Smart fabric trend grows

Smart fabrics and intelligent textiles - material that incorporates electronics - is thriving and European research efforts are tackling some of the sector's toughest challenges, says ICT Results.

Clothes that monitor heart rates, measure the chemical composition of body fluids or keep track of the immediate environment could revolutionise healthcare and emergency response.

The industry faces tough research challenges but they must be overcome to realise the considerable benefits and lucrative market potential of smart textiles and intelligent fabrics. The market is thought to be worth over EUR300 million and current growth rates are about 20% a year.

The University of Washington (UW) has developed "vocal joystick" software, which uses sounds to help people with disabilities use their computers, reports The Seattle Times.

Cursor movements are controlled using vowel sounds, like "ahh" and “ooh”; to open a link, the user makes a clicking sound. The project began as a multidisciplinary task with faculty and students from several university departments, including electrical engineering, linguistics and computer science, blending their expertise.

Researchers have tested the joystick with spinal-cord-injury patients at the UW Medical Centre and recently finished another round of testing with 10 participants with varying levels of disabilities.

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) awarded Boxee top honours at the i-stage competition, a technology event featuring the most innovative new consumer technology products, states MarketWatch.

Boxee took the winning prize for its social media centre, which allows consumers to share personal videos, music, photos and content from Web sites like Hulu, CNN.com, ABC.com, Flickr and PicasaWeb. The company will receive $50 000 to further develop its product line, as well as a turnkey booth at the 2009 International CES, CEA's flagship event and the world's largest consumer technology tradeshow.

"Boxee exemplifies technological innovation," said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of CEA. "The product is a complete social networking solution and raises the bar for aggregating networking sites. Boxee is a great example of the convergence of content and devices, and we look forward to their exhibit at the 2009 International CES."