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Technology

Ready-To-Wear PCs 150

Posted by CmdrTaco from the it's-almost-not-science-fiction dept.
perbert writes: "IEEE Spectrum has an interesting article in their October 2000 issue (and an online version) on new affordable ready-to-wear computers." Soon it won't require months of work to morph yourself into a gargoyle ;)
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Ready-to-Wear PCs More

Ready-to-Wear PCs

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  • Windows in clothing can be obscene.

    I would expect that windows in wearable computers would be no less so.

  • What do you want to wear today?

  • Gibson? GIBSON?

    Surely some mistake?


    --
    01 13 19
    TVDJC TDSLR AZNGT NWQSH KPN
  • Okay, so I gotta hit refresh before I post a reply. Ten minutes...tut.
    --
    01 13 19
    TVDJC TDSLR AZNGT NWQSH KPN
  • Ok, so I tried this on my girlfriend last night. It worked, she dumped me! Thanks a lot.

    (She really dumped me, but that's besides the point):-(
  • What's all this hype about everyone wearing computers in the future? I've been wearing watches since the 80's. Digital watches don't qualify as computers? Even ones with daylight savings time?
  • Better hope your wife doesn't read slashdot...
    --
  • Normally I'd agree, but when I think about it, all I've ever seen Mobile Suits do is explode.
  • Interesting idea, but have you ever accidently dropped your walk/diskman? They might be able to recover, I doubt a PC could. I'd be afraid to drop the damned thing. And there are too many wires! Damn head mount display should be wireless! The thing is already gonna cost a billion trillion dollars...what is another 5 thousand?
  • The head-mounted display lets you see what you've written so far. Next step to eliminate a HMD... maybe a synthesized voice that does a decent job of inflection?
  • I don't see why this article was even posted.

    It has the same information about the same companies that have been doing this for so long. And the headline on /. claims that they are suddenly affordable, but the article says they range from $5000-10000. Does that sound cheap to you?

    ___________________________
    michael cardenas
  • Basically, the only thing making this impossible right now is the bandwidth of wireless protocols, and the size of wearable PC technology.

    That, and the fact that the displays are low resolution -- functional, but not very enjoyable.

    As someone else pointed out, though, a wireless linkup could connect you to wire-based connectivity, or a larger mobile unit with more hardware than you care to lug around. Your car could be a relay, or your desk at work. But yes, we need more wireless bandwidth before applications on this scale will work.

    Of course, that's just more EMI to bombard our cells and force them to mutate into cancers, but hey, it's progress. Am I right?
  • I see countless articles about this sort of device on /. The bottom line is, a $5000 wearable PC to take database entry or text memos or run one specific software package is useless. Why? A PC is general purpose to run multiple software. That's why the OS crashes a lot. Most of the uses indicated in the article would be better served if the user had free mobility and both hands free, which is best left to voice-recognition. Wearable PCs need to be downgraded to single-software OS. Successful companies use specialized computers for inventory and order tracking rather than equip all of their employees with laptops. It's sad, but wearable PCs will never be practical in the sense we are imagining them today. Definitely not at 5 Grand a pop.
  • I noticed the specs on this particular machine were rather beefy. This is not necessary. They should make them good enough to run terminal software (like Citrix's ICA Client or remote X) and give them wireless capability. Then people could just connect to their home PC and work/play. This has several advantages.

    If I have cable/dsl at home, I can terminal in over a slow wireless (or modem) connection (no need for a fast one) and surf at broadband speed.

    Also, the hw makers can focus on size/weight of these systems instead of speed.

    If the home system is doing the work, you aren't going to lose that work/download/whatever you were working on when the remote system loses connectivity (and it will).

    It is cool, though, and has much potential.
  • I want to build a Junkbuster for meatspace. Either in the software for the wearable or in the car windshield. Look at a billboard - it turns into a trippy flashing winamp/xmms plugin instead. Hear a commercial on the radio - it turns into birds chirping or more of the same song that was on or Yoko Ono having sex, for that matter. Anything but the damn commercial. Of course, I'd have to turn to a non-NPR station to test it :-)
  • I love the part about the Duke doctors making rounds with voice activated stuff.

    Can I just run around yelling "control alt delete! control alt delete!" ?

    __________________________
  • ...a beowolf cluster of these things?

    You too could be part of the borg!

  • Wearable CPU heat (Score:2)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Winter is coming and I wouldn't mind wearing a beowulf cluster, distributed over my whole body to keep me warm as I walk on the frozen land known as Canada.

  • Practicality of Wearable PCs (Score:5)

    by Gondola ( 189182 ) on Tuesday October 10, 2000 @08:25AM (#716639)
    I can't see much application for a wearable PC. Sure, it's cool, but beyond sheer geekness, I see little point.

    These articles about wearable computers keep coming up, and they're the usual deal, with a Borg-esque monocle/HUD, chorded keyboard, and fanny-pack CPU/etc case.

    When I can wear one with as little intrusiveness (weight, bulkiness) as an earbud headset and do something useful, talk to me.

