Top 15 High Tech Dresses Drape Extreme Geeks

The technology that has invaded every part of our lives has made its way into high-end fashion too. So we went ahead and compiled a list of 15 other-worldly, geeky pieces of high end couture that will not fail to get excited yelps, or for that matter jeering boos, even from the most hardcore geeks.

CO2 Dress

We commence with the CO2 Dress, which deceptively sounds like a dress made of carbon dioxide. Rather than that, the CO2 Dress will earn you some greenie points, since this dress uses built-in soft circuits to monitor CO2 pollution in the air. The carbon dioxide levels will lead the lights on the dress to flicker with the entire dress lighting up if the level of CO2 is too high. If that ever happens, you can rest assured that we won’t be around to see the CO2 dress lighting up. To create this unusual piece of couture, four organizations, namely diffus.dk, Alexandra Institute, The Danish Design School and embroidery company Forster Rohner have gotten together. Though a tad spooky, the CO2 Dress is a great way to tell the world of the increasing CO2 levels.

Enlighted Wedding Dress

Every woman loves to look her best and glitter the brightest on her wedding day. Taking the glitter a tad too seriously, a company called Enlighted has started to manufacture wedding gowns that predictably, glitter with a zillion little lights. While we feel that all those remote controlled, battery powered lights are a bit of an overkill, plenty of brides across the world may feel otherwise. So, they could go ahead and order one of these here.

GlowFur Coats

Wearing anything associated with fur can get PETA up in arms, but they wouldn’t bother to give you more than a passing glance if you happen to pass them with the GlowFur Coat on. The GlowFur Coat is made of faux fur and comes in an array of colors from a sober brown to an outlandish florescent. Like its name suggests, this coat is impregnated with a lighting system in its innards, which will glow in the dark and scream look-at-me. You could get yourself one of these faux fur creations for $975.

Galaxy LED Gown

A smorgasbord of dazzling LEDs and crystals. Yes, that’s how we’d describe the LED Galaxy Dress that CuteCircuit’s designers have put together. The Galaxy Dress has, hold your breath, 24,000 LEDs that light up and will most probably light up everything within three feet of you. The Galaxy Dress is made of silk and manages to house all those flat LEDs and ultra thin circuits. Even with all these circuits, the dress manages to surprisingly remain as flexible as any other large gown. Here’s what Francesca Rosella and Ryan Genz, the designers of the dress have to say

The circuits are extra-thin, flexible and hand embroidered on a layer of silk in a way that gives it stretch so the LED fabric can move like normal fabric with lightness and fluidity

The Intimacy Project

How about a dress that becomes transparent when you bring an illuminated globe close to it? While such a concept would be every man’s fantasy, one man has gone ahead to make the fantasy a reality. Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde has created the Intimacy Project, which features clothing made of a foil-like material that changes its transparency when stimulated by an external radio device. The designer hopes to achieve a sense of intimate sensuality through this extreme piece of clothing. Well, we shudder to even imagine what the women’s rights activists will have to say about this.

Light Up Dress

Bluetooth technology meets clothing, and this time it isn’t to beam wireless music like we would have preferred. The Bluetooth technology on the Light Up dress will light up a series of little lights that run down one side of the dress from the shoulder to the hip. This will happen every time your phone rings. Phew, how annoying can it really get? What piques us is that the very hot tennis star Maria Sharapova is seen posing in one of these like she doesn’t get enough attention already. Thankfully, this is a one-off dress designed by Georgie Davies, a student at London College of Fashion as a part of a school project exploring the fusion of technology and fashion. Now, it sits inside the display window of London’s upscale department store Liberty and no, it isn’t for sale.

OLED Dress

Little girls would love to play fairy and don fairy costumes. Designer Gareth Pugh seems to think that big girls too would love to play fairy and has created this OLED Dress. The dress is created from a special fabric which is coated with a thin, flexible layer of OLED displays. These displays change color when triggered by an electronic signal that is controlled by a micro-controller sewn into the fabric. The bulky OLED Dress, we feel would be out of place everywhere except maybe costume theme parties.

Zegna Solar Ski Jacket

The Zegna Solar Ski Jacket is a good looking yet functional piece of clothing that gets our thumbs-up. Apart from keeping you nice and warm, the Zegna Solar Ski Jacket has solar cells in its jacket to charge your mobile devices. This Microtene jacket is water resistant and is an collaborative effort of Italian clothing manufacturer Ermenegildo Zegna and Interactive Wear, a firm that specializes in smart textile technology. The best part of the Zegna Jacket is that the solar cells can be detached and can be used to produce electricity separately when you aren’t using the jacket. Though the Zegna Ski Jacket sells for a pricey $1,350, it is well worth a buy if you want a make a green statement that proves useful as well.

