Turn signal gadgets for cyclists is nothing new, but you don’t often see them in clothing. Ph.D student Leah Buechley on the other hand, has designed several items of electronic clothing, but her signal jacket for cyclists really stands out.

LEDs are embedded in an arrow formation and they flash to indicate that you are about to turn left or right. That’s a good idea since it will warn motorists, and prevent you from becoming roadkill, which we know some rednecks eat. The LEDs are powered by the round device in the center of the jacket, which is a small, sewable computer chip that Leah also designed herself. She obviously needs to be working with clothing manufacturers.

When you work for the Empire, you have a ton of gear that’s required. You know, spare blasters,a change of armor,lunch, plus assorted entertainment to help pass the hours of boring guard duty on the forest moon of Endor. The point is, you need a backpack and it’s got to match your armor.

That’s where the Reppo II boombox backpack concept comes in. One look and you know it’s not for rebel scum. These have the added feature of a built in pair of full-range speakers and an amplifier, so you can listen to tunes while you are on patrol. For the moment, it’s a concept design that has gotten as far as a functional prototype. No one is sure yet if they will see mass production. So for now, you’ll just have to cram all your stuff in your Imperial locker.

Do you carry an Umbrella when it rains? Many people don’t bother, because they know they will get just as wet whether they carry one or not. There’s just no point to it. That’s where the Nubrella comes in. It wants to protect you from the rain the way an umbrella should, protecting your head from all sides. It’s like your own personal transparent pod.

Another plus is that this umbrella doesn’t require any hands, which is good, because you usually have your hands full. There is a downside: This sort of thing is socially unacceptable and you will be mocked. But hey, you can be mocked, I don’t mind. It will pave the way for the rest of us to use it one day. You can pick one up for $60.

We first told you about this bizarre combo in early January on our sister site Poptherapy. It should be noted that this hybrid of powder flavored drink aka liquid crack, combined with sneaker is completely unnatural and I am now more convinced then ever that the apocalypse is among us.

Do you really want your feet to smell like various Kool-Aid flavors? If you wear them in the rain, will you create magical Kool-Aid puddles as you walk? I have no idea. I’m still too perplexed by the whole thing. I kinda wish the Kool-Aid guy would crash through my wall so I could ask him about this. Then I would sue that fat wet bastard for all his sneaker money. He broke my wall!

This Video Vest screen certainly gets your attention. Why carry a boring cardboard sign, when you can get your message across with video, like a picket line for instance or to advertise your business. The Vest actually plays full-motion video with stereo sound so that you have a portable video display anywhere you want.

Apparently regular Joes like me and you can’t buy one due to the vest’s high cost and limited manufacturing, but you can rent one for live events and such. That really sucks because my thinking was that we could put some flat chested girls in this vest and give them a larger rack via video. It would have been my gift to them. I’m a giver.

Are you the kind of couple that dress up as Zelda and Link and hit the convention circuit? Maybe you’re the type of person who can’t get enough Twilight Princess game time in, and when you do, you pick up as many hearts as possible, even if your heart containers are full, all the while thinking about your significant other.

If that describes you and your main squeeze, I have your new shirts right here. These shirts come in pairs and during the normal course of whatever the hell it is you do, two and a half pixelated hearts will light up. But when you get within hugging distance of your significant other geek wearing the matching shirt, suddenly the hearts on both shirts light up until you’re fully powered up.

Made by Viking, “Turnout Gear” is a new line of clothing for firefighters which combines Thermal Sensor Technology (TST) and Smart Textiles. LED displays like the one on the upper left shoulder glow to notify others whenever one might be in danger, another LED on the sleeve lets you know if your fellow firefighter is in a hot spot. The higher the mercury goes, the faster the LED will blink.

This should save a lot of lives and in general make firefighters more productive. This is likely just the beginning of the firefighter’s jacket being upgraded. One can only imagine what else can be incorporated into their gear.

As far as jackets are concerned, fleece keeps me pretty warm already, but the fleece Jacket from Thanko has the added benefit of being powered by batteries so it will warm you up in the winter and keep you feeling toasty. The batteries charge the heating pads and your jacket warms up.

If you need to clean your jacket or need to charge the batteries, they can be taken out for charging. Both the battery pack and heat regulator are concealed in an inside pocket, so you can still look stylish and no one will be any wiser. It will run you about $130 and when you are out in the cold, NOT shivering your fleece off, you’ll be happy you got spent it.

…At least that’s the impression one gets from the picture of the guy wearing it, on the product site. Apparently the Tie Spy makes you wear dark sunglasses and pretend you are a G-Man. A G-Man with a tacky tie who stands out like…Well, like an overly happy dork with a surveillance device in his tie.