    Something I'd like to see is a Writer's setup. I have delusions of grandeur and think I could be a novelist. Set me up with a 99.99% reliable dictation machine, a sensitive microphone so I can speak softly into it and have it transcribe what I'm saying. Recall Heinlein's Jubal in Stranger in a Strange Land. I want to be able to drive home or work while composing the Great American Novel. Recall Lain and the mobile DOOM-like game. If I tried to play that while driving I'd probably kill several people, including myself, to avoid being shot by the guy driving south on I-94. I can see wearable PCs being more of a hazard than cell phones if used irresponsibly.

    Any kind of roving salesman or mobile worker of any kind that needs access to some kind of data storage or minimal, but frequent, input, could benefit from a wearable PC, but I can't see the average Joe User needing one. PDA's with appointments and contact listings would probably take up most of the mobile gearhead market, especially as they become faster, better, and more functional.
  • instead of wearing a whole computer, why not try something different like just wearing a display and input device and have it send and receive information to and from a real computer. the real computer takes the transmited input, processes it, and then sends the video signal to the wearable screen. hmm... in linux you could redirect the input as if it were commands from the computers keyboard and redirect the screen output to the wearable display (like a telephone (input) and a t.v. (output) ) it should be much cheaper, the only "problem" would be having good bandwidth to and from
  • palm pilots are still pretty geeky--at least here on campus--but among engineers its kind of a badge of pride to have a faster niftier palm/CE some guy was asking me about mine the other day when i had it out, what surprised me was that he wasn't sneering--must have been an engineer


    mov ax, 13h
    int 10h
  • What do you want to wear today?

    Microsoft Pants were unable to negotiage Socks connection.
    Shutting down. Please remove and reinstall.
  • So that weird guy in the zipped up coat on the bus wasn't playing with himself, but instead playing game? I would have never known!

    .... Game controls built into the pockets... Instead of being bored while on the bus or in class, you can be raising your kill count in Quake...
  • How about a normal set of glasses?!

    Kinda like this? http://www.microopticalcorp.com/egdem o.h tm [microopticalcorp.com]

    Or the home page, here [microopticalcorp.com]...

  • No kidding. The reason I leave my desk is so that no one can page me, no one can e-mail me, my phone won't ring, my messanger won't go off, and nothing beeps. The last thing I want to is to be accessable everywhere I go. Technology is cool, but not when it invades the simple things in life.
  • It's not enought for people to think I'm a geek due to the pale skin, glasses, and out-of-shape mid-section.

    Now, beautiful women everywhere will know I'm a geek, as a happily compute away with my wearable woman repeller...

  • You mistake my request. I don't want a headset to an existing radio. I want the entire radio, including transceiver and battery, to sit on my ear, and have it be so light that I can barely feel it. I know the technology exists, I just wish someone would make a product out of it.
    --
  • Screw Gundams, give me an Evangelion any day of the week :-)

    Oh, yeah, it *would* go nuts and shred things, wouldn't it... Eupz :(
  • Hell, bout now, I'd settle for a Mobile Suit...
  • Someone should make one of these anyway and get ThinkGeek to sell 'em! I'd gladly wear one to Comdex, for example.

  • Re:Looks (Score:1)

    by dlb ( 17444 )

    Gee, all those things need is some tape in the middle and they'd look perfectly 'normal'

  • connection (Score:4)

    by TheGratefulNet ( 143330 ) on Tuesday October 10, 2000 @08:13AM (#716652)
    so how does that affect M$ and their 'naked pc' scheme if you intend to wear your pc. it surely isn't naked then, is it?

    --
  • well this is my first log to slashdot, and i would just like to say that i will be just some inane chatter for you to skim threw, looking for the juicy tidbits (i.e. me making fun of things or people), and that borg at the top sure looks like ol billy boy, i knew that he was going to try to assimilate us all into windows-drones. RESISTANCE, VIVA LA LINUX! and resistance is not futlie, unless youre a mac user. And this deal with the wearable computers, can you make somebody dissapear, by walking up to them and pressing alt+F4?? if so, i need one of these computers for my ex-girlfriend. You dont need eye protection boy, if stuff starts flyin' just look away (_8(|) -doh!
  • I think what you're looking for is already made by Jabra [jabra.com]. They make a 2.5mm plug version of their EarSet [jabra.com] for cellular phones. I have one for my Nokia 6161, and it works wonderfully. I didn't think having the microphone in the earpiece would work too well, but I haven't had any complaints from people on the other end of my calls yet.

    --

    "To do what ought to be done, but would not have been done unless I did it, I thought to be my duty"

  • Having your hat crash and blow off your head.
  • "My, you're looking bloated today!"
    ___
  • Wait, what? Now I'm confused.
  • Hey,

    "The voice-activated wearable computer. It may be far out, but it isn't far off."

