Citizen/IBM To Make A Linux Watch

backtick writes: " Yup, they're making the Watchpad. 'Besides telling time, the WatchPad comes with a calendar-scheduling application, a pager-like application for sending and receiving short messages, and a Bluetooth chip for wireless communication with notebooks, handheld computers and cell phones'" If they'll make a watch that runs Linux and takes pictures like Casio's camera watch, I might just switch back to a digital. Gerdts points out that the watch's battery life is either up to six hours, or only six hours, depending on how you look at it.

Comments

I knew it was only a matter of time

[rjamestaylor]

(sorry)

Re:I knew it was only a matter of time

[mackga]

hump a slut for jesus! get your jerk-off material right here.

Re:I knew it was only a matter of time

[Spootnik]

Linux and Watchpad represents a paradigm shift. The classic example of a paradigm shift is the Quartz watch. Although it was originally developed in Switzerland, the Swiss watch makers originally wanted nothing to do with it because it didn't have the gears and mainsprings that had become the pride of the Swiss Watch factories.

Eventually, the inventors went to Japan and approached Seiko. The Swiss have now gone from 60% of the market to less than 30% and the classical mechanical watches represent status symbols rather than timepieces. I recently heard a speaker declare that he had a $5000 Swiss watch that couldn't tell time. He then went on to say that he had to put on his cheap watch so that he would know what time it was. He didn't mention the brand name, but one can guess who makes $5,000 Swiss watches.

Some people buy $5,000 Rolex Watches to impress people, I wear a Citizen myself. It keeps pretty good time.

Re:I knew it was only a matter of time

[xoxoxf]

i have a design that will extend the battery time of this wristwatch by at least a factor of 10. interested sponsors are invited to contact us at: jdc p.o. box 1178 northampton, ma 01061-1178

first citizen comemricla

[Anonymous Coward]

Citizen, Citizen..elagant Citizen!
First post, First post..elegant First post

(remember the commericial?

6 hours?

[psychalgia]

you're frickin joking. I wizz more often than that.

Re:6 hours?

[sacherjj]

So put a charger at the urinal! What is the problem. :)

Re:6 hours?

[Anonymous Coward]

Or pee on the watch

Re:6 hours?

[Shitsack Comments]

don't whiz on the electric watch

fart

[Anonymous Coward]

fart

Slashdot requires you to wait 20 seconds between hitting 'reply' and submitting a comment.

reply'!

If you this error seems to be incorrect, please provide the following in your report to SourceForge:

issedMay ityay againyay

[puhtime2go]

amnDay.

Damn

[jsin]

Now you can look like the dork you were with the calculator watch in sixth grade... woo hoo!

Re:Damn

[uberdood]

hey!

i dearly miss my Casio CA-50.

great watch i had in 1984. had this neat little game where i picked off numbers, much like one of the typing tutor or graffiti games.

(of course, i'm a bit older than you, as this was tenth grade, first car, foreign national girlfriend, summer job at an amusement park, ah the memories...)

Oh hell, why not.

[UberOogie]

- How long until someone roots your wrist?

- Does it have a picture of Tux on the watchface?

- Imagine a beowulf cluster of these.

- [Insert "If MS made watches joke here]

Re:Oh hell, why not.

[isfry]

- [Insert "If MS made watches joke here]

If MS made watches the stopwatch would say 15 seconds left for 2 minutes and then jump to 30 seconds left.

Re:Oh hell, why not.

[Anonymous Coward]

Imagine

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

Re:Oh hell, why not.

[Demerara]

If MS made watches:

Blue Wrist of Death

Carpal IPTunnel Syndrome

Ok, move along - there's nothing to see here...

Re:Oh hell, why not.

[mecran01]

Mmmmmm....bluetooth enabled beowulf watch clusters.

3rd post!

[Anonymous Coward]

eat a shitburger, faggots

FREE MUMIA!

Re:3rd post!

[Multiple Sanchez]

1. "Shitburgers" don't really exist. Check it out.
2. "Faggot" is a derogatory term. Also, homophobia is not to be tolerated.
3. Boobies

Re:3rd post!

[Shitsack Comments]

You wouldn't happen to be a "dirty" sanchez, now would you?

Re:3rd post!

[cyborg_monkey]

I laughed out loud... I hadn't heard that in a while!

Re:3rd post!

[Shitsack Comments]

Consider that payback for "boner nose" then.

P.S.: Where's the bozo with the porn fiction? I'm bored.

Re:3rd post!

[Anomymous Coward]

It was hot and steamy as we arrived at the airport in Bris-

bane for the long journey home to Boston. This was the end of a

month-long campervan vacation in Australia, and I, for one, was

overjoyed to be heading back to some normalcy. For an entire

month my wife Anne (I call her "the queen") had avoided sex in

the campervan, or anywhere else for that matter, since "the

children are nearby." - The irony of her way of thinking will be

evident shortly.

Actually, she is not very interested in sex anytime, since

she was taught by her mother that sex was "dirty." The only time

she ever saw her parents making love, they were fully clothed

(hike up the skirt, dear - I'll just quickly unzip.) Sometimes I

wonder how we ever ended up with three children; one is grown and

on her own, the two boys (Ralph, 17 and Trevor, 14) were with us

on holiday. Because I travel regularly, I have opportunity for

other sexual outlets during the year, but four plus weeks within

close quarters with a demanding uptight woman does not give you

much opportunity to develop alternatives.

I had some first class upgrade coupons, but at check-in time

was told there was only one seat available. Anne immediately

volunteered because of her "potential for a bad back," and was

seated in 3A. The boys and I were given 21K/L and 22L. This was

aisle and window seating in the 2-5-2 configuration, and the last

two rows in the second section. I took the single seat, and let

Ralph and Trevor sit together for the first ten-hour segment of

the flight.

An attractive woman dressed in a loose sweater and very tight

blue jeans took the seat next to me. I could see that Ralph was

uncomfortable and maybe even a little jealous, since he kept

turning around to talk to me, but she was too old (29) to be

interested in him. She introduced herself as Christine, "You can

call me Chrissy." She was about five foot eight, light brown

(almost blond) long hair, a nice ass - firm and high, breasts

with an impact even through her shapeless sweater, and obviously

in good physical condition.

Chrissy was headed for Miami to pick up her belongings from a

recent divorce; she and her husband had been working together on

private yachts for eight years, and he had developed a cocaine

habit. When he would not seek help to end his drug addiction,

and more immediately after a close call with customs in Australia

last year, she decided then and there to split from him, filed

for divorce, stayed in Brisbane, and had just been notified the

divorce was final. In the meantime, she had met another guy she

wanted to stay with, and was going to Miami to settle up the

property and return to her new lover. This I discovered during

dinner conversation and over a few shared glasses of wine.

Looking into my eyes, she confided she was "now free and ready

for some excitement."

The movie started, the flight attendants went around the

cabin to lower all the shades, and Chrissy said, "I'd rather

talk, if it's OK with you; this movie is terrible." I had also

seen the movie and agreed. We spent the next two hours getting

to know each other better. Chrissy at one point said, "You have

terrific eyes, I get really turned on by eyes." We talked about

the kids, and when she asked if I was married and learned about

Anne in the front cabin, she thought it displayed selfish behav-

ior and then never mentioned my marital status again.

By now, the boys had fallen asleep, and just before the end

of the movie, Chrissy excused herself for a few minutes, reached

into the overhead bin for her carry-on (stretched long enough to

get my mind focused on her hips and legs in those wonderful tight

jeans,) and headed to the lavatory in the back. When she re-

turned, she was wearing loose-fitting sweatpants, and when she

asked if I minded if she lifted the arm dividing the seats, I

replied "Of course not!" By now I had an idea of what she had in

mind, because she had confided during the movie that one of her

greatest turn-ons was the risk of discovery while having sex.

"My husband was not a great lover, but in the close confines of

the boat it was always exciting to fuck without anyone nearby

knowing about it; I had more orgasms from fucking near other

people than from the sex act itself." As she shared this with

me, she was already visibly breathing more quickly.

Chrissy and I arranged the blankets over both of us, now no

longer separated, and curled up like spoons in the otherwise

crowded seats. I started to give her a back rub, slowly working

over her muscles by now cramped from the first five hours of the

flight. She purred quietly, and after a while squirmed her

shapely ass on the seat, pushing it back into my

growing erection. With both hands I reached around under her

loose sweater, and fondled her globes, her nipples growing firmer

under my gentle stroking.

Chrissy reached back and with one hand released my belt, then

unbuckled and unbuttoned my pants. I whispered in her ear, "How

do you do that? I can't even do that with one hand, and they're

my pants."

She laughed, and said, "Years of practice; don't worry, it

gets better." My hard-on sprang out of my tight bikini briefs as

she pulled the waistband forward, and she whispered, "I'm glad

you're not wearing boxer shorts, I can't stand them."

Chrissy began to stroke my cock, now slightly oozing with its

own lubrication. She used the pre-come to help rotate her fin-

gers gently around the head, stroking it with ever firmer pres-

sure. I withdrew my hands from under her sweater to push my

pants down further, allowing me to slip the briefs down below my

swollen balls, which she now explored with her questing hand.

Lubricating her fingers even more with her saliva, she alternate-

ly rubbed my balls and massaged the head of my dick.

My hands were now free, and I hungrily reached forward for

her erect nipples, shortly afterward sliding my right hand down

her belly and slipping it under the waistband of her sweatpants.

She was wearing no panties underneath, and the inside of the

cotton sweats was already wet with her juices. As I stroked her

mound, her lubrication welcomed my fingers into her warm wet

cunt. Rubbing the juices on my fingers, I began to circle her

clitoris and then used my fingers to stroke in and out of her

pussy while my thumb pushed against her swollen clit. She was

breathing harder now, and could not stop moving her ass around on

the seat, first bucking her soaking cunt against my right hand,

then pushing her ass back against my cock through the sweatpants.

Just then, the stewardess came down the aisle, paused notice-

ably as she came up to our row, glared at me (me? why me? there

are two of us here, you know!), almost said something, then

apparently decided that since we were bothering nobody else, she

would keep moving. Thank God! While we were both close to fully

clothed at that time, there was little chance she could do any-

thing legally disastrous, but who needs the embarrassment, or the

hassle from the kids for that matter.

As the stewardess left, Chrissy whispered. "She knows exact-

ly what we are doing, and she's jealous! Now I want to have your

prick inside me. I'll keep quiet, but I need you to fuck me

now." With this, she lifted her ass off the seat and slid her

sweats down below her knees, then separated her legs slightly and

moved back so I could slide into her dripping pussy from behind.

I moved slowly in and out as she purred and pushed back onto my

cock quietly so we would not wake our neighbors.

At the same time, I reached back around to stroke her clito-

ris easily but steadily. The appearance of the stewardess had

startled me, and most of the urgency for release that had built

up from her stroking my hard-on had subsided, so it was a nice,

long, easy fuck, punctuated by her spasming in orgasm three times

before my cock pressure built up to the point of no return. I

came with the most excruciating pleasure I had felt in my life

(actually for the last month, but you know how easy it is to lose

perspective at the moment.) I felt like I unleashed at least a

pint of come into her already dripping cunt. I sighed, and

whispered' "Chrissy, it must have been heaven that sent you to

this seat. You don't know how much I needed that."

She then turned around in the seat to sit normally, and

kissed me for the first time. "I needed it just as much as you

did; you're a terrific fuck, but on top of that it's the danger

that makes me come so much. Thanks for being here, I dreamed

that I'd be fucked silly on this trip. As we kissed, I told her

about my favorite turn-on. "What I like best is eating pussy,

but there is no room here for that. Would you like to go to the

back of the plane with me?"

"What do you mean? In the lavatory?" she asked.

"Yes. If we are reasonably cautious we can get in there

without causing an uproar," I replied.

"I've never done that before," Chrissy explained.

"There's a first time for everything," I said, and moved to

pull up my pants and buckle my belt. She thought about it for a

minute, and then said, "why not, let's try it!" She drew up the

sweatpants and tied the drawstring (I hadn't noticed there was

one before - must not have been tied.) Then she got up and

headed for the back of the plane, with me following directly

behind.

