Technabob » cotton

Self-Cleaning Cloth Breakthrough: Never Wash Your Underwear Again?

Hazel Chua — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 15:00:43 +0000

Imagine all the cool uses people could come up with for cloth that can clean itself. Yes, you read that right: there is now a textile that, when soiled, can clean itself up, without a human having to scrub and rub it to get the dirt and germs out.

Just think: self-cleaning underwear, self-cleaning aprons, self-cleaning baby clothes, self-cleaning shirts, and so on and so forth. It seems too good to be true, but it’s all made possible because of a chemical compound called 2-anthraquinone carboxylic acid or 2-ACQ.

The compound was developed by a team of researchers from the University of California: Davis. Ning Liu, who came up with a method to incorporate 2-ACQ into cotton fabric, explained: “The new fabric has potential applications in biological and chemical protective clothing for health care, food processing and farmworkers, as well as military personnel.”

2-ACQ forms a strong bond with the cellulose in cotton, so it’s extremely hard to wash off. When the compound is exposed to light, it produced reactive oxygen species, such as hydrogen peroxide and hydroxyl radicals, that combat bacteria and cause organic compounds such as pesticides and other toxins to disintegrate.

[via medGadget via Oh Gizmo!]

Rhombus Dress Shirt Hides Binary Code

Technabob — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 14:23:57 +0000

At first glance this just looks like a nice, stylish button-down dress shirt. But upon further examination, you’ll notice that its shading isn’t just some sort of abstract pattern. It’s actually comprised of tens of thousands of little 0′s and 1′s.

Rhombus’ James and Boris dress shirts are just perfect for the computer geek with fashion sense (although I’m not sure how large that intersection would look on a Venn diagram). Each one is made from 97% cotton / 3% stretch fabric – dry clean only, so be careful not to spill too much Mountain Dew on yours!

And if Binary isn’t your language, there’s another pattern that’s made from old standardized tests (No. 2 pencil not included). There’s also a traditional gingham design, but who wants that?

The dress shirts sell for $75 each, and can be found over at Rhombuswear. For you cheapskates, be sure to check out the Thomas t-shirt — it comes in the same patterns, and sells for just $20 (short-sleeve) or $30 (long-sleeve).

[via geeksugar]

Space Invaders Hoodie Keeps Aliens, Elements Out

Technabob — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:35:32 +0000

Dunh-Dunh, Dunh-Dunh, Dun-Dun, Dun-Dun, Du-Du-Du-Du. Those pesky Space Invaders are coming to your town to help you party down. Or at least they’re ready to help you keep warm on a windy day with this spiffy Invaders-themed hoodie.

These cotton knitwear zippered hoodies feature tons of little green Invaders all over the surface. You’ll have to shoot through hundreds, maybe thousands of the 8-bit aliens in order to clear this level and move on to the next.

Available from eBay’s Thrifty Beatnik UK shop, the Invaders Hoodie will set you back £29.99 (appx. $59 USD) – or about 236 quarters that you could be using to play the arcade classic instead.

Be warned that the product page is overloaded with tons of late-1990′s web page crap that might make your browser (or you) fall into a grand mal seizure, so fair warning before you click through.

Speaking about Space Invaders…

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Guitar Hero T-Shirt Lets You Play Air Guitar Anywhere

Technabob — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 14:25:27 +0000

If you’re way too addicted to those Guitar Hero games, you’ve got a couple of new ways to keep it with you wherever you go. A few days back, I brought you that pint-sized pocket GH LCD game. But you probably can’t take that into the conference room at work without somebody hearing you rock out. So if you need to get your game on, but must do it in silence, check out this great Guitar Hero t-shirt.

Featuring the stylized body of the famous red Gibson SG electric guitar, the shirt lets strum and whammy without making a sound (unless, of course, you make funny mouth sounds whenever you play air guitar). Sure, people around you might think that incessantly caressing your belly is a little odd, but who really cares?

You can find the Guitar Hero t-shirt from istheshiRt for €23,90 (appx. $35 USD).

[via Fashionably Geek]