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Pong Dress
The Pong Dress is the creation of artists Max Moswitzer and Magarete Jahrmann of the Ludic Society.
(The Pong Dress)
The classic video game Pong is implemented on a 5x7 LED screen worked into the dress. Two pixels on the right and left borders form the paddles; a single pixel is the "ball" moving back and forth.
At hip level, two retro-style game console controllers are plugged in to play the game. Every time a point is scored, the green score display at chest level blinks.
Update 22-Dec-2009: Take a look at a short video of the pong dress in action at a party.
End update.
Science fiction writers have, of course, led the way in thinking of ways that clothing can be so much more than mere fashion. In Philip K. Dick's 1977 novel A Scanner Darkly (recently released as a feature film), characters use a scramble suit to disguise themselves.
The scramble suit ... design consisted of a multifaceted quartz lens hooked up to a million and a half physiognomic fraction-representations of various people: men and women, children, with every variant encoded and then projected outward in all directions equally onto a superthin shroudlike membrane large enough to fit around an average human.As the computer looped through its banks, it projected every conceivable eye color, hair color, shape and type of nose, formation of teeth, configuration of facial bone structure - the entire shroudlike membrane took on whatever physical characteristics were projected at any nanosecond, then switched to the next...
(Read more about PKD's scramble suit)
In recent years, futuristic clothing has moved from fiction to reality:
- Chameleon T-Shirts With Electrochromic Polymers
Individual threads change colors. - Fabrican - Spray On Clothing
Temporary dresses or other apparel can be sprayed directly on the body. - Skiers Get Invulnerable Supersuits
Flexible body armor for athletes is now a reality.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 8/24/2006)
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Related News Stories - (" Clothing ")
Kolors Virtual-Try-On Predicted, And TRIED, By Harry Harrison
'Bill blinked at his own face under the plumed helmet...' - Harry Harrison, 1965
Qore IcePlates Are Personal Cooling Suits
'... underneath they consisted of networks of cooling tubes against the skin.' - Neal Stephenson, 2021.
Fabrican Dress Sprayed Directly Onto Model On Coperni Runway
'...that might appeal to women, because by discharging from a few or a few dozen bottles a liquid that immediately set into fabrics... they could have a new creation every time.' - Stanislaw Lem, 1961.
Hip'Safe Airbag For Seniors, From Helite
'Other airbags go off around her torso and pelvis...' - Neal Stephenson, 1992.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
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