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Intel Technology

Intel Unveils MICA "My Intelligent Communication Accessory" Smart Bracelet 48

Posted by samzenpus from the speak-to-the-wrist dept.
MojoKid writes With a few companies introducing smartwatch products at IFA in Berlin, Intel's taking a slightly different approach. The chip-maker's wearable debut in Berlin is far different than those being issued by LG, Samsung, and Motorola, focusing on fashion instead of nuts-and-bolts. It's called MICA, which is short for "My Intelligent Communication Accessory," and Intel's calling it a "feminine accessory blending seamlessly into everyday life." While it handles text messages, push alerts, and other notifications like most other smartwatches, it's also snazzed up on the design front. Details are murky in terms of operating system, etc., but make no mistake: Intel's entry into the wearables arena is a piece like no other.
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Intel Unveils MICA "My Intelligent Communication Accessory" Smart Bracelet More

Intel Unveils MICA "My Intelligent Communication Accessory" Smart Bracelet

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  • perfect for golddiggers (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Now you can weed out the deadbeats with this discreet wearable device that tells you exactly how much money your date earns. Don't put out before you're assured the lifestyle you deserve.

  • What is the security like? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by iamwhoiamtoday ( 1177507 ) on Thursday September 04, 2014 @08:09PM (#47831527)

    Cell phones are relatively insecure, especially the ones that never get updated. What is the security of this device like?
    Already we are carrying around cell phones with all of our personal lives on them, and yet they want us to get yet another device that will hopefully be supported with patches and updates?

    Don't really think I'll be getting one of these until a security expect reviews them.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Security costs money, so do you even need to ask?

      And no, smart people do not carry their personal lives around on their smart-phones. You know, like nude pictures, that then predictably get stolen. Or things like that.

      As to a professional security review, forget about it. These things are routinely either hugely embarrassing to the manufacturer or worthless. The ones that are neither are pretty rare.

    • It's a device that *receives* information without storing it and generates nothing...It's a cell phone that can't send.

  • oblig. Futurama quote (Score:4, Funny)

    by iggymanz ( 596061 ) on Thursday September 04, 2014 @08:09PM (#47831531)

    "This thing I wear on my wrist says they're not poisonous" -- Leela

  • Aptly named, I give them that.

  • Just the warm-up (Score:5, Funny)

    by PapayaSF ( 721268 ) on Thursday September 04, 2014 @08:43PM (#47831677) Journal

    Let's admit it: all these smart watches are like MP3 players, pre-iPod: early pioneers, but destined to be forgotten. Once Apple enters the field, the category will take off. You don't have to be an Apple fanboi to see that coming.

    Also predictable: Apple's entry will not be cheap, will be criticized for lacking features and openness, but buyers won't care. Samsung will rush a copycat revision of their entry, and the press will laud various "iWatch killers," but they won't be terribly successful.

    iPod, IPhone, iPad: we've seen this story before.

    • Once Apple enters the field, the category will take off.

      Your fanboism aside (given your faith), there are contingent realities that often have to be dealt with regardless of how many people initially and dutifully get in line before the glass cathedrals.

      Exactly what is a bracelet / watch thing going to do in any meaningful way? Battery technology hasn't changed so forget having more than a few hundred mA available. That excludes speakers. Then there's screen size as well. Even with txt sp3k lol it's still impossible to do much with, at most, a 1" square s

      • Re:Just the warm-up (Score:4, Informative)

        by PapayaSF ( 721268 ) on Thursday September 04, 2014 @09:35PM (#47831873) Journal

        Some technologies just don't make sense. At least with our current battery and silicon constraints.

        A nice tablet at $500 didn't make sense... until the iPad came out. (Some early speculation had it priced at @$1,000). An expensive smartphone without a keyboard didn't make sense... until the iPhone. A laptop that is .68 inches thick (and gets thinner from there) didn't make sense... until the MacBook Air.

