CNN published an interesting story about wearable technology and intelligent clothing.

The article touches on several directions and research projects that go beyond fabric buttons to control MP3 players.
One interesting project is the microscopic chain mail (photo below) that Jonathan Engel and Chang Liu from the University of Illinois which offers a similar strength to nylon and can conduct electricity. This way sensors and devices can be directly integrated or connected to the fabric.
Wearable has been hyped already several years ago. It got actually a bit quite around it. No flashy fashion shows showing off the latest gimmicks. This is maybe a good sign and real break-through technologies will be coming available after the hype has faded now for a while.

Read more on the state of wearable computing on CNN.


Photo Via NewScientistTech.