Paniq at the Disco...in your jacket

The Paniq controller lets you play, pause, and adjust the volume on your iPod--via the "smart fabric" on your garment.

(Credit: QIO Systems)

Sometimes--like when it's freezing out or you're speeding along on your bike--it's not very convenient to take out your gadget and fumble with the controller. A new wearable electronics system called Paniq lets you do the controlling straight from your clothes, which could make things easier (or not).

The Paniq controller uses a 30-pin connector to link your iPod to Paniqmode interactive duds.

(Credit: QIO Systems)

By connecting Paniq modules to Paniqmode interactive garments, you can control your iPod or other gizmo via smart-fabric buttons integrated into the garb.

The Paniq system is not unlike the Zegna iJacket, whose sleeve buttons feature play/pause, volume, off/on and backward/forward track controls.

But given that New York-based QIO Systems, Paniq's maker, has teamed with a range of clothing manufacturers to produce Paniq-compatible garments, you'll have a fair amount of choice when it comes to the smart duds you don. (Partners include Cole Haan, Zoo York, Killa, iQuantum, Celio, Beaucre, and Bailo.)

Paniqmode clothes support electronics including iPods/iPhones, Bluetooth mobile phones, AM/FM radio, and even walkie-talkies. The Paniq controllers cost $20, weight about a tenth of an ounce, and come in several colors and styles. They're available from apparel and electronics retailers, or from Paniq's online store.

Related story:

Zegna's 'iJacket' lets you talk to the coat

[DarkHawke]

Wouldn't it be cooler if Apple would let you use, say, a Bluetooth remote with tactile buttons (play/pause, volume up/down, track forward/back [hold down to move foreward/back within a track]) instead of having to get some overpriced poseur jacket? That way you could keep the jacket/coat you have today, keep the remote in a suitably handy pocket and run your iPhone/iTouch without either looking at it or having to extract it and take a glove off during a frosty day. Sounds like a plan to me.

[PANiQer]

It might be ok if you only wanted your jacket to play your iPod or iPhone. What about if you wanted to do more things than that? You might want to use your jacket hiking or cycling and wantto chat to your buddy via a wearable walkie-talkie system (when you're in the woods your iPhone might not work) or if you went to the ball game and you got the play-by-play right from your jacket. PANiQ brings more than iPod into your jacket - it makes your jacket an interactive hub for a range of electronics.