Slashdot Mirror
Hitachi's Wearable Internet Appliance
Ned Flanders writes "JapanToday is reporting that Hitachi has produced a Wearable Internet Appliance with head mount display (800 x 600) and a pointing device (all at @500 grams total). Smurf the Weib (c) via PHS or wireless LAN on your shinny new wearable SH-4 32Bit RISC processor running Windows®CE3.0. Available February 28, 2002. Launch in US and Japan was Planned for end of 2001."
Someday.
Yes, sir, you bet. I'll get smurfing right away. Regardless of color.
What we call folk wisdom is often no more than a kind of expedient stupidity.-Edward Abbey
We'd better get a head start rolling out the laws banning using these while driving.
You know some people...
Are you downloading pr0n on your wearable internet appliance, or are you just happy to see me?
I really wish I could think of something insightful and witty, but this kind of technology is just dumb.
NEVER has wearable computing EVER taken off. It makes you as dorky as that freak whose parents bought him the calculator watch for his birthday in third grade.
The English FAQ, located here, contains some wonderful translations. Here are some examples:
"Therefore, you can get your desk-top PC level of images from PDA size and weight of control unit."
WIA will come with you and present all the images while you are relaxing in couch, sofa, or even in bed.
This device is specially designed for WIA.You will touch the window shining blue on the device, and move the finger to the direction you would like to move the pointer in the screen
You can use it upside down, which is preferable when you read books in bed
Dont get me wrong - this looks like a great product - it just brought back memories of "someone set up us the bomb."
Amazing! The Japanese promo literature is all correctly spelled, while the Slashdot story has at least three egregious errors. Unless "smurf", "shinny", and "Weib" are meant as some kind of sophisticated humor.
Some people use @ to mean 'approximately'. Sane people use ~. Intel chip designers use =.
--
the strongest word is still the word "free"
While mocking a poor translation on the site's Q&A page may seem a bit trivial, I think that this is a valid portrayal of why this will not work well in the US. Not only will they not supply the necessary marketing hype to get this thing off of the shelves and on to peoples heads, but as evidenced by their site's translations they are hardly catering to an English speaking market. Furthermore, in a country whose citizens are as vain about their appearance as Americans are (I know, I'm one of them...), I doubt that walking/driving around with one of these carbuncles attatched to your face is going to catch on quickly...
Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. -- Benjamin Franklin
"...running Windows®CE3.0."
And where did they put the Reset button ?
Q: Wow, can you imagine a beowulf cluster of these?!
A: Yes I can, it's called a Borg Collective.
--
Damn the Emperor!
now the excuse can go from:
"Sorry officer, I didn't see that other car, i was too busy shaving and drinking my coffee..."
to...
"Sorry officer, I didn't see that other car, i was too busy checking my e-mail and reading the latest stories on slashdot...."
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?
As if listening to cell phone conversations wasn't annoying enough, now we'll be listening to AIM conversations as well.
"...I love you. Smiley face. Ok, I've got to go. I'll see you tonight. Wink smiley face."
"No, you log off first. No, you first..."
Blah!
I was just wondering whether this is the kind of
device Bill Gates hides his face behind when he
appears as a
slashdot icon from time to time...