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Whereables?
d4 asks: "Thad Starner has been using a wearable computer daily since 1993, and Steve Mann has had an impressive amount of press coverage over the years. But if you want wearable computing in 2005, it seems you must build your own system. Why, after all this time and attention, are wearables still not commercially available?"
I don't want to reboot by pants! And I don't want a virus in my jacket ...
because they are still bulky and pretty useless...
Even geeks want to try and find a date!
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
1. Battery life- Batteries haven't been keeping up with other computer components in terms of improvements. A hefty CPU just drains them too quickly- And without a hefty CPU a Palm PC form factor is more practical.
2. Headaches- Nobody has figured out how to make an eyeglass display that doesn't cause lots of complaints about migranes. The atari VR system and the Nintendo VR both got killed by this.
3. Dork factor- Until Apple releases an iWearable and tempts all the hipster-wannabes with commercials, you just can't walk around with this gear in public without feeling weird- Just like with MP3 players pre-ipod.
Show me the killer app for a wearable, hell, show me 'a' worthwhile application that won't require millions in R&D.
pda's are horribly unfashionable, let alone headgear. You need a display that can be integrated into a pair of shades of your choice, and no antennas sticking up from behind the ears. Alternately perhaps apple could come up with something svelte and stylish that is itself a fashion statement like white ipod ear phones are now.
Most consumers don't live and breath computers. If they have to take a laptop out of their briefcase and wait for it to boot or dehibernate, it's no big deal. Geeks may seek borg-style computers, but that's not a big enough market for a commercial device.
The technology has not been advanced enough to the point that hardware can be small enough as to avoid making the wearer look like a complete moron. And, even if we had acheived that point, there isn't much use for 'wearable' computers. Exactly what do you need one for? You can't use a regular GPS and/or PDA to do everything you would need to do while mobile?
Might the fact that no-one wears a wearable computer be because no-one needs to? We all carry mobile phones, and are thus available at all times. Some of us have mobiles with calendars, to-do items and so on. We're connected.
Others use PDAs, which give them computing powers beyond the dreams of those who languish in the nineties. We can now emulate elderly computers on a handheld
Wearable computers... we carry them in our pockets.
I can't use wearable computers since my tie keeps getting caught in the CPU fan.
Height: 38U, Weight: 0 Newtons, Eyes: #0000FF, OS: Gray Matter 1.0 (Alpha)
I guess if you really have to ask why there are no wearable computers, the humor would just be lost anyway.
Where did I leave my frigging whereable ? Maybe I look it up on my wearable.
What everyone seems to miss is that we are already wearing computers. 145 million Americans have cellular telephones. Many of them have capabilities that far surpass what could be done with 1996-class desktops, let alone wearables.
There's no need for the dorky headgear or the wierd chorded keyboards. I'm already wearing a computer. It's the Danger Hiptop2. It has a thumbkeyboard, a display, a connection to the internet, and a number of other features. It can do just about anything that the "wearables" of 1996 could do.
Wearables don't exist because they don't need to exist. What's wrong with products like the Dell Axim X50v? It has a 624MHz PXA270 ARM processor, 64MB of DRAM, 128MB of flash, a VGA touchscreen, WLAN, Bluetooth, infared, CF and SD expansion, and a lot more.
It's $425, it runs for 6 hours on batteries, and it absolutely blows away any "wearable" you saw on the Discovery Channel. Oh, and you don't look like a dork for carrying one.
4. Basements- Having a wearable computer would mean that geeks would actually have to enter the unforgiving world that awaits beneath the scorching sun.
Look at: http://www.xybernaut.com
They have been at it for some time.
I use dto want to play this game too. Spent a lot of money (of what I could afford) on some gear. Closet thing I had to a mobile processor was an old laptop.
But at the time, display technology was below perfomance / dollar expections of the everyday man. But persevered I did. Even wrote a contact manager that runs in low resolution with a one handed keyboard.
