Once the company finds a way to make the threads longer, they could be woven into power-generating solar sheets or solar power fabrics for clothing or curtains.
Although the "power felt" fabric now under development at Wake Forest University — it uses a thermoelectric device that converts body heat into an electrical current — is not expected to be in commercial use before 2014, Timbuk2, a maker of messenger bags, last week introduced bags containing a rechargeable Joey T1 power supply that charges a phone, tablet or e-reader in the bag with a USB cable.
In some current uses, power stretch fabrics are required to have higher extensibility and quicker recovery.
"If it continues like this, and these fanatics get power, our social fabric, our institutions — everything will be destroyed," he said.
Rural Afghan women, who meet at wells and pass news about the village, are often repositories of information about a district's social fabric, power brokers and militants, all crucial data for American forces.
GRAPHICS: ADVANCED RECYCLING; BUOYANCY FROM BOTTLES; WIND, SOLAR AND PEDAL POWER; STRUCTURE FROM FABRIC AND FOAM; RIGGING; DESALINATOR; CABIN; SPROUT GARDEN; MAP: A 10,000-MILE TRIP: The Plastiki can travel up to 200 miles a day, depending on wind, and will pass through and take samples of a massive floating garbage patch in the eastern part of the North Pacific Gyre.
But what Intel has in mind is the introduction of computing power everywhere, a fabric of intelligence woven into your daily life to quantify and understand and react and control your world.
Musa Lampyris is an outdoor lamp prototype that marries the iconic palm tree with solar power and luminescent fabric, transforming any street in the world into the picturesque image of Sunset and Vine.
The Federalist Papers tell us that what the people want, they may have: the people "are the only legitimate fountain of power," and "the fabric of American Empire ought to rest on the solid basis of the consent of the people".
As a pro, he seemed to know that more design would have undermined the contemporary power of the fabrics.
