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Ultra-Cool Wireless Wearables
Posted by
chrisd
on Thu Mar 13, 2003 05:38 AM
from the eye-candy dept.
from the eye-candy dept.
moonboy writes "I just saw this story linked to from Ars Technica. Motorola and Frog Design have recently released information about some awesome new prototypes for wearable computing with wireless capability using Bluetooth technology. The wearables group will include a WDA (Wearable Digital Assistant) which will serve as the communications hub, the Wristable, Goggles, Digi-Cam, Comport, Radio-button, and the Intelli-pen. Very cool stuff!" Prototype seems a strong word....
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Wow... can you imagine (Score:5, Funny)
Stalkers are gonna have such a blast with all these.
On the other hand, I predict that shit like this will be embedded into our bodies within no time.
Re:Wow... can you imagine (Score:2, Funny)
Of course, because encrypted secure communications is a technology for way in the future, right?
Re:Wow... can you imagine (Score:3, Insightful)
black and white (Score:5, Insightful)
Now where does the full-colour-display picture
come from?
Re:black and white (Score:3, Insightful)
Never, repeat, never trust what you see on a colourful brochure.
Only one (Score:5, Insightful)
But HUD's in glasses, wireless pens, etc... isn't this all just geared more towards satisfying the cliche markets? Is there anything useful out there?
I can imagine a purpose for current PDA's--they're an appropriate size, and with a screen that can display a substantial amount of information, all with an acceptable battery life. And I can imagine that Bluetooth would be useful in a portable PDA-like system, but it seems like just like buzz on these "prototypes."
Re:Only one (Score:2)
I certainly hope so. The thing that strikes me is that most early adopters would be lazy fucks like me, and we'd all look stupid sitting motionless in a chair wearing this kind of gear. Seriously, I can't imagine what I would actually do with a wearable. What, am I going to read
Re:Only one (Score:2)
For those of us who ride transit to/from work, this kind of stuff would be ideal.
Re:Only one (Score:3)
Definitely not. Another thing to consider is the comfort factor. Did you see the size of that "Wristable" thing? I mean, I've worn watches before, and I thought the friggin' Timex Datalink watch was uncomfortable from being so large. This thing is at least twice as big. Who's going to want to go around with something that large on their wrist?
And then to interface with the watch, you need to wear this EA
"Is there anything useful out there?" (Score:5, Insightful)
I think there's numerous applications for wearable technology. The whole desktop/keyboard paradigm has evolved from machines which took up an entire basement - even the best PDAs are still basically trying to fit a conventional office setup (phone, organiser, calendar, word processor, etc.) into a tiny little magical electric gizmo. No wonder people end up leaving them behind when they want to relax. At the other extreme, personal stereos are a great example of wearable technology. They don't read email, they don't browse the web - hell, most of them even use a good old-fashioned cable to connect the player to the headset - but they work, they're useful, and they've gained enough acceptance that you can wear headphones on the train without looking like a freak.
I was reading recently (don't recall where, sorry) about a set of goggles with a build-in camera and HUD, that would OCR Japanese characters on notices and signs and display their English translations. Even if it only worked with basic words like 'hotel', 'metro', 'toilet', this would be of huge benefit to English speakers lost in downtown Tokyo. This sort of angle could be a major selling point for wearable kit once it matures. With GPS, wearable hardware would be able to tell where you are and which direction you're facing - you wouldn't need a keyboard or voice interface to tell it where you were, 'cos it would already 'know'. It'd be like those infrared audio guides in museums, only it would work everywhere. Imagine wandering the streets of Prague or Athens, looking at some wonderful old building, and being able to find out who built it and when without having to dig out the guidebook and hunt through the index.
My point is, everyone's thinking about wearable tech as a way of taking things with you - email, phones, internet access - and missing the potential killer apps which you just *can't* do with desk-based hardware.
Parent
Re:Only one (Score:3, Informative)
Only concepts so far (Score:5, Informative)
Ericsson showed similar devices [3gnewsroom.com] years ago, and most other producers have had concept products [3gnewsroom.com] similar to these ones. Lets just hope they start showing up in the stores for real this time. 2 years is a long time.
Crashing accessories (Score:5, Insightful)
On the less negative side, there is potential for coolness. My Mac is already Bluetooth-capable so after donning all this electronics, I could watch DVDs with the HUD while on the can, or write on a pad in bed with the pen motions captured and translated into an electronic document. Whoa.
Goggles... (Score:4, Funny)
"Goggles: Integrated into the frame of exciting, stylish sports eyewear"
"Stylish" and "geek toys" like this are mutually exclusive aren't they?
Imagine you're wearing ... (Score:3, Funny)
oops you're electrocuted!
Re:Imagine you're wearing ... (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Ultra-Cool Wireless Wearables: (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Ultra-Cool Wireless Wearables: (Score:3, Funny)
circa 2023, some mega-corporate confrence room.
