THERE is an old quote from a legendary science fiction author that Ivan Poupyrev used to explain what Google is doing with its Jacquard smart clothing division. It’s about technology, and it’s about magic. “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” said scientist and author Arthur C. Clarke, who was the first to propose global communications via geostationary satellites in 1945. “Magic is when things happen by themselves,” Poupyrev, a Google executive in the company’s smart clothing division, said podcast. “When you don’t see the controls and buttons and sliders; when it just happens on its own under your command or your thought.” That’s essentially the vision of Google’s smart clothing internal startup. Called Jacquard, which means either “a fabric of intricate variegated weave or pattern” or the control mechanisms of an old-fashioned fabric weaving machine — a loom — the project aims to making computing at once ubiquitous and simple by turning everyday objects into intuitive interfaces. In a 2019 TED talk with almost 600,000 views, Poupyrev talked about making everything around us computers. As he moves through his 13-minute overview of the evolution of computing from screens to everyday objects around all of us, he doesn’t have a clicker to move his slides forward. Instead, he occasionally touches the lower left sleeve of his jean jacket. That jean jacket was a smart jacket: a collaboration between Levi’s and Google that embeds Google’s smart sensors and communicates with a phone or computer. Voice user interfaces have helped reduce the need for screens and make technology ambient in our lives. In a similar way, Jacquard is focused on helping us engage with technology while being fully present in the moment and engaged with what we’re doing. “We have a variety of options which you can map on your jacket or backpack or shoe, and make it do something different, you know — call Uber, or tell you somebody is calling you, or give you your schedule for the next hour or something,” Poupyrev said. The device can give feedback as well: haptic for buzzing or other actions you can feel, and colored lights for visual responses or notifications. In the future, Google may enable multiple control methodologies, like voice control, spatial gesture control, even gaze control. For now, it’s simple touch and tap-based communication. (SD-Agencies) | 