News
Issue #2001 - 26 (June 2001)
(Updated June 27,  2001)

TECHNOLOGY

The Next Fashion Trend: Cyber Clothing 

As wireless handset manufacturers turned out more sophisticated devices, there is a movement underway aimed at stopping them in their tracks: Cyber labs are cropping up around the world determined to make both cellphones and personal computers obsolete by computers that are worn as jewelry and clothing. 

Among the university labs tinkering with the idea of wearable computers are the Department of Computer Science at the University of Bristol and the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

The University of Bristol: CyberJacket
The Bristol Wearable Computing project is a collaborative initiative involving the University of Bristol and Hewlett-Packard Research Laboratories in Europe. 

Focused on the development of computer devices that are 'as unconsciously portable and as personal as clothes and jewelry,' scientists at the British university have designed, among other clothing and accessories, what they call the 'CybeJacket.' 

At first glance it looks like any ordinary biker's jacket but buried within its fabric is a wealth of computer and communications systems. It is equipped with a CardPC, dGPS and GSM phone, with a Jornada handheld display. Professor David May told BCC: "The GPS always knows where it is. If you combine this with stored information in the computer, it can guide people through the streets and tell them what is of interest around them." Thus making it attractive as tour guides for foreign travelers.

In addition, the system will be used to find others wearing the CyberJacket. By way of the Internet, jacket wearers could not only locate other CyberJackets but also access Information about the person wearing it. Professor May explained, "You could find out what you need to know about the person next to you without having to question them."

MIT: Cyber Suit with accompanying Spectacles
The research scientists at MIT have taken the concept one step further by developing a cyber suit with accompanying spectacles. Research scientist Stephen Schwartz told ZDNet that there is a tiny device built into the spectacles which is connected to a network of circuit boards built into a string vest worn under a suit. Instead of the user confined to a small mobile phone screen, the person donning the cyber suit can view images as big as the TV screen via the custom built eyepiece. The wearable circuitry is code named MIThirl and has been designed to allow users to read e-mail and surf the Web, but scientists have loftier ambitions for it. 

Like the British scientists, the Americans are also committed to finding ways to allow people to control their environment. One of Professor Schwartz's students Richard De Vaul explains, "You could walk pass someone else wearing such a device and find out that you share [the same] interests. In face-to-face social communication, it would prompt you of someone's name. I could go to a Linux exhibition and find a person with the exact expertise I need."

Both British and American scientists say there is still a great deal of development before such garments become commercially viable; however, Professor Schwartz did venture a guess of within five years. 

For more information: http://wearables.cs.bris.ac.uk/; http://www.media.mit.edu/

Mobileinfo Comments and Advisory: CyberJackets may not become corporate uniforms very soon but it is very interesting to see how much potential wearable computing does have.

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