A dozen people sitting at the table with goggles on.
Time passes.
A cell phone rings.
person 1: Darn, we forgot to have the meeting.
person 2: Well, off to the next meeting.
As if geeks aren't fashionably challenged enough (Score:4, Interesting)
Wardrobe (Score:2, Funny)
Not for me no thank you (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Not for me no thank you (Score:3, Insightful)
I have an argument with a friend about it every now and then, who can't quite go with the whole "Don't pick it up" concept. But I'm the one paying for the phone. I don't
The singlasses are the real cool part (Score:2, Interesting)
My only fear is that when they do eventually hit the market, they will be outragously expensive ($2,000 is my guess..)
I'd also hope that they would have some less "fashionable" models.. Those are ugly as sin. And perhaps some that aren't sunglasses at all, but simply a HUD.
Re:The singlasses are the real cool part (Score:2)
hummmm (Score:2, Funny)
Collect the whole set! (Score:2)
what would be really good is if the pesky things (Score:5, Interesting)
they might even be good to cut down the building wide phone PA paging that used to interrupt me so much that I cut the speaker cable in my desk phone. It could ring (flashing light) but it couldn't speak.
It might even be useful in hosptital if it didn't interfere with the life support.
I think a heads up street map might be handy. Especially in my town, where street signs seem conspicuously absent.
Re:what would be really good is if the pesky thing (Score:2)
Why wouldn't they work in all those places? I can understand there may be interference issues on aircraft, but not with the other things you mention. I use a PDA & mobile/bluetooth combo to browse & email from the train quite frequently right now - works fine.
Chick repellant (Score:5, Funny)
Augmented reality (Score:5, Interesting)
Imagine going to an art museum and instead of borrowing a tape-recorder that tells you what you are looking at, you borrow a pair of goggles and information pops up next to the item.
Or - you're trying to find your way around in an unknown city. Large arrows directing you in the right direction will emerge (based on your GPS)
Last, but not least, I can go online with my GPRS phone and follow all my favorite IRC channels while skiing
Re:Augmented reality (Score:3, Interesting)
Seriously. Wearable computing has its place. That place is generaly not in athletics. Sure, there are some devices that could be usefull, but for the most part those devices will incorporate low profile displays with minimal data so as to allow you to concentrate on what's important.
In the case of skiing, that would be the Blue Spruce you're plumeting towards at 55 MPH.
Frankly I don't need to know that the Blue Spruce is a
I can see it now (Score:5, Funny)
Bill's wearable watch: Bill, you've got mail.
Bill: Damn! Couldn't you find a better time?
[Removes watch and flings it away.]
Bill: Ahhh, Traaaaaacyyyyyy......
Tracy's babel fish: No matches found. Did you mean: 1) Trace 2) Tracing 3) Racy
Tracy: Shit!
[Removes babel fish]
Bill remembers just in the nick of time that his goggles are connected to the internet! And he's turned the firewall off, which means that anyone that connects to port 23484 on his goggles can see what he's seeing!!! [Takes goggles off]
Bill starts scratching Tracy's back. Immediately, her intellipen software kicks into action and tries to figure out what he's writing.
[2 hours later]
Bill and tracy are finally done spurning all the advances from their various bluetooth devices, at which point they realize they forgot to switch off the webcam...
Concept designs, not prototypes! (Score:5, Informative)
Cheers,
-j.
Spy? (Score:3, Insightful)
Anyway, the problem is not your scheudle, but for example if they could get your passwords or something, or even, if you were at a high posisition, get the "top" secrets of your company. And when you moved around, the governement could track you. This would give big brother a new dimension. Read the story written by John Bing , called "Big brother's carneval" for more (funny) abbrevations on this topic.
I wonder... (Score:2, Funny)
Resistance is futile, you will be assimilated???
As Eric Cartman teaches ... (Score:2, Funny)
Just more industrial design; no usable substance (Score:3, Insightful)
The most significant hurdle for wearables is not styling. It is in developing a user interface and applications designed to be used while walking around, not sitting at a desk or standing still.
Real innovation will be when someone develops the wearable equivilent of the desktop metaphor and wearable equvilent to the mouse for input control. Sorry, current PDA menuing and compass navigation is insufficient.
When the industry gets serious and looks to marketize products like this, I hope they have more vision than simply re-purposing existing user interface mechanisms (and hire me to design the embedded UI). Wearables could be the next killer app.
User interfaces (Score:5, Interesting)
Personal thoughts: I got an M1 head-mounted display, but I found it to be too cumbersome (heavy on the head) and it distracted other people. Not a hardware hacker, so I haven't done any of the covert mods. Anyway, I switched to a monaural headset (just a single earphone+mic, looks like a handsfree kit) and am using Emacspeak for sound output. I still occasionally get confused, but it's pretty decent. I use a Twiddler for key input. The whole thing is pretty unobtrusive. I look like I'm listening to music and/or texting.
