Archive for the 'Gloves' Category

We have seen gloves that control the iPod, that keep the fingers cozy warm in winter and that make phone calls. The next generation of gloves will have many more sensors integrated to control multiple wearable devices by lifting different fingers.

This is at least the vision of RallyPoint, a recent MIT startup, which wants to deliver innovative solutions that reliably enhance the safety and effectiveness of professional heroes: Soldiers, law enforcement officers, firemen, and rescue divers.

The glove called ‘Handwear Computer Input Device‘ (HCID), will be used as an input device for soldiers’ wearable computer systems. It has four push-button sensors sewn into its pinky finger, fourth finger, middle finger and index finger, as well as a fifth sensor on the middle finger that can act like a computer mouse.

Embedded in the backhand area are three accelerometers. The sensors are used to activate radio communications, view and navigate electronic maps, and send commands.

The glove’s functionality makes a lot of sense for the soldier in the battle field where silence is not only gold but also life saving. Being able to communicate with fellow soldiers via the wearable electronic system silently can safe lives.

Rescue personal and emergency staff will be another area to be explored for the usefulness of this concept.

Going down the time line I can see the computer game industry adopting the Handwear for even more realistic game experience after the successful adaption of the 3rd space gaming vest.

The Handwear Interactive Glove is yet another example of the emergence of a truly wearable electronic wardrobe. Gloves that control an iPod today will soon become a MacBook navigator

[via Technology Review]

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Glove manufacturer Swany, known worldwide as an innovation leader for high-tech sports gloves and Texsys GmbH, a Research and experimental development company from Germany presented during ispo winter 2008 the next generation of Interactive Fashion in form of the G-CELL™, a glove with integrated Bluetooth cellphone link.

This revolutionary glove has a microphone and speaker integrated as well as the call and end button, a light to give visual indication of an incoming call and a vibration function to alert you of a caller.

Set up is easy: pair the G-CELL™ gloves with your Bluetooth enabled cellphone like any other BT accessory and your are good to go / speak. Over are the time you have to rummage through your pockets to get on your cellphone only to discover your caller lost patients and gave up. With the G-CELL™ you are always one hand gesture away from your face to pick up all the important calls.

Some technical data of the G-CELL™ gloves:

• Bluetooth 2.0 complient
• Voice Dialing compliant
• Vibration and Visual Alarm
• Standby around 240 hours
• 48 hours talk-time
• Rechargeable Lithium Ion Polymer Battery
• Waterproof electronic system

While this concept is a great example for interactive design and fashion, the use will be limited to ski slopes considering the design of the gloves. I can not imagine anyone will use such gloves beside winter sport activities.

The cost of this high tech G-CELL™ gloves is not known at this moment but I guess people hat have to stay connected and expect to make or receive important calls while skiing will not mind the additional cost.

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Cold fingers rule at the moment, at least in the northern hemisphere. Waiting for the bus or train, skiing or snowboarding in the mountains, your fingers are the first hit be low temperatures.

Let’s have a look again to the heated glove market if there is a warm alternative to cold fingers. Sure, using good quality ‘normal’ gloves do the job but heated gloves give you really the cozy feeling in your finger tips.

We have covered heated gloves last December from Zanier but they come for around $ 500.- a price tag that might be too steep for some.

The Blazewear Deluxe Heated Gloves might just be the right thing for your cold fingers. These heated gloves feature carbon polyester based heating elements which warm up to 60 ºC with over three hours heating time delivered from rechargeable or standard 3x AA batteries in each glove.

Blazewear heated gloves are waterproof, windproof and include heating elements in the fingers and the back of hand, which means that the heat reaches the whole hand rather than just the palm.

Unlike the Zanier gloves, the Blazewear only have one heat setting where the on/off switch allows heat to be turned off if too warm but they come at a much lower prize for just $ 49.59 as seen on this online shop (delivery to EU only).

There is no need for cold fingers anymore with these really affordable heated gloves but you need to hurry if you want to buy a pair. We found very few shops which do have them in stock. According the manufacturer the next production will be only available for coming winter season 2008/09.