She entered the first lavatory, which was vacant (good thing

the flight was long, and everybody was still asleep.) I slipped

right in behind her before the flight attendants noticed we were

even there. As I closed the door, she turned and we started to

kiss passionately. She broke for a quick query, "how do you do

anything in this little space?" As I untied the drawstring on

her sweatpants, I said, "Just lift up and sit on the sink, and

let me taste your cunt."

Chrissy lifted, spread her legs, and I could see her cunt

lips were still swollen from her last orgasm. I gently tongued

her outer lips, occasionally swiveling my head to nip the insides

of her thighs, but always returning to circle her clit, and as it

swelled up, suck on it gently. There was no end to the wetness;

her own lubrication, supplemented by the enormous load of come I

had left in her pussy, dripped down both sides of my chin onto

the stainless steel sink surface and trailed down her thighs.

After tonguing her into a few more orgasms, I realized how

hard I was getting again, and finally stood up, sliding her ass

slightly off the surface, and drove my cock into her again while

we exchanged extremely wet but tasty kisses, flavored by both of

our juices. Such a short time after the last fuck, and she was

sooo wet; this time it lasted at least twenty minutes, both of us

sighing and savoring the overwhelming sensations coursing through

our bodies. Finally, after a slow buildup that I never wanted to

end, I came again, not as much this time, but she sensed it and

started bucking hard just at the same moment. The pleasure was

so intense it was almost painful.

The light came on to return to the cabin, and after a few

minutes we were able to adjust ourselves to some degree of

presentability to return to our seats. Just as we opened the

door, the same stewardess was looking right into my eyes. She

said angrily, "Please return to your seats and stay there. We

have some turbulence and the captain has turned on the seat

belt sign." I couldn't help but think that maybe we were the

cause of the turbulence, but then that's just my imagination

running away with me again.

As we settled in to the seats, Chrissy pushed the seat divid-

er down, saying, "I think everyone is waking up, let's not embar-

rass your boys." The breakfast service was beginning, the cabin

lights were turned on, and we were again two strangers who hap-

pened to be sitting next to each other on the plane. The secret

of our mile-high lovemaking was secure.

We exchanged addresses, but with her in Brisbane and me in

Boston it's not likely we'll ever meet again. Both of us prom-

ised to use caution in contacting each other should the opportu-

nity arise, so our current SO would not be disturbed, but also

promised to get together if possible again.

I said goodbye to Chrissy at the seat, and went forward with

the unsuspecting boys to deplane.

As we got to the end of the ramp in the terminal, I asked

Anne, "How was your flight?"

"Great," she replied, "one of the most relaxing ever."

"Me too!"

Re:3rd post!

[Anomymous Coward]

A true story that really happend to me.

I had this really good friend named Dave who also had a friend

named Rusty. Well, Rusty had this really knockout girlfriend named

Candy. Dave is a real bullshitter and I didn't believe half of the

wild stories he told, so I just ignored his comments about how wild

Candy got when she got drunk. He told me how Rusty was the type of

guy that only wanted it about once or twice a week and Candy wanted it

once or twice an hour. Since she was a "good little girl" she

couldn't really cheat on Rusty, but if you got her drunk, she would do

anything and not feel guilty about it.

One day Dave told me he was going to prove to me how wild Candy

really was. He had arranged for us to meet her at the local Pizza Hut

for pizza and beer. When she met us I noticed that the dress she was

wearing was really unusual in that it was made almost exactly like a

raincoat, buttons down the front with a belt around the middle. I

also noticed a lot of cleavage and her shapely claves encased in

fishnet stockings.

We sat down and ordered our pizza and two pitchers of beer. When

the beer arrived, Candy said that she didn't want to drink any because

she didn't like the taste. Well, after our pizza arrived Candy gave

in and poured herself a glass of beer. When we were done with the

pizza, we were also done with the beer and Candy had only had one. We

soon ordered two more pitchers and convinced Candy that the only way

for her to drink with us was to "chug" each glass so she wouldn't

taste it so much. After "chugging" about six or seven glasses of

beer, Candy was being as sweet as her name. She had unbuttoned two of

the lower buttons on her dress so that she could mover her legs enough

to play footsie under the table with me. As we were leaving, Dave was

getting in the driver's side of the car and I was waiting for him to

unlock the passenger door when Candy called out to me. She was

standing in the center of the parking lot and when I turned she opened

up her dress and showed me a braless cutout corsett with garters and

stockings. Her nipples were about the size of a quarter and looked

like Hershey's Kisses in the cool evening air. Her bush was a light

strawberry blonde that looked like the hair was very thin or recently

trimmed. About then I realized that we were in the middle of a city

with about 100,000 people in it and it was still daylight at 8 P.M.

Dave unlocked the door and we got into the car. Nothing else happened

that night, but Candy and I became drinking buddies for several

months.

One evening about 4 months later Candy called me and invited me

and my bottle of rum over to her apartment for margaritas. I quickly

showered, dressed, hit the liquor store and was at her apartment in

about 20 minutes. When I got there I thought something was up because

Rusty was working night shift and Candy's roommate was out for the

rest of the night with her new beau. Candy made the mistake of

letting me make the margaritas and I loaded about a cup of rum into

each one of the drinks. After our third round Candy was feeling real

loose.

Our casual conversation suddenly turned sexy when candy asked if

I had liked her lingere that night at Pizza Hut. I said that I loved

lingere but had trouble finding women who were into it as much as I

was. When Candy heard that I loved lingere she offered to give me a

fashion show of her lingere collection. I quickly agreed and she

disappeared into the bedroom to change.

The first outfit she came out in really knocked my socks off. It

was a basic white bra with frilly lace accross the top edge of the

cups. The lace was cut just low enough to expose the top half of each

perky brown nipple. She was wearing white garters that rode perfectly

across her slender, full hips with four long, lacy straps leading down

to her white stockings. The stockings were the sheer white kind that

sparkle in the light and she was moving around alot to produce the

best possible effect with the little light available. She was wearing

white lace panties that were no more that two triangles of cloth held

together by lace straps. The front panel was transparent enough that

I could see her light bush and a hint of pussy lips. She really knew

what she was doing because she had put her panites on over the garters

so she could take off her panties without removing the garters.

The fashion show didn't get any further then because Candy sat

down next to me and started necking. Being fully clothed and in the

arms of this green-eyed, red-haired beauty while she was only clad in

her underwear was more than I could stand. I got up and started to

undress when Candy said "Let me do that for you." Candy undresses me

but made it a point not to touch me. She laid back on the couch and

handed me a vibrator that had magically appeared in her hand. "Do me

with this," she said. I took the vibrator from her and turned it on,

adjusting the speed to a very slow, humming speed. I started out on

her nipples and when they got good and hard I pushed the cups of her

bra down to expose them to my tongue. With one nipple in my mouth and

my left hand on the other, my right hand moved the vibrator around her

crotch and upper legs.

After about five minutes of playing this way I started to move

the vibrator into her cunt. I slowly tickled the outer lips of her

pussy with the tip of the vibrator and watched as her pussy unfolded

like a lovely flower. The vibrator was already slick with her pussy

juices that were leaking out of her like a lake draining so I pushed

it slowly up into her pussy. I kept pushing until all eight vibrating

inches were burried in her cunt. We moved into a sixty-nine position

so she could suck my cock and I could lick on her clit while I diddled

her with the vibrator.

I finally removed the vibrator from her pussy and decided to get

down to some serious cunt lapping. I shoved two fingers of my left

hand up into her pussy and started to dig around until I found the

magic spot. Once I had done this I sucked her clit into my mouth and

pushed up on the spot. Candy started squealing and bucking like she

was being electricuted and pussy juice coated my face and my arm down

to the elbow. Suddenly Candy stopped thrashing about and just lay

there breathing rapidly and deeply. Without any warning at all Candy

pissed all over the couch but didn't seem to notice or to wake up.

After about five minutes Candy woke up and was really embarassed about

peeing on the couch. Apparently she was totally knocked out by the

series of multiple orgasms. When she got her composure back she said,

"You can do anything you like."

When I heard this I was ecstatic. I first shoved my hard dick, I

still hadn't come yet, up her juicy cunt and then shoved a finger up

her asshole. After ten minutes of slow fucking and several orgasms by

Candy I lifted her legs over my shoulders. From this position I

withdrew my cock in a long slow stroke that made a popping sound when

it finally came out. Candy whimpered for me to put it back in her

when I pulled out but I had other ideas. I put my cunt juice

slickened dick right up to her anus and began to push. Candy was

obviously no stranger to anal sex because she relaxed and shoved right

back until my balls hit her ass. Then she started bucking and I

started pushing. This time the strokes were long, hard, and fast.

Candy grabbed the vibrator off the floor and pushed it into her cunt

with such savage force that I thought that she might hurt herself.

The vibrations were too much for Candy and she came twice real close

together then I was ready to come. Candy stopped me and told me to

come in her mouth so I withdrew my dick and, with her legs around my

thighs, shoved it into her mouth. With Candy sucking on the head of

my dick, one hand playing with my balls, and one finger of her other

hand up my asshole I came what seemed like gallons. Candy drank it

all down like a pro and then complimented me on my lovemaking.

I saw Candy regularly and more kinkily for several more months

and then she finally made a commitment to be true to Rusty and as far

as I know she hasn't broken it. She always knows that if she wants

anything in the way of sex she can call me.

Baterylife = 6 Hours

[mrpull]

If this device only has a battery life of 6 (or fewer hours) *I don't want it*. I expect my watch to continue telling time for serveral months without replacing the battery. I don't want another charger to clutter up my house either. (Let's see palm cradle, laptop cord & docking station, three cell phone chargers...Too many already).

Hell, I sleep with my watch on. If it's on the charger, I can't tell time.

Hmmmmm, maybe i'm just in a bad mood, but the geek factor doesn't overweigh the stupidity of this.

mr.

Re:Baterylife = 6 Hours

[GoatPigSheep]

my timex ironman watch's battery lasted for 4 years untill it needed to be replaced.. and then one I have in it now is going on 3 years.

Re:Baterylife = 6 Hours

[Tha_Zanthrax]

6 hours is REALLY not much, but what did you expect ?! it's a prototype. The article states: IBM has predicted all-day battery life will appear in a year or so. That still extremly short, compare a watch with a screen that small to a (for example) Compaq Ipaq. Those things run quite a while on one recharge. But it his a much larger colorscreen, has more memory and processing power (and it can also run Linux) but the watch is running 24/7 and a PDA about 1 hour on a single day. (just a guess) IF big blue starts to manufacture these watches, they should ahip at with a cradle for synch and ofcourse recharging. If they can get this thing to run for a couple of days that will be enough for my.

Re:Baterylife = 6 Hours

[Anonymous Coward]

im sure the watch part uses a standard battery which lasts for years. the backlit/lcd and processor(all pda crap) is the only part that needs charging

Re:Baterylife = 6 Hours

[uberdood]

hmmm. maybe citizen should team with seiko for their latest kinetic technology. human-powered linux wristwatch would be SWEET.

Re:Baterylife = 6 Hours

[swordboy]

I wonder how long it will be before a PC-on-a-strap can be powered kinetically

Re:Baterylife = 6 Hours

[Ledge]

Someone should come up with an induction charging system for small devices like this. Set up a charging station next to your bed, your armchair, your desk, and in your car, and you should never have to remove the device from your body for charging purposes. There's probably a health risk involved in sitting in the middle of a magnetic field all the time, but how much worse than a monitor could it be?

Re:Baterylife = 6 Hours

[Tha_Zanthrax]

You just came up with the ultimate solution!!
The 'charging while you sleep'-thing is nice.
Than look again at that last sentence and do the math. Most /.readers spend as much time sleeping as sitting behind a monitor. What you need is a linuxwatch that recharges itself from the magnetic field generated by a monitor !!

Wow, I could become rich if I marketed this right !

Re:Baterylife = 6 Hours

[Anonymous Coward]

My watch ran for at least 10 years recharging itself from solar cells before the battery worn out.