    Back in the real world, one IBM Wearable PC prototype [Fig. 1] is being tried out on an assembly line for electric power generators at a General Electric Co. subsidiary. Containing a Pentium 233 MMX processor, 64MB RAM

    y'know, once upon a time, I had a 233Mhz MMX processor on a computer. About 4 years ago, in fact. And one christmas I acquired a copy of 'IBM ViaVoice' and put it to work. It sucked totally: There was no way you could get any level of accuracy without sacraficing word rate to about 10 words per minute. Recently, on my 600Mhz computer, I got a new copy of ViaVoice. It is a lot better. Making a comparison, I would rate voice recognition on a 233Mhz MMX processor as 'Unbelievably, pitifully inaccurate whilst similtaniously far slower than is acceptable'. Don't qoute me on that, by the way.

    Anyway, here's my point: Unless they have a very small vocabulary ("Buy" and "Sell"), voice recognition would be very difficult to implement.

    Michael

    ...another comment from Michael Tandy.

  • With all of those devices around my head and waist, some of which possible emitting microwaves, wouldn't there be the same issue as the cellular phone (especially if these things are "connected")?

    I for one wouldn't want to wear a computer even if it DIDN'T give me tumors!!! Wouldn't everyone still rather carry one in their back pocket like they do now? What possible practicle use could becoming a computer have over simply sitting down and using/talking/typing to one? Think long-term!
  • Yeah... you fall the wrong way, or an important cable gets snagged on something, and you are S.O.L. There's your $5000+ wearable computer harddrive broken... unsalvagable data...


    -- Don't you hate it when people comment on other people's .sigs??

  • Re:I don't get it..... (Score:3)

    by talesout ( 179672 ) on Tuesday October 10, 2000 @08:33AM (#716661) Homepage
    If it makes chicks look anything at all like seven of nine then I'm buying one for my wife!
  • Am I the only person who actually likes the cool cyborg look then? Sure normal glasses and maybe a vest or something might work better in some situations, but the bragging rights will go to the person that owns the cool cyborg-esque unit instead of the model for the suits.
  • I can see wearable PCs being more of a hazard than cell phones if used irresponsibly.

    I think you mean when used irresponsibly.
  • You know how badly people drive when they are distracted because of a cell-phone call....
    Now imagine some freak is playing carmagedon on his wearable PC while driving... You know its bound to happen...


    -- Don't you hate it when people comment on other people's .sigs??
  • When I die, will my clothes simply display the BSOD?

  • Emacs (Score:2)

    by Erich ( 151 )
    Well, the user stays in the environment. Everything he does is an extension of emacs or something spawned from emacs...

    So, yes, I'd say it is his operating system!

  • They have wireless networking, speech recognition, and a thingie that brings up information based on context -- so when the guy is talking about a subject it will bring up information on what he is talking about.

    Hi, I'm the grad student at Georgia Tech doing the "just-in-time information retrieval" based on speech.

    I feel that I should give credit where it's due. While the work mentioned above is fun because I rigged it up to do speech recognition (yes, in an Emacs shell buffer), it's actually using Brad Rhodes's Remembrance Agent [mit.edu] which has been around almost as long as wearable computers.

    Take a look here to see some of the more current work going on in the Contextual Computing Group [gatech.edu] at Georgia Tech [gatech.edu]. (The page has only recently been put up so please forgive any dead links you find; they'll be fixed before the weekend).

    --Ben
  • Melted skin, based on how hot windows runs.

    ----------

  • Wearable computers have existed in different forms for quite a while now, and they make a fun DIY hardware hacking project. I'm too skint for it myself, but a friend has dissected an old laptop (with a broken LCD screen), combined it with the viewfinder from a camcorder, and got stuff up and running.

    For more information, look at http://www.wearables.org [wearables.org] and the wear-hard mailing list.

    FWIW, my dream wearcomp (which I'm researching on the off-chance that a rich and previously unknown relative dies <g>) would have an transparent screen over *each* eye, with one camera for each eye to do nifty image processing and add effects to the world.

    It'd have a built in GSM phone and GPS receiver. When the phone rang, an icon would blink in the corner of my vision. I'd look at the icon and blink to recieve the call using the earphones and throat-mic, which could also be used with voice-rec and speech-synths to allow me to read and dictate e-mail on the move.

    It'd be networked (probably using Bluetooth) so I could walk into my house and be connected to my LAN, and would share some peer-to-peer protocol with other wearcomps, so when a wearer approached me, a bounding box would appear around him with his name attached (think the System Shock 2 interface).

    Best of all, it would allow me to stream video from my cameras to the world at large - the ultimate in personal webcams. It's the closest thing we could get to films like Strange Days. Imagine having sex with your girlfriend (strange concept for many /. readers, I'm sure) but seeing everything through *her* eyes...

    Alex

  • "Waaugh?"
    ...I guess I can't type a random exclamation without getting someone's name... you were just the lucky one. ^_^
  • Oh no! Yet *more* devices to cause extra noise on the train?

    Admittedly I'll probably be one of the first to go wearable out of the folks I know, but if voice-control ever "takes off" en masse, I'll be getting a private car all to myself, for sure. Mobiles cause more than enough noise pollution as it is.
    ~Tim
    --
    .|` Clouds cross the black moonlight,
  • Say everybody wears a server or two. Wireless lan them and you can move objects, communicate with people across the world with just a few magical gestures. You can also augment your memory etc.