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To keep your precious fingers warm during snowboarding or other winter sport activities you need to look for good quality gloves.

To keep your iPod save and warm for best performance while snowboarding or other winter sports activities and want to control your tunes, you need to look for: O’Neill H4 Fat Controller iPod Gloves.

O’Neill Europe, the without question most active and consistent Wearable Electronic company around has, for the third year in a row, the iPod glove in their program.

It started in the 2005/06 season with the H2 iPod glove, and was part of the H3 Wearable Electronic range from O’Neill in 2006/07 season. The latest and greatest is the H4 Fat Controller iPod Gloves for the current 2007/08 season.

Based on Fibretronic’s wireless Fat controller system, this latest model of the iPod glove is constructed from a combination of Oxford and stretch nylon with fine cow leather. On the interior, soft and comfortable insulation is delivered courtesy of Primaloft, while the Dryhand lining lives up to its name. The result is a seriously technical snow glove with a water resistance and breathability rating topping 3000/3000 m2/24hrs.

Being the latest and greatest, the H4 Fat Controller glove connects and works fine with 4th generation iPod classic, iPod Mini, iPod Photo, iPod Nano, iPod Video and up to the latest in the iPod family, the iPod Classic and iPod Touch.

As I mentioned at the top, if you care about warm fingers and your iPod you have the no choice, there is only one glove that fits both requirements.

To get a flavor on how it works, check out the YouTube video below:

The H4 Fat Controller iPod Glove can be yours for £99.- ($193.6) via this online store.

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If you spend a lot of time snowboarding or skiing, you might want to have a closer look at the iRib Glove, a high quality glove with integrated iPod control.

The iRib glove from Kombi Sports, a leading brand in ski and snowboarding gloves, launched the iRib a few days ago. The glove features Fibretronic’s five function joystick controller incorporated in the back of the hand.

The joystick controller connects to a wireless transmitter located in a waterproof pocket in the cuff of the glove. The transmitter sends the joystick commands to the iPod via a wireless receiver unit which connects to the iPod through the dock connector port.

The wireless control system the glove can command the iPod remotely up to a distance of 10 meters. Enough to stay connected to your iPod as long as you are not completely separated from it.

Sure, this kind of gloves are not made to wear hem around the city but they do make sense if you are out and about skiing or snowboarding and want to have warm fingers and the right tunes for your action.

The Kombi iRib Glove for men, sorry no women version available, features next to the iPod control full waterproofness, a goggle wipe, removable elastic runaway leashes and adjustable wrist straps. For comfort and mobility, Kombi has included a stretch thumb panel. Full finger wrap caps give this glove added durability.

We have seen the iRib glove by online retailer AlpineSkiCenter for $ 150.- but they only take USA domestic orders.

If you find the iRib on another online store with international shipping, please drop us a line in the comments.

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Keeping the fingers cozy warm by Arctic temperatures is one of the most expressed wishes for many folks out there in the cold.

For my part, I hate to have cold, numb fingers and invent all sorts of ways to get life back into my finger tips with little success for most of the time.

Heated gloves or mittens would be great in this situations so I had a look around ‘if’ and ‘what’ is available. To my surprise there is a whole industry emerging around heated clothing.

Out of the many options of jackets, trousers and even shoe soles with battery powered heat source, the gloves and mittens seems to me the most practical. This might be because I really hate cold fingers.

My tip for a pair of high quality heated gloves or mittens is the offer from cozywinters.com

Their heated gloves and mittens have adjustable, processor-controlled heating and advanced power cell technology which can be regulated with 3 different settings.

The power pack weighs only 4 ounces each and is integrated in a pocket, covered by an elastic band. The temperature in the glove stays constant for hours. The glove’s and mitten’s soft inside lining have compartments with heating elements for each finger.

A charge overnight keep the fingers warm for up to 13 hours by level one setting.

The heating units are water resistant and can absorb shocks without breaking. If the weather turns warm you can detach the power packs and use it as regular gloves or mitten.