In the end I made the same decision most other people will. For the dollar, you can't get where you want to be. The only real people capable of advancing this field are still the R&D gang and the college kids (usually the same group).
In addition, as mentioned by others, it hard to beat some of eht computing power availble in the PDA form factor (especially in Japan). I have been oon PDAs since the original PALM 128k unit. No need for a bulky monocular display hanging off my head, great run time, and lots of applications for the mobile user. And yet.. nothing truely pervasive as seen in the wearble experimental world.
Now I have to wonder. Steve Mann isn't interested in commercializing this stuff, but he does provide full specs on how to make them, so which isn't someone commercializing this technology? I'd buy a pair of sunglasses that looked cool and let me google whilst talking to people, wouldn't you? Imagine someone asking you a question and you being able to answer with the power of google at your disposal!
How we know is more important than what we know.
Does a smart phone count?
The killer app is voice.
to keep things in perspective i saw a documentary about the military working on equipping soldiers with "onboard" computing for realtime use in the field and the prototypes are still 50 lbs.
...you just didn't notice. (Okay, actually, they're not available to the public yet, but a couple of review sites have gotten their hands on working models.)
Fossil Abacus Wrist PDA
Okay, this is probably more the inspiration for asking the question rather than what was being sought, but it's still a computer that you wear.
--Ender
Loose things are easy to lose. You're getting your hair cut. They're going there to see their aunt.
Sure, there are 'bleeding-edge' early adopters of the technology; but that doesn't necessarily mean that your average Joe Q. Shithead is going to need one. Hell, even PDA's are only used by a small percentage of the populous.
There is going to have to be a catalyst to lead to wearable computing for the masses.
Even as great of a product as the Newton was, it was premature to market. The same thing is happening with the Wearables. Something needs to happen to make people need/want a wearable. Until that happens, expect them to remain on the fringe.
Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
A former boss of mine has an excellent question he always asks regarding requests to acquire new technology: "What's the problem for which this is the solution?" The lack of an answer to that question is the answer to the question posed by this thread.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
This is the guy who was detained on 9/11. He sued Air Canada claiming that he was bleeding after having his chest electrodes removed. If they are growing into your skin you might want to clean a little more. Ick
tabooki.com
Heads-Up Display.
If you have to stop surfing to cross the road, it's not a proper wearable.
This is just what we need, people trying to use a computer as they DRIVE.
I mean honestly, people can't drive without distractions... and cell phones are causing huge problems, what will a computer do?
I'm staying off the roads.
I'll Find You Peer, If It's The Last Thing I Do!!!!
This is the reason why there are no wearable Heat problems
Wearables haven't become popular because the people that would possibly use wearables realized that rather than wearing an expensive computer, they can wear armor or a startrek uniform and still look like just as much of a jackass.
Why aren't they main stream? My guess would be because there has yet to be a truely pervasive application or reason to have a wearbale computer. Sure surfing the web or playing a game at the bus stop would be need but certainly not practical. Not to mention the wireless infrasctructure is only just now starting to become widespread. A Palm Treo 650 or the like is probably pushing the current practial envelope. Regular people are even afraid of that type of device, much less a wearable desktop with a twiddler.
That is what I am waiting for. Something small, unobtrusive, and no less stylish than glasses. It would be really cool if you could have it be a semi-transparent overlay over the real world. It would be even more cool if a system could be implemented to feed you realtime info about what you are looking at.
But I get the feeling I'll get one of those for free with my Flying Car that I will have won as part of the opening sales promotion of Duke Nukem Forever.
"Empathise with stupidity, and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot." - Iain M. Banks
It's called a Smartphone with belt clip.
They exist in some capacity. This site sells a few www.xybernaut.com/. Looks like they even run linux!!
http://slashdot.org/comments.
i mean, we already have it
i can put a pda in my pocket
the only thing now is the screen in the glasses and the input method and all that whacky shit
which nobody wants
because PDAs work fine
AND FUNNILY ENOUGH, JUDGING FROM THE SHARP DECLINE IN SALES, NOBODY WANTS A PDA EITHER! WEARABLE COMPUTING! FUCK YEAH!
