'Social Knitworking' Turns Sweet Texts to Cozy Textiles
Feeling a need to literally show your love, as opposed to just texting sweet nothings to a special someone? What if you could turn your kind words into a warm blanket of affection in which a cherished person could wrap themselves? Sounds like romantic talk, but this is actually the notion behind Distance Lab's newest experiment in communications.
Earlier this summer, the Scotland-based research firm presented the Mustugoto, which let long-distance lovers 'draw' on each other with light. Now the company is experimenting with 'Social Knitworking,' which uses software to scan electronic messages for certain words and phrases, and then to translate the text into patterns. The patterns are transferred to a knitting machine, which then creates a scarf, a tee, or a simple piece of fabric with an abstract pattern embroidered on its surface.
Distance Lab is working in conjunction with researcher Hilary Grant, who studied textile design at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee, Scotland. Grant became fascinated with the idea of turning ephemeral digital conversations into concrete objects, and with her background in textiles, immediately thought of a knitted keepsake. Whether her notion will turn into a trend remains to be seen, but a scarf made of 'I love yous' might just catch on. [From: BBC.co.uk]
Given that we're partial to t-shirts with nerdy, tech-infused jokes and terminology, we figured it was high time to find the best geek t-shirts specifically related to Web 2.0 speak (like the "Your Podcast is Lame" t-shirt, flickr user ericskiff, pictured above). So here, dear readers is our humble survey of the wild, cotton-meets-code world of Web 2.0 t-shirts. If anything, it'll give you something cool to talk about during your podcast.
Top 11 Geek T-Shirts
According to none other than Wired magazine, T-shirts have come into their own as a form of media, one that uniquely documents messages and stories, not to mention emergent technologies and companies changing the way we use the Internet. Here at Switched, we write a lot about these next-gen, "Web 2.0" companies and technologies, which include everyone from MySpace and Facebook to Twitter and even Google.
Given that we're partial to t-shirts with nerdy, tech-infused jokes and terminology, we figured it was high time to find the best geek t-shirts specifically related to Web 2.0 speak (like the "Your Podcast is Lame" t-shirt, flickr user ericskiff, pictured above). So here, dear readers is our humble survey of the wild, cotton-meets-code world of Web 2.0 t-shirts. If anything, it'll give you something cool to talk about during your podcast.
From Facebook and MySpace on down to countless start-ups, social networking sites are Web 2.0 bread and butter. Unfortunately, the facts and pictures on someone's profile don't always match the real, offline version. If you enjoy racking up virtual friends, but worry about the real world rendezvous, you'll be prepared for the worst with this straight-shooting t-shirt.
From CafePress
For all of its entrepreneurial, spare-garage innovation, Web 2.0 has bred some sprawling companies. Google's certainly risen to the top, but a $600 share price has incited a fair amount of jealousy and worry from outsiders as the company continues to buy startups and expand its information empire. Only time will tell what the men of the "Don't Be Evil" mantra hath wrought, but for now you can preserve the madness across your pecs.
From Scary Go Round
Success has a strange currency on the social news site Digg, where links rated positively by users (given a 'digg,' in other words) can drive Web sites, blog posts, and all kinds of stories to new heights of popularity. Isn't this the kind of validation we yearn for offline? And what will this shirt do to the 'Kiss me I'm Irish' industry?
From NerdyShirts
Michael Scott's classic catch phrase might be a tad different if he had been written as a Web entrepreneur instead of a regional manager at Dunder Mifflin (from 'The Office,' for those of you who don't watch TV). Twitter traffics in brief update messages that its users can send from any Internet-connected device, making it ripe for compulsive friend-monitoring as well as double-entendre hunters. "Come Twitter on my sensitive iPhone touchscreen?" The possibilities are endless.
From Cottyn
While the lolcat phenomenon started on Internet message boards, sites such as I Can Has Cheezburger? brought goofy cat pictures and idiosyncratic captions to the Web masses. It might not fit the strictest definition of Web 2.0, but ICHS is a vast social network with some very cool features (it also mints ad money, which always helps in Web 2.0 circles). This shirt allows for easy, dry-erase marker customization of a classic lolcat caption meme. Prepare to be the life of the party. Im in ur Switched bloggin ur tshirts!
From ThinkGeek
This might be what she Twittered if she thought your bookmarks were del.icio.us. Or if she really wanted to StumbleUpon your toolbar discoveries. Or... never mind. Fact is, tagging links, images, and other pieces of information online are the hot way to organize things in Web 2.0, and this shirt means its wearer is in the know. Just remember to stop staring and make eye contact occasionally.
From CafePress
'Don't drink the Kool-Aid' is a warning adopted by those skeptical of Web 2.0 optimism and wary of a second dotcom bubble. Mule Design's Feed Store describes this shirt as an "image of Tim O'Reilly (acknowledged as the coiner of 'Web 2.0') busting out of his lawyers office." Indeed.
From Mule Design
Events like the 'Snakes on a Plane' phenomenon suggest that Samuel L. Jackson is down with Web 2.0, but as 'Pulp Fiction' fans know, there are some words that he'd rather not hear repeated. Despite your awesome Technorati ranking, friends and relatives might feel the same way. Tread carefully.
From coolestshop.com
The nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation has been fighting for digital rights since its founding in 1990. The importance of its work grows with the ever-expanding reach of the Internet, a place where things like free speech, intellectual property, and privacy are still being defined and contested. Wear your support for digital freedom and the EFF on your sleeve with this shirt. We hear that the Internet finds it irresistible.
From Electronic Frontier Foundation
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