robrohr.org : geek cred

Wear your addiction on your sleeve...

robrohr — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 03:02:45 GMT

In a previous post, I mentioned a shirt with a built in graphic sonic frequency analyzer. I was morose because it wasn't machine washable. Too much work was necessary in keeping that garment in a presentable and working state.

Now I am tormented by a new offering in animated clothing: the Animated Retro Table Tennis Shirt from thinkgeek.com.

Long time readers (hi, Mom) know I have a more than passing fascination with the classic videogame PONG. The thought of anybody taking bleeding edge technology and accomplishing something completely retro with it just makes me giddy. Viz: electric violins. Here, our garment manufacturers have managed to combine the timeless classic of a t-shirt (the raiments of Valhalla and Olympia) and combined it with solid state electronics and a laminar display that shows a trivial, yet oddly compelling animation of a game of PONG.

Even better, this shirt is machine washable.* Progress! But still too much work for a t-shirt, no matter how cool and PONG-oriented.

* Ribbon cable must be disconnected from the concealed battery pack. The battery pack should be removed from its pocket, and the animated decal must be removed from the shirt (held in place via velcro) before laundering. Do not operate motor vehicles or heavy machinery while gazing at this shirt. Pregnant women or people with heart or liver conditions should check with their doctor before being seen in public with a person wearing this shirt. Babies who have parents who think this shirt is "just ducky" should lobby their congressperson to legalize late term adoption for children of terminally embarrasing parents.

For a video of the shirt in action, check out the embedded video on the product page (scroll down).

Note to family members looking for easy gift ideas for a boy: I don't want a shirt like this until the electronics and screen can be embedded into the material, can be laundered, and can be powered by the glow from my computer screen, or my motion, or my B.O. or something. Most anything else at thinkgeek.com would work for gift ideas for either Margot or me.

Have you seen the USB Rocket Launcher? It has twice the range of the USB Missile Launcher...

That is some t-shirt.

robrohr — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 12:59:00 GMT

Thinkgeek.com has just put up for sale an amazing t-shirt with a functioning graphic equalizer built into the front. It responds to "ambient sound or music" (which I guess doesn't qualify as both ambient and sound).

The t-shirt is called the T-qualizer and is perfect for the sound techs who tune a set of speaker stacks to match a room by blasting white noise and wandering about a room with a meter, gradually going deaf in the process. Instead, hire a bunch of Walmart turnover to don these shirts and stand in a grid throughout the room while you stand on stage tweaking the mix until all shirts show a level meter.

Pros:

Look at it! LED geeky audio wonkery!
It sets a new standard for those whose wardrobe is largely t-shirt centric.

Cons:

It's $40.
It's battery operated. A solar version of this would kick some tech tail.
It's hand washable (battery pack is removable).

I will not be getting one of these until it's machine washable, yet I yearn. I yearn.

What kind of sheep are you?

robrohr — Sat, 05 Feb 2005 20:02:00 GMT

Margot directed me to this site where I was able to find out what kind of sheep I am. No surprise there.

Which flock do you follow?
this quiz was made by alanna