        Apple has a track record of pushing limits, and of not releasing products that aren't highly refined. If they come out with an "iWatch," I'd bet it will be something special. And the following iterations will only improve it.

        • Well I hope you're right. Whether it's Apple or Huawei or McDonalds. It'd be great to have a wrist watch that I feel I can't leave home without because it makes my life that much better. I'm just not holding my breathe for that any more than I am for finger-rings that do something useful... actually a bartender guy I knew had a bottle-opener ring..

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Shoten ( 260439 )

          Some technologies just don't make sense. At least with our current battery and silicon constraints.

          A nice tablet at $500 didn't make sense... until the iPad came out. (Some early speculation had it priced at @$1,000). An expensive smartphone without a keyboard didn't make sense... until the iPhone. A laptop that is .68 inches thick (and gets thinner from there) didn't make sense... until the MacBook Air.

          Apple has a track record of pushing limits, and of not releasing products that aren't highly refined. If they come out with an "iWatch," I'd bet it will be something special. And the following iterations will only improve it.

          Your point is merely that innovation is something people don't see coming. I don't think it applies here, however.

          Everyone wants an "iWatch," so much so that you can use the term and everyone knows exactly what you mean by it. Everyone wanted an iPhone...they were freaking begging for it for years before it came into being.

          In this case, though, Intel's made a massive mistake. You can't pair a highly-durable good (bracelet with semi-precious stones, precious metals and exotic materials like "water snakesk

        • Apple has a track record of poor battery life so we can expect the iWatch to only last for 8 hours between charges.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by MikeMo ( 521697 )
        You are absolutely right, of course, but Apple would not release an "iWatch" unless these obvious problems have been sufficiently mitigated. That's the magic.

      • Exactly what is a bracelet / watch thing going to do in any meaningful way?

        Provide a means of using NFC to pay for things even if your devices do not support it - and without taking your device out of your pocket.

      • Even given the current constraints of battery and the never changing constraint of the size of your wrists, there is a lot that can be done.
        i have used the last 3 generations of Garmin watches and even those have drastically added features.
        they have also gotten much smaller (in the good way, like hey thats a big watch vs. the old ones that looked like a computer strapped on your wrist).
        they are also lighter
        As mentioned below, NFC will be a huge addition. tap watch to sensor and your off.
        i love the GPS of t

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gl4ss ( 559668 )

      samsung already has 2nd or another way of looking 3rd gen wearable on the market.

      so apples entry will be a copy of that and copy of motos too... for apples sake it should at least have some more features! that's why the speculation has been around heartbeat or some other biosensory gimmickery..

  • A watch may be a fashion accessory, but it is mostly exempt from the expectation that it match with the rest of one's wardrobe. That stems from the days when watches were just too expensive to wear matching watches with every outfit, even if you were well off. This, on the other hand, will only go with some outfits, and doesn't have an inherited exemption from expectations of matching in female wardrobes. And it's probably too expensive to buy three or four. They're pretty, I must admit, but a watch i
  • Not sure why Intel thinks this is a good idea. Granted, there is lot of headroom in the women's market for tech, but why not make it inclusive and double your market?

  • and immediately thought, "isn't that horse kinda dead??"

    (*for those who grew up under a rock, MCA, or Microchannel Architecture, was developed by IBM around 1987 as a stopgap technology between ISA (earlier known as AT) (16-bit) and PCI (32-bit) busses. It uses both bus widths and was intended as a backward-compatible bus architecture to supersede ISA. PCI buried it, being three times faster out of the gate and a lot easier to install.)

  • Is this just me fantasizing (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Is this just me fantasizing, or do the pictures in the article look like posters for a lesbian film?
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • "feminine accessory blending seamlessly into everyday life."

    Looks like two lesbians to me.

    Go Intel, i'am all for this new style of advertising images!

  • Reminds me of all the jokes when the "iPad" name was announced (and before! [youtube.com]).

    And Bloom County's chartreuse flame thrower [gocomics.com].

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