the easiest ways to add some magic light effects to your electronic craft projects with customizable blinking patterns.

Aim a flashlight or wave your hands in front of it and it will record and repeat those patterns.

To get mimeolight’s attention flash a light source 3 times within a second over it and it will blinking 4 times rapidly showing you that it got your attention. Flash your pattern and when you are done let it do it’s magic by playing back your pattern. That’s all there is to it.

The idea for the mimeolight was inspired by Alex Weber’s Programmable LED Instructables project and by research at the Craft Technology Lab.

Get a couple of them and play around, each costs just $10.- available by Aniomagic where you can find other Wearable Electronic DIY materials as well.

The only thing you need to do is sew it to a 3 or 5 volt power source (like a button cell battery) and you got a unique and interactive bracelet or T-Shirt decoration or a bit of a personal touch on your bag or - there are no limits to your creativity.

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Noon Solar starts selling the Spring/Summer 2008 solar bag collection. The first model launched is the Logan satchel which comes in three different finishings: the all leather Black Logan for $ 476.- the Midnight/Slate Logan and at the bottom the Chocolate/Olive Logan. The last two models go for $ 452.- each.

Noon Solar is not just making Solar bags, their solar bags are made of materials that can either bio-degrade naturally or be reclaimed and re-used. This ‘cradle to cradle’ philosophy, rather than the common ‘cradle to grave’ product lifespan helps minimizing the growth of our already overflowing landfills.

The use of an high end solar-to-electricity conversion module which shows the loading status of the battery, a very helpful feature to manage your power hungry gadgets, stores the sun energy for rainy or cloudy days.

Additionally the power module can be charged via mains to have power in your bag in case the sun is hiding too long. A handy power source when out and away from the power grid.

How do you get your hands on one of those cool but hot Logan satchels? Send an e-mail to: info@noonsolar.com that includes your name, shipping address and type of cell phone you own. Each bag will be shipped with the corresponding cell phone connector identified in the e-mail. On top of that, you get an ipod/iphone adapter.

Noon Solar will send you a PayPal invoice that can be settled via PayPal or with with a credit card (no need to be a PayPal member). Alternatively you can give them a call at 773-225-6141 and give the credit card number over the phone.

The ‘Willow tote‘ solar bag for the ladies will be available for sale in a week or two according to Noon Solar. We will let you know when the Willow tote hits the store.

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