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Technology

Smart Yarn and E-Textiles 132

Posted by michael from the intel-inside dept.
GFD writes: "The EETimes has a story about a DARPA program to develop a new class of electronics and system architecture based on smart fabrics. Some of the more interesting challenges include networking protocols and fault tolerance. Routing between buttons? What happens if your CPU gets a rip??"
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Smart Yarn and E-Textiles More

Smart Yarn and E-Textiles

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  • Yeah, but when you wash it, will you loose CMOS?

  • A bit much? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by InfinityWpi ( 175421 ) on Friday November 02, 2001 @02:16PM (#2512997)
    Am I the only person here who things not everything needs to be 'networked' or 'smart' or 'e-' or '-net' or anything else? For god's sake, leave some things simple!
    • I thought it was too much when I heard of the "Smart e-toilet [mit.edu]".
      • When on a trip to Japan, I took a tour of AFLAC Japan and Panasonic Japan. In one of those office buildings (I forget which) I had to go to the restroom. The tiolet had a panel with tons of buttons on it. Some of the buttons were ones I had previously seen on the comode tiolet combo units currently popular in Japan. I have no idea what the rest of the buttons were for. The thing also had a remote control in a pouch in the front of the stall. I guess it was there so people dont have to turn around to flush the thing!

        Dang, this really does sound wierd! The wierdest part is that I am not making up any of this.

    • Re:A bit much? (Score:4, Funny)

      by drfrog ( 145882 ) on Friday November 02, 2001 @02:28PM (#2513069) Homepage
      i dunno...

      remember neil stephensons 'diamond age'?

      the girl in the story had a whole dress made of
      nanotechnology that could pump water out of it
      or change its color shape design etc.

      one of the guys had an overcoat that protected him
      from certain air borne nano technology and also
      some bio hazards too

      both were all kevlar-ish etc

      think about it,
      one set of clothes for your entire life
      but a wardrobe of anything you could think of
      ;)

      come to think of it
      as a coder who has put in at least a couple of 24+hrs stints
      it would be nice if these things could perform some hygienne based tasks too!!

      im sure everyone else would appreciate too
      • It would be pretty neat to have a shirt with a little screen and a few buttons that can play simple games like lunar lander, galaga, space invaders etc. Then we wouldnt have to carry around gameboy advance units with arcade classics gamepacks.

        The neat thing is that the article said that they already have the technology to make thread-based buttons and screens. Sounds interesting to me. Maybe instead of buying tons of shirts we can upload a .jpg to our t-shirts. :>

      • Re:A bit much? (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Erasei ( 315737 )
        In another of Stephenson's books "Snow Crash" they had similar clothes. The chick in that book could turn on or off her brightly colored clothes. The mafia guys could turn off and on their bright yellow MAFIA (i think it was mafia) logos on their jackets.

        I have been following this idea since reading that book over a year ago. zzz.com.ru [zzz.com.ru] runs odd stories about various things, including a few on LED fabrics in the past.

        This could be really cool, IMHO.
      • Ever played Xenogears? There is a character completely made of nanomachines. When she attacks, her fist turn into blades and spiked balls.

    • Re:A bit much? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ldopa1 ( 465624 ) on Friday November 02, 2001 @02:29PM (#2513082) Homepage Journal
      I completely agree. Some things definately do NOT need to be 'smart' or otherwise "enhanced". On the other hand, some things that are enhanced would be great. I'd love to be able to pay a parking ticket right on the ticket. When paid, the ticket changes to a reciept.

      Flags that were smart would be cool. Smart fabrics in general are neat because they have the potential to require less closet space. It would be very cool to wear a suit that could change color from business grey or green to funeral black. You wouldn't have to go home to go to the wake of a coworker. Similarly, road workers outfits could change color from the usual to International Emergency Orange (yes, that color has a name)when they're on the job. Smart curtains would be neat, ones that can change color when you want to redecorate, or change opacity on demand (this already exists in windows, though).

