shirt

T-shirts come alive with augmented reality

Need to spruce up your wardrobe? When that "Bazinga!" T-shirt just will not cut it anymore, maybe some interactive augmented-reality attire could be for you.

Augmented-reality app specialist Zappar and private-label clothier Hybrid Apparel today announced a line of 20 T-shirts with Threadless-esque designs that come to life through AR. In the video below, we see an example of augmented-reality fashion via a T-shirt named "Mars Attacks." Using the free Zappar app (available for iOS and Android devices), a person using the iPad's touch screen and rear camera defeats a large robot projected on the T-shirt by zapping it with lasers. Not bad. … Read more

The only T-shirt an Apple fanboy should be seen in

Some people believe that credibility is priceless. However, the truth is that it costs a mere $17.

I am grateful to iLounge for revealing that a singularly meaningful purchase can now be made at the Apple company store in Cupertino, Calif.

This isn't the kind of store that will sell you a new MacBook Air, should one emerge this week. No, this exists merely to sell you items with which you can festoon your home and body. Like this T-shirt--one that revels in the company's reluctance to reveal anything.

"I visited the Apple campus. But that's all I'm allowed to say," offers a message of both humor and mystery. It is garb meeting Greta Garbo.

If you don't rush to Cupertino within the next week specifically to buy one of these precious items, how can you possibly call yourself a fanboy? And don't even think of naming your first born "Steve."… Read more

Crave giveaway: $300 in customized men's shirts

First off, congratulations to Carl G. of Carmel, N.Y., who won an Eton Soulra XL in last week's Crave giveaway! Now, on to this week's bounty, a $300 gift certificate for ShirtsMyWay, a cool site that lets you design your own custom men's dress shirts for about $75 apiece.

The process goes something like this: You go to the ShirtsMyWay site and choose from more than 60 fabrics. Then you make more choices on just about every aspect of your shirt (sleeves, cuffs, pockets), trying not to get overwhelmed by all the fashion decisions facing you. The shirt gets sent to you, and you strut around confidently like the dapper DIY geek you are. (Watch the vid below for more on the process.)

Jeff Sparkman, one of CNET's very own copy editors, tried the service awhile back and liked his black and gray cotton shirt just as much on the flesh as he did on the Web site (though he does still regret choosing the double-button collar).

Also, the experience taught him that the little strip down the front of the shirt where the buttons live is called a placket, making him an even more formidable trivia force than he already was.

So, how do you try to win the $300 ShirtsMyWay gift certificate and give yourself (or a man in your life) a wardrobe boost? Let me enumerate the basic rules. Please read them carefully; there will be a test. … Read more

Scan my bosom with ScanMe's QR code T-shirts

QR codes aren't just for boring business marketing. We recently checked out Barcode Gallery, a company that sells QR codes (two-dimensional bar codes that link to messages or Web sites) as wall art. Now you can emblazon those codes on a custom T-shirt for a high-tech fashion statement with ScanMe's shirt-printing service.

ScanMe creates a custom QR code just for you. It links to your Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter profiles and can include your latest status message, a way to e-mail you, or even your phone number.

Anyone who wants a modicum of privacy can control how much information the scan pulls up. That's smart, because the people you want checking out your LinkedIn account usually aren't the same as the people you want to be friends with on Facebook.

These T-shirts offer more of a fashion statement than a mere black and white collection of boxes within a square. Some of the designs veer off into Threadless territory with the bar code buried within a Space Invaders-style illustration or coming from the mouth of a blue Twitter bird.

ScanMe is a United Kingdom company, but it offers free worldwide postage on the shirts. Prices start around $22 and range up to around $35 per shirt.… Read more

The 404 815: Where we don't owe you any cheese (podcast)

It's Wilson's last day Skyping in from the CNET office in San Francisco and he'll be in the office on Monday. Unfortunately, there's not much we can do about that, so we just get into the stories of the day, like Jon Stewart's quote about the Osama Bin Laden photos, which rappers are suing our parent company, and how much it would cost to buy the house from "Home Alone."

The 404 Digest for Episode 815

Jon Stewart voices opinions about the Osama photos. Rappers are suing CNET. "Home Alone" house in Winnetka, Ill., on sale for $2.4M. 23-year-old makes $120,000 off Osama's death in 48 hours. Google Maps will soon give you the powers of Superman. Third attack planned on Sony.

Episode 815 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Japanese shirt has stink prevention buttoned up

Forget curing cancer or putting people on Mars; the new pinnacle of human achievement is a line of high-tech shirts out of Japan.

The garments, called Otoko Kaoru, have special rose-scented micro-capsules in the collar which, when they come in contact with the skin, release a (presumably manly) fragrance. That way, the wearer smells, well, like something, all day long. The Japanese seem to really like high-tech hygienic clothes.

Otoko Kaoru translates literally to "the good smelling man," which explains why last time I was in Tokyo people kept yelling that every time I walked into a room. The name will likely sell more shirts than my line, "Anata no Musume no Tame Ni Kite Ire," or "I've come for your daughters." Still not sure why that didn't take off.

The shirt gives off a rose and menthol scent, and there appear to be a few different styles, too. The site says the fragrance can last up to 10 washes, so that's a good year's worth of smell-good in my book. … Read more

The shirt that plays tunes

It may not be breaking news, but ThinkGeek's nifty Personal Soundtrack Shirt might be the perfect gift for the audiophile in your life. The T-shirt features a working speaker, and when you push the appropriate button on the wired remote you get music or sound effects. If you don't like the built-in sounds, pop in your own SD memory card loaded with MP3 files. Or play sound from your portable audio player through the speaker on the front of the shirt. Simply connect the player to the "input" jack on the battery box of the shirt. … Read more

In the event of emergency, remove shirt

First, the bra that is meant to be taken off won an Ig Nobel award in October 2009. Then, just last week, the inventor unleashed the lacy gas masks on the open undergarment market at $29.99 a pop.

At the risk of overkill, this third (and likely final) mention of the bra is to put to rest all the rumors of just what the male counterpart will be. And no, it is not a jock strap.

Boston Herald's Working Stiff columnist Darren Garnick, who reports this morning from the trenches at MIT, tells us that Dr. Elena Bodnar … Read more

The 404 630: Where Justin grows up and gets a friggin' suit (podcast)

With Jeff's wedding creeping up sooner than we expected, it's about time that The 404 Podcast discusses exactly what we'll be wearing to the ceremonies. Always the responsible one, Wilson is prepared with his own suit, and Jeff will obviously be wearing the cheapest tux money can rent, but I've somehow made it 26 years without ever buying a suit and I refuse to start now...hopefully Stacie is OK with me wearing this old thing.

And speaking of horrible fashion, this shirt holster for your Apple iPad is proof that tech-fashion is, and will always … Read more