The only thing this watch is useful for is as a 6 hours countdown timer.

Not everything is solved with lots of processing power and rich set of API.

Re:Baterylife = 6 Hours

[sacherjj]

How much magnetic field does my LCD monitor on my Thinkpad produce?

Re:Baterylife = 6 Hours

[drsoran]

I've got a Casio Databank watch that I don't wear anymore. The battery in that is going on 7 years. The last 3 or 4 years the "BATT" display has been on constantly. I'm actually kind of amused to see how long it'll actually last. The funny thing is that it still keeps damn good time.

Re:Baterylife = 6 Hours

[drsoran]

I can see it now:
"Hey Steve.. I see you down at the gym an awful lot these days running on the treadmill. Trying to get in shape?"

"No, just charging up my $^@#@!* watch again."

Re:Baterylife = 6 Hours

[Anonymous Coward]

Or you could just use a normal watch and watch battery and replace them every 3 or 4 years like everyone else.

Re:Baterylife = 6 Hours

[Anonymous Coward]

None, but you could use the speakers' magnets to recharge.

Re:Baterylife = 6 Hours

[Trinn]

Looks like it's time for someone to do some math here and figure out the strength of the field necessary to recharge the watch. IMHO IIRC from physics class, it shouldn't be all that big of a deal. We are talking such short battery life because the device is indeed so small, and there is not room for a large battery. If it were the size of a normal PDA, it would last forever on one battery. This however works to our advantage in that it would not take a whole lot of juice to recharge it. I think one could easily safely produce a strong enough alternating field to recharge such a thing. *hopes this post down in the depths doesn't get overlooked*

Re:Baterylife = 6 Hours

[cloudmaster]

My citizen eco-drive watch has never and will never need a battery. It's solar-charged with a battery backup, charged off of artificial and natural light, and has a battery that can sustain the watch for several months without any light before needing rechanrged by some light exposure. No *that's* the technology that needs adapted to this linux watch. It takes me more than 6 hours to lose track of time so badly that I need to check my watch... :)

The watch was a little pricy, but mine looks subtle while still being pretty nice. All brushed titanium construction, water resistent far deeper than I'll ever dive (considering that I don't dive), and that whole "never needs a battery" thing...

I'd provide a link to citizen's web page, BTW, but it sucks *so* bad that I refuse to do so. It's straight flash, and for some reason wouldn't even take me to the english page. The watch still kicks ass, thoug.

Re:Baterylife = 6 Hours

[darkonc]

Many years ago, the SGI workstation we had had an analog clock program (complete with shadows, and everything). We used to joke that this was a $60,000 analog clock. This unit is one of those... It has 450 features, including a (default?) clock display.

It's really just a PDA with a really small screen. I guess that I could run it with one of my external battery packs.... A 2 pound hip unit with the wire running up my sleeve, I should be able to get all-day power for the unit. Maybe I could even put together a waist level inductive charger and remove the need for a wire.

Re:Baterylife = 6 Hours

[Tha_Zanthrax]

There goes my fortune :(

Re:Baterylife = 6 Hours

[MousePotato]

man somebody always has to rain on a good parade.

Don't give up though. Plenty of things generate a magnetic field. Maybe if you design it to get its energy from any type of magnetic or rf field (after all that cellphone spends plenty of transmission time next to your watch) then it could snarf up juice from wherever ya go:)

Re:Baterylife = 6 Hours

[Tha_Zanthrax]

I can't imagine than a monitor or any other device which magnetic field is used for charging a portable device doesn't consume more power. (Since the magnetic field is drained)
You could get in serious trouble if you used a device that is able to recharge it's battery by stealing energy from everything it passes.

Scotty: Captain, our shields are going off-line. Something is draining our power !!
Kirk: Must be one of them script-kiddies with their Linuxwatches !

Re:Baterylife = 6 Hours

[Anonymous Coward]

I once owned an electric toothbrush which was rechargeble by just placing it in a 'cradle' without any connectors, the thing wouldn't synch :) but it did recharge.
The battery in the toothbrush was about the size of one of those large flashlight cells (i believe those are called D-cells ?) and it would recharge in about 2 hours and generate quite a bit of heat.

Re:Baterylife = 6 Hours

[Anonymous Coward]

Hell, I sleep with my watch on. If it's on the charger, I can't tell time.

You can tell time in your sleep? Maybe it's the radiation from those three cell phones...

Interface

[Mattcelt]

It is only the interface that has always bothered me with smaller and smaller computers. Has there been significant progress into wearable screens like the cool one in the commercial with the day-trader kid?

Once we have the interface down, things can be as small as we want.

Mattcelt

Re:Interface

[Anonymous Coward]

Here is what you do:

Get a big goofy puffy coat.
Get a roll of duct tape.
Attach a flat screen to your coat with the duct tape.

There you go.

Like the Apple "palm" device

[Anonymous Coward]

I think this will be like the Newton. Nice idea, but technology not where it should be yet.

Not a watch

[Anonymous Coward]

More like a wrist mounted PDA.

as a devout moslem...

[Anonymous Coward]

As a devout Moslem, I am beginning to take offence to Slashdot's biased and often degrading view of the Arab world. I realized this when I read this post . Normally posts on slashdot that insult any race are instantly pegged as trolls or flamebait, however since the subject of the joke happened to be arab and they are 'terroists' according to the site and most of it's audience, it was considered funny. This is the type of treatment of the Islamic world that drove those terrorists to do what they did. Perhaps instead of blaming it on Arabs you should begin to take some responsibility for yourselves. Other articles on slashdot such as one written by John Katz spoke of how we should be protecting the lives of American soldiers, while many Afghani civilians are being killed. I find this disgraceful, and slashdot has thrown away any chance of becoming a source for reputable news. May Allah forgive you all.

Re:as a devout moslem...

[Shitsack Comments]

Know where I can get a cheap hooker?

Re:as a devout moslem...

[Anonymous Coward]

Please don't let a few dumb people taint your view of slashdot. I don't intent to let a few dumb moslems taint my view of entire religion.

Re:as a devout moslem...

[Anonymous Coward]

get over it. I stink like milk, and my ancestors were all drunks. Its a stereotype, but it's true. Chew on a rock.

Re:as a devout moslem...

[Anonymous Coward]

YHBT. Hand.

Re:as a devout moslem...

[Anonymous Coward]

Our precious slashdot trolls scream out for vengeance:

1. Kill all Camel Jockeys.
2. Kill all Mohammedans.
3. Kill all Dune Coons.
4. Kill all Rag Heads.
5. Kill all Towelheads.
6. Kill all Arabs.
7. Kill all Camel Rooters.
8. Kill all Osama Bin Laden supporters.

Nuke their countries to hell.
Nuke them again.
Death to Islam.

I piss on Mecca. I wipe my ass with the Koran. I spit upon Mohammed.

Watch Pad eh?

[american_bongo]

I can see the next development, the Linux operated Maxi Pad.

*You have now finished menstruating*

mmmm Bongo

Not that impressive...

[Green Aardvark House]

It looks like a PDA with a wriststrap. Besides, something that big on my wrist would probably get annoying after a while.

I'll stick to a PDA or pocket PC.

Re:Not that impressive...

[Anonymous Coward]

If it's got bluetooth, why not assume that by the time if comes to market the wearer will have a wireless pda. That way you could dump virtually anything (not clock releated) to the pda & use the watch like a thin client for the beefier (lol, just couldn't resist) pda? Screw linux on a watch there _has_ got to be better options. It would prob. reduce hardware requ's too so your battery would last longer.

6 hours and deja-vu

[shibut]

First, what's the point of a watch whose battery life is measured in hours, as opposed to months? It's nice as a concept toy, I guess.

Second, the fully loaded digital watch was all the rage back in the 80s (you kids may not remember that decade very clearly, so I'll let you know that those watches covered a substantial part of your wrist and then some and if you had the muscles to wear them for long you could probably get tennis arm...). It died out pretty quickly then, partly due to their weight, but also because it really isn't very convenient to handle lots of buttons or operations when 1 hand is incapacitated (the one the watch is on) and the other is busy activating the device....

Re:6 hours and deja-vu

[TheMidget]

...if you had the muscles to wear them for long you could probably get tennis arm...

Or, more to the point, if you had the muscles to wear them, you probably weren't the type of person to wear them...

Re:6 hours and deja-vu

[hoggoth]

> it isn't convenient to handle buttons when 1 hand is incapacitated (the one the watch is on)

It worked ok for the Predator. I hope the next version of this watch also has the Predator's tactical-nuke self-destruct capability. Not that I'd use it... but you know, just to know it's there.

Re:6 hours and deja-vu

[czardonic]

It died out pretty quickly then, partly due to their weight, but also because it really isn't very convenient. . .

Oh yeah, and they looked dorky as hell, as does this.

Re:6 hours and deja-vu

[Anonymous Coward]

"Hey do you have the time please?"

"Sure, it's half past The system is going down to maintenance mode NOW !!"

"Get away from me freak!"

Re:6 hours and deja-vu

[Mike1024]

Hey,

First, what's the point of a watch whose battery life is measured in hours, as opposed to months?

Maybe they could make the watch start fast, and have a seperate clock chip. Every program that needs to do something calls a program that writes an 'on time' to the clock chip, and at that time, the chip is activated. Also, if you press any of the buttons, it is activated.

Then it would take less than the power of a normal watch, until it had to do something clever, when it could.

it really isn't very convenient to handle lots of buttons or operations

You are, of course, correct. But you could make a really cool watch by making it touchscreen, and improving the screen. If I could get an (admittedly large) watch with a 2" x 2" screen (Preferable with a nice blue backlight), then you could have an activation pen and handwriting recognition, and a nice clear readable display. Need to take a note down? Don't search around for paper and a pen - simply pull out the activation pen, hit the 'menu' on your watch, choose 'notepad' (or 'vi') and you can write directly onto the watch. That'd be cool.

It could bluetooth interact with your mobile phone, giving you a (somewhat) better screen for WAP browsing, and you could have handwriting recognition for text messages, and all sorts of things.

I think that would be cool.

Uh.. of course, it if the screen was tiny and the battery was awful, it would be silly. But it's only a development model, and it shows potential.

Still, it could go either way. But it could be very cool.

Michael

Re:6 hours and deja-vu

[The Larch]

The Predator's watch probably didn't include a tactical nuke. If you look at the video evidence of the detonation of his device, you can clearly see a distortion across the field of view, very much like a gravitational lensing effect. It is more likely that the Predator's self-defense device was based on a technology able to create and manipulate extreme gravitational fields, in effect creating a tiny, temporary neutron star that sucked in surrounding matter, thus releasing a vast amount energy from the implosion. This was also a very efficient way of disposing of all physical evidence of his visit, and if it weren't for the incredibly brave camera crew that happened to be present and whom the Predator fortunately failed to notice, the very fact he was here would still be unknown to us to this date.

To get back to the topic: while putting a tactical nuke inside a Linux-powered wristwatch is beyond IBM's current technical capability, it will certainly be possible in the hopefully not too distant future. One can only hope that the unfortunate events of 9/11 will not cause unconstitutional legislation to be passed that would keep these devices away from the reach of the common man, making it impossible for him to protect his home and family.

Remember, when tactical nukes in wristwatches are outlawed, only Predator will have a tactical nuke in his wristwatch!

Re:6 hours and deja-vu

[AndroidCat]

My Casio Databank isn't that large, and does what I need: Time, reminders, phone numbers, and a calculator to work out my share of the lunch bill.

I'm told that it's very retro-geek. I think that's a good thing...

Re:6 hours and deja-vu

[|_uke]

now, I am only 20 years old.. but I have been a nerd since the 80's... so hehehe.. through the 80's and early 90's I owned many many many multi function watches... ones with little calculators and all sorts... LOL... almost every watch I have owned has more than 5 buttons :) (except recently.. for the last few years I have not warn a watch.. and if I buy one.. it will have to be an analog watch....... just because it looks nicer and easier to read from a distance.)

