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?
Do not use while operating heavy machinery. May cause drowsiness, dizziness, and occasional disorientation.
etc.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
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.
Why does anyone need this other than the simple reason "because we can have it"?
What is Hitachi WIA?
Portable Internet Appliance Powered By
SVGA Full Color Wearable Display
Small but Powerful Control Unit
Wearable display
View Angle: 30 deg (Equivalent to 13"monitor at 2 feet)
SVGA(800 x 600), 18bits Color
Weight Less than 80g (2.8 Oz)
Hands-free viewing of screen
Forehead-support achieves safety and image stability
Wearable with eye glasses
Control unit
Fit into pockets
Light Weight
Instant Power ON
Without HDD - reliable
Type II CompactFlash(TM) Slot
USB Port
Additional external battery achieves longer
Battery life: About 5.5" x 3.5" x 1.0"(preliminary)
Weight: This prototype weighs about 10.9 Oz (310g).
Devices insideCPU,Memory,etc.): Hitachi SH-4 32bit RISC processor, 128MHz, 230MIPS.ROM:32MB, RAM:32MB, VRAM:2MB.
Interfaces: Direct I/F to Wearable Display x 1, CompactFlash Type II x 1, USB x 1, Stereo Audio Headphones jack x 1, Cellular phone data port I/F x 1
... already reported here?
Lets just copy and paste the comments from there, ok?
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.
This is the same thing that was posted a little while ago. It's being sold in the U.S. by Xybernaut.
this looks just like the xybernaut poma?
poma
feints within feints, wheels within wheels
Every wearable computer to date that I've seen won't fly... because it's waaay to visible (See: All the Dork comments). Saying that, from the specs and (small) number of pictures of this one, it might actually be useable. If you can really put that thing in your pocket, and just have the pointer and HUD when you need it... well, maybe. It'd sure be a lot better then lugging around a lap top (at 11 oz and 5x3x1).
I'd like to see people actually wearing it. Is it fairly invisible? Does it look like you should have a helicopter hat on? Something in-between?
-Greg
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
Or at least, I believe it is. It's been mentioned here before.
The Xybernaut Poma is their OEM version of the direct-from-Hitachi model. Fifteen hundred bucks US gets you delivery before the end of Q1 2002.
It runs Windows CE, has no audio inputs, and I don't think anyone on the wearables mailing list has actually gotten one yet to see what development will be like, but it's very interesting, at least.
Here's a quick translation of the Japanese news release:
------
Industrial-use wearable Internet appliance launched in Japanese market
Hitachi, Ltd.'s venture company, Net-PDA, (CEO: Matsuoka Shigeru) will begin shipping the WIA-100NB wearable Internet appliance, with head-mounted display, from February 28.
Mobile computing needs are increasing with the spread of wireless communication infrastructure and Internet access from mobile phones.
The company completed an OEM licensing contract for wearable Internet appliances with the U.S. Xybernaut Corp. in June of 2001, and has conducted marketing in Japan. As a result, it judged that wearable Internet appliances are an effective solution for work environments such as clean rooms and machine rooms where printed materials cannot be used, as well as for hands-free viewing of blueprints and Internet/intranet access via PHS [a Japanese form of mobile phone] and wireless LAN.
The WIA-100NB, in order to meet these needs, weighs 310 grams for the main body, with the head-mounted display weighing a mere 80 grams, and the total package weighing less than 500 grams even with the addition of a pointing device. By rubbing the pointing device's optical sensor with a thumb, it is possible to move the cursor on the head-mounted display, allowing the operation of the unit in any position.
Used as terminals for improving work efficiency, wearable Internet applicances are predicted to form a major part of the market for portable information devices. The company aims to develop this valuable market further.
-------
Then it lists the specs, and where to buy it (here, but you'd better know Japanese).
Gak! It's bad enough trying to hold a conversation with someone who just has to answer their phone when it rings. Now it's going to be "You've got mail!"
And all those people who get useless calls on the bus. Now it's going to be like being on a bloody Borg ship!
Gotta get me one of those! :^)
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
First off, for those who mentioned this looks like the Xybernaut Poma, you are correct.
From the main english Hitachi page: FAIRFAX, VIRGINIA, July 18, 2001 - Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT) and Xybernaut Corporation (NASDAQ: XYBR), today announced that Hitachi has entered into a license agreement under Xybernaut's broad patents for wearable computing and communications to develop a Wearable Internet Appliance (WIA) for the consumer market.
