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Charmed Announces Crusoe-based Linux Wearable
isdale writes: "Charmed Technology, founded by MIT Media Lab graduates, announced what it claims is the fastest available wearable computer -- 800Mhz Crusoe TM5800 processor. The CharmedIT comes standard with a 266 Mhz Pentium MMX for about $2k. The Crusoe upgrade costs another $500. The OS is extra ($250 for RedHat or Debian), as is the display, input device, carrying case, battery, charger, usable application ... if that isn't enough options, you can also get a DIY kit."
The Crusoe upgrade costs another $500. The OS is extra ($250 for RedHat or Debian)
*cough* *sputter*
Be the first kid on your block to blow $2500 on this ultra cool wearable PC! Not only will you really look like a geek, but everyone will know who to talk to for some extra gas and grocery money! For an additional $15k, you can get the Honda walking robot docking station and play Ultraman with your friends in your front yard. (Turbo Jet and wing kit for robot sold seperately.)
At the time, it was pretty darn cool. But soon we laughed hard at the people who bought one.
See Osborne History
Here's an OEM that shows the true cost of Windows 2000. Directly beneath the RedHat price is the price of Windows 2000 pre-loaded - $450, which means it's $200 more.
This is likely an off-the-shelf, non OEM price (since our Redmond frinds aren't too kind to PC makers who don't feature thier OS exclusively)
Nice to see.
Soko
"Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm." - Anonymous
Charmed Announces Crusoe-based Linux Wearable???
I liked the episode last season better, where the three sisters fought the Gnu Debian C# compiler.
:)
Put one of these http://www.theregus.com/content/54/24709.html in your pocket i'm sure it will run your favorite flavor of *nix and it's half the price..with the docking station...
Just Limin' Mon
From what I can see this is a company that is just starting up. This thing that they are selling, in my opinion, is pretty overpriced. With the money that it took to buy all the accessories, you could probably make yourself for cheaper. I hope they do well, but I don't see the masses of people buying any of those, let along a single person.
I would do something like this:
Make a wearable computer for lets say.. people that stock large amounts of stuff in warehouses. Would be pretty handy to have the full inventory at the press of a button, without having to look away. Make a few of these units, approach some large company who have a lot of these workers, and see if you can get a few of them to use it for a few days to see if its useful. It probably will, or they didn't make it right. Do this to a few different companies/different markets, and you have quite a base of users out there, and you then market it to the public, using the above examples of how good it works.
I read thru their website a bit, didn't really see much of any of that going on. Like I said, I hope they do well, but I don't think they are doing it right if they want it to take off..
I wouldn't characterize them as idiots... just perhaps a bit un innovative. Yes I know thats a horrible thing for lil old me to say about a bunch of seemingly amazing MIT grads. But ya know, they're still using some backwards ass stuff. Wheres the new gear? Wheres the new applications?! Show me the killer apps that these wearables would use. Show me something thats changed in the last few years other than adding a new cpu option. And what about this nanix stuff? Where is it? I couldn't find any place to download it. Everyone seems to know about the blurb... so where is it? So often it seems like people start drifting off into their own little world, and fail to see where things are going and fail to remember that innovation is the key. Especially when it comes to technology, if you stop, you're a market has been.
I ate my sig.
$875 for the TM5800 (I'm not going back to a 266 mhz processor and I'd like to be able to listen to my MP3s with this thing)
266 mhz is more than adequate for MP3s. I used to have a Libretto 50 with a P75 that did a perfectly good job using mpg123.
Also, the $6000 price tag is not particularly unreasonable for a commercial wearable computer, eg. Xybernaut's stuff isn't much cheaper. Last year I had the job of purchasing a wearable for our lab -- we almost went with the earlier model of CharmIT, but in the end decided that we needed a bit more power and expandability, so we rolled our own. Had the Crusoe version existed then, we quite probably would have chosen it.
Cheers,
-j.
I saw Thad Starner demonstrate a Charmed prototype last year.
I really want one. When the color display becomes affordable I'll buy one.
What makes a wearable computer different from a palm or laptop computer is that you don't have to look away from the real world to see the display. The display appears to float within the real world. Wearable computers have long battery life and keyboards that allow you to type at near full speed while walking.
If you only use your wearable computer to run regular programs or play music it isn't worth the extra money. The only benefit is an extra half hour to do email as you walk to your office.
The target audience for the Charmed kit is people working on wearable-only applications, like the "remembrance agent" or "augmented reality."
Wearable Rememberance Agent may be the "killer app".
Plano eyeglasses (for use if you do not wear eyeglasses),
Now that's knowing your audience.
If you fall off a building, go real limp, because maybe you'll look like a dummy and people will be like hey, free dummy