Re:6 hours and deja-vu

[Anonymous Coward]

Predators stuff was based on one thing only :

pure fantasy

!

Hadd0x

Re:6 hours and deja-vu

[Anonymous Coward]

How would you count the joystick on the pacman watch I had? (I had the one on the top of that page) It had 4 buttons, plus a 4-way joystick. Geekiest watch I had: the casio scientific calc (23 buttons). Exponents, 4 memories, trig, ln, degree/minute/second conversions, but no hex or binary.

But, now I'm back to a really schweet analog watch. Sure, it looks normal, but it's really a geek watch. Nitrogen-hardended titanium case stratches glass! Solid saphire front and back (the back has a window so you can see the mechanics inside). Three years old and not a single scratch. (well, there is a small dent, but that's from an emergency landing - thats character!) Plus, the 4Hz tick (sweep second hand) matches caffeine buzz.

Re:6 hours and deja-vu

[Captain_Jackass]

First, what's the point of a watch whose battery life is measured in hours, as opposed to months?

Months? My 18:00 Timex has been running constantly for the past 5 years

Re:6 hours and deja-vu

[Captain_Jackass]

er...$18.00 not 18:00

Re:6 hours and deja-vu

[Zero__Kelvin]

"First, what's the point of a watch whose battery life is measured in hours, as opposed to months? It's nice as a concept toy, I guess. "

Presumably engineers smart enough to build this are smart enough to decouple the time-telling interface, including power supply subsystem, so that the Linux running computer part has a 6 hour limit with easily swappable batteries, or failing that quick charge times, while the watch part does have a year+ battery life.

Remember, whenever you think something a bunch of IBM or similiar engineers are doing is absurd, it generally speaks more to your own understanding of the problem and solution rather than theirs. If they aren't yet doing it in this version, there is likely good reason, and they are probably planning on implementing it in a near future generation. Believe it or not, most IBM engineers aren't stupid. Seriously.

Cheers!

Zero__Kelvin

Re:6 hours and deja-vu

[shibut]

"Believe it or not, most IBM engineers aren't stupid. Seriously."

Thanks, I used to be one! And I think you're right, of course. However, during my time at IBM I did see toys that were made as "proof of concept" that later couldn't get over the hump between neat and practical. Battery life is one such area. The decoupling idea is a good one, hopefully it won't make it an even bigger gadget.

Re:6 hours and deja-vu

[Zero__Kelvin]

'"Believe it or not, most IBM engineers aren't stupid. Seriously." .'

"Thanks, I used to be one! "[IBM Engineer]

Well now, that's a bit of twisted irony isn't it 8^}

Yes, it does have a picture of Tux

[WillSeattle]

- How long until someone roots your wrist?

You should have used the DOD Linux version. Of course, the watchband is green then. Bastille Linux - maybe the Swiss Army Linux Watch will have that.

- Does it have a picture of Tux on the watchface?

Yes, which you would have seen if you had followed the main story link.

- Imagine a beowulf cluster of these.

Probably find one at Times Square - look for the guy with the raincoat.

- [Insert "If MS made watches joke here]

Then they would run backwards at times, you would have to pay more money each year for the same watch with the bug fixes, and sometimes it would just stop and you'd have to replace the battery to start it again.

Re:Yes, it does have a picture of Tux

[Russ Steffen]

Then they would run backwards at times, you would have to pay more money each year for the same watch with the bug fixes, and sometimes it would just stop and you'd have to replace the battery to start it again.

Let's not forget:

• You need extra licenses if you want someone besides yourself to read the watch.
• Every time you look at the watch a little animated figure pops up and says "Hi. It looks like you're trying to read the time. How can I help?".
• EULA prevents you from telling anyone else the time you read off the display. It also prevents you for using the time to disparage Microsoft or MSN.
• The watch comes complete with T-1 speed wireless access from anywhere on the planet. However, it only allowed to be used for license compliance tracking.
• The watch tells time in decimal and uses the Julian calander. Converting it to anything else violates the DMCA.

.

Re:Yes, it does have a picture of Tux

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh man, I just can't think about it when
linux ext2 makes an fsck on the watch I will
give as a gift to my girl friend.

Only six hours?

[cavemanf16]

The battery life seems rather ridiculous. Who would want to wear a watch that can't make it through an entire day at work? Besides, sounds to gimicky and gadget packed to be useful for anyone who isn't an ubergeek.

Re:Only six hours?

[AshPattern]

Besides, sounds too gimicky and gadget packed to be useful for anyone who isn't an ubergeek.

Er... this is Slashdot we're talking on here...

Concept is promising, but...

[rajslashdot]

Scheduling, ability to communicate with other devices-big plus

Six hour battery life-big minus

This watch has a big potential, as the technology matures and the battery life improves.

linux is for fat bloated hippies

[Shitsack Comments]

Can I install Windows 2000 on it?

Switch BACK to digital??

[ch-chuck]

I might just switch back to a digital.

Timothy doesn't use a digital watch? Why??

I couldn't live w/o the handy countdown timer
(for muting ads on radio and knowing when to turn it back up. In what I listen to the break for ads are always exactly 4 minutes long) or the stopwatch for benchmarking stuff.

Re:Switch BACK to digital??

[psychalgia]

i remember as a child, growing up, doing the same thing -- only then it was 3 minutes. Frickin capitalism.

Re:Switch BACK to digital??

[uberdood]

i use analog.

why?

- thinner

- lighter

- looks more professional in my white collar job

- can find north when the sun is shining

- i like the ticking sound (it's a primitive instinctive thing harking back to my first nine months of life)

- metal wrist bands fit much better and last longer (why are adult male plastic watch bands sized for kids? is an eight-inch wrist really that abnormal?)

- like telling time in terms of neareast quarter hour compared to the 80s/90s to-the-minute. i'm older now, and enjoying the here and now more.

when commercials come on, i mute. after a period of time passes, i unmute. if i miss a song, it's not a big deal. between cummulus and clear channel owning my town's RF, i'll be sure to hear the same songs all bloody day long. god to have an AOR radio station like back in college.

Re:Switch BACK to digital??

[ch-chuck]

Radio stations today have something called 'cache box' which can take all the small periods of dead air in a talk show and add them up to an extra 4 minutes/hour or so (1 extra minute per 1/4 hr break) - can't find anything about it with Google but, uh, Limbaugh talked about it.

Re:Switch BACK to digital??

[ch-chuck]

I had to laugh when someone, years ago, got this watch with LCD simulated 'hands' - there was an hour hand, minute hand and second hand, all simulated in glorious digital LCD display. Yeeetch.

Re:Switch BACK to digital??

[13013dobbs]

I remember those. they looked kinda cool; but, you still had to ask, "Why?"

Re:Switch BACK to digital??

[MaxVlast]

Why, the alluring, digital beep on the hour, of course!

Re:Switch BACK to digital??

[pastie]

Digital is the way to go for me.

- chunky

- difficult to lose

- difficult to forget to put it on (arm feels light)

- looks more professional in my tech-job

- can find north in complete darkness (Mmmmm, digital compass)

- ticking sounds keep me awake at night, as they get several thousand times louder when the surroundings are very quiet

- metal wrist bands are available on digital watches as long as you don't cheap out on them

- I like to have the air pressure, temperature and my heart rate instantly available and logged for later recall

Re:Switch BACK to digital??

[drinkypoo]

metal wrist bands fit much better and last longer (why are adult male plastic watch bands sized for kids? is an eight-inch wrist really that abnormal?)

Those of us who are, on the surface, closer to our simian relatives - IE, we have more body hair than most - Have "issues" with metal watchbands, namely that they remove the hair around our wrists.

Also, I have yet to meet a metal watchband which will fit around MY wrist, without spreading and thus exacerbating the hair removal issue. My wrist is only about eight and a half inches around, so if I were less furry, I'd want to know where you shop.

As for the other things that the watch does, it's useless if it doesn't act as a videophone when you're anywhere reasonable, IE, in any metropolitan area. If I can't play Dick Tracy, I'm not interested. Likewise, I'm not interested in a GPS watch, because I'm swinging my arm all over the place and I'm adding to the existing inconsistency, or an mp3 watch, because my ear is nowhere near my wrist most of the time, except maybe when I'm sleeping or have a severe headache, and in neither situation do I want to listen to music, especially on headphones.

As an aside: cnet is lame. "...and a Bluetooth chip for wireless communication with notebooks..." Well, I hope they add an antenna, too. Otherwise, it's not going to be much use, is it? Maybe they'll sell an external aerial as an "upgrade", that sounds like something IBM might try to pull.

Also, why oh why didn't they put a slim peltier junction on the back of it to power it, or at least help power it? That seems like an obvious move. While it would make it somewhat thicker, it would dramatically improve battery life.

Re:Switch BACK to digital??

[snilloc]

The ones that confused me were the double-watches with both digital AND analog. Each had to be set separately, of course.

Why?

Re:Switch BACK to digital??

[uberdood]

I'm of the fuzzy persuasion. The titanium band on my Seiko does not grab the hair. A well-made link metal band doesn't. YMMV.

You can have your geeky watch

[KingAzzy]

I'll keep my Rolex and enjoy a considerable amount of more female attention while you are showing your little toy off to all the other nerdboys.

I imagine this will match your Linux t-shirt and Apple bumper sticker well.

Re:You can have your geeky watch

[Anonymous Coward]

Girls like you because of your Rolex watch? Wow, where can I find women who have no brains and are attracted to shiny objects owned by boastful prima donnas?

My guess is you don't own a Rolex and the only way you can get a woman to come to you is if you die in a car accident (your Yugo isn't very safe, you know) and the coroner is female.

Re:You can have your geeky watch

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't assume that because you own a Yugo that everyone else does too, loser.

Re:You can have your geeky watch

[Anonymous Coward]

You know a Timex tells time just as well as a Rolex. It's not like the difference between buying a Porsche versus a Hyundai. How does it feel to have something so expensive purely as a status symbol?

Re:You can have your geeky watch

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't assume that because I assume that loser owns a Yugo that everyone can assume that I also own one, loser.

Re:You can have your geeky watch

[KingAzzy]

Jealous.

Your anwer: It feels GOOD.

Re:You can have your geeky watch

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't assume that because I assume that you assume that that loser owns a Yugo that you assume that everyone can assume that I assume that you also own one too, loser.

Re:You can have your geeky watch

[Cmarthen]

I'll keep my Rolex and enjoy a considerable amount of more female attention

If you depend on your Rolex for female attention instead of on your personality and/or wits, you've got more fundamental issues to deal with than the average nerdboy.

I fear for the world if/when your offspring are spaw... er, I mean born.

Re:You can have your geeky watch

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't assume... ah forget it. You're a loser. And that's no assumption.

Re:You can have your geeky watch

[Anonymous Coward]

Please. You purchased your "Rolex" on a NYC streetcorner for $15 from a guy in a trenchcoat.

Re:You can have your geeky watch

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey I just figured something out! 90% of Slashdotters are Linux freaks and furthermore do not have the income to possess anything beyond Timexes and Yugos. Is there a correlation??

Re:You can have your geeky watch

[WebMasterJoe]

cripes, I changed my prefs to view at -1 for that? I guess I'm a loser too.

Re:You can have your geeky watch

[aiabx]

I have a "Rolex" I got on the street corner for $15 that impresses women just as well as yours (that is to say, not at all).
-aiabx

People and Watches

[Renraku]

Most people I've met can't even use most of the features on their 'sporty' new watch, such as the calendar, timer, or otherwise. What makes the creator of this watch thing people are going to be able to use Linux with it? "I just want to know what time it is, damn it! I don't want to compile anything!"

Re:People and Watches

[jeff67]

>You haven't lived till you've used Kermit or X-modem for downloading.

Soon it will be: "I can't believe you're still alive if you remember using..."

Re:People and Watches

[Anonymous Coward]

I just wanna compile stuff dammit - I dont care what time it is :-/

Cool Iinux devices..

[ldopa1]

Linux Devices has the prototype of this watch on their cool embedded linux devices list.

You can check out the link here..