      I'd hate to see a "smart" glove (I don't want my clothes to know where my hands have been), or a smart beer can (unless it can make more beer). I certainly don't need a smart door, but a smart key would be great (one key for you car, house, garage, desk at work etc...), unless you lose it, then you'd need a backup.

      Come to think of it, I can't think of many things that wouldn't be better if it were "enhanced", but those few things definately DON'T need to be enhanced.
      • A smart door would be interesting though. One that knew your regular visitors and always opened for them, and locked strangers out. Also with the ability to be constantly locked and other stuff.

        Very star-trekkie...
      • If the key would be really smart, it wouldn't get lost. It would tell you "Hey, are you gonna leave me here? Don't close that door, you'ld be locked out - and what's worse, I'ld be locked in. Yeah, I'm talking to you, dumbass."
    • An intergrated suit like they are developing is for use of critical data retrieval and interaction with computer system with ease of movement and transportation.

      This has some nice benefits for areas where you *don't* want to be lugging a notebook around, but need it for your job.

      Like deep earth mining, areas of high toxcity (radiation, poisons, etc.), people with health issues and dangerous fire-fight situations.

      Imagine a cop who gets pinned down and his clothes detect he's wounded, calls for backup and medical aid all at the same time.

      Even if the officer isn't capable of *asking* for help.

      Firefighters, cops, soldiers, miners, nuclear technicians, hazardous manufacturers and ailing people could all reap benefits from this sort of *smart* technology.
    • I don?t think this if for every day use. Industrial uses, where you need to know you have a hole in your suit, information at the tips of your fingers. Products to alert you in case of danger.

      Of course, some people would go the extreme and become cyborgs if the technology exists.

    • Re:A bit much? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by tswinzig ( 210999 ) on Friday November 02, 2001 @02:39PM (#2513145) Journal
      Am I the only person here who things not everything needs to be 'networked' or 'smart' or 'e-' or '-net' or anything else? For god's sake, leave some things simple!

      Why is it when an advance is made in some unconventional area, there are always those people that assume EVERYTHING in that area is going to change, and they will be forced to change along with it?

      Just because there are 'smart clothes' doesn't mean you have to fucking buy them!
    • I also think we have had eNough.
    • Composites owe much to textiles. Just think about all the work that goes into turning the feedstocks of panty hose and cigarette butts into epoxy matrix carbon fiber composites. The same can be said for all other woven fabric fibers.

      Now think how nice it would be for your aircraft to have hundreds of data paths to all of it's insturments and controls. Is that practical enough for you? Talk about USB buttons and CPU rips is cute and all, but this is useful. The wing is the wire. If you put holes in it, it will still work. If you blow the wing off, you have other problems.

      Another nice combination of technologies was hinted at in the article when they mentioned parachutes. It would be really cool if intelligence, power and electro static materials were combined to guide the parachute. Think of object avoidance, soft landings on target, for an unconcious or dead trooper.

      In the center of military flight flow charts is one box with one word in it, "kill". Yike!

    • Just the opposite, I think clothes are the next thing we need computerized. I've even been designing a prototype shoe-encased battery to use to power clothing!
  • I guess we won't be able to wear our old ripped and holy jeans anymore! :p
  • Wouldn't Hardware made of fabric run the risk of catching fire from the heat produced?

  • What we need. . . (Score:4, Funny)

    by Reckless Visionary ( 323969 ) on Friday November 02, 2001 @02:19PM (#2513011)
    Now if we can just get a smart bra. . .
  • Excuse me... my underwear crashed. *grumbling* Stupid MS Underwear 2.1... I really need to jack in... er, uhhhhh... I mean, connect to the update server to get those bugs fixed. Give me a minute while I reboot.

  • HAL (Score:3, Interesting)

    by GigsVT ( 208848 ) on Friday November 02, 2001 @02:20PM (#2513022) Journal
    " He also suggested wearables could help Alzheimer's sufferers cope with their disease.

    "I'm sorry Dave, I can't let you wander around in the forest."

