wearable tech

How-To: Light-Up Angler Fish Embroidery on Shorts

How-To: Light-Up Angler Fish Embroidery on Shorts

Wear your deep sea geekery on your sleeve—er, shorts— with this fun light-up angler fish embroidery tutorial from Adafruit!

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Maker Scouts: Light it Up

Maker Scouts: Light it Up

As the Los Angeles host for the Maker Education Initiative’s Maker Corp program, The Exploratory has had the honor of seeing 18+ adults using the same materials that we use with 4+ Maker Scouts and noticing the differences and similarities. It occurred to me today, that children are more apt to have a story – a narrative that is connected to their making projects. Sometimes, its a story that comes from the project – a way for them to establish a sense of place. Other times, we find that a provocation is helpful as a starting point. I’ve done e-textile projects before and without a provocation, I have noticed that the young makers tend to make copies of other people’s design. So, for this introduction to e-textiles, I thought that I would ask ” What kind of superhero would you be and where would your power come from?” I also asked ” What do you LOVE so much that you feel a strong need to protect it?” We had the best answers – ” Cats, Dogs, Eagles, my family, and best of all – MILK.”

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Wearable Tech: Smart Fabrics 2013

Wearable Tech: Smart Fabrics 2013

Last week I had the opportunity to attend and speak at Smart Fabrics 2013 in San Francisco. Smart Fabrics is the most interdisciplinary conference I’ve been to in a while. As Stacey Burr (member of the conference advisory board and VP of adidas Wearable Sports Electronics) said in her opening address, topics ranged from “bras to tanks and DARPA to DIY.” In the crowd were CEOs, students, textiles and PCB manufacturers, artists, fashion designers, material scientists, “integraters”, consultants, and branders. It reminded me of the mix that we’ve been aspiring to achieve locally at the Toronto Wearables Meetup.

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Slouch Detecting Belt

Slouch Detecting Belt

Ellen Sundh’s Bad Posture belt uses an Arduino, wave shield, and a flex sensor to detect when the user slouches. If your posture needs correcting, the belt literally yells at you. How’s that for motivation?

The belt is calibrated when the user presses a pushbutton after attaining good posture. After that, he/she is free to be lambasted by this piece of wearable tech.

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World Maker Faire Wearable Tech Roundup

Author of Fashioning Technology Syuzi Pakhchyan scoured the World Maker Faire NY schedule and posted a great roundup of the wearable tech projects to be on display, like Vital Threads Biofeedback Apparel (above left), the Life Dress (above right), and of course Diana Eng‘s Maker Faire Fashion Show (on Saturday at 2 p.m. in the […]

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Captain Electric and Battery Boy

Captain Electric and Battery Boy is a heady fashion project with electronic elements in the clothing that respond to the actions of the wearer. The three dresses in the collection, Itchy, Sticky, and Stiff, each create a different thought provoking paradox. Stiff translates pressure into soothing music, Sticky harnesses the power of the wearers struggle […]

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