**Karma Killing Whine Alert**

BTW: I reported on this three days ago, and the article was rejected.

**End of Karma Killing Whine Alert**

Read the article

[entrox]

IBM states that the 6 hours are a product of optimizing the underlying OS. They also say that they target day-long battery life by further research.

Perhaps one of those kinetic powersources in some of todays watches could further prolong battery life. I think slashdot carried a story about those while back, but a quick search didn't turn anything up.

To Do list

[ellem]

12:00 Charge watch
18:00 Charge Watch
24:00 Charge watch
06:00 Charge watch

Re:To Do list

[garcia]

my parents have a grandfather clock that needs to be "recharged" ever 7 days or so by pulling down long weights inside the base of the clock...

I find that TERRIBLY annoying. I could even imagine having to make sure that the damn thing was charged.

(as a side note: I don't wear watches, I find no need for them, I hate them almost as much as I hate cell phones and their users)

What good is a clock if it doesn't set itself automatically (ala over the net) and it needs to have new batteries (recharged) more often than every several years?

I can't even remember what I had for dinner last night nevermind that I need to re-charge my clock every 6 hours or whatever...

Re:To Do list

[happyhippy]

LOL Dont forget about inputting lost data when the battery goes out.

Re:To Do list

[skepticult]

If your watch says "24:00" the implication would be that in 30 minutes the time would be 24:30, which is just retarded. Much like you.

00:00. We still have 24 hour days.

Re:To Do list

[Anonymous Coward]

Hello, nerd.

Re:To Do list

[Benley]

Yeah, that kinda sucks. They do say in the article, however, that all-day battery life should be available in a year or so.

Here's what I'm wondering, though. Why does my wristwatch have to be so damn smart? This thing has bluetooth. In theory, so should my visor/palm/newton/pocketpc/agenda/whatever. Right? Why, then, can't my wristwatch just act as a wireless display/input device (using that nifty Bluetooth piconet!) for a slightly larger, more intelligent device that I keep in my pocket/purse/backpack/etc, which can have *much* longer battery life?

I think that would be cool, and I think they could squeeze a bit more battery life out of the watch this way - it wouldn't need any CPU or RAM to speak of, just enough to talk Bluetooth to some other device.

--
This post is fully buzzword compliant.

Re:To Do list

[Anonymous Coward]

So spring for a nicer watch. On the el cheapo budget you could get one of those atomic clock watches. On the upper-low-end of the spectrum there are the seiko kinetics, in the midranges you have your mass produced swiss watches (rolex, tag, et al), and on the high end, something like a Vacheron & Constantin.

Re:To Do list

[finkployd]

(as a side note: I don't wear watches, I find no need for them, I hate them almost as much as I hate cell phones and their users)

Geeze, you must hate alot of people. For such an silly reason too.

Finkployd

Re:To Do list

[Anonymous Coward]

For those of us that forgets the root password, the watch would only blink 12:00...

Re:To Do list

[skepticult]

I think in Utah that means we're married now.

Re:To Do list

[Anonymous Coward]

mah ma says everuhwon on mah bus is speshul.

Re:To Do list

[garcia]

stupid reason? driving 45mph in the left lane, not paying attention to the road, swerving in the lane and not passing the person on the right? how about the person yelling into the phone "I am going home right now, blah blah blah" while walking home from class. Or my personal favorie -- the person calling everyone they know but not getting anyone. Probably just to try to look cool and use their cell phone.

cell phones are worthless when used by idiots. they are not toys. don't use them like one.

Battery Life

[Alien54]

By tinkering with Linux, IBM has reduced the amount of memory required to run the OS. In turn, this has helped increase the battery life to six hours. IBM has predicted all-day battery life will appear in a year or so.

I would hope so.

That kind of battery life I would expect from another OS.

Sadly, the IBM page link is ead:

dead link -> http://www.research.ibm.com/MobileComputing/WatchP ad.html

But there is some info in this earlier Infoworld article:

The prototype wristwatch, thinner than most current calculator watches, features a 720 dpi VGA display that makes 6-point type (about half the size of typical newspaper type) legible to the user. This allows the screen to show about as much type as the larger screen of a Palm handheld. Because of the high resolution of the display, the text can be read easily by the wearer, Karidis said. The device would offer organizing and messaging functions and could be navigated by touch, with just four or five touch areas.

"Your watch knows what time it is. It certainly should be able to tell you where your next appointment is," Karidis said.

Using Bluetooth, the WatchPad can communicate with a PC. As a demonstration, Karidis used the touchscreen controls to move through his presentation, which ran on an IBM ThinkPad notebook computer.

Researchers at IBM Japan have developed a prototype motherboard for the watch, about 1.25 inches across, with 8MB of DRAM. It runs a version of embedded Linux. The device could be commercialized within two years, Karidis said in an interview Wednesday.

Nice technology!

Re:Battery Life

[_Mustang]

But does 6 (!) hours make sense? Surely there must be a typo somewhere, since we know that a full laptop with the average OS and running applications all day can go around that long. And if this part is true

By tinkering with Linux, IBM has reduced the amount of memory required to run the OS. In turn, this has helped increase the battery life to six hours. IBM has predicted all-day battery life will appear in a year or so.

then how in the world?!?!

Re:Battery Life

[Anonymous Coward]

Laptops have significantly larger batteries than watches.

Re:Battery Life

[Tomcow2000]

Yeah, but that sort of instant-on capability would require it to be always in suspend, eating up (less, but still significant) battery life. Also, I expect to look at my watch and see the time, not have to press a button first...

Re:Battery Life

[pastie]

I would lift up my wrist and press the button, and it's on.

Casio already do this on their `wrist camera' watch, so I guess that it makes enough difference to be worthwhile as a power-saving technique.

Re:Battery Life

[MaggieL]

Reminicent of the old LED watches that couldn't spare the power for a constant display either, It led (pun intentional) to a Saturday Night Live parody commmercial of a functionally-overloaded watch; a voiceover enuumerated all the modes the watch had while we see the watch on a wrist and a hand comes in to start working buttons...then another hand enters, then a third, a fourth, all furiously working buttons on the single watch. The commercial wraps with the slogan something like: "Robowatch: it's like asking a stranger for the time"

Heh...

[Anonymous Coward]

Just what I always wanted! A Jane Fonda wrist weight that could also tell the time!

/. in my wrist...

[C0vardeAn0nim0]

and e-mail, quake, GCC...

But does it show the time ???

we are the socialists

[Anonymous Coward]

commies will take ove the world.
want to know more? ask us, it@swp.org.uk

Number of the beast

[PinkStainlessTail]

Hewlett-Packard is working on a similar effort with Swatch. In trials in Switzerland, wearers can pass through a train station turnstile while the watch charges their bank accounts for the cost of the ticket.

Beats hell out of a barcode tattoo.

Re:Number of the beast

[StikyPad]

Revelations 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

13:17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

I think we're safe as long as they don't start making linux headbands.

Re:Number of the beast

[AshPattern]

To have something in your right hand or on (in) your forehead meant, in ye ancient times, to know something and be able to instantly recall it at a moments' notice, much like a SSN, no?.

Some orthodox Jews took a passage from the Old Testement literally and have little scriptures literally tied to themselves.

great, a crashing watch......

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess this is cool but I would like mine to display *only* #uptime ..........

D~y

Real potential If

[BluePenguin]

There was a story [slashdot.org] here a year ago about IBM doing this. But if you combine this thing with the Thermoelectric system[slashdot.org] that was announced recently, you get a really nifty geek gizmo (probably retailing for more than the average geek wants to pay... at least for the first few years)

Cheers to IBM for pusing forward! Here's to the next few years!

Six hours

[r_j_prahad]

Don't fret the short battery life, folks. Any self-respecting geek is just going to strap an APC power supply to his ass and snake cabling down his shirtsleeve to run this.

Re:Six hours

[Anonymous Coward]

Heck, I do that for fun anyway!

Re:Six hours

[joshtimmons]

Can you be self-respecting with a APC stuck to your ass?

I don't think I could pull it off.

In fact, I'm sure that the only thing geekier than having a linux watch would be the posterior UPS.

The linux watch...

[StikyPad]

when a "Kick Me" sign is just too subtle.

Text Input, Size, Touch screen..I don't think so

[Quizme2000]

a pager-like application for sending and receiving short messages

I can't believe they only have three buttons on the thing and expect text to be entered. I thought for sure they would have something like the timex watches that has a ring that can easily be rotated to make selections or set the time, using only just one hand. When everyone is born with a stylus instead of an index finger, we'll talk about that option of a touch screen on this tiny thing. Most of the (older)people I work with have an extremely hard time using a regular PDA, you can forget about these things ever being more than a prototype or neat toy.

ok, who the hell would buy this?

[Wakko Warner]

The cons:

• 6 Hour Battery Life - as has been mentioned before
• Runs Linux - What is this doing on a watch? Seriously...?
• It's huge. - It looks like you've strapped a Toshiba Libretto to your wrist. Plus it's greyscale.
• The screen is tiny - Wow, let's telnet from my watch! My login name won't even fit on the screen!

The pros:

• Runs Linux. You can tell your dork friends how elite you are.

So, um, who would buy this, seriously?

- A.P.

Re:ok, who the hell would buy this?

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, let's telnet from my watch! My login name won't even fit on the screen!

Not a problem. With only 3 buttons for text entry, you won't be able to do much besides log in before the battery runs out anyway.

Leave Work Early

[Queer Boy]

New from Ronco!

Tired of those long, tedious 8-hour days at work? Introducing the 6-hour watch! Leave work early!

Re:Leave Work Early

[Homewrecker]

Or, because the watch stopped at 3 o'clock, your day never officially ends. Hooray!

Battery life

[qwerty823]

Maybe these guys can get with Applied Digital to make the watch powered by a body heat battery.

Finally

[DA_MAN_DA_MYTH]

We are implementing the technology to equip and call Dick Tracy.

I have a hard enough time...

[Anonymous Coward]

I have a hard enough time with my watch that can recieve pages and the battery dies every 3 months. How am I supposed to add PDA functions to my wrist and use them effefectively and remember to recharge. I will stick with my watch (timex internet messenger) and my visor deluxe.

Battery life shouldn't be an issue

[Desperado]

Citizen watches makes watches that recharge themselves and have something like a 4 year reserve and power saving features.

The real issues will be what features can be supported in a device the size of (a presumably largish) wristwatch.

This may be the PDA equivalent of the dancing bear. It's not that it dances well that's amazing. What's amazing is that it can dance at all.

All your gear are belong to us!

[active8or]

Is it me, or is Linux everywhere these days?

I imaging in a few years:"Just a second, I'm downloading new drivers for my Car" will be a common phrease, and mechanics are now reduced to recompiling the kernel.

Linus then states that the brakes WILL be fixed in the next release.

Mvh:
- Knut S.

Dear Casio,

[jd]

Can you make one that's self-rewinding?

Extend Battery Life

[tino_sup]

I know that citizen watches use Eco-Drive technology...

From Citizenwatch.com ---

Citizen Eco-Drive watches use the simplest, yet most technically advanced power generating and storage system in the Watch Manufacturing Industry. A Solar Cell and a rechargeable battery are the power provider for these Quartz Watches. Eco-Drive's ability to use light from any source to generate electrical power means that the supply is limitless and free. The absence of any added complex power generating machinery that would require additional upkeep is another big advantage. ---

Including this type of technology might help to extend battery life. Recharge while in use during the day, drawing on the 6hr life at night.

OR--- Some type of kinetic energy transfer. Will add to the bulk, but this is in Dev as it is.

Just a thought---

Re:Extend Battery Life

[nuetrino]

The choice seems to be either a solar panel or a flywheel. Both have problems.

The solar panel would either have to transparent to visible frequencies, or be mounted below the display, which would mean that the crystal and display would have to be transparent to non-visible frequencies.

The flywheel may be equally difficult. My autowind watch requires several hours of wear just to power the movement for a day. One would have to engage in some vigorous activities to power a computer for a day.

In either case, precious space is consumed by additional components.