    Seriously, What are the privacy implcations? Is this yet another opportunity for the government? What about weaving this technology into all clothing without the person knowing about it? Will we have to do RF emissions checks when we go to buy a hat?

    What about when it gets to the point where a computer could be tattooed into your skin?

    I know this is all a long way off, but does anyone remember that episode of The Outer Limits where they all had the direct link into the Internet that they "wore" at all times? (I think it was supposed to be some sort of implant, but technology like this could bring us one step closer.)

  • Why? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by micromoog ( 206608 ) on Friday November 02, 2001 @02:23PM (#2513050)
    Why would I want my jacket itself to be a computer, when I could currently have just as much computing power embedded in one of the jacket's buttons?

  • MS Pants XP (Score:3, Funny)

    by FatRatBastard ( 7583 ) on Friday November 02, 2001 @02:24PM (#2513053) Homepage
    General Protection Fault
    Your MS Pants Have Failed
    PLEASE REMOVE AND REBOOT!

    • Re:MS Pants XP (Score:1, Troll)

      by eyeball ( 17206 )
      Oh look -- another witty joke about a hypothetical future product running windows crashing. How original.

    • These pants were purchased with a license for one user only. XP has detected that more than 3 pieces of hardware have been changed, which indicates they are being worn by someone not named in the signed agreement.

      In 5 seconds, these pants will self-shred!
    • Have you seen/head the Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie sketch "Behind the Scenes @ Microsoft". Flash version here [brainbuzz.com], or mp3 version here [mp3s.com]. Very highly rated, as is all of the Dead Troll material, Wes obviously has a highly tuned sense of humor about technology.
    • Re-boot. I get it. I really do.

  • This looks like pretty 1337 stuff (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Chakat ( 320875 ) on Friday November 02, 2001 @02:25PM (#2513059) Homepage
    All I want to know is when I can get my color-changing shirt. Wearable computers may be cool, but I want to be able to pull on a chameleon shirt at the beginning of the day, and have it able to change colors at a whim. Even better, set it up to loop through a color changing routine. I'd love to be able to have my shirt create a color pattern based upon my mood.

    This tech may be mediocre for fully immersive computing, but it would kick ass for personal style. Of course, the fashion industry would probably hate it for the same reason; the "new color" would simply mean having to put in a new color scheme, not buying hundreds, maybe thousands of dolars worth of clothes. OTOH, the industry would probably do like they do anyways, and simply change the cuts ever so slightly. Any way you look at it though, this stuff is cool, if you have a slight immunity to fashion

  • Real insight in this quote (Score:3, Funny)

    by fobbman ( 131816 ) on Friday November 02, 2001 @02:28PM (#2513070) Homepage
    "What we are finding is the textile researchers and the computer architects don't even know each other"

    No kidding. One of the guys (at least I think it's a guy) in the server room has been cycling through the same three sweat suits since I've worked here.

  • Battlefield diagnostic shirts... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by BMazurek ( 137285 ) on Friday November 02, 2001 @02:28PM (#2513076)
    A friend of mine did his M.Sc. in mobile computing. He was attending a conference in probably 97 or 98, and there was a guy there giving a presentation on just this sort of thing.

    The primary purpose in this case seemed to be diagnosing battlefield injuries as they happen. If someone gets injured in the battlefield, the piercing of the shirt would be used as a trigger to contact medical personnel. The positioning of the broken fibres would give the location of the wound. The fibres would also convey information about the amount of blood as well as any other fluids that might be present at the wound site. They would use built-in sensors to attempt to determine the trajectory of the projectile.

    The result? Medical teams could be dispatched immediately, and would know (more or less) the kind of wound, and what they were likely to find when they got to the wounded soldier.

    Of course, the requirements were also for a shirt that could be field washed several hundred times, and costed relatively little.

    Sounded like an extremely cool presentation...

