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Displays Toys

Wearable Customizable Displays 192

Posted by CowboyNeal from the animated-shirt-logos dept.
igargoyle writes "France Telecom has done some fun R&D to display pixilated images from your cellphone on your shirt or sleeve. These raver garments can even be used as a standalone device that can animate based on sounds and gestures. With better resolution, designer memes and logos might become the hot intellectual property being shared by the young hipsters. Then again, maybe it will just be another place for advertisers to exploit."
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Wearable Customizable Displays More

Wearable Customizable Displays

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  • Ads (Score:2, Funny)

    by DMUTPeregrine ( 612791 )
    Oh dear. Penis enlargment spam saying the following: Is your penis this tiny?....

  • animation ? (Score:4, Funny)

    by mirko ( 198274 ) on Friday July 09, 2004 @04:28AM (#9650340) Journal
    Could be cool to wear a demo or a game of life :)

  • Will be really interesting ... (Score:3, Funny)

    by maxwell demon ( 590494 ) on Friday July 09, 2004 @04:30AM (#9650346) Journal
    ... if T-Shirt spammers start to sent typical spam messages (probably with the help of virii). Imagine your T-Shirt suddenly turning to "cheap Viagra at www.somewhere.com". But even more interesting would it be for girls if suddenly a typical porn message shows up on their back ...
    • This could take the hatred of popups, adware and spyware to a whole new level, especially if clothes have cameras.

      "I know who you are, I know where you live, I know your family, I know your girlfriend and where she works and all because you were dumb enough to download dodgey free software without using ad-aware regularly."

      • Re:Will be really interesting ... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Zone-MR ( 631588 ) * <slashdot AT zone-mr DOT net> on Friday July 09, 2004 @06:36AM (#9650633) Homepage
        Ummm, why the hell would you expect the clothes to have camaras, yet alone support the execution of custom software?

        Is this a knee-jerk reaction to find an excuse to put on your tin-foil hat? It's nothing more than a semi-intelligent display which will let you upload an animated GIF. And even if they did have cameras (I still have no clue where that came from), they will be less flexible than your average mobiile-phone or digital camera. AFAIK my digital camera is NOT spying on me and my family because I didn't run adaware on it (!)
        • "AFAIK my digital camera is NOT spying on me and my family because I didn't run adaware on it (!)"

          Ok, I agree he was jumping the gun with the whole camera on clothing thing, but then I thought about it, and realized why that might not be so farfetched. Just hear me out.

          So, in the near future, wireless internet because ubiquitous. You can walk anywhere and be connected.

          Cellphone cameras have undergone HUGE innovation enabling more powerful cameras to be made smaller and smaller.

          The next step with cellphon

  • Medical uses (Score:5, Insightful)

    by furball ( 2853 ) on Friday July 09, 2004 @04:36AM (#9650360) Journal
    This could be very handy for medical purposes. In normal uses, you can do whatever you want. But sensors inside the wearable can pick up that you're having a heart attack for example and provide the appropriate display on the wearable, eg. "I'm having a heart attack, call for help" etc.

    If you suffer a grand mal for example, it could give life saving instructions to people around on how to assist you in such a scenario.

    • Re:Medical uses (Score:4, Insightful)

      by nkh ( 750837 ) on Friday July 09, 2004 @04:56AM (#9650417) Journal
      "I'm having a heart attack, look at me, make fun of me, and stare at me for a few minutes before you realize this is not Real TV but real life..."
      I'm afraid this kind of behaviour is unacceptable, but people don't help each other anymore these days. I understand it's an off-topic rant about society, but I doubt this kind of display would help anyone, especially if you look at what happen to handicapped people...

      • Re:Medical uses (Score:5, Insightful)

        by velo_mike ( 666386 ) on Friday July 09, 2004 @07:11AM (#9650692)
        I'm afraid this kind of behaviour is unacceptable, but people don't help each other anymore these days

        How about this, when people stop suing each other for chickenshit things, I'll start helping. If it's truly life or death, I'll get involved: Choking, CPR, major life-threatening bleeding and I'm there until the medics arrive. Anything otherwise and I'll be more than happy to call 911 for you but that's where my involvement ends.

