Handy Wristwatch Phone

femto writes "ABC is reporting that Japanese researchers have demonstrated a wristwatch phone that uses the wearer's finger as an ear piece. To make a call, you put your finger in your ear and speak into the watch on your wrist. " Finally a phone that makes side talking look cool.

Oh no she din't!

[Dancin_Santa]

Talk to the hand!

Go Go Gadget Phone!

[Otis2222222]

Hello, Chief? You're where?

Re:Oh no she din't!

[lightsaber1]

and get that finger out of your ear! You don't know where it's been!

Version 2.0

[Empiric]

Due to the superior acoustical properties involved, the next version of the phone will be interfacing with the nasal cavity. Company officials tout this version as having intrinsically greater privacy effects, as well.

Re:Version 2.0

[rf0]

I just want to see the fax machine version..

Rus

Re:Version 2.1

[AdrianG]

An alternate version will soon be announced that will provide even greater privacy through subvocalization. To make this work, the user will have to stick the thumb of his other hand in his mouth. Look for the official annoucement in 1st Quarter 2004.

Adrian

Re:Version 2.0

[SiaFhir]

Already been done in a way. Not in the form of a phone, but of a tape recorder. Monty Python showcased a man with a tape recorder up his nose. And with the help of a tape recorder up his brother's nose, can play music in stereo.

Cool

[thekat_70]

Now you can pretend to be an undercover agent without talking to yourself.

Great...

[pdbaby]

Now we have absolutely *no* way of telling who's crazy and who's just talking to their friend on their phone. Thanks a lot!

Re:Great...

[JamesTRexx]

Imagine how security and bodyguards around vip's will feel when half the crowd is walking around with their fingers in their ears...
Will they make it mandatory for people to keep their hands down when a president passes by?

Re:Great...

[October_30th]

What do you mean?

It's been like that for a few years already with the earpiece cellphone speakers?

Re:Great...

[pdbaby]

There's people that look like they're talking to themselves on trains... then there are people who stick their fingers in their ears and start having a lively conversation. The mental institutions will either overflow or empty ("I was just talking on my phone, doctor... honest!")

Re:Great...

[AKnightCowboy]

It's been like that for a few years already with the earpiece cellphone speakers?

Not just earpiece cellphones, but even my landline phone headset at work (easier to type with a headset). I love when people just come in and start talking to you. You try to ignore them thinking maybe they'll get the farking point, but they keep going on and on for minutes. Until you look at them like they're a moron, point to the obvious headset and shoo them away. What, do they think I'm Judy the Time Life operator jus

Re:Great...

[SiaFhir]

I read a story a while ago about British(?) inventors who created a phone in the form of a tooth. You graft the "tooth phone" in your mouth, and the vibrations in your skull act as both earpiece and microphone. You have a hard time telling who's crazy now... wait until people don't have to stick their finger in their earwax! OH! And remember not to be eating anything while you're talking. Brings new meaning to "don't talk with your mouth full".

Re:Great...

[NanoGator]

"Now we have absolutely *no* way of telling who's crazy and who's just talking to their friend on their phone. Thanks a lot!"

Funny you should mention that. Just saw a guy yelling at himself the other day. I think his name was Al.

this is so old news.

[ultrapenguin]

This was covered LONG time ago. Here [wired.com], for example. Old, old news. 03:00 AM Oct. 16, 2000 PT - the date.

Previously covered on Slashdot also

[Rescate]

DoCoMos Finger Phone [slashdot.org]
On October 11th, 2000 with 164 comments

Lots of links - including (small) picture

[Maddog Batty]

Yep. This is old news. The oldest reference I have come across is 1999 [acm.org] (near the bottom).

Small picture [yamanashi.ac.jp] in second page of pdf file.
[le.org]
Bit more info
[wiley.com]
Paper writen on technology used (reg required)

The same guy has also been involved in wearable keyboards [atip.org] which uses finger rings to detect finger movement and 10Mb indoor network [trnmag.com] that uses human bodies as portable ethernet cables. Masaaki Fukumoto is a busy man.

Re:this is so old news.

