Smarty Pants*

800px-Being_a_twin_means_you_always_have_a_pillow_or_blanket_handyFirst came smart phones. Now comes smart clothes.

According to a recent Time Magazine article, new on the market (available to buy) or soon to be on the market are clothes that will give us even more information about ourselves or about the ones we love. These pieces of clothing have sensors (devices that monitor or detect something) that help keep track of (check regularly) how a person’s body is doing.

The clothing isn’t just for adults. A new baby romper (one piece of clothing that covers the top and bottom parts of the body, usually with buttons or snaps between the legs), for example, monitors a baby’s breathing and body temperature, and sends an alert (warning) to the parent’s phone if there are problems.

For women, there is a new bra (piece of clothing women wear over their breasts) that is suppose to detect (find) breast cancer. Doctors have warned against relying on this type of technology and say that wearing it should not replace getting a mammogram (a medical test using X-rays to find signs of breast cancer), but this shows the direction that smart clothes may take in the future.

For people who exercise, there is clothing for both men and women that monitors heart rate (the speed of your heartbeat), respiration (your breathing), and calories (units of energy in your body) you burn (use). The information is sent to your smart phone as you exercise.

 Can you imagine wearing smart clothes? What do you hope smart clothes can do for you in the future?

– Jeff

* “Smarty pants” is a name people — usually children — call someone who shows how smart they are in an annoying way, usually by boasting (telling others how great one is) about their knowledge or abilities or by showing off (showing others one’s abilities in an obvious way).

Photo Credit: Being a twin means you always have a pillow or blanket handy from Wikipedia

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11 Responses to Smarty Pants*

  1. Dan says:

    Hey, Hi.

    First, I would like to congratulate Jeff and Lucy on how they explained/described/exposed/ handled the, say, hot subject NRA.

    I would say, like professional journalists, or even better. When I say that I am thinking at two broadcaster I banned from my TV.
    Those are RT and CCTV. I do not appreciate how they operate.

    Anyway, on smart clothes.

    Who knows why, that makes me think at those tight spacesuit on the series Star Trek.
    I cannot decide whether it is a great idea or not to see people dressed like that.
    It probably depends on who is wearing it, I guess.

    I was thinking that in a way, we already have on the smartest of the clothes.
    That is our skin! do not you agree guys?

    I need to think more on this topic.
    I want to see if I can give birth to a good Idea. I was thinking something like smart slipper.

    thanks

  2. Aécio Flávio Perim says:

    Yes, Dan. You have said everything you got and you got the point. Skin is our smartest clothe. Why to have another? The explanation is that men are inventing all kind of gadget to sell and to make money. Useless.
    Aecio, in short.

  3. Wang says:

    Thank Jeff for the new word that you had uploaded, “smarty pants”

    I looked it up on the internet and found out there are many of its synonym, such as smart alec, smart .ss 😀

    Back to your topic, I haven’t seen any of those clothes yet. But I guess i won’t buy if i see. Why? with simple thoughts I don’t want to be weighted down as putting on some more electricity wires

    Yeah, to keep track with your body temperature, heart race, respiration… I bet the dress must be affixed a few gears, that way, you will have to use many more muscles to pull and

    keep the dress up at right positions 😉 …I remember once I had to be in a hospital to help my friend take care of his mom while he ran for the errands. She had kind of uterus cancer

    (sorry, I don’t know specific terms for special treatments in English). I saw some cancer-treating machines and it’s quite big!!! Therefore it’s hard to imagine by myself that scientists they can scale down

    those machines and attach it into a little itty bitty bra. The another point I wonder right now is that will consumers sense the heat from those gears? You know that some devices may release heat as

    being on operation and every inch on our body is quite sensitive, ticklish…so, for me, that heat would be unbearable 😉

    Waiting for your comments guys 😛

    Wang

    PS: Jeff, I like your photo the most :D…the children are adorable

  4. Øyvor says:

    Well, interesting to read..hmm..what`s the next..realizing I´m too old, feeling well with my woolen clothing..and happy they don`t tell me the future..
    19 minus Celcius, cleaning for Christmas..the simple way..

    Have a great day friends!!

