A Linux Machine For Your Collar

MadSaxon writes "gumstix.org has a brief but titillating description of a very small Linux machine based on the PXA255: 20 x 80 mm, '64MB SDRAM, 4MB Flash, MMC/SD/SDIO slot, and power management. It takes 3.6V - 5.0V power, and has been drawing under 200 mA.' It weighs less than 12g sans battery, and 'can fit in a collar undetected.' Is collar-top computing the Next Big Thing?"

Comments

Collar?

[Dyolf Knip]

Ok.. why? I mean is there something about being in a collar that being in a pocket or a belt buckle can't do?

under the collar?

[nizo]

Ok great the computer fits under my collar, but does it have a jack to plug right into my brain? Or must I wear those uber-geeky display glasses with a one handed keyboard to use it, which would seem to defeat the purpose of yet another ultra small computer. It seems we need to work on the interface for wearables more than anything.

Re:under the collar?

[Analogy Man]

You hit it on the head. My objection to most of the modern gizmo's is the interface not the form factor. I hate the superfluous menues on my damn cell phone and I do not have a PDA. I guess I am decidedly the anti-uber-geek for admitting this, but I am not alone! The truly clever person (not just technically proficient and skilled) that comes up with an unobtrusive interface will rock the marketplace. Maybe a generation of kids that grew up sending messages over their cell phones and text pagers will leave me in the proverbial dust, but I can certainly hope for a revolution.

On the other hand maybe while we are out and about away from our LAN we should talk with the person next to use instead of on the other end of a cell phone call, read a good book instead of surfing blogs and listen to the wind in the trees instead of the latest MP3 we downloaded.

Now I guess I will crawl into my shack, work on my manifesto and prepare some "packages".

Obvious rebuttal

[cskaplan]

Is collar-top computing the Next Big Thing?

No, it isn't.

Re:Why not wireless?

[wicked_little_critta]

...if only people could accept that learning things rote is no longer something we actually have to do any more....

...except for your password...

Re:So It's a PDA

[ill_mango]

Yeah, I agree at this point it's little more than a geekier-looking PDA, but it would be cool if he could somehow come up with a screen that wears like glasses and some sort of small, one-handed input device.

I think people should start working on smaller, more convenient interfaces rather than smaller computers, because we have some pretty ridiculously small computers out already.

JUST IMAGINE

[cpfeifer]

a Beowulf cluster of th+++NO CARRIER