Photonic textiles from Philips open up a wide range of applications in the fields of ambient lighting, communication, and personal health care.
According to Philips’ website:
This has been a research project until end 2005. Starting 2006 it has become a business project, which means that market research; partner search, customized product development and business development are the current focus. We foresee that the first products will come available in 2007. You can think of: furniture, pillows, upholstery, clothing & accessories, bags, toys, curtains, flags, banners and much more. There are no real limits to the size of the Photonic Textiles, our latest sample at this moment is a couch. In our demonstrators we have 16M colours available.
The power consumption depends on the number of LEDs and the displayed content. Applications can work on (rechargeable) batteries and the mains. To give an example the backpack runs 8 hours on 4AA batteries.
The Photonic Textile is driven via a control unit embedded in the application, which can support Wireless and USB. Philips has achieved interactivity by incorporating sensors (such as orientation and pressure sensors) and communications devices (such as Bluetooth, GSM) into the fabric. For instance, using your phone and Bluetooth Technology, real-time messages can be shown on the Photonic textiles.
Video: Philips ‘Lumalive’ photonic textiles:
More info here.
MacDailyNews Note: This is not Apple-related, but we felt it was interesting nonetheless. Imagine a T-shirt or backpack responding to music (or video?) played via an attached iPod.