  5. Øyvor says:

    By the way, do you watch the Chess World Championship these days..??
    It`s a chess.fever in Norway now, even school children are allowed to watch it!!=)

  6. Wang says:

    Hey I have just remembered the word “jargon”

    This proper word must be used in my last post instead of “specific term” 😀

    Wang

  7. Parviz says:

    Hi every body.
    Thanks Jeff it is very interesting.
    I remember when we got ready to enter our first grade school, My friend and I, were put on new clothes, and sent to school. It was the very day of school, and we acted weird.
    I had a pair of pants, and a clean white shirt, my friend, however, was wrapped up in, what you called, baby romper. Instead of snaps, his clothes fastened by a very long zipper, that went from his ankle to his chest.
    I remember, he was very nervous, needing to visit bathroom frequently, and he always needed me to help him unwrap.
    I was very excited about playing with the zipper, didn’t know, didn’t know we were on the brick of a disaster.
    Yeah, The last time he hurried to the bathroom, Mr. clumsiness, opened the zipper so hastily that broke some of the teeth out. We couldn’t fix them. So my friend, had to sit out the classes, until it was time to go home.
    Thank you,
    Parviz

  8. emiliano says:

    May be I am too old to wear them in future but I have nothing against these kind of clothes or the idea of wearing them, why not?.
    As you said these kind of clothes could be smart and made every one of it to a personal use as bodies are not the same for every
    one person.
    You may see that people are never wearing the same clothes as our body doesn´t work the same for every one of us. There are
    some who are cold and needs several wooden clothes but other living in the same climate don´t need so many wooden clothes
    or they are allergic to this kind of fiber, I can´t wear artificial fibers and always I wear cotton 100 per cent or wood, Cuca doesn´t
    like so much cotton and prefers fiber, so why not smart clothes designed specially for every one of us?.
    You may like a phone or not, or even you like different kinds of phones, umbrellars or hats and why not just a kind of smart clothe
    that suit your personal and unique body and protect it, but even if you have some information about your real condition it would be
    like magic…..you need to drink more water, or to walk more, you have some fever so take an aspirine. Not even these kind of
    alerts, not the best could be you have the personal clothe you need to be confortable with your own body temperature receiving
    cold of heat as much as your body requires.
    Being so because people are so different that there is not a single body similar to yours, your feeling are not mine and so your
    needs are not the same like mines the same as your home it is quite different of my own home, why should be need the same
    clothes, I think it is better smart colothes addapted to me, you, and my son.

    Yes, this is science fiction, like phones or smart tvs now or even mp3 sound from Los Angeles to Madrid, but I love science fiction
    and never said NO to these kind of ideas.
    Years ago it would be impossible to be in touch here, or to listen to ESL podcast, why not smart clothes?. There is not any sense
    to have the same for every one of us having different needs and yes, these king of clothes could be really very useful.

    That is my idea, that it seems not to be in agreement with the rest, sorry about discrepancy.

    Thanks Jeff, to me it is fascinating and have not any news about this kind of clothes.
    Thanks dear friend.

    emiliano

  9. Myo ko ko says:

    So, our SMART Jeff,
    What is next to come? Maybe the next big thing is something like smart hat for you!! Who knows? 😉

    I personally think that this sort of invention goes beyond a little bit.
    You know, I don’t have any idea about who will really need such, say, sensors-embedded clothings, I just wonder?
    Pondering the answer, I just ended up with this thought wandering in the deep blank!

    That to have a healthy life is an everybody’s concern is a known fact and every person is trying to get it the best it can be.
    (Humm, this above sentence is a bit complex, I think I need a very good English grammar book!)
    But in my view, we shouldn’t “too lean” on these kinds of ‘smart’ wares as to let them monitor our bodies’ health conditions hourly!

    Generally speaking,
    There are only two the most important factors when it comes to one’s healthiness.
    They’re, to put it in a compact form,: “Move and Food”
    Yup! Move, walk hither and thither, don’t stay still, be active bodily.
    Food: Eat every nosh you like to your heart’s content. Really good for your health!
    That’s enough for a typical person!
    You need not to buy any smart clothes, and so no more one buck out from under your mattress to ‘burn’ (This is a Peter’s coined term for ‘to spend.’) on them.
    [BTW, Peter, where are you now again?! Let’s, please, know what you’re facing with, will you?? I do miss your notes a lot.
    You never know, I got highly motivated to drop lines here from Emiliano’s, Betty’s, and your comments.]

    Well, all lines above are merely my perspective!
    Anyway, so much thanks Jeff for the tip about the about-to-come smart clothes.

    OK, guys, see you later.
    I’ve got lots of, say, bits and bobs to do now.
    So, bye for now.
    See ya.

    Myo ko ko
    (currently under the weather! 😉 )

  10. emiliano says:

    That´s really good, may be emiliano is the only one who likes the idea?.

    Well, I don´t know what to say….ja,ja, thanks.

    emiliano

  11. Lassana says:

    Hi Everyone,

    Suprising and interesting topic. I’d never heard about these kind of clothing.
    These Clothing which give some informations about ourselves, our body temperature, the monitoring of several things like baby’s breathing and so forth.

    The technology can be useful too, but the scientifics have to be careful with that.
    They have to make sure that these clothing are safe for being human.
    Consequences can be dire if there is no rigorous control, instead to help people to feel better good, it can make people sick. It’s my opinion.

    see you soon !

    Lassana

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