    • Heard about this- (Score:3, Interesting)

      by purduephotog ( 218304 )
      One of the other advantages was the embedding of microphones in the 'vest'. These could 'listen' to the bullet as it traveled thru the body and 'hear' what it hit- all this was transmitted back. I don't remember if it was demo'd with constrictors or not (or if they were talking about the use) in order to stop blood flow towards appendages...
    • I worked on a project closely related to the project you write of; LifeShirt [lifeshirt.com] was the original contractor, iirc.



      The lifesaving aspect was their emphasis, unfortunately, the US DOD views wound characterization in a different light.



      The chief benefit, from a military perspective, of being able to check on battlefield casualties remotely, is actually in the form of triage.



      Being able to identify areas where footsoldiers are "beyond repair" or are in lesser need of assistance gives the battlefield commander (safe in his tent) the ability to direct limited medical resources where they will be most effective.



      Cool idea in all, but there was widespread speculation that rather than using the technology to save lives, it would allow fewer medical personnel handle the load. From an economic perspective, doctors and medics are expensive (and don't kill opposing forces); grunts are cheap and lethal.



      The one disagreement I had with the technology was that it seemed to be another business tool to make the military machine run more smoothly, and LifeShirt was pitching it as though it would save lives.

  • First time this gets tumble dried with wool pants and a polyester shirt, it will be toast!
  • Will they be running OS2 Warp, or OS2 Weft?

  • Wearable screen saver (Score:3, Interesting)

    by ch-chuck ( 9622 ) on Friday November 02, 2001 @02:34PM (#2513112) Homepage
    The company has also prototyped light-emitting fabrics based on a four-layer organic light-emitting diode that can scroll dot-matrix-style characters in the manner of the Times Square news display. It expects to advance that work to a full 400 x 500-pixel fabric-based display in two years.

    Implications for the fashion industry are astounding. Something that changes Chameleon-like to resemble it's surroundings is a bit far fetched but a jacket with revolving, swirling colors and moving programmable paisly patterns will definitely be in vogue, someday. You just download the latest trend and there you are.
    • You know what would be cool...

      The fabric on your speakers that show a Whitecap or other "visualizer" as the music plays.

      Fabric that does this kind of stuff will be must have for music tours.
      • Not really.... music tours will just buy projecters and do it the traditional way. Speakers are handled to rough to worry about being delicate with their electronics- I should know; I used to be a roadie.
  • Server farm has a whole new meaning.

    Seriously am I the only one who read this as Smart Yam?
  • Slashdot News: New Hyper Moth Worm Leaves People Naked! Some hacker from Malaysia, in a cruel joke, develops a Hyper-Moth worm that attacks all microsoft powered clothes, instantaneously causing them to experience a buffer overflow and stop functioning, in addition to broadcasting the worm to other peoples' garments. Don't you just wish we had stuck with cotton?
  • Check out the "Behind the scenes at Microsoft" Featuring SMARTY PANTS [brainbuzz.com] (toward the end)
  • A jumpsuit use some fibers where could feel pressure. The military could play war games, when you get shot, you feel an impact in the target area. Play Half Life Counterstrike and if the bomb goes of you feel the your whole body shake. Subwoofer or audio, you watch a movie you could feel the vibrations. Screw force feedback joysticks, force feedback jumpsuits!

    I'd love a fulltime computer that records my daily activities, and when I'm at meetings and I forget someone's name, the computer could tell me who I just meet, and a quick bio. Ready information at the tips of my fingers. Maybe when Im out shopping, it downloads my shopping list and the suit tugs at products I need to buy. (Damn it, I don't need more fabric softener!)
  • Ok. Really: who wants to make a fashion statement with their pda, computer, etc...?

    I mean. Yeah, it has that oooh cool faddish charm to it, but that's it.

    What would be a practical use for something like this? [Oops... hang on, I just got e-mail on my shirt]

    AHem.. Anyhow... As I was saying, It just doesn't seem practical, or even that useful.