[loose electron]

Minor detail - look at the wire going off "somewhere else" - Present battery technology (even the best Li-Ion/Polymer/Something stuff out there.) will not support the power needed to transmit from a cell phone. A GSM cell phone sucks an amp of current at 35dbm (max power) output. It is impressive that the present battery sizes can support this now. Maybe when fuel cells replace batteries? Or maybe if people don't mind only 2 minutes of "talk" time before they have to recharge? Smaller is not always better

I'm still waiting for

[Lawrence_Bird]

the shoe phone!

Re:I'm still waiting for

[Yuioup]

This is something you can do at home:

STEP 1: Take off your shoe.
STEP 2: After waking up, grab your mobile phone.
STEP 3: Stick your mobile phone in your shoe.
STEP 4: Use voice recognition to dial and talk.

Revolutionary!

Yuioup

Re:I'm still waiting for

[geeber]

Yeah right... Try explaining to airport security that, really, its just a "phone" in your shoe. No Thanks!

Appearance

[rf0]

Well least with this the next time someone is listening to Brinty Spears and you put your fingers in your ears you can just say you are making a phone call

Rus

Re:Appearance

[prash_n_rao]

Why would anyone want to pretend that they like her 'music' but are busy elsewhere? I think this is more useful for people who like her 'music'.... they can listen to her stuff and pretend they are on the phone with someone.

A question...

[wardomon]

Where do you put your finger to dial?

Re:A question...

[Anonymous Coward]

an earlier model worked with tapping rythmically on the wristwatch, now it has voice recoginition.

Re:A question...

[Mad Marlin]

You can easily fit an entire phone keyboard onto a wristwatch. I can't possibly be the only person to have ever owned a wristwatch calculator.

Looks cool?

[winkydink]

Sticking your finger in your ear and talking into your wrist makes you look cool? I guess if you never want to get laid again, it might.

Maybe they could figure out a way to put the mouthpiece on a pinky wring. Then you could stick your thumb in your ear and extend your pinky to use the phone. You'd still look dorky as hell, but at least people would know what you were doing.

Re:Looks cool?

[mikecron]

Yeah, then when you've finished your call, you should have to touch your pinky and thumb against a table, to hang up. Now *that* would look really silly! ;-)

business opportunity

[martin-boundary]

I can already see the next business opportunity: fake cell phone handsets which clip on to your hand so you can "hold" them while sticking your finger in your ear and making a call on your watch. Other people don't need to know your phone handset is fake! $19.95 + s/h.

Re:Looks cool?

[paulhar]

I'm not sure I'd want to be near people who are showing their pinky rings...

Re:Looks cool?

[Anonymous Custard]

Maybe they could figure out a way to put the mouthpiece on a pinky wring. Then you could stick your thumb in your ear and extend your pinky to use the phone.

That would be AWESOME! I would seriously buy one of those, just cause it'd be so weird.

Re:Your sig

[Mad Marlin]

Your sig: Well, thanks to the Internet, I'm now bored with sex. Is there a place on the web that panders to my lust for violence?

This might do the trick. [rotten.com]

Re:rotten.com

[Anonymous Custard]

My company filters that site out, it must be good!

Actually my sig is a futurama quote, but thanks for the link :-)

Re:Looks cool?

[Ben Hutchings]

No, it's so uncool that it makes sidetalking [sidetalking.com] look cool by comparison.

Karma: whore

Re:Looks cool?

[SSJ2 Labsuit]

Then you could stick your thumb in your ear and extend your pinky to use the phone. You'd still look dorky as hell, but at least people would know what you were doing.

Either that, or you'd get a bunch of wisenheimers asking what Dr. Klaw's latest scheme is.

Re:Looks cool?

[dcmeserve]

I guess if you never want to get laid again, it might.

Hello -- it makes your finger vibrate. Think about it!

Re:Looks cool?

[winkydink]

No, sarcasm is not lost on me at all. The term "sidetalking" without a link to the URL is meaningless (unless you really have so much time on your hands that looking for dorky web sites is how you spend it).

Now if it said sidetalking [sidetalking.com] then that would have been sarcastic.