Although the term heated clothing or in our case heated gloves and mittens are used, those products give cozy warmth and do not over heat your fingers.

Level one gives 86ºF (30ºC), level two 98.6ºF (37ºC) and level three 131ºF (55ºC).

The offer includes 2 Power Packs with Impulse Control Technology. The charger which can be used in US at 110v and Europe at 230v charges both power packs at the same time.

Keeping your fingers warm is not cheap though with a price tag of $ 507.- you might think twice before hitting the buy button but then again, cozy warm fingers are priceless by Arctic outside temperatures.

You can grab your pair of mittens here and the gloves here.

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How cool would it be to snap with your finger to witch on or off your iPod or Computer or many other of the gadgets around you. Or play a cool game on your Wii with this glove! Al least this controller will not smash your TV.

Researchers at Engineered Fibre Structures (EFS), a University of Manchester spin-out, are very close to give us just this, a soft-fabric electronic glove that remotely controls equipment via a Bluetooth connection.

The glove is produced from standard acrylic or stretch-nylon base yarn and it can be made on a conventional industrial knitting machine. The wearable device looks and feels like a normal glove, except it has conductive pathways knitted into the material. The fingers are tipped with contactors, so if you put your thumb together with any other finger, you create a electric circuit and pang, you can activate anything that is designed to receive those signals.

Navigate your way with your fingertips trough documents in a office application or add a new interaction experience to your online world.

The glove was recently patented by EFS, and the company’s engineers believe its current configuration is best designed for gaming. Billy Hunter, the lead commercial director for the product, said this sort of application would be a commercial success judging by current trends. ‘You’ve got all these sort of things out now like Nintendo Wii,’ he said.

The Control Glove can be used in patient rehabilitation in healthcare, as a controller in video games, as a computer interface, and as a communications device, for industrial, security and military applications.

According to the engineers involved in this project, they are content with the current configuration of the glove, but for certain applications they might need to do some redesigning.

‘The textile part of the glove is more or less done,’ said Hunter. ‘If necessary, we can change the configuration fairly easily. What we need to do now is to miniaturise the electronics in the Bluetooth.’

Now let’s hope that we will see very soon the Fingertip control glove inaction with our Wii.

[source: The Engineer online]

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Reusch, a company we posted some time ago about their Sonic Glove for the iPod, has announced today together with Interactive Wear AG the Solaris ski-gloves for the Fall/Winter season 2007/2008.

Interactive Wear developed a new technology platform called “iTermX” which is a heating solution for any kind of textiles that is smaller, lighter and more flexible than conventional solutions on the market.

The Solaris ski-glove is the first product that has this new system implemented and will be manufactured in a larger scale by a high end brand like Reusch.

The ThermoTec textile heating system, which is based on Interactive Wear’s new iThermX technology, regulates the heat supply via a microcontroller is monitored by sensors. Energy is only supplied when the temperature drops below a pre-set limit at portions of the wearer’s hand that are sensitive to the cold.

Using special, highly flexible heating elements, heat is generated selectively within the glove without restricting movement. Two low-profile, lightweight rechargeable lithium-ion batteries supply each system with power.

These gloves offer the comfort of ideal warmth with a heating capacity of up to five hours, and the heating system weight in at a maximum of just approximately 70 grams per glove. To ensure flexible usage, the wearer can choose from among three different operational modes: either constant heating or one of two pre-programmed, sensor-monitored, comfortable temperatures within the glove. A LED indicates the selected mode, and single-button control unit with a simple design enables easy and reliable operation.

Based on those features, we assume that the LED is not only there for a cool look but also to show if the heat is on … or not.

Sounds great to us and we are looking very much forward to have a pair to stop running around with cold and stiff fingers, especially at this time of the year.

No info yet about the cost of this finger warming product, stay tuned for an update as soon as we get hold on it. The Solaris will be shown during the upcoming ISPO winter 07 in Munich from Feb. 4-7.

[Via: presseagentur.com]

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