    Maybe there's some practicality yet: Spyware... No, no.. not software that monitors your every move, but clothing that can be used in covert operations. Hmm.. I've said to much already

  • If your jockstrap is a MS e-JockStrap, it could endanger the propagation of your genetic legacy... Better hack it to run Linux, then you can run jockstrap.enhanceBulge() without fear of a crash...

  • level of supportability (Score:3, Insightful)

    by perdida ( 251676 ) <.moc.oohay. .ta. .tcejorptaerhteht.> on Friday November 02, 2001 @02:39PM (#2513144) Homepage Journal
    Unless there are gonna be self regenerating clothes that draw solar power, I would think that it's not a good idea to buy clothes that are going to require expensive repair and maintenance. Or, to create a social or economic environment where such clothes were required.

    What's wrong with simple, renewable fiber clothes, which can be produced relatively cheaply and even without much damage in the environment?Of course some textile production methods are incredibly damaging and should be stopped.

  • smart fabrics... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by ldopa1 ( 465624 ) on Friday November 02, 2001 @02:40PM (#2513149) Homepage Journal
    I just posted as a reply to another poster, but this thought seems completely unrelated to what I was saying there, so here's another one.

    Science Fiction novels have latched on to this idea vigorously. One of the best ideas would be smart armor for soldiers (even civilians...). When the fabric is struck by enough kinetic force, the fabric goes rigid, dispersing the force across a larger area. Bullet-proof vests made out of this kind of material could prevent even MINOR injury from relatively large sidearms.

    From a civilian application, you would be able to buy ballistic protective shirts, pants, jackets etc that look fashionable, but protect you from the jerks with knives and .38's that want to take your money.

    It would be an interesting social exercise. If you outfitted every civilian in a city with clothing that completely protected the wearer from knives and small arms (handheld firearms), would crime dissapear? What would a mugger use to compel someone to give over their wallet? Gas? Sprays? Biologicals?

    Would the criminal of the future wield a Windex sprayer full of some mysterious liquid and say "Gimme your wallet, or I'll give you the Black Plague!" Basically, what I'm asking is do you think that crime would escalate or give up?

    I realize that people say "If you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns." (which, by they way, I think is a stupid statement. Of course only outlaws would have guns. They're outlaws because they have guns. Duh!), but what if the guns were rendered useless? Even new guns?
    • Then they shoot at the head rather than the chest. Smaller area, but much more effective.
      • This technique has proven to be highly ineffective, which is why govt protectees don't get helmets, just long BP vests. Traditionally, head shots (despite what Half-Life would lead you to believe) and actually rarely fatal, just debilitating. A torso shot is more likely to kill you with one shot, ironically.

        If you have a firearm, try this: Get a small watermelon (about the size of a head), suspend it from the limb of a tree and start it swinging. Then take 4 strides away from it, turn and shoot it. Then try again. Keep in mind, the melon is swining in a predicable arc, not an erratic motion like the head of a panicked potential victim.
    • i, unfortunately, think that criminals would find a new way to intimidate. I don't think it will eliminate crime. As the other poster pointed out they could just shoot at the head or, assuming they are physically more able, detain or beat you or simply wrestle your wallet away. there would of course be instances in which this would help but I don't think it would solve the problem.

      That being said. I don't think anything will solve the problem. there will always be those without who are willing to take it from those with by any means necessary.
    • War (street or international) is all about having better capabilities than your enemy. If you build a better defense, someone else will find a way around it. Bullet proof vest? Meet armor piercing bullet. Ballistic Protective clothing? Meet the needle gun. It shoots tiny projectiles small enough to slip through the weaves of the fabric. And for good measure, it then shoots 10mV of DC current though your system, which interrupts all bodily functions (heart beating, lungs expanding, ...).

      Crime is rooted in violence. Violence seems to be intrinsic to human nature. Maybe we will some day evolve beyond violent tendances. I just hope that I live to experience it.
    • duh. if people all wear such protective clothing, other people will aim for the unprotected area, namely your head. either that or they walk around w/ disrupters that cause the clothing to squeeze you until you comply. wonderful.

