About eight or ten years ago, I was excited about smart fabric and connected textiles —  especially about what the next generation could be once the materials evolved. Now, Microsoft’s got me excited again, and, well, skeptical. This week, the tech giant published a filed patent, called “Smart fabric that recognizes objects and touch input.”  In other words, Microsoft is developing fabric that can recognize and identify objects nearby. So what do you mean by smart fabric? Smart fabric refers to textiles that embed technology such as sensors and conductive thread into the structure and function of the material. In…  