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Philips envisions electronic garb to hasten fitting room adventures
It looks like the zany engineers at Philips are at it again, cranking out yet another patent application for an outlandish method of revamping the modern day fitting room. Rather than taking five or so sizes of the same shirt into a room, only to eventually forget which iteration actually worked, Philips envisions demo clothing with "alloy fibers" interwoven, which will essentially allow electricity to extend, mold, and shape the threads to fit one's body. Basically, Philips is hoping its auto-conforming system will allow shoppers to figure out the precise size they need without all the subsequent guesswork, but one could argue that it also removes the thrill of wardrobe shopping altogether. Still, we have to wonder if this usage is really the only motive for dreaming up such a device, as we're confident there would be one heck of a market for electronically adjustable dress pants.[Via NewScientistTech]
Innovation Lab busts out pixel-infused concrete display
Companies have been lighting up (and drawing attention to) simple brick walls for some time now, and while hitting up a game of Tetris is indeed novel, we're thinking the real profit resides in lightweight screens we use in front projection. This rock-hard display consists of not-so-average concrete with "embedded optical fibers, arranged as pixels, capable of transmitting natural as well as artificial light." When light is projected from the rear, the pixels illuminate to display imagery, which could certainly transform a vanilla office building into an ad-filled poster board. While we're not sure when we can expect these things to start popping up around here, Innovation Lab claims that orders are already backing up, and of course, there's always the live action video after the break to tide you over for now....[Via We Make Money Not Art, thanks Naser A]