    I've thought of ways to do it, but the company I work for doesn't seem keen on it though.

    I've tried to get ICANN to reserve the .here TLD for special public use too, but no success so far. I got a response from Ms Dyson and another person months back, they were mildly positive, but .here was not in the list they recently posted :(.

    Imagine:

    Bookmarking
    http://airconditioner.here/console?celsius=25

    Or
    http://parcat.here/sendobject/
    http://thelink.here/getobject?id=156643

    http://thelink.domain.org/startvideoconference/

    http://self/infravideo
    http://self/augvideo?showfriends=on
    http://self/augvideo?highlightgunbarrel=toggle

    Anyone interested in doing stuff like this?

    Cheerio,
    Link.
  • webserver, video capture+streaming server, database and so on.

    Go see my other post for why, but it's to do with virtual telekinesis, telepathy and more...

    Cheerio,
    Link.
  • ... and 7 of 9 was much better looking before the Doctor took out all the implants.

    I agree :-)


    ---

  • Job site wareables are all that is usefull at the moment. As an exemployee of enron who made use of the xybergnaught systems I found them cumbersome and the wires a bit annoying. The advantage is though that these babies can (through wireless netowrking) hold entire libaries of schematics, specs and job processes. this is quite invalaubule becasue in certain situations (like when you are stuck in the exhaust manifold of a GE frame 7 turbine replacing thermal sensors) and you realize you need a different schematic out of a different 300 page book written in Mandrin. As for personal use I dont think I would ever want one my Palm V is enough. But who knows what the future may hold,
  • Now, beautiful women everywhere will know I'm a geek, as a happily compute away with my wearable woman repeller...

    Not *all* of them are repelled ;-)


    ---

  • Ha! Very, very nice.

    ---

  • I'd just go for the 100-percent-simulated-daylight-view that the army is working on putting into its tanks (and the airforce its planes, etc), where the computer takes non-visible-light data and uses it to 'fill in the gaps' of what's visible. IR headlights are good example, but their data would be forwarded to your sunglasses rather than displayed on the dash. Could add millimeter-wave-radar-on-a-chip (don't have the reference handy), passive IR, nightvision, etc, as you wanted it. Combine with GPS for directions (e.g. the Crazy Taxi arrow), laserpen point-and-query, etc.

    Most of this stuff you wouldn't want/need all of the time and would/should be off-loaded to the thing (building, car, airplane, etc) you happen to be in. Think Provost Zakharov for what normal usage would look like.

    -_Quinn
  • How long before this has practical applications in the porn industry?
    No, seriously isn't that what the vcr was designed for? Why not the wearable computer. Hook up a few electrodes in a few discret places. Slap on a IR port and you can send what you're feeling to the girl sitting next to you.

    And then she can send you a virus. :)

    -+-+-+-+-+-+-+

  • This has been done (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Soon it won't require months of work to morph yourself into a gargoyle

    Piddlesticks. Janet Reno accomplished this long ago.

  • I want a HUD! (Score:5)

    by plastickiwi ( 170800 ) on Tuesday October 10, 2000 @08:38AM (#716681)
    Doubtless this topic will draw dozens of comments from people comparing the wearable PC to a cell phone, and lamenting the problems it will cause on the highway.

    Not from me, though. Imagine the fun of going through life with a real heads-up display mounted on your head, especially once it becomes socially acceptible to keep it on all the time.

    You could:

    • Draw a moustache and devil horns on your boss while he's yelling at you;
    • Display bullet lists of smart stuff you always mean to say at the appropriate times, but can never remember ("Fsck you, asshole.");
    • Replay MPEGs of sexual relations with your significant other during arguments, so you can remember why you're together;
    • Post to Slashdot during business meetings. (Be sure your boss doesn't know your ID, in case he's doing the same thing.)

  • why why why (Score:3)

    by photozz ( 168291 ) <photozz@g[ ]l.com ['mai' in gap]> on Tuesday October 10, 2000 @08:38AM (#716682) Homepage
    Don't we have enough people driving into walls talking on cell phones?? i don't thing the human brain was designed to multi-task in such a fasion. These will be reat for nich markets, but impracticle fo day to day use. Hmmm although a full body motion sensor net and Quake arena might me fun......

  • By me of course :)

    When I was 8 or 9 years old I made myself a 'robot' haloween costume out of empty boxes of my sisters empty pampers boxes painted black and silver. Inbedded in the back was a simple 2 oscillator synthesizer I mad from parts disected from a radio shack 101 in 1 electronics kit, and in the front I had some simon like game with more buttons, only I had taken it apart and run wires from the lights in the game to leds at all my joints.

    Granted the boxes were a little klunky and it was early eighties so it didnt run *nix, but I think with a little work we could alleviate that!