I'm all for integration

[Anonymous Coward]

But this has got to be the dumbest thing I've ever seen.

When can I get Spider Jerusalem's glasses?

[jimdesu]

(no text)

Wow! I've got to upgrade!

[MBCook]

Six hours of battery life? My current linux watch only gets 2! Of course it also weights 6 pounds, has MS office on the Windows partition, can play Counter-Strike, and is called a "Laptop" in all the supplied literature but still...

Seriously though, I think this would be awesome if they could get the battery life up. If it was ~24 hours that'd be fine, I could recharge it every nite. But 6 is just inconveinent. Unless of course that 6 hours of DOING things, it can act as nothing more than a watch for maybe 48 hours straight. That'd be good.

IDEA: Maybe we could get GPS built in and use that as an Etch-A-Sketch! I'd look weird walking around staring at my watch to see if I'd made a good smiley face yet though ;)

IBM reduced the memory requirements?

[jd]

We were already down to 3! (Less if you used ELKS, I believe.) How much further did IBM take it?

Cute idea, but...

[billmaly]

1. 6 hour battery life? Come on!!! A Palm will run for a month on a pair of AAA's. Even if battery is bumped up to 24 hours, still not real convenient. Hate to have to dock my watch everynight for a recharge. And what if I travel? Yet another thing to carry along to charge batteries (cell, laptop, shaver, watch, HOLY DC ADAPTERS BATMAN!)

2. Privacy! Yes, it's damn convenient to have your watch act as your EZ-Pass when you go through a toll gate (either highway or public transportation), but the privacy types will be all up in arms over this (If 'they' can track you at Grand Central, they can track you ANYWHERE!!!).

Just my $0.02 worth!

Re:Cute idea, but...

[Anonymous Coward]

No no no! Digital cash doesn't have to equal a lack of privacy. It'd be possible for someone to build this thing to be your highway EZ-Pass and subway fare-card all in one, and still preserve the anonymity of cash (and subway tokens) while preventing fraud. only problem is, the perceived benefit to the manufacturer for building a privacy-less system outweighs the perceived cost to the consumer, in the minds of those building this type of thing.

Re:Cute idea, but...

[pa-guy]

And what if I travel? Yet another thing to carry along to charge batteries (cell, laptop, shaver, watch, HOLY DC ADAPTERS BATMAN!).

OK, have it plug into your PDA through the serial port (and still fit into the palm cradle).

Re:Cute idea, but...

[billmaly]

I've got it!! USB pumps out +5VDC, recharge it through a USB interface! Some cell phones already offer this....OK! 1 problem solved!

Reminds me of an old joke

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/Palms/2547/Bas ic_Humor.html

Re:Reminds me of an old joke

[sacherjj]

Mod this up, it is pretty funny and on-topic!

IBM Linux watch

[Nevrar]

They had some demo watches out at a show here in NZ about six months ago. The dude who was a key guy in the development team also came (from Japan). Very cool. Especially the number of things he could do with it. hmm. sounds dodgy.

Well, for instance, he was doing a slide presentation with it (remotely if i recall correctly).

Anyhow, what struck me at the time was that it would be very cool to have a watch with a firewall :)

Calender Program?

[Kefabi]

Hmmm, IBM predicts in about a year that they'll have battery life up to a whole day. A short battery life kinda ruins the point of a Calendar program, yes?

Today: Okay watch, I gotta job interview tomorrow evening at 6:30 PM.

Day-after-tomorrow: "Sorry I didn't come, sir. My watch battery went dead!" == Lamest excuse ever.

Hopefully advances in mini-fuel cells and the like will be able to push battery life to at least a week, if not a month.

Other things I wonder about

What kind of input device does this use? I'm assuming that you would not be able to directly input data, but that this would work in tandem with a Palm, Visor, one of those PDA/Cell phone concoctions, or maybe a home/office computer.

If that's true, then all the people with Palm, Visors, or PDA/Cell phones would just use those for most tasks. The only people who would buy these watches are those who have a computer at home but don't own another PDA.

They COULD figure out a way to input data into the watch, but this probably means some sort of attachment to the watch (like one of those nifty foldable Palm Keyboards) but then why not just get a PDA in the first place?

The Bucking Bronco

[cyborg_monkey]

An all time classic. You start by going doggy style on a girl and then just when she is really enjoying it, you grab onto her tits or hips as tightly as possible and call her a big fat no-good worthless slob. More than likely, she will try to escape. This will give you the feeling of riding a bronco as she tries to buck you off.

Re:The Bucking Bronco

[Shitsack Comments]

That's a pretty good one. I'll have to try that tonight with mackga's mom.

My all-time favorite: The Strawberry Shortcake - You have a chick blow you, and blast a nice sticky load all over her face. While you're blasting, and she's got her eyes closed, you punch her right in the nose as hard as possible. The mixture of blood and jizz makes for a nice creamy Strawberry Shortcake effect.

AWESOME TOY.

[Multiple Sanchez]

Anyone who's not getting excited about this has no imagination. Don't think of it as a PDA -- think of it as the first fully programmable watch! How many of you have seen the Casio filmwatches with little animations on them? As an animator I've always wanted to be able to program my own. Add bluetooth to the equation -- a hobbyist's dream. And a 1 GB Microdrive? ... It sounds wonderful.

Yes it will be cumbersome to wear. But this is a step in the right direction for a toy that is long overdue in my opinion. Now it needs a motion sensor and digital camera...

People looking for serious tools like PDAs should look elsewhere.... in the meantime, I'll be writing the code for an animated avatar who tells me the time, waves at me when I have an email, and gets jostled when I move my wrist quickly (to be implemented when that motion sensor gets included). Insert Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas song... here.

Re:AWESOME TOY.

[Anonymous Coward]

Now it needs a motion sensor and digital camera...

In that case, you need to be careful not to wear it when you are jacking off... :)

Re:AWESOME TOY.

[Anonymous Coward]

MoD ThIs Up! FuNnY ^ ^ huk huk

The Woody Woodpecker

[cyborg_monkey]

When a girl is sucking on your balls, tap the head of your cock on her forehead.

Appropriate evolution for Palm

[jwold]

The wrist should be where the PalmOS goes to. Shrink the screen to 1/4 of what it is now keeping the same resolution with Icons etc. scaled up maybe 4x.

Who needs a PocketPC when all the palm apps run on your wrist?

160x160 square LCD would make a nice analog watch screen saver.

Mebbe good for uber-geeks,

[trilucid]

but I'm having a hard time seeing the true market appeal of this. I mean, we already have access to Linux PDAs that do a LOT of useful things, and a notebook PC loaded with Linux is even better.

A nifty concept all right, but I stack it up there along with the earlier story about the uber-cellphone. Cool? Yes. Would I buy one (or anybody I know for that matter)? No.

Sometimes, just because something runs Linux doesn't mean it's a fantastic idea. On the other hand, I *do* love my PC :).

The Cleveland Steamer

[Shitsack Comments]

No, really, the Cleveland Steamer

Who cares what OS it runs?

[DrXym]

Like PDAs I doubt that the vast, vast majority of potential users give a damned what OS it runs. What they care about is:

1. Form factor
2. Battery life
3. Usability
4. Features
5. Price
6. Connectivity

The OS it runs comes about 93rd between whether it plays the Star Spangled banner and it's ability to float in orange juice.

Manufacturers who tout Linux as a PDA's main feature or expect the open source community to fix their crappy software may as well give up before they start. Geeks might care about such stuff but no one else does. Get the other stuff right and the fact it runs Linux is just icing on the cake.

Re:Who cares what OS it runs?

[JanneM]

I see you have never dropped a watch into a glass of juice...

On the positive side, it gave me an excellent excuse to get a new watch.

/Janne

Re:Who cares what OS it runs?

[Anonymous Coward]

It'll matter to the couple of thousand hard core geeks who will be the only market for this thing in its first year of commercial availability.

Re:Who cares what OS it runs?

[Anonymous Coward]

Form factor- This thing is like a brick stapped to your wrist

Battery life- 6 hours. Even iPaqs get longer.

Usability- It only has 3 or 4 buttons. This should be enough for setting time and alarms, but I'm not sure how easy anything linux-related would be.

Features- It runs linux. Why this is important, considering you won't be able to do much with it (tiny screen, 3 buttons to work with, limited storage), I have no idea.

Price- No clue, but probably expensive

Connectivity- Bluetooth. Now I'll just connect it to my bluetooth-enabled PalmPilot to input data more efficiently, and when I get home I'll compile a new linux app for it on my bluetooth-enabled PC... Oh wait, I can't. Not much of a selling point ATM (I have no doubt it will be in the future though), since there's maybe 3 devices available right now that use bluetooth, and they're all cell phones.

Pros- It's a watch that has two buzzwords (linux and bluetooth)
Cons- See above.

Re:Who cares what OS it runs?

[barnaclebarnes]

Your forgetting the early adopter rule. That is you need the 10% of early adopters to love your product and promote it to the masses if it is to be successful. Look at TiVo, because it was hackable, had a bunch of features (some of which people might never use), and it was a great product it generated lots of press which in turn hyped the product.

Although a product may have way to many features than is needed by Joe Average these features are what get the publicity wheel going.

Re:Who cares what OS it runs?

[Paul Komarek]

Clearly this is not a watch for the "vast majority".

-Paul Komarek

Blue-tooth answer?

[Christopher Bibbs]

Hopefully, the watch will have no buttons in the final version and all functions will be controlled via wireless access.

Well, maybe a password reset button on the watch would be good.

Can someone please explain to me...

[typedef]

why on earth I would need a multi-user operating system running on my wristwatch?

Re:Can someone please explain to me...

[Anonymous Coward]

Why on earth would you assume that multi-user capability hasn't been stripped out of the kernel they are using?

split the battery?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why not have 2 batteries? 1 battery, an eco battery or something equivalently efficient, for thelcd screen for the watch part. Then a second battery that powers the cpu. That battery could be cycled on and off as needed for the pda part of the watch. There's some things you'd have to overcome, but I'd certainly investigate splitting the power out. 'Course, I don't work for IBM, so I could be full of it.

Typo!

[Anonymous Coward]

Corrected Version: FRY MUMIA!

Re:Typo!

[hyperstation]

hey if you wanna buy fry-mumia.com, i own it!

Good geeks and bad geeks...

[sdo1]

OK, there's good geeks... those are the ones who can fix their mom's computer over the phone in two easy steps, who can help their sister's fiance' shop for a new TV, who have their homes networked so they can watch their hacked TiVo in any room of the house...

And then there's the bad geeks. The ones that give the rest of us a bad name. They don't bathe often enough, they wear thick glasses (when thin ones would do), they have pocket protectors, and they wear big honkin' Dick Tracy watches on their wrist.

Egads!

-S

switch to digital?

[Anonymous Coward]

You wouldn't need to 'switch to digital'... as far as I know, one of the only applications they have on the watch is Xclock in analog mode.

useless

[Anonymous Coward]

i'm sorry, next think you know we will need pda-style toilet paper when we take a shit. does the tech market just push this shit to make people think they need more gadgets or are there really people who believe this stuff is worthwhile?

why not improve the devices already out there instead of trying to create something that is pretty much useless just so you can say you did it?

ViaVoice

[BubbaFett]

If IBM has a hand in this, why not rig this thing up with ViaVoice? Imagine the possibilities!

Me: KITT! Get me outta here!
KITT: Yes Michael *wooh-wooh*.

KITT Turbo-boosts into room and slides up beside me.

Me: Thanks buddy.

Re:ViaVoice

[Anonymous Coward]

hehe, I need a laugh. thanks

It's funny because it's true.

[Multiple Sanchez]

This watch will never encounter any traces of melanin on any wrist it ever touches.

Re:It's funny because it's true.

[MaxVlast]

That's just awful. Stereotypical, rude, etc. There are plenty of black geeks.

Re:It's funny because it's true.

[Anonymous Coward]

Steve Urkel for one.

Re:It's funny because it's true.

[Anonymous Coward]

No, I don't think there was any race involved in that comment. He was just invoking the "indoors all day in front of the computer" stereotype. Untighten panties from wad.

