Future Files:Mobile Interactive T-Shirts Stand Out From The Crowd
Posted On: 05 June 2007 By: Jay Oatway Filed Under: Duelling Realities | Future-Stuff-That-Goes-Ping | Info-slavery | No Strings
T-shirts say so much about us, but the message is often one way–just some quirky missive that may or may not connect with the people around us as we walk down the street. However, the clever folks over at Reactee.com have connected the humble t-shirt with the ubiquitous mobile device. The result — pure interactive genius (via SMS Today).
Choose your slogan, your keyword and keep the world up to date with your latest missives. It could change not just the way you connect with people, but maybe the world too.
The Reactee team has significant experience with the mobile industry, consumer Internet, and the apparel industry. Our goal is to combine the best of these elements to make shirts that are fun to wear, look good, and bridge the gap between the physical world, mobile communications and the Internet.
Our shirts are meant for individuals as well as organizations. Individuals can make shirts with their own unique keyword and response — which they can update as frequently as they want. Organizations can make many shirts with the same keyword and use them to promote their causes.
Reactee is a project of TextMarks Inc. — a leading provider of text messaging services for consumers, corporations and non-profits. We partnered with Revel Industries, a leading provider of apparel — as well as services to the apparel industry.
I have wanted to make interactive t-shirts for ages now, but I’ve always liked the idea of QR codes instead of SMS. The problem has been that the QR Code tech has been slow in gaining mainstream traction. However, efforts like Microsofts new "Live Barcode" and dozens of smaller ventures offer hope that one day every Portension post could have a corresponding t-shirt with a code that sends you to the relevant blog article. By th time that happens there will be codes on just about everything, and we’ll spend more time scanning things with our phones than we will talking on them.
The t-shirt below, when scanned by a phonecam running QR code reading software (like this neat app: Kaywa Reader), delivers the mobile version of the Portension website. Click here to check out my interactive t-shirt prototype.
You can make your own QR Codes via Live Barcode (sorry, the Microsoft site requires the use of IE, or at least the IE rendering engine in Firefox). Then build your own shirts at Cafepress.com.
The future is watching your back.