    Yes, I shamelessly promote my music in my signature. with all the anti-RIAA talk on /. you would think that people would check out more things like that, but no. It would seem most would rather leech commercial music from gnutella or napster than check out an 'unknown'. Oh well, maybe my music just sucks. But if you feel like it, check it out and check out some of the artists linked from my page and in my station.

  • ...about how geeky walking around like this would look, but if I could get one of thoses chorded keyboards for my desktop... spiffy. DOTE! They're $199+shiping [handykey.com], a little steep for my blood...

    God does not play dice with the universe. Albert Einstein

  • Am I the only person who actually likes the cool cyborg look then? ...

    Nope.


    ---

  • I can see the usefulness for eye-piece hardware and augmented reality and all that, but something that I would like to use and would be usable for me now would be a PDA that designed to fit my left forearm. What I am thinking of is something out of Kim Stanley Robinson's (Red|Green|Blue) Mars trilogy.

    It can probably be built out of standard PDA's. Break open, say, an IPaq and put the parts (display, buttons, circuit board) in smaller thinner cases and interconnects. Integrate a cell phone. (Hey, I don't want any strong radiation source beside my head.)

    One problem is that the wrist computer and the things needed to keep it steady on my wrist will probably make me sweat a bit. Perhaps this problem could be solved with an integrated cooling device, powered by the movement of my arm. Just an idea.

  • Old news is good news?

    Hell, I read this in Spectrum a week ago. And I live in CANADA.

  • And now I explain why..

    Everyday life today is very hectic to a lot of people. Plenty of things to remember, plenty of things to do, but it is not always that easy. One could argue whether it is caused by too many activities and too little time. Wether it is the one or the other, or a combination of these, it is of no importance. The situation is becoming an increasing problem, and people are lusting for a solution. (Many without being aware of it).

    The solution are to assist in changing the perception of everyday life from being troublesome and at times inconceiveably complicated, to become more clear and manageable. - in short, the solution are to assist the individual in obtaining better control of everyday life - life in the fast lane.

    The ideology behind such a solution is that it is to become easier to organize&manage. Common tools already in use are the wristwatch and the mobile phone and in part also the computer. By adding another tool which users are also to keep track of is a frightening thought. With this, the idea of technology in convergence comes to mind. The more to keep track of, the more time we waste, and these technologies are to assist us, not cover us in burdens. The idea a convergence product that integrates the wristwatch, the mobile phone and a computersystem hereby appears.

    One can without much problems imagine 3 obvious platforms. One, where the technologies are gathered into a wristwatch. Another where they are gathering into a mobile phone, and a third putting it into one of those handheld computers. Evolution will most likely show, and has to some extent already, that all 3 platforms will emerge(and have already) and taken in use for each their purpose.

    A convergence product that gathers the funtionality of the watch, phone, computer in one unit, makes it easier to keep track of, should present a simplified system, organization wise, and thus a simplified data management procedure and thus a timesaver.

    The functions concidered makes it into a personal assistent that provides you with easy and almost instant access to communication with the entire world while it at the same time assist you in delivering and processing of your desired information.

    The optimal position of a personal assistent is by your side, 24/7. Your own personal mobile secretary. Trusted and invaluable. Wish you could wear one? I do. A wearable computer is the solution of today&tomorrow bringing you just that. (The solution of the future would be a good looking holographic AI extension of the wearable with sensors to represent a virtual secretary:). The wearables are the next step.

    From existing proven and applied technology platforms the wristwatch is the most common device in use. And that is what I personally want my wearable to be like. As I will not have to carry it. It will fit in, giving the right dimensions can be reached.

    Integration of wireless communication and computing in a wristwatch device with discrete but powerful extensions is a part of the future.

    Through natural evolution of technology the wearables will emerge and integrate in the everyday environments just like the wristwatch and the mobile phone. So do you ask me: "Are wearables entitled to existence?" I can only answer YES!

    Not only will the technology have gigantic impact on personal management, it will also spawn an entire market for the industry to keep the workers busy making accessories/extensions of all kinds. The best base products will appear as modular systems tailored for personal solutions using open systems for extended connectivity, compatibility, interoperabilty. The base software will be structured as an open unix system. Entrepreneurs and Engineeres will find plenty of different purposes of use. Users are to apply whatever software solution they desire and need. Embedded versions of linux, bsd, qnx, something else prefered or something new in the future, it will be their choice as its their need and its going to be open.
    ...
    Through time I have been visioneering & researching the discussed technology. This are soon to result in my first report presenting thoughts, ideas and conclusions on subject.
    ..Open for all..

    Greetings to Dirk Husemann from IBM R&D, Zurich.
    Pardon for not having contacted you yet, your approach after my last comments in relation to the wearables pleased me. Due to heavy load on my shoulders, putting in a serious reply are still awaiting.

    My name is Casper Andersen. Ressources for RESEARCH at our educational institution would be highly welcomed. I am studying at IT College Denmark, website: www.it-college.dk
    email regarding eductional relations: caspera@it-college.dk
    email regarding corporate relations caspera@sophistic.com

  • Imagine a beowulf cluster of us.
    ----------
  • Amazing to see how far corporations are in providing functional solutions. Unfortunately they lack behind in fundamental issues.

