Next Generation Xybernaut Wearable

shanenewsom sent in linkage to a story running on the BBC which talks about the new Xybernaut Poma. A little light on the specs, although the headmounted screen is 640x480 and it runs WinCE. But it really does look like the first practical wearable. It should be available in March. Update: 01/21 18:52 GMT by T : Reader Eureses points out that the display is actually 800x600 rather than 640x480.

Comments

Print page, keep safe...

[MrFredBloggs]

...you`ll be laughing at this in a few years!

`Check this one out! Check your email on the move!! Yeah, but wait until you get home before you can reply!`

Surely the future of communications is speech, not converting what you would normally have said into words, and then typing them in?

No Bluetooth?

[ragnarok]

I thought this was the kind of stuff Bluetooth was designed for. Where's my PAN?

Effects on the eye

[Infonaut]

The only thing that makes me nervous about these things is that essentially your eyeball is just a few millimeters from a bright light source. Has anyone seen any research information about the long-term effects of close-proximity displays? I've got a gut feeling that it just can't be good for your eyes.

Re:Effects on the eye

[HKTiger]

Apparently (I can't provide a source, since it's "someone who read something somewhere told me"), some stats from new entrants into the Singapore armed forces with regard to shortsightedness:

In 196x, about 23% (?) of the entrants were nearsighted. In 1999, that figure was of the order of 93%. This was attributed to the high urban density, and the lack of things in the distance to look at (forgive my crappy grammar, I've not had my morning coffee).

Anyway, even accounting for the various ways to skew statistical results, that indicates a worrying increase over a short time. What would one of these (admittedly funky) things do? Imagine those tension headaches now, when one eye is pointed at something with a focal length in millimetres, while the other's trying to watch that babe across the street. And perhaps I've been out of things for a while, but Marty Feldman's eyes have never been considered sexy...

Segway Computing

[segvio]

Sure, a wearable computer sounds like a great idea, and it is. But, will it be socially acceptable in this day and age, or will we have to all be on Segways first?

Some uses...

[Meowharishi]

The best uses I can think of for something like this would be for passive applications which require real-time feedback.. A GPS system in your car would be good.

The only business application I can think of would be for IT people to monitor network and server conditions..

Other than that this seems like a neat toy but has no other practical uses...

I wouldn't invest in this company anytime soon..

Ergonomic Nightmare

[guttentag]

The device puts a one inch box directly in front of your nose and expects you to read text from it? Can you imagine the number of people who are going to end up cross-eyed?

"Sure, my carpal tunnel syndrome is gone, but I broke my right arm when I tripped over a desk in the office."

Aside from the fact...

[Freija Crescent]

that we've seen similar threads before... I pop this big question.

Most people who want a wearable, at the current time, are complete geeks. Usually these types of people want stuff THEIR way, and they try to be economical when doing it, so why buy something like this?

I too want a wearable, and one that attracts the GOOD kind of attention, not the bad kind.. I decided to set about making one, and learned a LOT from various websites.

Of course, going the PC-104 route will still cost you a pretty penny, you can get a unit with a LOT more storage and custom input and display options. There are several pages on the net that go into detail on how to modify visor type displays and conceal them behind a normal pair of sunglasses.

For anyone serious about making a wearable, I say grow your own. It is a learning experience you can be proud of, instead of a product that you blew a pay check on, and then complain.. "I wish it did this, and that"

-fc

Re:Odd

[good-n-nappy]

I used one of their older models - something like the MA TC - I didn't really have a problem with using only one eye. I'm not sure why but I don't remember needing to wink. However, the eyepiece was semitransparent so I did have problems if there was anything moving in the background. The version we had was running Win98 at 800x600 (I think) so buttons and normal size text were basically unreadable. Tracking the mouse cursor was also a lost cause. Switching to one of the accessibility themes (big fonts and high contrast colors) in Windows helped out but effectively reduced the size of the display.

This is one of those things where its hard to tell if a few details were wrong or if its an overall bad idea. My intuition is that its probably just the details.