Technology Trends

In “Wearable Computers You Can Slip Into,” BusinessWeek Online reviews several new unobtrusive wearable devices, such as a handbag with embedded chips. When this bag becomes available for about $150 in two or three years, it will remind you to grab your wallet or to pick an umbrella before going out. And according to research firm IDC, the clunky wearable computers which required users to be wrapped in wires like Christmas gifts are quickly becoming things of the past. The future of wearable computers is already here, especially for some health-care applications, such as a ’smart band’ that collects data on your physical activities and can be used as a weight-loss monitoring tool. But read more…

Let’s start with a bag designed by Gauri Nanda and fellow researchers at the MIT.

Gauri Nanda sees a wearable computer as a… handbag — one that’s built out of four-inch squares and triangles of fabric, with tiny computer chips embedded in it. Assembled together with Velcro that conducts electricity, these pieces form a bag that looks, feels, and weighs like your typical leather purse.

That’s where the similarities end: This bag can wirelessly keep tabs on your belongings and remind you, just as you’re about to leave the house, to take your wallet. It can review the weather report and suggest that you grab an umbrella — or your sunshades. This purse can even upload your favorite songs onto your scarf.

Of course, this kind of bag is using new technologies, such as RFID tags embedded in your wallet, or special fabrics, such as the Aracon fiber from DuPont. But the surprising thing is that — no pun intended — it will not break your wallet. Such a bag will cost only about $150.

Now, here is the ’smart band’ from BodyMedia, which is about to be deployed in fitness clubs.

Here, you can see how this works in the above image (Credit: BodyMedia). The unobtrusive ’smart band’ collects data on your physical activity, which is then processed by proprietary algorithms and finally displayed on a variety of devices.

Originally released three years ago as a tool for researchers — auto makers, for example, used it to understand stress in drivers — the band is about to enter the mainstream. Later this month, Apex Fitness Group, which distributes fitness products to 1,200 health clubs such as 24-hour Fitness, will begin promoting the band for consumers as a weight-loss monitoring tool [and under a cute trademarked name -- bodybugg.]

Then, there is a special shirt developed by VivoMetrics to monitor patients at hospitals, and which can also be used to accelerate new treatment trials.

Because of the volume of data it collects, the shirt can significantly reduce the number of participants in trials, as well as the trials’ duration. In the case of one study for a sleep drug, traditional methods like hooking up patients to various machines at a special sleep lab “would have been at least 10 times more expensive and would have taken 10 times longer,” says Steven James, a San Diego consultant to pharmaceutical companies. During this trial, 15 patients simply wore the shirts at home overnight. VivoMetrics sells a set of six shirts and related software and data recorders for $15,000.

Finally, BusinessWeek Online reports about the Nomad head-mounted display from Microvision, Inc. You can find more information about this device in a previous post from December 2004, “New Wearable Armyware.”

Sources: Olga Kharif, BusinessWeek Online, March 8, 2005; and various websites

Related stories can be found in the following categories.

• Fashion
  


• Materials
  


• Medicine
  


• Pervasive Computing
  


• RFID
  


• Wearable
  

Today, we’ll look at nanotechnology under an unusual angle: the impact on the jewelry industry. In this long article, “The Weird World of Precious Metal Nanotechnology,” published by AJM Magazine (The Authority on Jewelry Manufacturing), Michael Cortie, professor at the University of Sydney, Australia, explains why gold is often used by nanotechnologists. Not only gold exhibits very interesting properties at the nanoscale level, but it’s also a bargain when compared to current prices of carbon nanotubes. And gold — and silver — nanoparticles can offer a range of unusual colors, suitable for fine jewelry or luxurious coatings. Finally, Cortie envisions smart jewelry made possible through the use of nanotechnology, such as a pendant that could include cell phone capabilities.

Please read the whole article for many more details about the birth of nanotechnology and let’s jump to the section explaining why gold is so often used by nanotechnologists. Here are two important paragraphs.

Thousands of technologists have independently arrived at this conclusion. As a result, gold particles, wires, and surfaces are at the heart of much of nanotechnology. At this scale, the inherent softness of pure gold is not an issue, nor is its high intrinsic value. In addition to resistance to corrosion, gold’s electrical conductivity and special affinity for sulfur-containing organic molecules are also particularly attractive features. These properties allow chemists to design molecules that can stick onto the gold in a controlled fashion, and then be probed by electrical currents. This permits the bottom-up assembly of quite interesting and promising structures, such as ultra-sensitive biosensors.

