Wearable computing in Japan

"Twenty-five-year-old Mari Taniuchi enters Tokyo's ultra-hip Shibuya district and glances at a tiny computer screen bolted on her jacket sleeve. A map of the area lights up. She sifts through information on places to eat and shop, tapping a key pad woven into her cuff, as music plays from headphones wired through her collar. Her padded white jacket reflects the latest in Japanese streetware -- a hybrid of fashion and technology that has its roots in a concept that has never quite worked: the 'wearable PC....'

A key challenge is to develop a water-proof fabric-like display that can be folded up without losing its functionality.  To that end, Pioneer Corp sees Sone's project as an outlet for 10 years of research on ultra-thin displays that are flexible enough to be embedded in clothing.  It plans to showcase its latest heat-proof organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screen at a November 2002 'media fashion' show backed by Gifu prefecture."  [at Reuters, via ia/]

At SLS, we've been waiting for the release of the ElekTex fabric PDA keyboard. Fascinating, this stuff... pervasive computing embedded in your everyday clothing.