Day-for-Night Modular Solar Dress

While the Day-for-Night modular solar dress doesn’t look as outlandish as some of the other couture we’ve featured here, it surely looks as well as works great. The length of the Day-for-Night Solar Dress can be altered by varying the number of 448 white circuit boards. Each tile encloses a solar cell, a RGB LED, or a photocell and jumper connectors. A control board and a USB controller in the dress provides power, and links to a computer via RF. All these panels will absorb solar power during the day and then you can use all that solar power to charge your gadgets at night. So, that is the Day-for-Night Modular Solar Dress for you, a terrific mix of looks meet utility.

Solar Bikini

This is one piece, or two pieces of clothing that that would get full marks as ogle material as well as planet saving kit. The Solar Bikini has 1″ x 4″ photovoltaic film strips sewn together with conductive thread. These solar panels will provide power for the wearer of the bikini to charge an iPod. This makes the already hot piece of beachwear a smoldering piece of clothing. Full marks!

Park Avenue iPod Blazer

Park Avenue makes sharp suits for men and now it has outfitted one of suits with iPod control. Fitted under the lapel, the iPod controls mimic the controls found on your iPod and will thus enable you to control your iPod without actually having to pull your iPod out every time. Now, that is a sharp looking piece of power clothing, isn’t it? The cost of all this gadgetry, is a relatively reasonable $300.

Triumph Solar Swimsuit

Here is proof of the big lingerie manufacturers embracing green technology. The Triumph Solar Swimsuit is a collaborative effort between lingerie manufacturer Triumph and photovoltaic cell manufacturer Conergy. The swimsuit has solar panels impregnated on its front side. These panels understandably will absorb solar energy and connect it into stored electrical energy. This stored electricity can later be used to charge small gadgets. So, your swimsuit now has another purpose apart from attracting envious eyeballs.

GPS Lingerie

Feminist groups are already crying hoarse over the GPS Lingerie and understandably so. The GPS Lingerie has a little GPS unit that will monitor its wearer’s movements and transmit signals to a base GPS receiver situated in a remote location. While Lucia Lorio of Brazil, the lingerie’s designer has designed this piece of beachwear to protect women from getting lost or abducted, the feminist groups feel that this piece of kit is a chastity tool that could be used by men to spy on a woman’s movements. This has given the GPS Lingerie more than it’s share of publicity, both good and bad. Meanwhile, you take a look and decide for yourself.

Hussein Chalayan’s Animatronic Clothing

We have absolutely no clue as to why Hussein Chalayan has gone on to create these animatronic pieces of clothing. Before you start wondering what animatronic is, it is a type of clothing that responds to stimuli, in this case sound to change it’s shape. To be more precise, the animatronic clothing that Hussein Chalayan has designed assumes different forms in response to sound. And the responses are weird to say the least. One garment transforms itself to a hat from a dress leaving the model nude. While we’d like a wool blazer transform to an evening jacket, it appears that we have to wait for quite some time before that materializes.

Power Dress

Power Dressing gets an all new meaning with designer Amanda Parkes creating a dress that will generate power. No, this time around the sun won’t be used to generate the electricity. The human body fabric of Amanda Parkes’ dress is made of a piezoelectric material that will generate power by using the natural gestures of the human body. This electricity will be stored in a centralized battery for use at a later time. This garment could very well be the future of fabrics that we all could be wearing. So take a nice hard look.

10 Breathtaking Bridges Around the World

1 – Magdeburg Water Bridge

The Germans took over a century to build this water bridge. The 918-metre Magdeburg Water Bridge, is a navigable aqueduct water bridge in Germany, completed in October 2003. It bridges the River Elbe to connect two important German shipping canals; the Elbe-Havel Canal and the Midland Canal.

Plans for joining the two canals had been conceived as far back as 1919, and construction on such a project began during the 1930s,but first World War II and then the post-war division of Germany put the project on hold until after German reunification was achieved in the 1990s

The bridge site is open to visitors and includes a parking lot, bicycle and pedestrian paths and informational signs detailing the history and construction of the bridge. The bridge itself is located outside of Hohenwarthe near the city of Magdeburg and is known locally as the Wasserstrassenkreuz Magdeburg.