        It makes me sad to look at the world this way, but I'm also unwilling to put myself at risk unless the outcome is certain death.

        • there may be laws that protect you if you try and perform first aid, for example, rhode island's "good samaritan" [cprinstructor.com] law.

          • Re:Medical uses (Score:3, Insightful)

            by velo_mike ( 666386 )
            there may be laws that protect you if you try and perform first aid, for example, rhode island's "good samaritan" law.

            First, IANAL, but I am the only member of my immediate family not to be sued by someone after competently helping someone.

            Good Samaritan laws are your defense _AFTER_ you're sued, they protect you from incurring damages. The problem is, you still have to defend yourself in court: spend the money on lawyers, lose time from work, deal with the bad publicity that comes with being sued for n

      • but people don't help each other anymore these days

        Isn't it actually illegal in France NOT to help someone who needs medical assistance? Not sure how well applied the law is though.

        Just a coincidence that this system is being developed by France Telecom. C'est la vie!

        • France indeed has a law often called "Non assistance à personne en danger" (which roughly translates to "non assistance to endagered person") under which you can sue anyone who doesn't promptly assist someone who is in danger if by doing so he doesn't put himself in peril. It is a penal offence and offenders face 5 years in prison and a 75000 fine. See the article [legifrance.gouv.fr] or the English translation [legifrance.gouv.fr] (scroll to article 223 - 6).

          An example that comes to mind is tourists who knowledgely taped someone drowning fro

    • Re:Medical uses (Score:3, Interesting)

      by FryGuy1013 ( 664126 )
      Why not "Help I'm having a heart attack.. wait let me send these electric wires into your heart and send some current to restart it." Seems better to me :)
    • This would be defeated by too many people crying wolf says I.

      I know alot of immature people.

    • Re:Medical uses (Score:5, Funny)

      by node 3 ( 115640 ) on Friday July 09, 2004 @05:53AM (#9650546)
      If you suffer a grand mal for example, it could give life saving instructions to people around on how to assist you in such a scenario.

      A: That guy's freaking out, I think it's a seizure or something... Hey, look at this display on his chest.

      B: Cool. Check it out, it can play Tetris.

      A: Don't you think we should help him?

      B: Two-player Tetris.

      A: Oh yeah?
    • If you suffer a grand mal for example, it could give life saving instructions to people around on how to assist you in such a scenario.

      Yes, and to make sure that it's an attention grabber, you could also have it say, "I'M HAVING A SEIZURE", in big, flashing letters.
    • A post below the article (yes, I RTFA! Please don't exile me from /.! And yes, I'm admitting I read this suggested by another person elsewhere. Please, please don't exile me!) makes an even better suggestion that could conceivably save more lives: cyclists and motocyclists could use a similar garment as extra turn signals and brake lights, helping other motorists see them.
      I thought that was pretty cool.
      It seems to me you wouldn't need a shirt to display medical data. You could use the same sensors a
    • And we've got the graphics [google.com] already!

  • Nothing new with ads... (Score:4, Funny)

    by MagicDude ( 727944 ) on Friday July 09, 2004 @04:37AM (#9650361)
    Then again, maybe it will just be another place for advertisers to exploit

    People are already paying for the apparent privilidge of advertising nike and Abercrombe and what not. If anything, it'll just become the rotating billboard of the fashion industry, every thirty seconds it changes to another advertisment. Now, the real problem is when the wrong types of ads flash across your chest. Think about it, you're trying to pick up chicks and an add like "Levitra helped me with my erectile dysfunction" comes up. Bad news all around.
    • Think about it, you're trying to pick up chicks and an add like "Levitra helped me with my erectile dysfunction" comes up.

