apple gloves to warm hands, empty wallets

January 6th, 2009 comments stumble it! digg it! by: alisha k.

It can be hard to do anything while wearing gloves, much less get directions to that new sushi place with your iPhone. Sure, you could just take off your gloves every time you need to do something, wear the fingerless variety, or just lose your “texting fingers.” But as those solutions might not always be color-coordinated with your gadgets (and might lack the Apple logo), a new design for touchscreen-friendly gloves is here to save the day.

iPhones and touch-based iPods rely on the electric impulses in human skin, so any iPhone-friendly gloves would either have to leave the fingertips bare or simulate the electricity in skin. This patent combines those approaches–sort of. The iPhone gloves are multi-layered, and the thin inner layer simulates the feedback from skin. This inner layer is covered with a heavier, warmer layer, but aperatures at the tips allow the inner layer access to the touchscreen. The design allows these aperatures to open in a variety of ways (for, I guess, different styles of gloves), from peeling back the outer glove to removable caps.

Here’s betting these gloves, if released, will be at least 10% more expensive than the inevitable flood of knock-offs. Oh, Apple. I love you so, but you hurt my wallet.

[US Patent & Trademark Office via Apple Insider]

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filed under:  gadgets strange + wonderful technology

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tags: appleclothesglovesiphoneipodmultitouchpatenttouchscreen

January 6th, 2009 comments: stumble it! digg it! by: alisha k.

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