TAPS Stickers Give Your Gloves a Fingerprint

Back in late Summer, I moved from Texas to Colorado and left the heat behind. It hasn’t snowed yet in my part of Colorado, but being a tropical people from Texas I’m not really equipped for the cold. In Texas if it got down into the low 30s by January, we were bundled up like it was a blizzard and you couldn’t buy bread or bottled water for three counties. It’s already been below freezing a couple times in Colorado, and while I am bundled up in a puffy down coat, these people are in cargo shorts and flip-flops.

If you call me on a cold morning and I have gloves on, I will not take my off gloves to work my phone to talk to you. I’m not sure I could even grip the phone in these Arctic expedition gloves I bought. I could get these TAPS stickers though and stick them to the tip of one of my fingers and work my touchscreen. The downside is that I might actually have to talk to people though. These stickers adhere to your glove fingertips and will let you use a touchscreen with any gloves.

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Unlike other conductive glove fingertips, TAPS stickers even have their own fingerprint so you can use TouchID while wearing them. That will probably give the IT guy at work apoplectic fits, but the company swears each set of four stickers has its own fingerprint. Apparently you can register the TAPS fingerprints just as you would your fingers, which is great until you leave your gloves behind somewhere.

TAPS stickers are raising production funds on Kickstarter now. A set of four TAPS stickers will cost you around $8(USD) and are expected to start shipping in December 2016, so you could possibly have them in time for the coldest months of the year.

Deal: Touch Board DIY Starter Kit

Transform any surface, object, or space into a touch controller with this amazing kit from Bare Conductive. The Touch Board DIY Starter Kit includes everything you need to build interactive objects.

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Simply connect the Arduino@Heart-based controller board to whatever you’d like to use as a controller, and it’ll magically transform it into a sensor. You can even use the Touch Board to control applications on your computer via USB.

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The kit also includes conductive paint, which can be used to create buttons, along with a dozen alligator clips, and all the wiring you need to get started. Since it includes a speaker and can play MP3s, you can use it to quickly make alarms, synthesizers, and other cool stuff that makes sounds when activated.

Drop by the Technabob Shop now, and grab the Touch Board DIY Starter Kit for $139.99 now. That’s a $10 savings off the regular price.

Conductive fabrics may power future infantry gear, uniforms set to enter field trials

Conductive uniforms may power future infantry gear, set to begin field trials next month
If you thought your Sunbeam electric blanket or those Hello Kitty foot warmers were advanced pieces of kit, then you'd best divert your eyes from this story out of the UK. In an effort to eliminate the mess of power cables and extraneous batteries from a soldier's tech gear, one British company is currently experimenting with conductive fabrics as the basis for future military uniforms. The material is able to deliver power to any number of devices -- all from a single battery -- and also features a redundancy aspect, with the ability to reroute power should the fabric become torn or damaged. The company, known as Intelligent Textiles, recently received a £234,000 grant from the Ministry of Defense and hopes to begin field trials of its equipment next month. While these high tech uniforms may see a limited military issue by year's end, it's thought unlikely that the gear will become widespread until 2014 or beyond.

Conductive fabrics may power future infantry gear, uniforms set to enter field trials originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Apr 2012 08:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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