      Looks like an excellent way to break the ice. I'd like that. Makes the world even less formal and humorless.
    • The future: MS makes some software to run on a mobile device to control the display. Hackers find a buffer overflow and use it to change everyones' display at the rave to the Penguin ;-)
  • they're right - if anybody could properly exploit this technology, it would be burning [livejournal.com] man [livejournal.com] people. much better than the high-tech iteration of the guy who stands on the street corner waving a big arrow pointing toward the pizza joint or the apartments for rent.

    if they sell them as individual units that you can affix to fabric, I'd buy a bunch and make a shirt covered with them. with cameras in every haphazard direction.

    two things I would not do is use it to display pacman. nor would I make my outfit a
  • If these were available widley, I have no doubt that people would link them up to mp3 player and walkmen so an avatar would bop to the music for all to see as they walked around, or the name of the song floated across.

    But how long before we see people walking around with T-Shirts displaying scrolling Benneton or Nike logos, animated unpaid advertisements, possibly updated wia the same AP that loads new avatars displaed on the side. We already have logos on our cloths anyway? maybe some would be proud to a 30 second commerical arounf with them

    Sooner or later, your shirts will display softcore porn ads as you eat breakfast and wait for the bus. Along with bilboards, TV, radio, signposts and probobly the pavement as well!
  • ..."Kick me" into the 21st century!
  • I can see this developing.

    Think cloths whoese colours change to the beat of the music.

  • Sunglasses (Score:2, Funny)

    by FrenZon ( 65408 ) *

    I'm still waiting for LCD displays to appear on the outside of glasses - as the eyes are where all the emotion in expression is, it could become a reasonably powerful medium for expression.

    ... Assuming everyone just doesn't go for the red-crosshairs. Bleh.



  • Fantastic! More distractions for those idiots that drive 11mph on the freeway and yack on their cellphones.

    Now they're going to want to check their clothing for these images while they drive.

    Perfect!

    I still wish I had a little gizmo that would zap the cellphone calls on the freeway around me.

  • Maybe? (Score:4, Funny)

    by tempest303 ( 259600 ) <jensknutson@@@yahoo...com> on Friday July 09, 2004 @04:50AM (#9650399) Homepage
    "maybe it will just be another place for advertisers to exploit."

    Yeah, and maybe Microsoft would love to see SCO win their case with IBM...

    Is there really any question that marketing people would love to exploit something like this? Any surface they can manage to slap a brand name onto, they'll use.

    I'll leave you all with a little Bill Hicks:

    "By the way if anyone here is in advertising or marketing... kill yourself. No, no, no it's just a little thought. I'm just trying to plant seeds. Maybe one day, they'll take root - I don't know. Kill yourself. Seriously though, if you are, do. No, really, there's no rationalisation for what you do and you are Satan's little helpers, okay? Kill yourself - seriously. You are the ruiner of all things good. This is not a joke, you're going, "there's going to be a joke coming," there's no fucking joke coming. You are Satan's spawn filling the world with bile and garbage. You are fucked and you are fucking us. Kill yourself. It's the only way to save your fucking soul, kill yourself. Just planting seeds... I know all the marketing people are going, "he's doing a joke..." There's no joke here whatsoever. Suck a tail-pipe, fucking hang yourself, borrow a gun from a Yank friend - I don't care how you do it. Rid the world of your evil fucking machinations. I know what all the marketing people are thinking right now too, "Oh, you know what Bill's doing, he's going for that anti-marketing dollar. That's a good market, he's very smart."

    • Re:Maybe? (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Ah, Bill Hicks - the drunk man's Noam Chomsky.

      Thanks Bill.
    • Looks like you're going for the 'anti-marketing' dollar. That's a big dollar. Our marketing research has proven it. ;-)

  • Pixilated images (Score:3, Funny)

    by ericvids ( 227598 ) on Friday July 09, 2004 @04:54AM (#9650412)
    France Telecom has done some fun R&D to display pixilated images from your cellphone on your shirt or sleeve. These raver garments can even be used as a standalone device that can animate based on sounds and gestures.
    I dunno, but it's not my style to put pictures of animated drunk people on my shirt. ...

