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HP Announces a Watch That Unifies WebOS Devices
Norsefire writes "After teasing it last year, HP's Phil McKinney has announced the 'Metal Watch', the device that will act as the aggregation point of your HP/WebOS devices. McKinney claims that it will unify your Pre, Touchpad, Notebook, Desktop, and, bizarrely, your printer."
Is this a joke? He holds up a watch that looks about 20 years old. I guess that's how out of touch this guy is. I thought it was funny that this was in fact a "Fossil" watch.
Besides, people don't want to be reminded that they've been suckered into buying so many gadgets that don't work together and that their laptop didn't replace their desktop and their phone didn't replace their laptop and that their tablet didn't replace their need for a phone, laptop or desktop. They still have them all. A company like HP can't hope to do what I think they are hoping to do and make them work together. They would end up not supporting "everything". Maybe a smaller company could.
The cellphone did a good job of replacing the watch though.
I still prefer my Rolex.
How is it unusual that an HP device can connect to your printer? What kind of bizarro universe do you live in where this doesn't happen normally?
What could be better than a watch that will stop working if you don't charge it every day or so?
My postings are informational and does not constitute legal advice. Act on it at your risk.
Seriously, all I see is a blurb and a half-frigging-hour Youtube video that someone probably filmed on their iPhone.
I thought the Pre was totally dead???
If you ditch the PDA, most of that does work together. Of course, if you still have a PDA you're a bit out of touch in today's world.
... will it allow you to call Dick Tracy?
My bad, the Pre is a phone, not a PDA. Still, ditch that and replace it with an Android, Windows Phone 7, or iPhone and you're golden.
Finally all (zero) of my webOS devices can work together in harmony.
My printer knows where my hand has been? That's just asking for trouble.
The only surefire protection against Microsoft infections is abstinence. - The Onion
There was a watch that was a full PalmOS device. You can still find them on eBay and they are probably still the most versatile watch computer ever sold. It was Fossil brand, too.
With technology improvements it should be possible in a year or two to have a full Palm Pixi equivalent in a watch.
I have a website that tell you when your bus or streetcar is going to arrive and I often think it would be very useful if there was some way to have that information on my watch.
Something similar to webOS dashboard controls that get exported to your watch would be one approach.
Not bizarre. It's HP, after all. HP want to unify your printer with everything. "Just ordered some Internet Ham on my Palm, and I'm printing it out of my HP all-in one over Bluetooth. I could scan it back in and fax it to someone else, but that would be Ham Piracy."
MS Bob and Apple Newton come to mind.
even after watching this I have no idea what this does or why I would want one.
"Waste not one watt!" - CZ
I still prefer my Rolex.
That's a "Brag post"?
Please. Let us know when you've moved up from mass-produced stuff to something good, like my Patek Phillipe.
Yeah, all of that except the part about replacing anything with Windows Phone 7. What a piece of shit.
I think (since the only source is the video) that it's called a 'meta watch', not 'metal watch', i.e. a watch made of watches. Yo Dawg, etc.
"I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
That's what I was thinking. Who has a watch, other than those who want to wear a piece of jewelry?
They should have made the mobile phone the hub. That's what I always have with me.
http://www.reghardware.com/2011/03/03/3d_printer_makes_food
and, bizarrely, your printer.
Why is this considered bizarre? It's HP. They sell printers, in case you hadn't heard. Just because the printers don't run WebOS doesn't mean that it's a bizarre decision to integrate them. Not all iPods run iOS, yet they all sync with iTunes. It's sound business.
hehe, as soon as he pulls the watch out people start running out in droves.
Is it ironic that the one example he gives of how all of this garbage technology is going to help us manage our lives is that it will help us let our coworkers know we are going to be late for work?
Except that, despite being third fiddle and "late" to the game, most reviewers have positive reviews.
Don't let your "M$" hate blind you.
