Slashdot Mirror
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.
(sorry)
-- @rjamestaylor on Ello
Now you can look like the dork you were with the calculator watch in sixth grade... woo hoo!
second society
- Does it have a picture of Tux on the watchface?
- Imagine a beowulf cluster of these.
- [Insert "If MS made watches joke here]
"Enough of this wretched, whining monkey life." -- Marcus Aurelius, _Meditations_, Book 9, 37
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.
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
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.
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....
- 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.
--- Will in Seattle - What are you doing to fight the War?
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.
So put a charger at the urinal! What is the problem. :)
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.
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.
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
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.
--
$ chown -R us:us yourbase
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!"
Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
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**
The Dopester
"Yes, I'm a Karma Whore, but I'm doing it to pay my way through school."
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.
-- The plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data'.
12:00 Charge watch
18:00 Charge Watch
24:00 Charge watch
06:00 Charge watch
This
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:
Nice technology!"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
and e-mail, quake, GCC...
But does it show the time ???
What ? Me, worry ?
Beats hell out of a barcode tattoo.
"Slashdot is about legos and staplers." -Cmdr. Taco
Cheers to IBM for pusing forward! Here's to the next few years!
If I can't see it in Lynx I'm not interested.
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.
when a "Kick Me" sign is just too subtle.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
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.
"Get them before they get....
The pros:
So, um, who would buy this, seriously?
- A.P.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
Tired of those long, tedious 8-hour days at work? Introducing the 6-hour watch! Leave work early!
Not since Marie-Antoinette played milkmaid has looking simple and honest been so fake and complicated.
Maybe these guys can get with Applied Digital to make the watch powered by a body heat battery.
We are implementing the technology to equip and call Dick Tracy.
"It takes many nails to build a crib, but one screw to fill it."
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.
If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space.
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.
Can you make one that's self-rewinding?
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
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---
I am me...I think
(no text)
--- The reclining dragon deeply fears the blue pool's clarity.
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 ;)
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
We were already down to 3! (Less if you used ELKS, I believe.) How much further did IBM take it?
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
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!
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
Nevrar
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?
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
why on earth I would need a multi-user operating system running on my wristwatch?
Mod this up, it is pretty funny and on-topic!
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
--- What parts of "shall make no law", "shall not be infringed", and "shall not be violated" don't you understand?
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.
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.
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.
Speaking of Deja Vu, haven't I seen this before??
Slow news day today, I guess...
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
Like... how much memory is in there? :)
And I guess another important issue will be how hackable it will be?
If you have the source, you have the whole world...
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
There is a fine line between being a cultivated citizen and being someone else's crop. - A. J. Patrick Liszkie
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]
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
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
--- Will in Seattle - What are you doing to fight the War?
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?
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.
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!
McFly777
- - -
"What do people mean when they say the computer went down on them?" -Marilyn Pittman
It's now:
GNU/Citizen and GNU/IBM to make a GNU/Linux GNU/Watch
m00.
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)
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.
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
make Linux, not Microsoft. sin(beast) = -0.809016994374947424102293417182819
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?When I want your opinion I will beat it out of you.
...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
>http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/Palms/2547 /Basic_Humor.html
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?
ceci n'est pas un sig.
Just replace your battery every 6 hours and count the old ones in your pocket.
<^>_<(ô ô)>_<^>
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).
HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
So will this be the first (non-NTS) computer with a decent TOD clock, or just the world's most inaccurate watch?
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.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
Would certainly help with the battery life eh?
Do not taunt Happy-Fun Ball
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 !
Were you deliberately making fun of the hostname feature? If so, you did it well. If not, it sucks. =)
There should be a moratorium on the use of the apostrophe.
Max V.
NeXTMail/MIME Mail welcome
What version of KDE will it run?
That's just awful. Stereotypical, rude, etc. There are plenty of black geeks.
There should be a moratorium on the use of the apostrophe.
Max V.
NeXTMail/MIME Mail welcome
that can display the time since the epoch.
Handing these things off to the grandkids won't be too practical after 2037.
hey if you wanna buy fry-mumia.com, i own it!
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.
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
My next sig will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush
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.
"Everything is adjustable, provided you have the right tools"
As it's own FAQ points out.
I'm the stranger...posting to
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.
If it was said on slashdot, it MUST be true!
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.
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?
"Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
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!
If M$ made watches would we need to restart them every hour?
Wanted : A Signature.
... there's a virus for the watch that displays 4:20 all the time...?
you could using your Bluetooth enables Ipaq to telnet/ ssh depending on what security you like
This must be Thursday, I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
I always wanted a watch that reset itself to January 1, 1970.
OS/2 - because choice is a terrible thing to waste.
Chick: Hey hot stuff what time is it?
./'er: (shaking) uhh, the time is eleven o'kernel panic...
(chick leaves)
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.
{{.sig}}
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?
In the spoon, there is no Soviet Russia!
This thing better be cheap because I always buy a new watch when the battery runs out.
--Ulrich
On no accounts allow a Vogon to read poetry at you
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.
Property for sale in Nice, France
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.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
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.
I'll wait for the Apple iWatch in all its fruity colors thanks (make mine guava please.) I can be a geek in style.
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!
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
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 $DK goes in the garbage.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
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...
You're right, but I still should have realized it would be misinterpreted. Now I wish I had Karma to burn.
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.
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"Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief."
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
Yeah but I bet it would take a lot of fast ram to drive a display that large.
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.