2 – Seoul’s Banpo Bridge Turns into Gigantic Fountain

The Banpo Bridge which crosses over the Han River in the Seoul capital of Korea has been given new life with the addition of a very interesting fountain, that was specially designed to attract more tourists.

The fountains at the Banpo Bridge were installed on September ninth and have since become a major tourist attraction.The bridge has turned into a major tourist attraction. It has nearly 10 thousand nozzles ( more exactly 9, 380 ) on either side of the bridge that shoots out 190 tons of water every minute. According to the Seoul mayor, Oh Se-Hoon, the fountain bridge would help acknowledge Seoul as an eco-friendly destination amassing more tourists.

3 – Aiola Island Bridge

A cool bar located on a river. Aiola Island, located right in the center of the Mur River in Graz, Austria, was built in 2003, and immediately developed itself as a popular attraction. The ‘island’ was created by the New York artist Vito Acconci. It has a sunbathing area, a trendy bar and a coffee house, plus it allows you to cross the Mur River from one shore to another.

4 – Gateshead Millennium Bridge

The award winning $44 million Gateshead Millennium Bridge is the first and only tilting bridge in the world. Hydraulic rams at each end of the bridge allow it to tilt so small ships may pass through, and it is this innovative technology which won its designers the prestigious Stirling Prize for architecture in 2002. Thanks to the 19,000 tonnes of concrete poured into 98ft deep foundations and enough steel to build 64 double decker buses, the bridge can withstand a collision with a 4,000 tonne ship moving at 4 knots.(Link)

5 – The Falkirk Wheel

The Millennium Link was an ambitious £84.5m project with the objective of restoring navigability across Scotland on the historic Forth & Clyde Canal and Union Canal, providing a corridor of regenerative activity through central Scotland. A major challenge faced, was to link the Forth and Clyde Canal, which lay 35m (115ft) below the level of the Union Canal. Historically, the two canals had been joined at Falkirk by a flight of 11 locks that stepped down across a distance of 1.5km, but these has been dismantled in 1933, breaking the link. What was required was a method of connecting these two canals by way of a boat lift. British Waterways were keen to present a visionary solution taking full advantage of the opportunity to create a truly spectacular and fitting structure that would suitably commemorate the Millennium and act as an iconic symbol for years to come. The resultant, perfectly balanced structure that is The Falkirk Wheel, the world’s first and only rotating boat lift.(link)

6 – Henderson Waves Bridge

At a height of 36 metres or 12 storeys from the road, it’s the highest pedestrian bridge in Singapore. The 300-metre bridge links up the parks at Mount Faber and Telok Blangah Hill.

The bridge has a unique wave-form made up of seven undulating curved steel “ribs” that alternately rise over and under its deck. The curved “ribs” form alcoves that function as shelters with seats within and also to accommodate large number of people during public events.

During the day, one can enjoy the habour views while standing on the 12-storey high bridge.At night, the wave-forms will be lit with attractive LED light from 7pm to 2am daily, giving the bridge an illuminative glow, offering beautiful night scenic view of the city.

7 – Tianjin Eye Bridge

The Tianjin Eye,is a gigantic ferris wheel constructed on Yongle Bridge over the Haihe River.

The 110 meter diameter ferris wheel will lift people 120 meters up into the air, as high as one 35-storey building, and promise a grand view of around 40 square kilometers over the surrounding city.

There are 48 capsules on the ferris wheel, each of them carrying up to 8 people at a time, giving a capacity of 768 passengers per hour. It takes half an hour for this slow-rotating observation wheel to complete a full circle.

8 – The Malaysia Sky Bridge

It’s not a bridge to the sky, but it’s not far from the idea!The Langkawi sky-bridge in Malaysia is suspended at 700 metres above sea level and spans 125 across the mountains, offering magnificent views of the Andaman Sea and Thailand’s Tarutao Island. It’s set apart from other bridges by its curves that provide different perspectives of the landscapes. Here’s one of the most spectacular bridges in the world that delivers quite a pump of adrenaline.

9 – Ponte Vecchio

These bridge is oldest and most famous of its kind. The Ponte Vecchio in Florence is one of the most famous tourist spots. These bridge is thought to be the oldest wholly stone built & segmental arch bridge in Europe. Although there are many partial segments which date further back. It was first originally built of only wood and then it was destroyed by floods in 1333 and twelve years later it was rebuilt using stone. These was famous for its lining of shops, the bridge has housed everybody from Medieval merchants and butchers to souvenir stalls and art dealers.