Hacker hero of mine: oliver wendell jones

Re:It's funny because it's true.

[Multiple Sanchez]

You're right, but I still should have realized it would be misinterpreted. Now I wish I had Karma to burn.

Eco Drive

[Anonymous Coward]

is basically a solar panel on the watch face. I don't think light will go through a lit LCD display so that may not work. However, your kinetic energy transfer, a la the Seiko Kinetic, could work.

You're kidding, right?

[Bud Dwyer]

Citizen watches makes watches that recharge themselves and have something like a 4 year reserve and power saving features.

A PDA, even if it comes with a wrist strap, consumes vastly more power than an actual wristwatch.

I assume the automatic-recharging watches you're talking about are the type that harvest kinetic energy as you go about your daily routine. You'd have to move this Linux watch around one hell of a lot to recharge it using that model.

Re:You're kidding, right?

[Anonymous Coward]

I assume the automatic-recharging watches you're talking about are the type that harvest kinetic energy as you go about your daily routine. You'd have to move this Linux watch around one hell of a lot to recharge it using that model.

ok, i guess all the wankers out there would love this watch then

Re:You're kidding, right?

[_aa_]

THERE IS NOTHING FUNNY ABOUT MASTURBATION PRODUCED ENERGY. I am appauled that you would poke fun at a renewable and non-pollutant energy source. I myself have since childhood spent countless hours researching and experimenting with this technology. I have found it to be a rewarding and enjoyable process.

I am currently researching the use of ejaculate as a paste for magazine paper.

Re:You're kidding, right?

[Bud Dwyer]

ok, i guess all the wankers out there would love this watch then

Good point. The type of person who would buy this "watch" wouldn't have much trouble recharging it through kinetic means.

Re:You're kidding, right?

[Anonymous Coward]

Only if they are left-handed.

Re:You're kidding, right?

[Galvatron]

Renewable sure, but non-pollutant? Your floor says otherwise...

Re:You're kidding, right?

[Anonymous Coward]

Some of us would have to change hands, though, and neither is comfortable to switch.

Deja Vu!

[FortKnox]

Speaking of Deja Vu, haven't I seen this before??

Slow news day today, I guess...

Re:Deja Vu!

[Chagrin]

The first watch was just a one-only prototype. This is the first we've seen of their plans for a production model.

Open mouth, insert foot.

Hmm what about the spec?

[pigeonhk]

Like... how much memory is in there?
And I guess another important issue will be how hackable it will be? :)

Battery Life

[LS]

Even two hours of batter life doesn't seem that bad to me. I'm not always looking at my watch or using an application on my Visor, so why should the Linux watch be on all the time? I would lift up my wrist and press the button, and it's on. It could be like a dual purpose flashlight switch, which can either be on only when it is pressed, or flipped on by sliding it.

LS

Excuse me?

[Bud Dwyer]

. . . the geek factor doesn't overweigh the stupidity of this.

I was under the impression that "geeks" have never failed to embrace things just because they're stupid. Look at the inventory of ThinkGeek. Don't even get me started on Star Trek, that piece of third-rate, communist sci-fi which has become a cornerstone of geek "culture".

Sadly, history shows that this Linus-powered wristwatch will indeed have an audience, no matter how ridiculous a concept it is.

Re:Excuse me?

[MaxVlast]

Were you deliberately making fun of the hostname feature? If so, you did it well. If not, it sucks. =)

Vuja Dey

[ch-chuck]

A smart watch has been a technological dream since the days when Dick Tracy battled Pruneface in the Great Depression

Great. Now we have something to battle Ballmer with during the tech slump.

[NOT]

The rewinding thread

[WillSeattle]

Can you make one that's self-rewinding?

I can just picture the next time you go to a bar. You'll be able to tell all the Linux Geeks - they'll be the ones shaking their wrists all the time ...

blatantly ripped off...

[Anonymous Coward]

from linux today, as usual.

Potential Advertising Campaign

[kroymen]

I have vague notions flying around in my head for an advertising campaign for this baby involving the rabbit from Alice in Wonderland and the "I'm late! I'm late!" sequence. Anybody else wanna run with it?

IMPORTANT!

[Anonymous Coward]

Does anyone know how to get the night vision sniper rifle in RTCW Test?

The ultimate in portable!

[SuperZergling]

I wonder if WINE will run on that watch? Should, considering it's a Linux box (box?). Hey, that means I can now play Starcraft at school! It has a battery life greater than that of most laptops, which is a definite plus. Of course, laptops aren't on 24/7.... I also can't quite see this freak of modern engineering being a Half-Life server.
It'll be a definite pisser if the watch's data is stored in volatile memory. It's almost certain the owner will forget to put it in the charger.

$5000 rolex = cheap!

[McFly777]

Must be one of the low end Rolexes. I was looking at a Breitling at the store a couple of months ago at it ran $10K. (about 9.75K too much for my wallet!)

The only Rolex I have personally ever handled was diamond encrusted and valued at approx. $250K. I know, that was a custom job, but I still can't imaging wearing the value of my house on my wrist!

Re:$5000 rolex = cheap!

[rjamestaylor]

The only Rolex I have personally ever handled was diamond encrusted and valued at approx. $250K. I know, that was a custom job, but I still can't imaging wearing the value of my house on my wrist!

I guarantee that whoever does buy that for his wrist won't be,either.

BTW, my house is for sale and is listed at $100 short of $250,000.

Didn't you read the GPL?

[Unknown Bovine Group]

It's now:

GNU/Citizen and GNU/IBM to make a GNU/Linux GNU/Watch

Don't be so down on it

[Anonymous Coward]

It seems unfair to have so many negitive posts about this. The ./ posting for the original IBM Linux wristwatch was full of fervent assertions that the poster would buy one like a shot if IBM could just be persuaded to turn it into a product.

Well, now the guys at IBM have done there bit, possibly in part because of that ./ feedback, and they probably had to work hard to do so as it's not easy to get a product promoted from lab toy to product over at Big Blue.) So if you were one of posters who encouraged them by saying you'd buy one then maybe it's time to consider making good on your promise instead of whining about details of the design.

Having said that - and in direct contravention of the previous sentence - I'm assuming that they'll have the battery life up to something usable by the time it ships. (Say 24 hours or better along with a fast-charge cradle)

You are wrong

[Bud Dwyer]

There are many Rolexes available for under $5000. The simple, beautiful Submariner in stainless-steel, for example, lists for a very affordable price of $3350.

Only an over-rich Italian or colored person would buy platinum and ruby-encrusted Rolex.

Re:You are wrong

[Anonymous Coward]

Why is that flamebait? He's telling the truth.

movado

[Anonymous Coward]

until movado releases a linux powered classic museum watch, I'll keep my old fashioned one ;-)

this "fact sheet" has *some* details

[Anonymous Coward]

hey, there's a fact sheet about the Citizen/IBM WatchPad prototype over at linuxdevices.com -- the device has a 32-bit CPU (not specified), 8MB DRAM and 16MB flash, and uses Linux kernel version 2.4 and Microwindows for the GUI.

What do we use tech watches for?

[WyldOne]

My top things:

scientific calculator: (for figuring the tip)

remote control (for TV and X10 modules)

IrDa link to PC for Time syncing to Atomic Time

List of important phone numbers/appointments

Re:What do we use tech watches for?

[jawad]

You need a *scientific* calculator to calculate the tip? Jeez. ".15*amount" is sufficient, no?

Re:What do we use tech watches for?

[WyldOne]

No, not for that but those physics classes are are biatch without one.

Don't frown at my watch. :(

[Ouroboro]

Gerdts points out that the watch's battery life is either up to six hours, or only six hours, depending on how you look at it.

So what, if I look at it longingly then the battery will last 6 hours, but if I give it a stern frowning look then it will only last for four? What gives?

Nice but...

[mini me]

...all I wanted was the time!

Login: user
Password:

Linux Watch 2.4.11.
watch~$ date
Thu Oct 11 17:40:32 EDT 2001
watch~$ exit

Re:Reminds me of an old joke (correct address)

[viking099]

>http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/Palms/2547 /Basic_Humor.html

Kinetic energy?

[mckwant]

Sorry, I don't have the physics/ee chops to seriously think about this, but couldn't you combine this watch with the kinetic battery seen in some watches, so maybe you can extend the life?

Or am I missing something?

Thank God it's not a Windows watch

[heretic108]

If it was a Citizen-Micro$oft joint venture, then the watch would need to be 'activated' with your credit card number. Thereafter, each time you look at the time, or check the alarm, it would keep a tally, and debit your credit card monthly. Also, every two years, it would forcibly download new software, and debit your credit card for more than the original price of the watch.

New way to measure time.

[Axe]

Just replace your battery every 6 hours and count the old ones in your pocket.

Comparison: a similar watch already available

[morcheeba]

Matsucom has been making a similar watch -- the "onhand" for some time now. Technologically, the ibm watch does a whole lot more, but if all you want is the ability to run your own programs on your wrist, it'll do.

Most important, the onhandpc has a free SDK. The specs: It has a 16-bit CPU (V20ish I think), running a dos look-alike. It has 128KB RAM, 512KB ROM, and 2MB FLASH. The display isn't nearly as nice as IBM's prototype OLED: 102x64 backlit STN LCD. But it does have IR and wired serial ports. The battery life is rated at 3 months (assuming display one hour per day). The big thing missing is the bluetooth. (Well, that and linux).

The nice part: Price = $300. But still (in my opinion) a toy. For more info, here's a nice review (from late '99).

Accuracy

[clem.dickey]

So will this be the first (non-NTS) computer with a decent TOD clock, or just the world's most inaccurate watch?

funny looking watch

[PD]

That watch looks like it was made by IBM. An RS/6000 is a nice looking box, but it makes an ugly wristwatch! I'd much rather that my watches were designed by Omega.

it's all a matter of timing

[Anonymous Coward]

the watch's battery life is either up to six hours, or only six hours, depending on how you look at it.

If you time it right your battery will die during happy hour. Cheap drinks for an eternity!

Built-in charger via internal gyro

[Amoeba]

Maybe I'm on crack or something but you'd think that IBM (or someone on /.) would have thought to build in a small offset gyro that would assist with recharging the actual battery similar to how those Timex watches (Perpetual motion-winding-doohickey) work.

Would certainly help with the battery life eh?

ntp

[dr-suess-fan]

I couldn't be bothered with half the features.

On the other hand, it would be nice to port xntpd to this puppy. Combined with bluetooth and a nearby time source once in a while.... beauty !

functionality

[wroot]

What version of KDE will it run?

I've always wanted a watch...

[brer_rabbit]

that can display the time since the epoch.

Handing these things off to the grandkids won't be too practical after 2037.

good enough batteries

[nuetrino]

As the article stated, battery life is expected to reach 1 day before the watch reaches market. That will probably be good enough. If I wanted one, it would be good enough for me.

Look at it this way. In college I had three primary portable devices. The first was a Tandy 200, which would run a couple of days of on a set of batteries. The second was a Tandy calculator programmable in basic with mass storage and a printer, with a battery life of maybe a month. The third was an HP calculator, the clamshell type, with a lifetime of a few months.

By those standards, modern portable devices are unacceptable. Portable computers that can't even last through lunch time. Palm Pilots that can't last the week. Don't even get me started on MP3 players that have about half the lifetime as my old cassette deck.

But we still buy these products, even if they are not as good as the old reliable things we grew up with. The new things, are, at the end of the day, good enough, and much more interesting.

You missed...

[Vainglorious Coward]

Embraces the standard 24 hour format but then extends it to a MS 27 hour day; cannot be set except by connecting to MS time server

Mains adapter

[xixax]

I can't wait for:

"To counter claims of their Linux wristwatch having only limited usefulness because of a 6 hour battery life, IBM today announced the shipping of a mains adapter for their wrist watch..."

Then they can do an IR mobility kit so you can access your watch remotely using a "wrist mounted X11 server".

Xix.

What a great Idea

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes! What a great idea!
I can see it as not just a watch but an
Apache Server. . .

