The article showcases a programable LED matrix, which opens up a lot more possibilities.
Could set the earrings on a phone screen and transfer the patterns over. Sounds like a fun project.
Concerts with audience-worn LED bracelets regularly shoot out LED floodlights to the IR sensors on each wrist. Being able to do something similar on people’s ears could be cool.
As to single-color non-red: the main advantage of red LEDs is that they can operate on a very low voltage. The exact same board with blue LEDs would have a significantly shorter battery life - if it's even possible at all. These earrings are probably using two SR521 batteries, which start at about 1.55V and discharge to about 1V[1] - so the earring is operating on 3.1V to 2V. You can get red LEDs which work with as little as 1.7V, but blue LEDs need about 3V to operate _at all_. You'd either have about 1/3rd of the battery life, or you'd have to add a third battery.
[0]: https://www.adafruit.com/product/5849
[1]: https://img5083.weyesimg.com/uploads/xtk5s4z6.allweyes.com/i...
Do blue leds consume significantly more power too for the same brightness, or only their voltage is higher?
Seiko invented the amazing quartz watch which was a marvelous invention of timekeeping with a crystal rather than mechanical links. Now a quartz watch is a sure sign of a cheap commodity. LED cuff links will be outdated quickly, probably less than a few weeks, maybe even after the first few wears it would be gaudy.
> The National Bureau of Standards (now NIST) based the time standard of the US on quartz clocks between the 1930s and the 1960s, after which it transitioned to atomic clocks.[43] In 1953, Longines deployed the first quartz movement.[44] The wider use of quartz clock technology had to await the development of cheap semiconductor digital logic in the 1960s. ... In 1966, prototypes of the world's first quartz pocket watch were unveiled by Seiko and Longines in the Neuchâtel Observatory's 1966 competition.
but certainly it is common for today's technological miracle to become taken for granted tomorrow
What I find pretty crazy is that there are .65x.65mm RGB LEDs, equal to the long side of articles LEDs squared. They are also only .25mm thick, that's same as few sheets of paper. One cyberpunk look I'm thinking you could do with those is just to glue them on your face and blend in with makeup; I'm sure someone could do fancy things here. Wire you can get pretty much as thin as you possibly want.
1999 hangar raves would have loved these.
Are you kidding me? Just about every STEM gal would pay a pretty penny for a set of those!
The industrial[0] is a bit too obscure, the led-ring variant[1] is a little underwhelming, but a full LED matrix? Absolutely breathtaking.
Guys really don't want to see woman's pores and pimples 3D facial structure. Or anybody's else for that matter.
(Seriously though, everyone should learn how to sketch the designs in their head. You don't have to be good, you just have to be adequate enough to get your point across).
I have circuit plugs, LED matrix plugs would be the next level :D