  • Cool error messages... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Whip-hero ( 308110 ) on Friday November 02, 2001 @02:41PM (#2513152) Homepage
    cannot ping zipper: zipper down
  • If you want to destroyyy my sweater, Woah woah a woah
    Mod this thread down as I waaalk a-way. As I walk away!

  • We'll finally be able to... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Bonker ( 243350 ) on Friday November 02, 2001 @02:45PM (#2513171)
    Really download pr0n straight to our underpants! Yay!

    Seriously, I can think of all kinds of uses for smart fabrics. The first that comes to mind is clothing for 'Medic Alert' people. Instead of scrambling for the 'Help, I've fallen and I can't get up button', their clothing notifies the nearest ambulance station that grandpa is laying down, and it doesn't think he's taking a nap.

    Also great for concerned parents. A lot of missing child cases could be solved before they became missing/abused/homicide cases if you could ping your child's clothing.
  • "The company has also prototyped light-emitting fabrics based on a four-layer organic light-emitting diode that can scroll dot-matrix-style characters in the manner of the Times Square news display. It expects to advance that work to a full 400 x 500-pixel fabric-based display in two years. "
    Fabric Monitors? Can you imagine camping in a tent that has 4 of those screens pasted around the inside, and headphone jacks in the window zippers??
    Or how about all the computer companies who will be taking advantage of this to make "cool" t-shirts that give them some free advertising.
    I Know! Throw in a keyboard belt with a wireless modem in the belt buckle and I can be a walking /. lookup!!
    HEY! DON'T TOUCH ME THERE!!!
    Not that this is a bad thing, all in all, but I never thought I would see the day when things like this were feasible, much less actually in progress.
    Props to America and the technological world in general.
  • Boot the RIP server, of course!
  • What happens if your CPU gets a
    rip??

    Rip? What about a run? You can't just repair your new 'network' with nail varnish, you know...

  • That one's easy... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Denor ( 89982 ) <denor@yahoo.com> on Friday November 02, 2001 @02:50PM (#2513200) Homepage
    What happens if your CPU gets a rip??"


    We're computer programmers, we do the same thing we've always done.



    We apply a patch :) **ducks**

  • two words (Score:2, Funny)

    by meatspray ( 59961 )
    Emoticon Boxers!

  • Look into the future: exam time. (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Class, tomorrow, as you know, will be our final exam. In order to prevent cheating by those of you with concealed fabric computers, and you know who you are, all of you will be expected to show up naked, with a #2 pencil.

    Class dismissed!

  • Am I the only one that thought of the new South Park character upon reading that headline?

    "Can you imagine what it would be like to be way way too dry?"
  • 1. Smart chastity belts would be running OpenBSD. I'd like to get in on *that* code audit.

    2. Women's clothing that changes tampons when necessary. Transvestites everywhere will be scared back into Haagars, Slates and Dockers.

    3. "Hey, that's a sharp suit you're wearing!" "Thanks, and my shoes are by Sony!"

  • Will there be compression algorithms to make me look thinner?
  • multi-threaded? ;)

    As long as there are no "security holes" or "back doors", this may have some potential...
  • All I want is a jacket like McFly's in Back to the Future 2. Self-drying, self-sizing, yeah.

  • What about Core's (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Geez, I'd quit wearing these the first time the speaker in my pants annouced: "Warning: Core Dump, please wash and reboot."
  • Light up underpants when you get an email.

    Pants that dry themselves after scary situations.

    Chastity Belt complete with alarm system!

  • Obligatory comment (Score:4, Funny)

    by r_j_prahad ( 309298 ) <r_j_prahad AT hotmail DOT com> on Friday November 02, 2001 @03:31PM (#2513420)
    If fashion designers start making clothes out of this stuff, then my wife **WILL** have a Beowulf cluster of them, no doubt about it.
  • In schools and offices all across America.

    "Gee, I guess I left my home work/presentation in my other suit."

    No more feeding it to the dog I guess.