    Oh, you mean pixellated.

    (Previous comment might sound snobbish, but I learned the meaning of aforementioned word the hard way -- after the graduate aptitude test I took, where the friggin' word showed up. Not fun.)

  • Videos (Score:4, Informative)

    by Hufo ( 684441 ) on Friday July 09, 2004 @04:55AM (#9650416)
    Two videos are available here [francetelecom.com]. The page is in french but you can easily find the videos.
    • French I can cope with. C'est le .wmv que je ne comprends pas.

    • Re:Videos (Score:2, Informative)

      by Knx ( 743893 )
      The page is in french but you can easily find the videos.

      FWIW, here is a (bad) translation of the 4th and 5th paragraph below the video links. Some technical aspects are detailed.

      The screen is connected to a mobile phone through a Bluetooth link which allows to send pictures or animations via MMS to another user provided with the same equipment. Thanks to an embedded software, the mobile phone is used as a remote control to enable the screen functionalities: brightness adjustment, choice of displayed pa

  • Political use (Score:3, Interesting)

    by CdBee ( 742846 ) on Friday July 09, 2004 @04:59AM (#9650423)
    Groups of demonstrators could use them en-masse to project messages onto prominent political persons or buildings.
    • Would that mean goodby to the protest banner? Just get 20 people walking in a line with a letter each. It would make for intenesting displays at football games too actually...

  • More Pictures (Score:3, Informative)

    by Hufo ( 684441 ) on Friday July 09, 2004 @05:04AM (#9650448)
    Here [fullsix.com] you can see other photos, including the electronic board [fullsix.com].

  • Natural Development of Technology (Score:3, Funny)

    by fuzzybunny ( 112938 ) on Friday July 09, 2004 @05:25AM (#9650495) Homepage Journal
    I claim that

    1. Pr0n drove the continuing development of the internet
    2. Internet pr0n is becoming increasingly technologically sophisticated and interactive
    3. Mobile devices are the natural extension of the internet
    4. Use of cell phones among children is increasingly prevalent
    5. Graphics from cell phones can now be projected on to your shirt
    6. Oh dear...

  • Star Trekkers^H^H^Hies^U Star Trek people? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by FryGuy1013 ( 664126 ) on Friday July 09, 2004 @05:26AM (#9650498) Homepage
    Is it me, or does the shirt remind anyone else of a Star Trek Medical Uniform? Certainly the type of person that would want to wear one of these shirts. (For the record my parents were members of a Star Trek club in Sacramento, and I participated some when I was a child)

  • fun research? (Score:1, Insightful)

    by rozz ( 766975 )
    "France Telecom has done some fun R&D"

    it may be fun but its definitely not "fun reasearch" ... giant telecoms just dont do that kind of thing

  • Other Research (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    More fun R&d [203.217.77.217]

  • It's just wrong. Oh so wrong. (Score:3, Funny)

    by sakusha ( 441986 ) on Friday July 09, 2004 @05:35AM (#9650513)
    I can'e believe the stupid demo videos. In one segment, a guest arrives at a conference or hotel or something, he is greeted by a woman with a high-collared jacket with a panel right above her tits, it's scrolling the message "bienvenue." I wasn't aware that women needed any technological assistance to get men to stare at their chests. If the women in this scenario truly wanted to make the men feel really welcome, they'd ditch the high collar and show some cleavage.
    But what went way beyond stupid was the video of the girl walking down the street, she sees a sk8r b0i, she wants to hit on him, so she grabs her cel phone and types a message "cafe" to the panel on her purse. Once again, a little cleavage would do a much better job of attracting a man. The purse's display panel was pointed backwards, hanging back off the woman's ass, so I guess if you wanted to attract people stalking you from behind, that would be the perfect way.

    • Re:It's just wrong. Oh so wrong. (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I personally find women who show a lot of skin and cleavage tasteless.

