Thanko USB bear gloves don't inhibit your typing, keep palms toasty

Ah, how timely! Over two years after the USB-powered G-Gloves hit the scenes, in comes Thanko to bring a much needed new face to the niche. These Kumasan mittens both get powered from a single usb port and even have cutouts to allow your fingers to move freely. There's no mention of a price nor any indication that these will ever be released outside of Japan, but this is definitely a must-buy if you're headed to that side of the globe anytime soon.

[ Via: AkihabaraNews ]

Put your air guitar away -- Piano Hands has the stage

For all you OCD desk tappers out there, I Want One Of Those is offering up -- ta da -- Piano Hands. These electronic gloves with built-in sensors at the fingertips emulate musical notes upon tapping any flat surface. With eight different instruments to choose from, we can't think of a better way to be endlessly annoying on elevators, airplanes, trains and other cramped enclosed spaces -- assuming you can find a place to plug in your Marshall Stack. Pick up your ticket to stardom for just ?49.99 ($92) from IWOOT. No word yet on a release date.

[ Via: Popgadget ]
[ Tag: finger piano, FingerPiano, gloves, i want one of those, IWantOneOfThose, iwoot, piano, Piano Hands, PianoHands ]

Researchers show off flexible, band-aid-sized tactile display

We've seen tactile displays of all shapes and sizes, but none quite like this latest creation from a group of researchers at Korea's Sungkyunkwan University and the University of Nevada, which promises to be at your disposal whenever you need it. That's possible thanks to the electroactive polymer material the display is based on, which consists of eight layers of tiny actuator films that have been sprayed with electrodes in a specific pattern, allowing the skin to be stimulated without any additional electromechanical transmission. In addition to making it possible to wrap the display around your finger like a band-aid, that also makes the system extremely power efficient and, apparently, cost effective and easy to manufacture. As with other tactile displays, the researchers say this one could be especially useful as a braille display for the blind, although they don't see any shortage of other potential applications, with them foreseeing it being used in everything from virtual keyboards to tele-surgical gloves.

[ Via: Engadget ]
[ Tag: braille display,BrailleDisplay,Sungkyunkwan University,SungkyunkwanUniversity,tactile display,TactileDisplay,university of nevada,UniversityOfNevada ]