    By lacking behind in developments of fundamental areas such as energy, noise, heating, interference, radiation limitations are still too many.

    Especially in regards to wearables these concerns are worth a serioust buzz as they are getting even closer to our own biological matter and "not only the distant environments in which they evolves".

    Time for BioTech, CompuTech and EnergyTech to realize their responsibility to work more focused. Not just for for the sake of materialism, but for the sake of life itself. One day we may wake up and find ourselves extinct and replaced by something unrecognizeable better suited for the environment the rapid evolution and desire for economical&material growth have created.

    Yeah give me give me.. I want radiation, send me microwaves through my body.. ahh what a feeling.. Hey.. I don't feel anything.. Humm...

  • I think there is a world market for maybe five wearable computers. There is simply no reason anyone would want a computer on their body. In anycase, Palm's with 4 meg ought to be enough for anybody.


    These comments brought to you courtesy of TJ Watson, Ken Olsen, and Bill Gates.

  • How long before this has practical applications in the porn industry? No, seriously isn't that what the vcr was designed for?

    Close, but no banana. The VCR (first known as a VTR) was originally intended for recording broadcast TV and making your own videos if you were rich enough to buy the 500 lb camera. Initially quite a few sold, but sales quickly halted and the beginning of the end seemed to be in place.

    However, some smart person in the porn industry decided to put pornos onto tape instead of film and opened up a rental store. The following boom saved the entire VCR market and started a new industry; media rental.
  • I fancy becoming a writer as well. One of the strange things about writing is that often I write a number of sentences without conscious thinking, then stop to see what the heck I'd been doing. I wouldn't think I could do that with dictation.

    On a different topic, remember Ken Olsen of Digital, when he could not imagine anyone wanting a computer at home. Probably even Joe A. User will get his Kyber wearable some day, even if there isn't a real need for it. Look at the tons of things people want nowadays which they didn't need before clever marketing came along, e.g. the Finnish with their mobile phones.

    Thirdly, apart from the obvious problem with batteries (this won't really be solved any time soon: like harddisk, RAM or whatever, you'll always need more of it:), IMHO the important question is 'net connection. WLANs just don't seem too promising at the moment, apart from small-range (home/office etc) use.

    --

  • One thing I'd like about a wearable (which I like about my visor) is that I can walk away from my desk, be inaccessable, but still be able to write stuff. Technology has a habit of invading the technology, as well as the simple things. I'd really go for a chance to get away from my desk more without being reduced to pen and paper (or memo program).

  • Re:Ralph Nader is a troll... (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    After great effort and deep meditation, I have created
    an appropraite marching song for the /. troll jihad. You
    might recall that I announced the jihad yesterday, and
    so now we - my loyal-to-the-death followers and I - have
    an epic song to fill our hearts with pride and purpose:

    Oh.....
    I came from silly valley
    with a laptop on my knee
    was readin' tons of /.
    my "leetness" all could see!

    So Rob Malda,
    don't karma whore for me
    I come from Silly Valley
    with a laptop on my knee!
  • "now about job site wearables... I'm not sold. I don't think this is the niche that wearables are really looking for,

    Aircraft companies and the military have been using wearables for some time now with great sucess. That IS the nich market that will take off. "Wearables" just are not "cool" enough yet that everyone is going to want one. more batteries to replace, more distractions, ect....

  • Soon it won't require months of work to morph yourself into a gargoyle ;)

    Or, more likely; no more than 5 years to have the skin of dinosaurs. *G*
  • boy... do I ever spell like a monkey... Slashdot gooooooodddd

  • Just plug into your car and let the computer drive.
  • I'm still not sure I see the point of a wearable PC. Sure it's cool for the geek factor, but would it really be practical?

    Sure it would make hacking into ATM's and gas pumps easier, as you're equipment is right there with you.... =8-)

    Though I suppose one good use would be if you could have some bitchin' VR glasses that allow you to see the world and alter certain aspects of it. Like, for instance, sitting in gridlock and turning all of the cars around you into monsters, and simulating blowing them up (not nearly as cool as actually being able to nuke traffic but would do for now) =)
  • A few months ago, Xybernaut (whose offices are down the street from mine; do they call asking for testers? NOOOOO....) was featured on (IIRC) CNBC. They showed off the geegaws and gear and you could literally watch their stock price on the ticker at the bottom of the screen rise in relation to the buzzwords. I think a few days later it had settled down to what it was before the interview...

  • Re:Practicality of Wearable PCs (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    >I can't see much application for a wearable PC.
    >Sure, it's cool, but beyond sheer geekness, I
    >see little point.

    (moderated to a 4?)

    I know it's not a common train of thought around here, but plenty of people have *different needs than you do*.

    Why must every post be acommpanied by a pile of "i don't have a use for this" comments. Of course everybody doesn't - but plenty do. Boeing is doing some really cool work with these during airplane manufacture - instead of having to constantly go check manuals when you're installing miles and miles of wiring, just tap it up on the pc. Voila.

