Posts with tag philips

Yes, we do mean everywhere, but for once, we're talking about men, not women.

It's not always easy to find things that are both functional and fashionable. Sure, there are lots of things functional things out there that try to be fashionable, but in the end, they end up looking stupid.

Not so with the USB flash drives from Active Crystals, a line of crystal products from the partnership between Swarvoski (the fashion) and Philips (the function). The USB flash drives come in four different models, two of which look like locks that can be attached to a keychain, and two of which, my favorites, are shaped like hearts and are worn around the neck on a silver cord. All of them feature 1 gig of storage and built-in password protection.

The one shown is called Heart Beat, with half the pendant in silver and the other half encrusted with Swarovski crystals. The other heart pendant is similar, except that the crystal half looks like a giant crystal rather than studded with small ones.

It's not often that the world of fashion and the world of technology come together. But all of that is about to change with the new label Dressing Light. Designed by Anke Loh, Dressing Light uses a fabric called Lumalive that lights up when worn. Lumalive was created by the Dutch company Philips last year, but this is the first commercial use of the fabric. Powered by LEDs, Lumalive can display anything from text to graphics to animations. Loh's designs include t-shirts featuring animations of trains, cartoon cityscapes and simple, bold graphics.

At this point, it's a little unclear how much the Lumalive clothing will cost, but Loh is optimistic that consumers will be willing to fork over big bucks to buy something which so innovatively incorporates fashion and technology. I, on the other hand, feel less optimistic. The last thing I want to worry about when I'm getting dressed in the morning is whether or not my t-shirt's battery pack is recharged -- I have a hard enough time keeping up with my cellphone.

Movies from 'Blade Runner' to 'Minority Report' have tried to predict the future of styles. And who knows, maybe mini-skirts will be back in fashion when the 23rd century rolls around... But Philips, the company currently showing off these amazing LED-based fabrics, predicts flashy, emoting fabrics will be all the rage in 2020. Witness their Design Probe program: SKIN. From what I can tell, it's a futuristic version of the mood ring, designed to be worn all over and respond to your emotional state. What's next? Maybe you'll be able to show what websites your thinking about on your t-shirts. Or maybe that is a very bad idea...

[via Core77]