      I like smart, hard, powerdressing business women. If they come with glasses and a tight hairdo, even better.

    • Displaying cleavage would attract every man's attention. This way, you get to be picky.
    • I wasn't aware that women needed any technological assistance to get men to stare at their chests.
      You've got it backwards.

      It's not technological assistance to get men to look at womens chests, is technological assistance to give men an EXCUSE for looking at a woman's chest!

      "No, no! I was just looking at that LED thing. Honest!"
    • Don't you know anything about the French?! :p
      That's clearly how they pull! I think they are more butt people than tit people too, hence hanging it off your ass is the sensible option. if you are too cowardly to actually go up to the person and ask them if they want to go to a café and hook up.

      I found the photos of poor France Telecom technical employees the best part. They looked slightly bemused with their Cyber Star Trek clothes.

      I expect I'll see these in Cyberdog by next year. Must avoid. I was on
  • How long until we can hack these? I have long awaited the day when I could popup goatse on someone outside of a computer monitor.

  • Invisibility Cloak? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by oldwarez ( 763916 )
    Could this be the basis for a viable invisibility cloak? You have a camera on the back and a camera on the front that hooks straight up to the shirt therefore making you appear trasnlucent. Would it be useful? Probably not. Would it be kickass? Yes. It does seem like a lot better of a method than the Japanese camera trick used to appear invisible. codeus.sexybsd.org [sexybsd.org]
    • Making the entire person appear transparent is difficult in practice, as it only works well when people look at you from just the right angle and distance.

      However, for 50% of the population I'd be more than content if only the shirt itsself could be made to appear transparent, which would be easier to implement, and significantly more impressive visually (note: this depends on the wearer).
    • Not with the current technology!

      "Sir, you appear to have a bright square hole in your chest."
  • Know what?
    when a large area of the tshirt is used for display,one thing naughty guys can do is,display nice big dancing boobs in their chest , with a add-on " squeeze my boobs!!"

  • Maybe not for personal use - yet (Score:3, Insightful)

    by WegianWarrior ( 649800 ) on Friday July 09, 2004 @06:20AM (#9650599) Journal

    ...layered in a fabric layered sandwich, which they claim is fairly comfortable.


    Maybe I'm not geeky enought, but given a choice I'll rather wear a t-shirt that is really comfertable and has a static picture than one thats fairly comfertable and interactive... but this may be just the next big thing in fastfood places and other retail related industries ("todays special is..."). And once the technology matures enought to show full colour video, we'll see teenagers walking around with not only the logo of their prefered shoes all over their chest, but actually the latest comercial for them.


    For me, that will be the day I'll officially start to talk about the 'good old days' ;)

  • I'm glad to see that outrageous pricing this company inflicts me deserves such a really cool purpose. If this can bring more add and visible noise, that's just fantastic !

  • New Microsoft T-shirt available (Score:4, Funny)

    by whimdot ( 591032 ) on Friday July 09, 2004 @06:27AM (#9650615)
    Only in blue
  • Not sure if anyone noticed it, but the first comment on article's comments section at http://igargoyle.com/archives/000440.html [igargoyle.com] is:

    You've been Slashdotted, brace yourself and/or redirect!

    mods be gentle please! :-)

  • Practicallity? Battery use? (Score:5, Informative)

    by Zone-MR ( 631588 ) * <slashdot AT zone-mr DOT net> on Friday July 09, 2004 @06:55AM (#9650664) Homepage
    Looks kewl in the R&D stage, but a 16x16 pixel LED display has obvious technical problems.

    Lets take the image in the photograph. It has about 3/4 of the 256 pixels illuminated. Thats 192 LEDs. Assuming the image is remain visible outside, in sunlight, rather than in a dark room, you would need bright LEDs, each consuming an average current of at least 2mA.

    So that's 384mA current consumption. To get through a 12 hour day (hardly impressibe battery life), you would need a battery with a 12*0.384 = 4.6Ah capacity. Your average huge+chunky laptop battery won't provide more than 2.5AH.

