Color

Make it pink. Make it blue. Or make it pink and blue stripes. With color-changing smart fabric, you can change your outfit with the press of a button on an app. 

Researchers at the University of Central Florida are taking wearables to the next level with a new color-changing fabric they call ChroMorphous. Controlled by an app, this battery-powered fabric physically changes color when turned on.


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Fashion and technology sometimes make an awkward pair. Levi’s has a jacket that can connect to Uber or Lyft. Samsung has a suit that can unlock a phone. Pizza Hut has sneakers that pause the TV.

But instead of slapping smarts to existing clothing, UCF takes a different approach. The tech is woven throughout the fabric, using threads that incorporate micro-wires and color-changing pigments.

I got a chance to see the color-changing fabric myself, as well as talk to the team that developed it at UCF’s College of Optics and Photonics. Watch the video (embedded above) to learn how it works and my impressions of how it feels.

The possibilities go beyond a purse, as shown in the demo. The UCF team got this technology to be scalable, so it can be mass produced using a process called fiber spinning. The researchers are now working with fashion designers to create color-changing dresses — but to make it more appealing, they want to get the threads even thinner. Currently, the material feels similar to canvas, like a tote bag.

In search of other smart threads I also came across work being done at Ohio State University, where researchers are embroidering lightweight, washable antennas into clothing. These e-threads can transmit various data, boost wireless signals — or, in the future, perhaps be used to control smart home devices and virtual reality games. (You can also see it in the video embedded above.)

The future of smart fashions promise new function — but also, a little bit of fun.

Samsung smart clothing from wellness belts to solar-charging bags (pictures)

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Color

No sleight of hand necessary with the Taylor TEMPerfect Butter Tray.
No sleight of hand necessary with the Taylor TEMPerfect Butter Tray.
Sur La Table

We hardly think about it, perhaps because it happens on a regular basis, but everything we do in the kitchen is about change. That big metal box that opens and closes is the center of it all. No, not the refrigerator — that’s probably the one thing in the kitchen designed to stop change. The other big metal thing in the kitchen is the bringer of change: the oven. We put ingredients in, and out comes food. It’s almost like magic.

If there is magic to be had in the kitchen, it will require ingredients. When it comes to baking, often that ingredient is butter. The Taylor TEMPerfect Butter Tray ($13) brings its own kind of magic to the kitchen — changing colors depending on the temperature.

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Disguised as an unextraordinary one-stick butter tray, the everyday kitchen item hides its true colors until it’s called into action. The show starts in the fridge, where the tray is orange; when removed, the tray turns white as it warms to room temperature.

Depending on the application, temperature does matter. When working with dough it is often preferable to have cold butter, while having butter that is easily spreadable is a magic trick every toast eater can appreciate.

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