They claim that the camera in this tie is the world’s smallest color pinhole camera. But then again they also claim that this tie is fashionable. You can record exactly what you see while wearing it. No external power is needed, since it just connects directly with an included MP4 player. Some of the specs on the MP4 player include: 512MB Memory with the ability to get 1GB using an SD card. 2.5 Inch TFT OLED display, with a resolution of 320×240. Even with the MP4 player thrown in, this tie still probably won’t make you feel like James Bond. Who knows, you might get some dirt on a co-worker, but more likely you’ll just collect videos of your walk to work. From your tie’s point of view of course.

There is a reason that the guy in the pic has his hand in his pocket. It’s because he has warm pants. The Far Infrared Heated Cargo Pants will give you four hours of warmth, which is a precious commodity as the weather gets colder. They accomplish this with a low-power infrared transmitted through a lightweight and flexible carbon fiber mesh that’s sewn into the fabric.

Don’t worry, the heating elements are located in the front thighs and waist, not in any more sensitive areas. They claim that it will keep the entire lower body not just in heat, but in radiant heat. How’s that for a pair of pants? 65% cotton and 35% polyester blend shell with a 100% polyester fleece lining.

When the iShoes first rolled out, they looked fairly clunky, with 4 large wheels. But in no time at all, they have had an upgrade. They lost a wheel and look a lot sleeker now. These “shoes” are powered by electric motors and controlled by a wired remote. They can also hit speeds of up to 15 mph. Presumably more with their new sleeker upgrade and they come in men’s and women’s sizes.

Right now it is in the prototype phase still, but they hope that they will go 5 to 7 miles without having to recharge the batteries. Can you say Skinned knees? How about broken limbs?

Heelys are those shoes with the rollers that kids wear all over the place. Now the same maker gives us some XBOX 360 inspired shoes that only look cool, but do nothing to interact with your XBOX. The soles resemble the game controllers.

It’s a great concept, but I for one would like to kick back, take my shoes off and THEN use them to play a game or two. Essentially all they have done here is create a new, useless and stinkier controller. But maybe that’s just me. I like my video game inspired apparel multi-functional. Strangely I want them and yet I want nothing to do with them.

The Japanese are constantly innovative and inventive. They are basically tech Gods. And yet sometimes the concepts that they come up with come off as just a bit silly. Take this anti-rape/crime dress for example. Designed by Aya Tsukioka, it makes you a human transformer.

At the first hint of crime, simply perform some fancy clothing magic and disguise yourself as a Vending machine. Another option, if vending machines aren’t your style, is the Manhole Bag. Not a great name for a product that’s geared toward women in danger, I know. The Manhole Bag converts a handbag into what is supposed to be a sewer cover. It claims to even keep your valuables safe inside while in this mode.

Silly or inventive? I say both. But I also have to say that I wouldn’t want my life to depend on it. Your attacker would need to have some serious bad eyesight and depth perception to miss snatching you up. It does have a certain coolness factor though.

Everybody needs a hug sometimes. Love makes the world go round after all. But in this high-tech digital age, we barely have time to eat, sleep and enjoy our favorite blogs. Needless to say, hugs have suffered. They don’t enjoy the same care free social prominence they once did. Somehow, hippies and teenage girls have gotten through these trying times of limited embrace. At last, they can rest easy.

Now you can buy yourself a hug shirt and reproduce hugs electronically via your cellphone. The designers at CuteCircuit actually held several hugging sessions in order to map out the most crucial hugging intensity points. As it turns out, those points include the upper arms, upper back, waistline, neck, shoulders, and hips. (NOT some of the areas that us guys like to think are included.)

Looking like a great big over-stuffed snowmobile suit, the Lippi Selk’bag is a “sleep wear system” solution to the restrictions of conventional sleeping bags. Named from the Chilean nomads, the Selk’nam, who had a great resilience for the cold the Selk’bag has a hood, arms and legs giving you the ability to move around freely while staying warm inside your bag. On those cold mornings of camping simply standing up without getting out of your bag is hard enough not to mention trying to shuffle or hop around.

The Selk’bag is made with a Nylon shell and a Polyester hollow fiber bonded filling giving it an “extreme temp” rating of -8.4 degrees celcius. It also appears to have zippers to close up at the end of the arms and vent your legs and sides if you get too hot. But, unlike our full-body underwear we’re not seeing an opening to let us pee without taking it all off, which is the primary reason we’re usually getting up when it’s still cold outside in the first place.