    The shirt is a great idea, but if I need to carry around a backpack with a car battery, or plug myself in to recharge every hour or two, I say no-thanks.
    • So that's 384mA current consumption. To get through a 12 hour day (hardly impressibe battery life), you would need a battery with a 12*0.384 = 4.6Ah capacity. Your average huge+chunky laptop battery won't provide more than 2.5AH.

      Well, yes. But an average huge+chunky laptop battery provides that 2.5AH at either 12 or 18 volts, depending on your model of laptop. Running an LED display will require no more than 3v, possible less, depending on the type of semiconducter in use. 4 standard AA batteries shoul
      • You are right, I fucked up the comparison.

        However my scenario was best-case. For a good visibility you would probably need 3mA @ 3V, possibly more in bright daylight.

        Additionally the display is colour. While 2-3mA may be acceptable for red leds, green LEDs tend to require more current to acheive the same brightness, and blue LEDs might require 10-15mA+.

        Battery life is still a large consideration, and undoubtably an annoyance. After the coolness factor wears off, your shirt will become another device you
    • Perhaps they could use some of the electricity our bodies naturally produce? Does anyone know how much this is, and how many leds it could light up?
    • I have these rechargeable AA NiMH batteries that claim 2.1AH @ 1.2V. I just know they last FOREVER .. I get about 3x the rated playtime on my cd player with them. I think 2 of these, maybe one on each side of the shirt for balance, would provide more then sufficient power for an evening out.

      If that isn't enough, I've seen rechargeable C cells come in up to 4.5AH, and rechargeable D cells are available up to 9AH (check eBay).
  • So I'd either look like your image or transparent.
  • So if i was to "hack" into your t-shirt, i could put any images i want on it. Sounds interesting, could be a lot of fun!!!!
  • Then again, maybe it will just be another place for advertisers to exploit.

    Like advertisers don't already exploit clothing and apparel already. Look at Nike! All you are really paying for is the logo!
  • Why is everyone talking about this wearable display as if it's already out in the marketplace and people have no choice but to buy it because it has made "legacy" clothing obsolite?

    Holy crap - I, for one will not buy something that I cannot control. People are making it seem as if you won't be able to buy a damn thing other than these clothes which will put up Cialis adverts or flash 3.9% mortgage rates across your bum.

    You know what I'm going to do - assuming that this stuff comes to market? Probably no

  • Any surface in the Minority Report movie becomes a video advertising display. An obvious extrapolation of flexible e-paper made cheap.
  • Just as the guy walks by a group of Hell's angels, sombody hacks his t-shirt to display a prominant logo for a rival gang. Ouch!
  • they could make cloaking devices out of this material as well, cameras adjusted at the right directions and you could "see through" someone because like on the back, the camera would be facing front, on the front display, the camera for it would be on the back, same for the sides, etc.
  • Imagine Britney Spears appearing on stage in electroluminescent garb, when suddenly some PDA-toting geek in the crowd hacks her pants and across her ass we see, "first post!"

  • NO Ads! (Score:2, Funny)

    by johnty ( 558523 )

    We can't have this... it'll make people wear adverts on them all the time... oh wait, they're doing that already.

  • pornography.

    Be funny to have a naked picture of someone of the same/opposite sex portrayed on me.

    Probably only be allowed to wear it at sex-related businesses, but be funny.

  • Wearable Displays (Score:2, Insightful)

    by baelang ( 707034 )
    This would be great for the back of a motorcycle jacket. a nice, bright, flashing display to warn off cage drivers. maybe even an integrated turn signal indicator.
  • With better resolution, designer memes and logos might become the hot intellectual property being shared by the young hipsters. Then again, maybe it will just be another place for advertisers to exploit.
    What is "a playground for the spawn of Satan to run rampant?"

    I'm sorry, it was "What is advertising space?"

    That's what I said!

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