That said, I played around with one of those for a little bit when I visited the Xybernaut booth at Comdex. My thoughts? They are ok items. The screen projection is not too bad. Until you can focus one eye on the screen and simultaneously focus the other eye on faraway objects, you'll still only either chew gum or walk...if you know what I mean. The screen does flip up so both eyes can be used to focus on the task at hand when needed.
Someone asked about the input device. The one I played with (and you can see in the photos) has a hand-held input device. It has a touch screen which you move your finger (or rather thumb) around on to move the mouse pointer. I don't remember a keyboard, but I think another model might have had small keyboard you strap to your forearm. Otherwise, I think the model I played with had an on-screen keyboard you can bring up and tap out virtual keystrokes with the mouse pointer. This of course was some what a pain in the arse for me...but I guess YMMV.
This will be fairly useful in warehouse situations. Maybe on an assembly line: you can work on your task, and if computer assistance is needed, just flip the screen down and look up a part number or whatever. These still aren't the best for long-term computing sessions.
-A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
- AC
Q: Wow, can you imagine a beowulf cluster of these?!
A: Yes I can, it's called a Borg Collective.
--
Damn the Emperor!
Full color.Color depth is 18 bits, 260,000 colors
WTF? 18 bits?
Countdown to Snow Crash!
;-)
Right now this is Just Another Geeky Toy, but it doesn't seem like it's that far of a leap from the numerous PDAs that people love to carry around.
Personally, I'm waiting for x-ray goggles!
-- D
I probably sit a different distance from my tv than you do, but neither of us see a need to focus a tv. The only reason they answer a (hypothetical) question about focusing, (I suppose), is that people may compare the device's display to a telescope or binoculars since it goes close to your eye.
The reason the display "appears" to be two feet away is because it is basically up close to your eye, so pretty much fills your view from that eye.
Actually I think they are playing on the concept of those "iglasses" or whatever they were called- you know, the ones where you gave them a video source and they displayed it on a pair of spectacles. The difference with these when compared to this display is that the "iglasses" showed a different picture to each eye so you could create the impression of a giant cinema screen (you can create false depth information), and secondly the "iglasses" wouldn't let you see anything else except the display- this display sounds as if it is either transparent or you can see round the edge of it.
graspee
This isn't a MS bashing comment or anything, but WinCE seems to me like the wrong OS to use for a device like this... The only consumers who are going to be interested in this device are, well, Geeks! Geeks would much prefer a Linux or BSD based OS for this type of device.. something that can really be played around with.
I don't see many applications in a corporate setting either, and even if there was, corporations can pay people to develop apps on whatever OS they want.
Either way.. it's probably way too early on for this type of device to catch on.
But with out a hatachi brand name...
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
I always have to carry around an extra toothpick to reset my WindowsCE device. It only locks up about 1 time every 6 months.
Why not just use the stylus?
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
so when I see something cool, I can SHOW someone else instead of just describing it. also, with the video stream being captured to a more powerful machine, I could teach it to recognize stuff, so I could ask "where did I put my keys?" and it would respond by showing the last captured frame with my keys in the picture. Add some face recognition stuff and I don't have to remember names anymore, they'd just automatically show in my status bar when someone approaches.
it'd be nice to change the focus to make the image appear farther out so you could walk and have GPS sensors point out items of interest as you go....
I wonder how well this thing would capture video and audio from a USB cam and transmit it to a remote machine on a wireless lan?
"The Most Fun Possible on 4 wheels" is at SunBuggy in Las Vegas
Yes, I know there are geeks out there who would have a display adapter wired directly into their brains if they could - but we're talking minority.
I just don't see what is so wonderful about a wearable computer. Yes, there are probably niche applications where they will be cool like someone who needs computer access while doing work with their hands, or some other type of function. Handicap accessibility, yup - great. But again, we're talking niche here. As an IT technician, do I really want to walk around to people's desks with a wearable PC on my head just to pull up reference docs? Nah - I'll take a laptop.
I know people swear one day we'll all talk to our computers or 'think' commands into them - but I sincerely doubt it. I for one think wearble headset computers with retinal displays will be the thing of sci-fi movies for ever except in niche areas. Me? My 3lb laptop is just fine. Just because we can doesn't mean we should.
Top Most Bizarre/Disturbing Error Messages
The manual isn't evidence at all, as it's at least as likely to be a legal shield as based on some actual knowledge.