I'd say you've raised the potential market by about 10%.
As for myself, I get along very nicely with my PDA and my GSM phone.
My opinion? See above.
Why, after all this time and attention, are wearables still not commercially available?
Because its a straw man. Nobody wants to wear a frickin' computer, man!!!
Besides that, what the hell do you think this is?
Honest. Super-duper computer-scientist borks might like to think their pretty little electro-future is something the world 'needs', but its a load of crap.
Cyborgs are a crappy Consumerican desire!!!
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
I've been practically attached to my PC for almost 20 years now, and some of the various ailments i've developed (aside from seeing scan-lines everywhere) are with my back and neck muscles.
Wearable computing is not only about walking the streets, looking like something out of cyberpunk. It's also for those of us who'd like to use our wired stations like human beings. I'd like to be able to sit / lie down at my workstation, and not have to strain my wrists/eyes/neck/back/etc. in order to be productive.
I'd KILL for a decent headset, not too expensive, so i can dump my monitor and stare in whichever direction is most comfortable. I'd like better input so I can code without having to find the keys (I'm no touch-typist, but there are simple solutions when attached to a pair of decent, *cheap* gloves).
All these things are just as much about wearability (is that a word), and IMO more important than how far you can go. You don't need a PC while driving your car. But you do need to work comfortably.
---- I was woken up this morning by a face full of fur. Damn cat thought my head made a good pillow.
The commercially available products from http://www.xybernaut.com are expensive but they do exist.
The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. - Benjamin Franklin
Obviously, you've never met Thad's wife, Tavenner. She's fantastic in all senses of the word.
Hi Tavenner!
-Erik
There are always four sides to every story: your side, their side, the truth, and what really happened.
wearables, not whereables. wearables - 1 entry found for wearables. wearable Pronunciation Key (wâr-bl) adj. 1. Suitable for wear: wearable shoes for the summer. 2. Suitable for easy wear: wearable evening clothes. whereables - No entry found for whereables.
looks to me like people are saying:
m and http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3...,9223 37,00.html)
1) they don't want it
2) tech isn't there yet to make it small enough
as for (1), i'm personally convinced that plenty of people will be using it once they see how convenient it makes things. everyone claims their
PDA is good enough, but i bet they don't dispense with their home computer and use their PDA full-time like we'll be able to when "full-power" wearables are eventually available. and i bet they don't constantly check the GPS on their PDA. or IM strangers in Times Square. (see http://www.headmap.org/book/manifesto/hm-blank.ht
but, besides all these "new" applications, computing will be nicer when you don't have to sit in front of the computer to do it.
however, that's a long way away; what I'd like today is just a $3000 low-resolution, slow, B&W sunglasses-embedded HMD and "virtual keyboard" (finger tracker). I do see people's point here; a PDA can do much of what this would be used for, and it would be cheaper, and color, and not feel weird. Personally, I'd shell out for the low-resolution sunglasses-enabled model and finger-tracker because the extra bandwidth (large display area (assuming the display changed when you moved your head) and large "virtual" keyboard) would allow me to do a lot of stuff "on the road" (waiting in line at the supermarket, etc) that I can't do efficiently on a tiny
PDA interface.
as for (2), i'm a little confused because, as some posters noted, corps started using cell phones before they were small. my feeling is that none by the nerdiest even think about wearable, much less realize the convenience and efficiency gains that wearables could bring. if corporations had it on their radar, I think they would buy them even now.
-- bayle
Well I'd expect in the next 2 years to be able to go to McDonalds and enter my order on a touch screen and have it brought out to me.
Arby's was doing that at the local mall a few years ago.
My Suburban burns less gasoline than your Prius.