Now, if one were referring to sidetalking as speaking as if in an aside, let me say to the rest of the readers, "Is this guy a dick or what?"

Great. Answer the phone, get an ear infection.

[laetus]

Yeah, I want to be sticking my finger in my ear all day. Even more, I want to be shaking hands with people who've had their fingers in their ears all day.

I'll pass.

Re:Great. Answer the phone, get an ear infection.

[SuperBanana]

Yeah, I want to be sticking my finger in my ear all day

I bet Q-tip is thrilled- and talking to the phone sanitizer wipe companies about new vertical markets!

Re:Great. Answer the phone, get an ear infection.

[Anne_Nonymous]

Could be worse... It could be a nasal finger phone.

"Kad dou hear be dow?"

Re:Great. Answer the phone, get an ear infection.

[freeze128]

Yeah, but that would only be a problem if you shake hands with someone whose finger was in his ear up to his wrist.

Just a prelude to the butt-phone

[Walt Dismal]

You think this is bad? Just wait til the Nakamichi Buttphone emerges onto the market. Wait. ..Unfortunate choice of words there...

Re:Great. Answer the phone, get bone damage

[drinkypoo]

Your bones are already hit/stirred/shaken continuously; by your movement, by the movement of conveyances in which you travel, and by any sound wave substantial enough to pass through the meaty bag of water which constitutes your body.

Wonderful

[JamesD_UK]

.. because walking around, semi-distracted, with your finger stuck in your ear is such a wise idea! Can you imagine the mess when someone trips and their finger slips a little depper? Ouch.

How to look a fool in public

[DrXym]

Another japanese technological miracle. Stick one finger in your ear and talk to another and look like a complete twat to everyone within close proximity.

Re:How to look a fool in public

[prash_n_rao]

"Another japanese technological miracle. Stick one finger in your ear and talk to another and look like a complete twat to everyone within close proximity."

Right... especially if your friend with you wants to borrow your phone for a minute to make an urgent phone call... with yor finger in his ear!

babel fish

[tronicum]

This is the first step toward a babel fish device, talkig to you from your ear.

useful for translating and making phone calls....

Go Go Gadget Phone...

[Falcon5798]

Hey, it worked for Inspector Gadget. He totally had this before anyone else!

Am I the only one

[DaEMoN128]

Am I the only one that had the inspector gadget theam song go charging rampantly through my head while readint the little blurb?

Re:Am I the only one

[pete-classic]

Actually I thought of Dick Tracy. "I'm on my way!"

-Peter

Re:Am I the only one

[se_jeta]

No, you were definately not alone. I tuned to the themesong in my playlist after reading it. Yes, it's in my playlist.

Does it come with..

[adeyadey]

a tinfoil hat, so you can look *really* cool when using it?

Geeze...

[jcostantino]

I'll wait for the Fingers Free Adapter to come out! My arm already hurts from holding a phone up to my ear. I don't want to know what pain will come from awkwardly holding my whole arm to my head!

So...

[sprdelfin]

Apparently my uncle that thought his bones were talking to him wasnt crazy, he was just ahead of his time.

I can see it now...

[aaaurgh]

"Take your hands off me! No... stop... I'm on the phone. No, I'm not talking to voices in my head. No, I don't want a new jacket with extra long sleeves!"

looks

[koekepeer]

so what does it actually look like? i can't find any pictures in the linked page

Re:looks

[Dylan2000]

It's about three inches long, with a joint (or "knuckle") about halfway down and another one 3/4 of the way down, a hard, shell-like section of about 1 square cm at the end which you need to cut every week or two and it's kind of "flesh" coloured.

And it hurts like hell if you get it trapped in a door.

Picture Link

[Maddog Batty]

Small picture [yamanashi.ac.jp] on second page of pdf file.

I bet it might just.....

[shri]

stop people from picking their noses in public. :)

That'll never work!

[nunofgs]

I mean, what if you want to give the phone to the person next to you to speak? do you just give them your finger? what if you're driving?

Re:That'll never work!

