Wearable Computing Taken To The Next Level With T-Shirt OS

With technology such as Google Glass on the horizon, it's fair to say that wearable computing is on the verge of forming the next wave of gadgets.  But where could the possibilities go beyond there?  This is what fashion company CuteCircuit and Scotch whisky distiller Ballantine's (of all the companies) explored with what they're calling 'tshirtOS:' the world's first wearable, sharable, programmable t-shirt.

At this point in time, the T-shirt can play music videos and songs through iTunes, snap shots via a camera on the belly of the shirt, upload to instagram, and show a stream of Facebook posts and tweets.  This is all operated via a mobile application for iOS5, which is linked wirelessly to a microprocessor in the shirt.

Hardware-wise your garment will have access to a display made up of 1000 RGB LEDs, a USB port, a pair of headphone sockets, and Bluetooth connectivity.  The camera built into the T-shirt is the smallest in the world: 2.5 x 2.9 x 2.5 mm, although it captures at a mere 32x32 resolution.

As its just a prototype at the moment, its rather pricey to reproduce; but both companies are using social media to gauge consumer interest in a 'supply and demand' model.  If it proves high enough, we could be seeing this one day.

Source: tshirtos