    There are more things in the world than square pegs.

    j

  • LOL! I can picture it now, this guy in shades and a trenchcoat standing at a bus stop, playing a flight sim. He's just standing still for a while, then suddenly he looks straight up, yells "WAAUGH!" and falls over backwards.

    Smooth...
  • I, for one, find these devices very useful.

    Then yousir, will be among the first to get pummelled without mercy by kids on the street while I stand across the boulevard laughing like a crazy person as the street-toughs insert those remarkably unaesthetic goggles into your rectum, then proceed to kick you about your ribs until no recognizable pieces of the goofy costume remain.

    Perhaps someone will hack a synthesized voice chanting "summon help" into these wearable monstrosities for just such an occasion, not to mention the titanic comedy value involved in hearing the voice gradually slow down and fail during the unavoidable beating from your peers. A small, red flag that pops out of a pouch on your back with a white "S.O.S" emblazened on it would just complete the ensemble, not to mention give the kids a perfect target to aim their kicks at.

    I don't wish you personally any specific harm, but come on; as much as you find these useful, to actually wear one would provoke endless scorn and ridicule, the likes of which hasn't been seen since people really did wear Star Trek costumes in public. Now, I've never been one to concern myself with fashion or maintaining the status quo in terms of socially acceptable appearance, but there are limits to what a person can get away with.

    These wearable computers, not unlike the heralded Slashdot Cruiser or a less heralded fat girlfriend, may be functional and handy... until your friends see you with it. Many geeks have enough trouble finding romantic companionship without having to worry about accidentally smooshing the keyboard during an intimate moment. Why would one, regardless of convenience (I doubt the convenience of these wearable machines to begin with) go out of one's way to become more of a pariah than one already is?

    It makes no sense, I tells ya.

    ---

  • See, that's what I thought too. But then I realized you could use this for a much more broad range of applications. I mean, we're basically talking about the equivilent to go-go-gadget binoculars. Imagine the spy uses!

    Or here's an idea: Incorporate the sunglasses with bluetooth. You sit in your car and the car's cameras/control panel become peripherals. You go to the game, and bluetooth stations around the bleachers feed live broadcasts of the action for you to view 'full-lense'. You sit down at your desktop, and you're presented with your screen in the glasses.

    Basically, the only thing making this impossible right now is the bandwidth of wireless protocols, and the size of wearable PC technology.


    _______________
    you may quote me
  • First time I saw one of those hands-free mobile phones, I was in the toy store looking at Legos and it slowly dawned on me that the other twenty-something guy browsing Legos was - goddamn! - talking to himself. I remember thinking, man, it's bad enough we're well into adulthood and still geeked out over Legos, but now you gotta stand there and make like a real obvious crazy person. Way to go.

    Then when he hung up I made him show me his phone. Cool enough to almost make me want a mobile phone. Almost, but not quite.

  • Most people, when hearing about wearable computers for the first time, say that the last thing we need is a computer with us, all the time.

    But the whole point of wearable computing is (or should be) to use computing technology to get away from the whole "Computer" concept!

    When's the last time you had to reboot a screwdriver? Or had to update the BIOS on your pair of pliers? The tools we've been using for thousands of years just work, and we know how to use them intuitively.

    A good wearable computer design will have the usability and intuitiveness of something we're already familiar with, but be able to take advantage of the benefits that computing technology could offer.

    For instance, what if, woven into the threads of your jacket, you had a small computer platform that could do Speech Recognition, Language Translation, and Speech Synthesis in a different language? Want to visit France? Put on your French-Translation jacket! Want to visit Italy? Poof - just download the Italian program over the Wireless Network! And the computing system is so robust that not only will it NEVER crash, but you can put it through the wash!

    Perhaps the idea of a jacket may be silly, but the idea is that you can integrate this computing function into your daily life like you would a jacket, and rely on it like you do a hammer. When's the last time you had a hammer crash on you? (Maybe I'm asking that question to the wrong people...)

    Most people who pan Wearables play up the "Cyborg" aspect, but the true power of this technology lies in having it benefit our lives WITHOUT having the technology in our face all the time.

    I got my masters as part of CMU's wearables group, and this is the direction that the long-term research was heading at the time. It's been a few years since I left, but I think it's still a good way to go, even if it is (very) far off! (We had the speech and translation part working, thanks to CMU's excellent CS researchers, but the rest of it obviously is still long-term ...)

  • Now we know why they have unique IDs. From the article:
    One user of the MA IV is Framatome Technologies Inc., of Lynchburg, Va. The company's inspection of steam generators in nuclear power plants is expedited by the computer maintaining an inventory of test equipment as the instruments are brought in and leave the site. A technician scans equipment with a barcode scanner attached to the MA IV PC, which is worn underneath a radioactivity containment suit.
  • Many geeks have enough trouble finding romantic companionship without having to worry about accidentally smooshing the keyboard during an intimate moment.