[Bobulusman]

Well, it's a watch, right? Just take the watch off and hand it to them.

Although that might be too logical.

Fun with telemarketers...

[PSaltyDS]

...now when I blow a whistle into the phone I can shatter their ear drums AND their wrists!!!

Any technology distinguishable from magic is not suficiently advanced.

Problems

[wickedj]

1. Still doesn't eliminate the use of your hand (obviously). So if you are driving (which you shouldn't be anyway), or cooking or whatever, you're SOL.

2. It's hard to pass the phone around. If you are with a friend and another friend calls and wants to speak to your friend, what do you do? Stick your finger in their ear? You better be really good friends.

Anyways, the novelty of the idea is interesting but the practicality seems to be almost nonexistent.

Re:Problems

[JamesP]

1. Still doesn't eliminate the use of your hand (obviously). So if you are driving (which you shouldn't be anyway), or cooking or whatever, you're SOL.

Imagine how you are going to look driving with a finger in your ear.

You're going to be arrested by driving under the influence...

They'd better put...

[John Courtland]

..Mr Game and Watch on there. Or else it's just another gimmick :).

Just make sure...

[bodgit]

...you don't phone anyone who happens to be called Kit, especially if you're fond of referring to them as 'buddy' a lot. Could be embarassing...

Wristwatch Atomic Clock

[shoppa]

Much more useful, and way more geeky: a Real Atomic Clock Wristwatch. No, this is not one of those wimply radio-receiver watches that are mislabeled as "Atomic Clocks". This is the Real Deal:

First Atomic Clock Wristwatch [leapsecond.com]

I have a television like this...

[Epistax]

But people think it's rude to put my finger there...

One serious problem with this...

[ksp]

..."Its for you"...

Don Pardo would love it!

[cpopin]

"This is Don Pardo [imdb.com] signing off!"

They say cell phones...

[I-R-Baboon]

Push enough RF to induce cancer, well given where my watch usually rests close to when typing on a keyboard all day or hanging down resting when standing...Homey Don't Play that.

pinky and the thumb

[TheTimoo]

There's a picture here. [yahoo.com]
And why didn't they make it like the "real" hand phone, where you listen to your thumb and speak into your pinky?
That would have been cool! Like this it just looks stupid.

So when someone wants to borrow your phone...

[Channard]

.. you can tell them to pull your finger?

Pass the finger please

[AndroidCat]

"He said what? Here, give me that phone!"

(And I thought dirty telephones were bad. Do you know where that finger has been? Do you really want to know?)

Secret Service Conspiration

[philipx]

This thing it's the product of a conspiracy of the Secret Service. Now the president won't have a clue if there's a security detail problem or the agents are simply talking to their girlfriends.

Come to thing about, I don't think GW ever figured it out :)

Doiesn't sound to be a big hit...

[Gago]

Imagine breaking you arm; how dou you phone then ?

Imagine being on a date with the girl of your dreams; a common friend calls you on the phone and wants to speak to her, you stand up and plug your finger in the girl's hear ?

How does the phne recognize a touch of the finger to the thumb that says that you want to activate the phone from a "regular" touch ? (hint : touch fo the thumb by the finger is basically the advantage of having opposable thumbs, so you're likely to record numerous such events on an

Re:Doiesn't sound to be a big hit...

[MImeKillEr]

Better yet, say you're on a date with said girl.

You go back to her place, things get hot and heavy.

You end up slipping a couple of digits into her.

Your phone rings.

Hilarity ensues.

What will they think of next?

[Bagarre]

Reminds me of an old joke that ended with the guy recieving a FAX.

They got this from Inspector Gadget!

[FortissimoWily]

Wow, now I can finally look like my hero, Inspector Gadget!!

"Go Go, Gadget Phone!"

ATT Wrist Phone

[Traicovn]

This sounds more and more like the 'wrist phone' prototype that ATT talked about in the early and mid 1990's. It was featured in one of their 'you will' ads, and a "working" (can't remember how well) prototype was on display at their pavillion at Epcot Center.

I don't have any links or pictures, but if anybody else has them, feel free to post them.

Why?