It is important to note that the relatively high value of gold is not expected to impede its penetration into the high tech markets. The value of the tiny amounts of gold used in existing or anticipated nanotech products is completely swamped by the overall added value of the product. Manufacturers will use gold when it provides the best technological performance, and they will not be overly concerned by its price. A $20 medical test kit or sensor might contain gold worth only 50 cents, yet it may be this critical ingredient that makes the whole device possible. In any case, gold is far cheaper than the highly touted carbon nanotube, the other material frequently associated with nanotechnology. Single-wall carbon nanotubes cost $400 per gram when in reasonable purity. The cost increases to $1,500 per gram or $46,000 per troy ounce for highly processed carbon nanotubes. Gold is a bargain compared to this.

Now, it’s time to look at the unusual colors exhibited by gold nanoparticles.

After the images, here is an explanation.

One of the features of gold and silver nanoparticles is that they possess a range of quite unusual colors. Bulk gold has a familiar yellow color, which is caused by a reduction in the reflectivity of light at the blue end of the spectrum. However, if we subdivide the gold into smaller and smaller particles, there comes a point at which the particle size becomes smaller than the wavelength of incident light. New modes of interaction between the radiation and the gold become prominent, in particular interactions involving electronic oscillations called surface plasmons. When the particles of gold are small enough, they are ruby red in color. This coloration is due to the gold particles’ strong absorption of green light, corresponding to the frequency at which a resonance occurs with the gold.

Will these unusual colors be used for real jewels one day?

The jury is still out on this question. Certainly, to be of value in fine jewelry, the karatage of the colored gold should be high. This probably excludes many of the commonly prepared colored glasses as possible materials from which to produce a piece of jewelry. But it is worth noting that, in theory, interesting colors are possible up to about 23 karats. This is because of the high density of gold relative to the various candidate transparent matrix materials. The trick will be to find a matrix to hold the precious metal nanoparticles. However, the availability of gold gilding pastes and paints of very high metal content shows that there is no theoretical limitation that prevents this possibility.

Finally, Cortie looks at a future where we could carry ’smart’ jewels.

Will there be a general trend toward integrating some technological devices into items of jewelry? It is certainly becoming possible. Candidate functionalities include bracelets that could record their owner’s blood pressure and heartbeat, or a pendant that could include cell phone capabilities. There are problems of hallmarking, of course, and no doubt many would see such items as tawdry. However, a small market already exists for color-change and other novelty jewelry, so it is possible, for example, that an integration of electronic “smarts” with a gold nanoparticle color change functionality might appeal to some markets.

For more information, an extended — and more technical — version of Cortie’s work has been published in June 2004 by Gold Bulletin under the title “The Weird World of Nanoscale Gold” (PDF format, 8 pages with diagrams, 120 KB).

Source: Michael Cortie, for AJM Magazine (The Authority on Jewelry Manufacturing), March 2005

Related stories can be found in the following categories.

• Fashion
  
  
• Materials
  
  
• Nanotechnology
  
  
• Sensors
  
  
• Technology
  

A Japanese designer has developed a mannequin robot, Palette, which can adapt its movements to the shoppers passing in front of it, according to this article from Agence France-Presse (AFP), “Striking a robotic pose.” Using motion-capture technology, Palette will be able to act as a supermodel. And with its specialized sensors and software, it also will be able to identify the sex and age of shoppers before transmitting them to store owners for marketing purposes. The price has not been set yet, but Palette should go on sale in 2005 in two versions: a body without legs to showcase clothings, and a torso model for jewelry. Read more…

Here is a short description of Palette.

“Mannequins have been static but this will pose for the nearest person by sensing his or her position,” robot designer Tatsuya Matsui told a news conference.

“It makes the product the mannequin wears look more attractive, increasing consumers’ appetite to buy,” said Matsui, who heads Flower Robotics Inc.

The female robot, code-named Palette, can draw inspiration from the world’s most beautiful women, using motion-capture technology to replay the movements of supermodels.

Palette will not only be a mannequin, it will be a spying marketing tool.

Palette will double up as an industrial spy, with the maker planning to program it to judge the age and sex of shoppers and even identify the bags they are carrying and pass along the information to stores for marketing purposes.

Matsui developed Palette with software company SGI Japan Ltd. and aim to start selling it this year for the fashion and service industries.

The price has not been set yet but SGI wants to make it “as close as possible to that of conventional mannequins,” said Hiroshi Otsuka, who is in charge of new business promotion at SGI Japan.

[Disclaimer: I worked in the past for SGI, but right now, I don't have any ties with this company.]

From what you can see in the above image, Palette has no human face, but it’s intentional.

“Consumer attention would be diverted to the face if there were one,” said Matsui, the designer, noting he wanted customers to focus on the clothes or jewellery the mannequin wears.

And as noted above, Palette will initially come in two versions, but Matsui might introduce other models in the future, such as male or child versions.

Sources: Agence France-Presse, via Independent Online, South Africa, February 28, 2005; and various websites

Related stories can be found in the following categories.

• Ecommerce
  
  
• Fashion
  
  
• Innovation
  
  
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