10 – Bridge to Nowhere

A bridge on the Atlantic Road in Norway. The fact that the Atlantic Road of Norway was voted as the Norwegian Construction of the Century in 2005 pretty much says it all about this wonderful integration of modern technology with nature’s magnificence. The road is akin to man’s stroke of brush on nature’s canvas and the view and the ride it offers is both unique and enthralling. The wonderful ride moves along a scenic five-mile stretch along highway Rv64 between Molde and Kristiansund. Best time for a ride: when a storm mild hits the ocean! Ironically, that is when the ocean under the road is at its dramatic best.

water purification skyscraper, Jakarta

‘ciliwung recovery program’ by indonesian rezza rahdian, edwin setiawan, ayu diah shanti, leonardus chrisnantyo

continuing our coverage of the 2010 skyscraper competition here is indonesian rezza rahdian, edwin setiawan, ayu diah shanti, leonardus chrisnantyo second place winning entry. jakarta, the capital city of indonesia, was originally designed as a water city where thirteen rivers that crossed the city utilized completely as source of livelihood by the citizens. ciliwung river as the largest river that cuts right along the center of the city is the main river that supports the citizens’ life. unfortunately, today the river had become disaster for the citizens, because surge of water flooded the city, and the number of slums
along the riverbanks adds a new problem, namely the pollution of watershed’s surrounding.

ciliwung recovery program (CRP), a project aims to purify the ciliwung river’s environment to its original form. through the new system in the building, CRP is expected to be able to repair and become the sustainability generator for jakarta. there are three main lines in the process of purifying the ciliwung river, first line is the flow of the polluted river water into the building through pipes by utilizing capillary vessel systems, into the filtrating section. at this stage, the river water is separated from garbage, the organic garbage then used as raw materials to fertilize the soil around the river basin, while garbage-free

water proceeded to the next stage or channeled back into the river.

the second line is the phase of river water purification through elimination of dangerous contaminants, and addition of various good minerals to the water, so it is safe for daily needs of CRP building occupants, which is people who previously lived in the slums along ciliwung river. removal of riverbank dwellers into the CRP building aims to open and expand ciliwung watersheds that will

be prepared to be the new open spaces for more 'green' jakarta and to secure the flood plane.

the third line is the re-processing of household waste products into water which is safe to be returned to the ciliwung river. some of processed water are being distributed to lands around ciliwung river in two ways. first, through capillary pipes under the ground that not only bring water, but also fertilizer produced in the first line. capillary tubings are connected to generator towers around the damaged lands, and create a new environment that’s usable for agriculture. second, by spraying processed water through the skin of the building. spraying water from height raises the humidity in the lower part of the building that triggers the growth of pioneer plants that will contribute to

the creation of a new ecosystem. CRP’s ecosystems will create a good microclimate for jakarta, as well as a response to the lost of many open green spaces around the world that leads to global warming. CRP buildings generate energy for itself, including the use of passive technology systems in the building. the skin of the building is designed with many layers, where the outer layer of the skin receives large amount of wind that used as a wind power generator. for solar power generator, there is a gigantic solar reactor at the top. the elevator of CRP building uses Archimedes principle of vessels. it will move up and down by accommodating its specific gravity. the excess energy generated from CRP system will be distributed to buildings around the ciliwung river.

structure of the building

sections of the water purification skyscraper

the lifts 

20 Most Creative Anti-Smoking Ad Campaigns

It appears that some of the most creative and inventive advertising is coming from nonprofits these days.

This month, I will be taking a look at the nonprofits and "for a good cause" marketing techniques. Today, we turn to the the advertising campaigns being used to increase awareness about the bad effects of smoking.

How would you urge people to stop smoking?

Over the years, the anti-smoking movement has had terrific and inventive print and television ads. They are now broadening to some pretty creative guerilla marketing techniques. If you remember, in June, I showed one example of a great stop smoking direct mail campaign , but the anti smoking movement has taken it to great lengths to get their message heard

This is one used in gyms around the country.

This one is found outside in city streets.

They have even created and handed smelly strips (similar to those used when testing perfume). The sniff strip reads: "This is how you smell when you smoke. 4,000 toxic chemicals leave a stench no perfume can mask... just ask the people around you. Please stop smoking, You'll smell better instantly. Call 1-800-438-2000."

This ad uses real cigarettes at bus stops.

These ads were used on the public transportation.

This one is from an anti-smoking promotion for ‘World No Tobacco Day’ (May 31), and it can be found at coffee shops in Dubai, where people come to smoke!

some more.....

Do you think these ads are effective? will this make any sense? please post your comments here.