[YanceyAI]

Why not just make a lapel pin for men and a necklace for women so that you don't have to walk around with your damn finger in your ear. Who thinks people will do this?

Re:Why?

[anagama]

The lapel pin and necklace would work great for microphones - but I'd appreciate an explanation of how these will get the sound INTO your ear.

carpal tunnel?

[jcoy42]

From the article:

The New Scientist magazine says the prototype gadget consists of a wristband that converts digital signals into vibrations that are then transmitted into the bones of the hand.

I thought it had been proven that one of the leading causes of carpal tunnel was excessive vibrations of the wrist. Now if this thing attaches as a wrist watch, and operates by vibrating your bones enough that you can hear the resonance through your finger, it seems it would be one of the last things any rational thinking person would want.

Personally, I try to avoid carpal tunnel, and this sounds like it was designed to cause it.

I'll pass.

Great for Mechanics

[Ridgelift]

The user puts his finger into his ear for the vibrations to be picked up by the eardrum, which then transcribes them back into sound signals for the brain.

I can't wait to see my mechanic use one of these while working on my car.

"Just a sec...Hello th...AWWW! MAN! I'VE GOT GREASE IN MY EAR!"

Re:Great for Mechanics

[Simonetta]

The user puts his finger into his ear for the vibrations to be picked up by the eardrum, which then transcribes them back into sound signals for the brain.
I can't wait to see my mechanic use one of these while working on my car.

Or hubby calls when mummy is changing the babie's diaper.

This whole story shows that while the Japanese have the technology, they need to start smoking a whole lot better brand of weed if they're going to get creative in the commercial application of all this high-tech.

Imagine this

[hqm]

when someone answers their finger phone and then says "it's for you..."

Re:Imagine this

[dr_dank]

I just shudder to think of people with their pants around the ankles, receiving a fax...

Re:Imagine this

[bugnuts]

even worse, having your phone ring and having to say "I'm sorry, you got the wrong orifice."

Thing I least want to hear ...

[Ktistec Machine]

The thing I least want to hear from someone using one of these:

"Hello. Oh, OK. Here, it's for you.".

Blech!

Re:Thing I least want to hear ...

[Urkki]

Well, that would depend on who's phone and finger it is... I can imagine several persons who I wouldn't mind holding their hand to my cheeck, and rubbing my ear with their finger... :-)

Next step

[pkunzipper]

So to activate bluetooth, do I grab my balls?

I'd own one if...

[StressGuy]

It also had a headset so I could use in while I was on my bicycle. Small size, voice operated dialing, and easily accessable while on my road bike would be a plus. Not only that, but standing in a airport with your finger in your ear talking to yourself would tend to make people leave you alone, that would be a *BIG* plus.

Pres. Bush meets w/Japanese dignitary...

[CheapScott]

Dignitary: I'd shake your hand, but I just made a phone call with my finger in my ear.

Bush: Oh, that's okay, the last three years I've had my thumb up my @$$.

Old joke...

[Spudley]

Old joke -

"Did you know you've got your finger in your ear?"

"I'm sorry, you'll have to speak up - I've got my finger in my ear..."

Another conspiracy

[override11]

Its the ear doctors really inventing this phone... now everyone will have ear infections all the time and they will make a ton!

1 Become an ear doctor
2 Make a phone where users stick finger in ear
3 Profit!

Matrix

[Espectr0]

Agent 1: There he is. The anomaly.

Agent 2: Do we proceed?

Agent 1: Yes!

Agent 3: Only human...

what about those of us with arm pains

[Adler]

as a tendonitits suffer i cant hold up a phone to my ear for very long sometimes, this kind of technology for phones doesnt help me, nothign but the hands free headset does, adn at least i look like im paying attention to the road. remember: "its the next best thign to payign attention to the road."

Inspector Gadget

[BitwizeGHC]

"Is that you Chief? ... You're where? ... I'll be right there!" *heads on over to the wastebasket or toilet, where Chief Quimby was conveniently hiding*

VibraCall

[FelixCat]

This feature has already been invented in this previously posted parody [www.eel.nu].