Whereables? 101
d4 asks: "Thad Starner has been using a wearable computer daily since 1993, and Steve Mann has had an impressive amount of press coverage over the years. But if you want wearable computing in 2005, it seems you must build your own system. Why, after all this time and attention, are wearables still not commercially available?"
maybe... (Score:5, Insightful)
3 Simple Reasons (Score:5, Insightful)
2. Headaches- Nobody has figured out how to make an eyeglass display that doesn't cause lots of complaints about migranes. The atari VR system and the Nintendo VR both got killed by this.
3. Dork factor- Until Apple releases an iWearable and tempts all the hipster-wannabes with commercials, you just can't walk around with this gear in public without feeling weird- Just like with MP3 players pre-ipod.
one word: fashion (Score:4, Insightful)
Who needs wearable? (Score:2, Insightful)
Others use PDAs, which give them computing powers beyond the dreams of those who languish in the nineties. We can now emulate elderly computers on a handheld
Wearable computers... we carry them in our pockets.
I was going to be funny but... (Score:5, Insightful)
I wear a computer (Score:5, Insightful)
There's no need for the dorky headgear or the wierd chorded keyboards. I'm already wearing a computer. It's the Danger Hiptop2. It has a thumbkeyboard, a display, a connection to the internet, and a number of other features. It can do just about anything that the "wearables" of 1996 could do.
Wearables don't exist because they don't need to exist. What's wrong with products like the Dell Axim X50v? It has a 624MHz PXA270 ARM processor, 64MB of DRAM, 128MB of flash, a VGA touchscreen, WLAN, Bluetooth, infared, CF and SD expansion, and a lot more.
It's $425, it runs for 6 hours on batteries, and it absolutely blows away any "wearable" you saw on the Discovery Channel. Oh, and you don't look like a dork for carrying one.
Three words... (Score:5, Insightful)
If you have to stop surfing to cross the road, it's not a proper wearable.
Great... (Score:2, Insightful)
I mean honestly, people can't drive without distractions... and cell phones are causing huge problems, what will a computer do?
I'm staying off the roads.
www.xybernaut.com/ (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:maybe... (Score:3, Insightful)
For a long answer:-
* Batteries still don't last long enough and are still too heavy.
* Chording keyboards are still immature, expensive, clunky and not widely available.
* There still isn't a suitable viewing mechanism - all current ones suffer from one or more of: not enough resolution; can't support colour; produces eye-strain; too heavy; too clunky; too expensive; too fragile; requires too much power drain.
So if you want a wearable, you're stuck with a low-powered processor, a heavy battery pack, a clunky chording keyboard, and an ugly (and heavy) headset that'll only do 640x480 in grey-scale. And it'll cost a fortune.
Grab.
Wearable - No Where Specified (Score:2, Insightful)
Wearable computing is not only about walking the streets, looking like something out of cyberpunk. It's also for those of us who'd like to use our wired stations like human beings. I'd like to be able to sit / lie down at my workstation, and not have to strain my wrists/eyes/neck/back/etc. in order to be productive.
I'd KILL for a decent headset, not too expensive, so i can dump my monitor and stare in whichever direction is most comfortable. I'd like better input so I can code without having to find the keys (I'm no touch-typist, but there are simple solutions when attached to a pair of decent, *cheap* gloves).
All these things are just as much about wearability (is that a word), and IMO more important than how far you can go. You don't need a PC while driving your car. But you do need to work comfortably.
Re:No 'Killer App' (Score:3, Insightful)
i'm not convinced - wearables should be here today (Score:2, Insightful)
1) they don't want it
2) tech isn't there yet to make it small enough
as for (1), i'm personally convinced that plenty of people will be using it once they see how convenient it makes things. everyone claims their
PDA is good enough, but i bet they don't dispense with their home computer and use their PDA full-time like we'll be able to when "full-power" wearables are eventually available. and i bet they don't constantly check the GPS on their PDA. or IM strangers in Times Square. (see http://www.headmap.org/book/manifesto/hm-blank.ht
but, besides all these "new" applications, computing will be nicer when you don't have to sit in front of the computer to do it.
however, that's a long way away; what I'd like today is just a $3000 low-resolution, slow, B&W sunglasses-embedded HMD and "virtual keyboard" (finger tracker). I do see people's point here; a PDA can do much of what this would be used for, and it would be cheaper, and color, and not feel weird. Personally, I'd shell out for the low-resolution sunglasses-enabled model and finger-tracker because the extra bandwidth (large display area (assuming the display changed when you moved your head) and large "virtual" keyboard) would allow me to do a lot of stuff "on the road" (waiting in line at the supermarket, etc) that I can't do efficiently on a tiny
PDA interface.
as for (2), i'm a little confused because, as some posters noted, corps started using cell phones before they were small. my feeling is that none by the nerdiest even think about wearable, much less realize the convenience and efficiency gains that wearables could bring. if corporations had it on their radar, I think they would buy them even now.
-- bayle