I can see it the size of a dime. I can see it
with a stackable interface so that we can
get 50 times the power of a single one
by having a roll of them like a roll of dimes. . .

I see it with a GPS and a small digital camera
strapped to a small balsa wood plane, radio
controlled, of course!

What a great product!

I love IBM.

In all honesty: My dad owns a LOT of their stock.
But I still love IBM.

Properly speaking, elks isn't linux

[ColGraff]

As it's own FAQ points out.

You are stupid

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you really think 90% of the people here use Linux? It's more like 10% Linux and 90% Windows. Since you didn't get the first half of your statement right, the second half is probably wrong too.

Next time King Azzhole, login for *all* your posts.

Interface

[Anonymous Coward]

Since it has IR, you could send the video to a pair of video glasses and see it floating in space. And then for input you use your arm and finger and draw on the image in space, for instance inputting text that way.

And everyone looking at you waving your arm would think you were completely crazy.

What a great Idea -- NOT

[mbstone]

Take it from someone who owned a Seiko Messagewatch which turned into useless tin: Make sure the wireless protocol is open. Make sure you won't get stuck if the S/P goes belly up.

Microsoft's watch.

[mr]

Microsoft 'made' a watch.

Features:
1) you are supposed to use a flashing monitor to program the watch. - it doesn't work however. Like most Microsoft methods... you have to hold the watch perfectly still, and it only flashes on Windows 3.11 and 95, not NT.
2) The box the watch comes in says "Works with Windows", yet the paper licence says it it ony valid with 3.11 and 95. Not NT.
3) to actually program the watch reliabily, you have to buy the laptop interface. Why? Ever try holding your wrist as a special angle for 2 mins without movement?
4) No API is aviable to help you program the watch the way you want.

Summary, you can't program it because of the closed API, it doesn't work with later MS pograms-thus you need to upgrade, and the license doesn't agree with what is printed on the box.

Why I prefer Analog.

[mindstrm]

You know.. this is something funny. I love digital.. I love computers, electronics.. all that.

But one thing I really love is my watch. I only wish it was wind-up instead of electric.

It's one of those Navy-Seals Luminox dive watches.. with the tritium gas-lights. Very tough, very robust.. glows in the dark for 25 years.. and it's analog.. jewels and everything.

What's next?

[Dirtside]

Geez, what's next? The SaniPad, a Linux-powered tampon/personal organizer that monitors your menstrual blood flow and tells you when it's time for your next pill?

Pocket WATCH Re:Switch BACK to digital??

[snilloc]

Pocket Watches!!!

• Issues with wristbands.
• Look cool/professional/old-skool-academic
• Do I really need to know the time every five seconds? Or do I occasionally find that a clock is not available when I need one.

Live without a watch for a while, and you'll see how easily you find clocks most places. And when there isn't a clock, there's usually some sucker who plunked down some cash for a watch!

Time Machine

[Insipid Trunculance]

If M$ made watches would we need to restart them every hour?

How Long until....

[snilloc]

... there's a virus for the watch that displays 4:20 all the time...?

Re:Bluetooth

[vrmlknight]

you could using your Bluetooth enables Ipaq to telnet/ ssh depending on what security you like

Epoch

[Ukab the Great]

I always wanted a watch that reset itself to January 1, 1970.

OS/2 Pacemaker

[os2fan]

They have OS/2 pace-makers. I imagine they run longer than "only" six hours.

dialogue

[Catmando]

Chick: Hey hot stuff what time is it?
./'er: (shaking) uhh, the time is eleven o'kernel panic...
(chick leaves)

Timex Datalink

[chrysalis]

This new IBM watch is very geeky, but too bloated and finally useless. Not only because you have to load it every 6 hours, but also because it looks very large for a watch.
Nice and useful watches were the Timex Datalink series. They have a light sensor so that you can program them just by lifting them in the front of your monitor (data is transmitted through blinking lines) . And yes, it works on Linux with Watchlink .
Program? Yes, Timex Datalink watches can be programmed in assembly language. There are a lot of applications for it, ranging from games to utilities to do golf scoring, as well as new watch features (better chronographs, multiple repetitive alarms, etc) . Of course you can also fully customize alarm melodies, and synchronize your appointements with Outlook or Ical.
Plus these watches are cheap.
Ehm... were cheap. Timex doesn't sell these good'ol 150 and 150s datalink watches any more. But some local vendors still have stock, so if you can get one, go, go, go!
Not only this is a geek watch, but it's also an useful watch. And it looks like an ordinary watch on your wrist, not like a PDA.

I hope so

[Anonymous Coward]

because my gf has the worst memory and forgets this shit all too often... dammit

0wn3d w47ch

[doob]

From the article:

Hewlett-Packard is working on a similar effort with Swatch . In trials in Switzerland, wearers can pass through a train station turnstile while the watch charges their bank accounts for the cost of the ticket.

Hmm... does that mean I can walk through a train station while some 31337 h4x0r charges me for the cost of the train station?

Better be cheap...

[uweber]

This thing better be cheap because I always buy a new watch when the battery runs out.

Bluetooth Keyboard?

[Anonymous Coward]

How about a Bluetooth keyboard? You'd look funny typing away on a keyboard with no visible monitor/PC/anything else, but you could be looking at your wrist and typing pretty easily. It would be cool if you had one folding keyboard that could be switched from one device to another so that you could type on your watch, PDA, cell phone, notebook, desktop or server. You could even have a Bluetooth mouse. Could solve the problem of multiple PCs using the same keyboard and mouse without having a switchbox OR cables.

Amazes me that they think anyone would use a watch with 6 hour battery life... I had one of the Timex pager watches, and I thought it was bad for only lasting two to three weeks on a battery... Made it 8 months before chunking it for a POW (plain old watch).

Obsession with battery life

[horza]

This is ridiculous, every single post has been obsessed with the short battery life. First 'mobile' phone anyone? My first phone I had to recharge every day, my latest Sony phone can go a week between recharges. Hopefully fuel cell technology will mean more like a month between charging. Different technologies are developed on parallel paths, and the point of this watch was not to refine battery technology. This will be done by a different group. Just imagine what it will be like when the two are combined.

Phillip.

Re:Obsession with battery life

[adolf]

You seem pleased with the battery life of your Sony telephone - a 7x improvement in use over the originals that were new a couple of decades ago..

I can't imagine being pleased with a watch that would last for 3.5 days between charges. I like to strap them onto my arm, and forget about them until I need to do something with it.

Dealing with the battery every few years is bad enough for something as easily depended upon as a wristwatch, let alone having to do it twice weekly .

...Nevermind that we'd need to wait 20 years to get such impressive stamina out of the thing.

Yes you are

[Anonymous Coward]

WebLoserJoe

Get out of the PDA mental straightjacket

[hey!]

And start thinking submerged intelligence. The point won't be to sit staring at your watch all day, but for the watch to have information about things you want to happen and to interact with the environment on your behalf to make it happen.

Think, for example,industrial applications.

Connectivity- Bluetooth. Now I'll just connect it to my bluetooth-enabled PalmPilot to input data more efficiently, and when I get home I'll compile a new linux app for it on my bluetooth-enabled PC...

I happen to know a manufacturer of pesticide sprayers (the kind that are mounted on trucks) who want to put bluetooth on his equipment. The ideal scenario is this: a bluetooth enabled GPS, bluetooth enabled truckmounted pesticide sprayer. The day's mission is downloaded onto the watch when the driver signs in in the morning. As he drives the watch uses the mission profile to turn the sprayer off when he approaches no-spray zone (e.g. the house with the asthmatic kid or the field where the beekeeper has his hives). At the end of the day the watch upload the GPS and device telemetry to the tracking database. That way, when the beekeeper sues you, you can produce GPS maps. In fact, the manufacturer of the software could even build a cryptographic signature into records indicating that a particular command was issued and responded to at a given time, and this could be transmitted wirelessly to a national data warehouse for pesticide usage telemetry. Something like this is not only desirable for environmental reasons, but also now because of the concern that this equipment could be used to spread aerosolized biological warfare agents.

Bits and pieces of mission tracking software have been created for aircraft systems, but they do not integrate very well and are expensive. Distributing intelligence throughout the system using prebuilt components (e.g. bluetooth chips, system software components) gives designers an additional degree of freedom, with which they can improve overall usability and flexibilty. The fact that the major components of integration (the bluetooth chip, the network protocols) are prebuilt, off the shelf, you also get more intelligence for less money.

This kind of system also simplifies the process of writing control software. Instead of writing in assembly or C, the designer could use a stripped down Apache with perl CGI scripts. This would allow them, in a sense, to use commodity programmers as well as commodity hardware.

Sure, it's a brick strapped to your wrist, but crank Moore's law three or four more times and it will start to look a lot more like a normal watch with reasonable. What I'd like to see in a few years is one of these with some kind of biometric recognition built in, say thumbrint recognition. You could then, for example, keep all your medical records with you at all times (assuming the battery problem is fixed, as it is certain to be within ten years or so), and authorize their release to your doctor with a thumbpress.

Display = GOOD LORD!!!

[Snowfox]

From the article:

The display crams an array of 640 by 480 pixels into a watch face just 0.65 inches tall by 0.87 inches wide, said Chandra Narayanaswami, manager of the IBM Research Division's wearable computing program. The pixels are so small that sprinkling them judiciously gives the illusion of the ability to show a range of shades of gray, he said.

Good lord - GIVE ME THAT DISPLAY! 640 pixels in less than an inch? It's a 736-DPI organic LED!

Can you imagine a 24" display at that dot resolution? That'd be roughly 14,000 by 10,000 (using a 3:4 aspect) - or, roughly enough to see the famous 9k by 9k WTC satellite photo and still have plenty of space to code and surf.

Apple iWatch

[stubear]

I'll wait for the Apple iWatch in all its fruity colors thanks (make mine guava please.) I can be a geek in style.

solution

[twitter]

Why concentrate on what a poor watch it will be with only six hours of uptime? Try this:

1. Remove strap.
2. Attatch larger battery.
3. Place in shirt pocket.

Tiny is nice. Think of all the places you could fit it. Remote control by ssh? If this is really hackable it will be fun.

More is better. Mass production will surely drive prices down later. More toys!

I care

[twitter]

Why all these negative posts? Compared to a kick me sign in one, fuck off!

This is a great new toy and the OS makes all the difference. It's tiny embeded controler with a nice screen and, hopefully, a hackable OS. If IBM uses GCC for it, it will be just awsome. Why would anyone want to develop for non free alternatives when they have something like that sitting around to exploit? Propriatory $DK goes in the garbage.

yeah, vi would be cool on one of these things

[tmark]

choose 'notepad' (or 'vi') and you can write directly onto the watch. That'd be cool.

I don't even want to begin imagining what a pain in the ass using vi would be with pen-input !!! ESC-w-q-!, by the time I'm finished making all the penstrokes to save my file the damn battery would already have run out. Of course, the battery would have run out just launching emacs, but still...

Digital watches

[festers]

Here's something to think about concerning digital watches. If someone grows up only using a digital watch, will the phrase "quarter till five" or "half past seven" mean anything to them? Analog watches have the curious ablilty to allow you to visualize time as something that can be divided.

Links with more info

[jnorden]

Apparently, this is a project of IBM's Tokyo Research Lab (trl.ibm.com).
There is some info in english at www.trl.ibm.com/projects/ngm/index_e.htm and links to some hi-res pics at www.trl.ibm.com/projects/ngm/media/index.htm

Re:Display = Lots of memory

[t0qer]

Yeah but I bet it would take a lot of fast ram to drive a display that large.

The Datalink

[GreyyGuy]

The datalink was a great watch. I loved it when I got it. I never had a problem hold the watch to the monitor though. Put your elbow on the desk and you arm is steady. I did get the adaptor though to use with my laptop.

The closed API did suck. I would have loved to program my own wrist apps.

I just picked up a PC-Unite from Casio and it is pretty good so far. I like the fact that it syns up with the computer data. I stil lneed to get it to work with other applications then just the one it came with, but that doesn't look too hard.