    Goran
  • Camera buttons could feed images of your surroundings to render onto light emitting fibers correcting for shape and wrinkles, creating 'Predator' like invisibility. Taken a few steps further you could evade sonic imaging by calculating room corrected sound reflections to project.
  • Maybe this technology could be used to avoid embarassment due to sloppyness... if you spill beer on your white smart T-shirt, then the whole shirt could change color to match the stain; so instead of wearing a white t-shirt with an ugly beer stain, it would just change to an off-white color to match the dried beer... of course, this all depends on whether you're drinking some cheapo lite beer or something dark like Guinness....

    I suppose you could just change the shirt, but what if you're not home, or just plain lazy?
  • Will I have to by Norton Closet-scan?

    Will it keep me from wearing socks that don't match?

    Will it electrocute me if I wear stripes with polka-dots or colors that really clash?

    Goran
  • For a second I thought this said "Smart Yam," and I was thinking, okay, enough is enough. I love technology as much as the next guy, but Internet-capable squash, we really don't need...

  • interesting related thing (Score:5, Informative)

    by WillWare ( 11935 ) on Friday November 02, 2001 @04:10PM (#2513675) Homepage Journal
    Four or five years ago, some folks at MIT were looking at similar things. They had a DARPA grant to figure out how to program sloppily-networked unreliable processors, and came up with a field they called amorphous computing [mit.edu]. They used an interesting set of conservative assumptions, so that their code could run on a wide range of hopefully-soon-to-be-cheap hardware:
    • Processors are too numerous to merit individual names. Any interaction between programmer and processors is a bulk operation; processors are never individually addressed. Think broadcast architecture [zyvex.com].
    • Processors are unreliable. Any individual processor may fail at any time, or may be broken already at power-up.
    • No assumption of reliable geometry: processors have no a-priori knowledge of their physical location in the cloud.
    • Weak assumptions about connectivity: each processor is connected to N close neighbors, where the probability distribution of N is approximately known. Connections are unreliable and may be time-varying.
    • All processors are assumed to be manufactured with the same program in ROM. (This doesn't preclude the possibility of a distributed boot loader.)
    Remarkably, many of these hardships can be overcome by clever programming, and some kinds of algorithms turn out to be idiomatic in this kind of programming model. Interesting stuff.
  • Change color and pattern to suit the environment you're in, automatically, whether it's snow, forest, rock, or city. Neat. If you do it right, you can do even trickier things, like blending into the background relative to a certain angle, or obscuring your movement.
  • ..I can't let wear non matching colors.
    HAL, open the pod bay zipper...
    I would come out with a line of smart ass cloths.
    Boss, I wanted to come to work, but my shoes wouldn't stop until we got to the strip joint, honest.
    MS smart wallet!v1.0 with auto tithe!actually this would be funny because someone would hack it to work backwards and post it on /.
    While telling your wife some lie, the clothes begin displaying the truth.
    How about a hack that lets you control smart cloths from a distance. hmmm Instant see through!

  • That's me (Score:2)

    by Yarn ( 75 )
    Recognition at last

    (hint: check my username)
  • A neat trick would be to get solar cells on clothes. Our bodies have a fair amount of surface area that we could use to gather power for all these smart devices that we'd be wearing. Here's an article on this type of thing: http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns999 9618 [newscientist.com]
  • that finally, after only a century, the textile industry is recieving advances from the field it spawned.

    (fyi, the punchcard loom was the inspiration for the earliest computers.)
  • http://artists.mp3s.com/artist_song/988/988353.htm l [mp3s.com]

    Listen to the tune, and watch out for the "Smarty Pants".
  • I remember watching TLC or Discovery Channel a while ago where they were showing the future of military technologies. One of the things that they discussed was invisible tanks. Basically using computers, color changing optics, and other stuff, the tank can pass the image from one side of the tank to the other. In effect, the tank was invisible except for wavy effect (think Predator). I wouldn't be surprised if this research will eventually lead to that...

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