Parent
Re:Just more industrial design; no usable substanc (Score:2)
One can say the same thing about movies and music.
The key is creativity to bring comprehension to the masses. This was the point of The Matrix. It better told the Alice in Wonderland story to the modern generation. Both are satire and allegory.
Also, just to make
Postulated in 1945, in retail outlets by 2005 (Score:4, Interesting)
Now, we may have it. Of course, he wasn't really a gadget man per se, nor were technology and gadgets his driving force. Founder of the NSF, he saw technology as an enabler to furthering the human condition, improving it's access to information, ultimately making us smarter...
Will this do it? No, but we'll be able to walk around for a bit and show how cool it is to have a $2000 wearables rig strapped to us that doesn't overfill a fanny pack.
The camera worries me... (Score:4, Funny)
(must remember to hit post anon option before clicking submit button...)
Motorola & the bastard children of innovation (Score:4, Insightful)
I think at this point, Moto is in an 80's Chrysler state. They are putting out ok stuff, but not innovating in design and especially advancing standards or creating new concepts. Chrysler finally learned this wasn't the way to go and started producing the Prowler, the Viper, The PT Cruiser, and even the concept car from 5 years ago, the Atlantic; was WAY AHEAD of it's time. Some of it's features will be in the soon to be released Maybach. But alas, they were purchased by Mercedes. This is possibly the way Moto will go. I think a conglom like Masushita (Panasoinc) or maybe even Sony will buy them out within the next 5 years. Both of those companies have diverse needs for embedded processors, Moto's real money. Sony has always seen merit in the Apple side of computing and could make HUGE inroads with such a purchase. Sony Pres (see mac web sites) recently said he wishes he could buy Apple and has wanted to for a LONG time.
Which segways into this; Moto best exemplifies what I'm trying to say by the lack of innovation and forsight into the PowerPC processor that is used embedded in Cisco routers and as the G4 in Apple products. Motorola single handedly has cost Apple market share. They locked Apple into the processor and made the PowerPC such a proprietary RISC implementation that no one even wanted to copy it. Finally, they have released the Altivec core technologies to IBM, one of the PPC AIM partners. I beleive the muscle and R&D at IBM will bring great things to the PPC line and soon with the Power 4 and Power 5.
Another segway. Truthfully, these products are almost here in some form and two years as the article states for these "revoltionary" products to be realeased will be behind the curve. Moto will just be another player in the market and probably even higher priced. Moto isn't as recognized the name as it was for the 30's 40's 50's generations and few see why they should pay a premium for their products rather than say a Sony something or other.
The pen is basically here from Logitech (bluetooth ink and digipen), the Glasses are basically here from Sony (glasstron), the watch has been here without a big company or mass apeal for nearly two years, the PDA by means of the Zaurus or iPaq, maybe now the Sony P800, and the wireless headphones already exist in close to the same form factor as the article pitched. All of the things I mentioned now have bluetooth too!
designers overrated (Score:4, Insightful)
So, yes, these kinds of products will eventually appear. They will probably be boxy and more traditional looking because people likely feel silly running around with gadgets that look like sex toys or sunglasses that are appropriate for a three-year-old. And their release date will depend on such mundane factors as when their power consumption will be low enough that they will be usable. What good is a futuristic wrist PDA, after all, if it only runs for 15 minutes?
Startrek reference (Score:5, Interesting)
In the end, most people would prefer something like on Startrek. Unintrusive devices like the computer you can talk to. The PAD. The communicator. I think that's all I want.
On the other hand, manufacturers will introduce these things and see what sticks. I do reserve the right to change my mind later on.
Fashion trend? I think not. (Score:5, Interesting)
Call me when you can implant the HUD emitter on the inside of my iris, the input device under the skin of the inside of my forearm, and the speech synthesizer in my earlobe. =)
The set is uncomplete (Score:3, Interesting)
What is missing is a ring like device which is "seen" by the googles and used as mouse ersatz or gesture recognizing device.
It seems to passive to just have googles
angel'o'sphere
Re:I want one (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I want one (Score:5, Funny)
As often as those go down I'll be getting it all the time!
Parent
BlueTooth is obsolete, long live Wi-fi. (Score:3, Insightful)
Why would I carry around a WDA that has a range of 30 feet if I'm lucky, when I can wear the same thing that has 10 times the range and 10 times the bandwidth?
I think its time that companies who stupidly spent billions on developing BlueTooth humble themselves
Re:BlueTooth is obsolete, long live Wi-fi. (Score:3)
> why would anyone choose BlueTooth?
Probably, because Bluetooth
can send with only 1mW in contrast to 100mW (WiFi)?
chips are consuming considerably less energy than WiFi?
chips are as small as 3mm^2 in 130nm process?
scales fairly good up to 32 networks whereas 802.11b has only 4 non-intefering channels.
lets most embedded devices transfer their complete memory (persistant and volatile) in less than a second to one another?
is more resistant to interference because o