A recent Sony patent shows plans for a wearable computing device in the form of -- wait for it -- a wig.
This "Smartwig" contains all the features you'd expect from a computerized toupee, including GPS, camera and a laser pointer system, all of which also help control your other gadgets. The patent states that the wig is built to connect wirelessly to a second computing device.
The wig would be controlled by the wearer's head movement. The tech, hidden beneath the hairpiece itself, would communicate to the wearer by targeted vibrations to specific parts of the head.
Sony insists in the patent that the wig offers several advantages when compared to wearable competitors one being "significantly increased user comfort" as well as more discretion than a smartwatch or Google Glass. In fact, the device isn't visible at all, but is instead hidden by the hairpiece.
Sony adds, “Wigs are useful to enhance a user’s appearance and change other’s impressions because different hairstyles give different impressions. Thus many people use wigs. Especially bald people that usually wear wigs in their daily life.”
We'll see if Sony can make the wig the go-to accessory for anything other than covering a bald spot. The patent, which was filed in May, was made public last Friday.
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