    Actually, my girlfriend and I are looking forward to the day we can both be (discreetly) wired and networked together. Of course, I also thought Lain was hot when she was covered in wires, including the clip on her lower lip, and 7 of 9 was much better looking before the Doctor took out all the implants.

    While using a laptop/handheld in public is often ridiculed as a repellant, in my experience it tends to draw the best women, while filtering out the idjits.

    Of course, I usually attact women at places like the local Rocky Horror, local fetish clubs, SCA events, or other places where my laptop/handheld is probably the most *normal* item on my person.

    --
    Evan

  • Gundam (Score:5)

    by Duxup ( 72775 ) on Tuesday October 10, 2000 @08:53AM (#716718) Homepage
    I'm still holding out for my own personal Gundam.

  • wearable, but.... (Score:3)

    by scotpurl ( 28825 ) on Tuesday October 10, 2000 @09:14AM (#716720)
    decidedly uncool looking.

    Throw all that nonsense stuff on the belt into a fanny pack, or at least a horizontally-oriented case. (Try to sit down without castrating yourself.) Ditch that "I watched 'The Abyss' too many times" forearm keyboard in favor of a twiddler. Replace the borg/Universal Soldier pirate-eye-patch display with a two-eye display (with adjustable opacity), and make it look like normal glasses or sunglasses.

    The point is to make it look like something stylish. Not an electronic dialysis/colostomy machine.

  • Wearable Computers (Score:3)

    by Erich ( 151 ) on Tuesday October 10, 2000 @09:22AM (#716724) Homepage Journal
    There are a handfull of people here at Georgia Tech who do wearable computers... they basically have a computer based on a StrongARM running the Linux kernel with the emacs operating system. They have wireless networking, speech recognition, and a thingie that brings up information based on context -- so when the guy is talking about a subject it will bring up information on what he is talking about.

    It's pretty schweeet. The main prof hasn't used a desktop computer in years, and I see one of the grad students looking out the window and keying in stuff on his chording keyboard thing... talk about desktop backgrounds! :-)

  • Judging from the picture of the guy, and the rest of the article of course.. this is not wearable, this is a disasembled laptop. Loose parts hanging all over the place, cables going everywhere, etc.

    On the other side, if the company were to take, say, a nice leather trenchcoat and integrate all the parts and wires, that would be wearable.
  • Xybernaut has been around for a few years...

    And I hardly call 5k for a sealed unit you'll have to throw away in a few years thanks to Moore's law as being terribly afordable.

    Wake me when there's a $1,000 model.
  • What I would really like is a short-range (about 500 feet max) two-way radio that clips onto my ear, without a microphone that extends to my mouth. Then my wife and I could each always wear one, and I wouldn't have to shout down the hallway to tell her something (and vice versa).

    Anyone know where I can get a pair of these?
    --

  • Re:Practicality of Wearable PCs (Score:4)

    by paRcat ( 50146 ) on Tuesday October 10, 2000 @09:29AM (#716745)
    Not that it's here now, but I've got an awesome use for you...

    Imagine a wearable that uses an ordinary pair of sunglasses for the screen. The screen can span across an entire lense. It also keeps track of eye location and facial movement. It's connected to an extremely small, built-in camera. So far, not altogether unlikely.

    You put it on and calibrate it's eye sensor much like you calibrate the screen of a palmpilot. Look at a moving X or something.

    Now, as you are driving, the visible screen would appear in an upper corner of your vision. The area where telephone poles, etc. would normally be. As you look around, you see something on the road but can't quite tell what it is... you twitch your cheek, or some other programmable signal, and the built-in camera focuses and zooms in on said object displaying the resulting image in the small viewport in your field of vision. It could even be controlled by micro-piezo servos so that it can track the object as your head moves.

    Now, personally, I think that would be the perfect function of this technology. Maybe some others can think of more uses.

    In any event, the only way this type of thing can be possible is if we start small. (Wearable PC's)

    btw, whoever goes on to invent this contraption, please remember me with royalties. :)


    _______________
    you may quote me
  • I always knew she was really just housing some serious geek equipment in that shirt!
  • Now, I don't mean to be picky or anything, but "emacs operating system"?

    Emacs isn't (quite) large enough to qualify as an os just yet :-)

    Cheers,

    Tim
  • Some of the third-party headsets available for Nokia cellphones have the microphone built into the earpiece (only sticks out an inch or so), and many have the mike on a small lightweight frob in the cord. I assume that similar technology is available in standard (everybody but *^&()*& Nokia) 2.5mm cellphone headsets, and I wouldn't be surprised if there's some in the 3.5mm or whatever size it is that PCs and Walkmans use.
    You can certainly find lots of Family Radio Service cheap radios out there; probably some use headsets (however, they tend to be push-to-talk.) One catch is battery life - if you leave them on full time, you'll want to get rechargeable batteries, using something other than NiCd.
  • When Will The People Making The Glasses/Monitors Figure Out That People DO NOT want to look like cyborgs. I just want a monitor that i can wear on glasses that doesn't look like the terminator. How about a normal set of glasses?!

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