(disclaimer: I own an Atrix and am happy with it. I did consider a 7 tho while searching for an iPhone replacement. Would never get a BB.)
back in the 1990s Sun was pushing the idea of a signet ring that would carry all your data and credentials, powered by a java interface. It finally came to realization in 1998.
http://www.javaworld.com/jw-04-1998/jw-04-ringfever.html
At the time I thought it was a splendid idea. The concept was to have public kiosks that would intermediate between the ring and your mainframe to do what ever you wanted to do. Or the ring could authenticate you to some point of sale, or carry your medical records. etc... Remember this was early 90s.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Syncing data between devices is something the cloud would really be useful for. You could write a document in a word processor and have that document automatically available to all the devices that use the same Cloud account. That would allow you to start a document on your phone, then finish it when you get to your computer without manually syncing anything.
They can't even make good "plug and play" printer without the need of bloated drivers and what not, how cool, i can foresee the future already, soon instead of a mini-/cd/dvd bloatware we'll get a cheap plastic watch with a flash rom/ram to synchronise with the printer, and if the watch fails breaks etc, u'll have to buy a new one, or your documents won't synchronise.
Without voice control, those 3 tiny dials on the watch are pretty limited.
I'd like: ...
- turn by turn directions over a bluetooth headset - real GPS
- easy cell phone use with voice commands. "call mom at home"
- a todo list manager - voice controlled with context - shopping, work, home,
- Music playback
- 12 hr battery life; user swappable batteries for those long overseas flights.
- Clock with 100 alarms that actually understand timezones and DST changes. voice controlled
- Contacts - voice controlled
- lo res camera for contacts - snapshot + add to contact "joe"
- Calendar management - voice controlled, especially for adding
- the watch should connect to any computer, securely and display emails, lists, and allow management with a mix of voice and mouse and keyboard controls.
** "delete" - should delete the current item. "mark as done" should do what you expect.
- A few built-in word games like jeopardy would be nice.
- Completely open development tools.
The open source community should create an open wireless router that fits in a watch...That would be SOOOO Nice.
But I'd rather have an HP 01. In a class by itself.
how far are they willing to take their webos push?
their hints of laptop and desktop seems to flip flop between being a full boot, some kind of app framework or a quick boot setup.
comment first, facts later. http://chem.tufts.edu/AnswersInScience/RelativityofWrong.htm
Do you have to hold it up to the monitor while the screen flashes?
...Both of them.
I'm waiting for the ring... the one ring to rule them all.
Dark Reflection
The rest is marketing/investor bullshit. Actually the rest seems to be that way too. Nvm.
Blancpain baby, Blancpain
> to something good, like my Patek Phillipe.
Which is a poorer time-keeper than a $20 Casio watch. Marvellous! Fails on the primary use-case.
I watched most of the video, though admittedly I did scrub a bit around the 12 minute mark. Here's what I took from it in no particular order...
-The presenter shows an old school Linksys router as an example of complicated networking. Interesting choice, since I remember those things being literally plug and play, without so much as a driver install required. Admittedly it wasn't SECURE out of the box, but they did work. By contrast, the new Valet routers and other things designed to make wireless networking simpler appear to make it even more complicated by requiring a software installation and making the browser interface even more annoying to parse. Call me biased by my muscle memory, but the concept of "make it as simple as possible, but no simpler" seems to have been lost on this gentleman. IMO I think the better example of this would have been Windows Home Server, which was a great idea that was simply leaned far too much closer to 'server' than 'home for most people...but the most widely available ones were HP Mediasmart Servers, so showing them off would have been a better idea technologically, but not from the presenter's POV.
-I, for one, think that having Fossil make the watch and it having a more traditional look is a GOOD thing. In 2011, the only reason why people wear wristwatches anymore are as fashion accessories. Telling time is done by the 1,001 other devices that have clocks on them, e.g. every other device in the product photo. I also think that this is a better choice than the phone because if they can get the battery life to be where it needs to be, you're much more likely to have a charged watch than a charged phone, and the phone doesn't have to have its processor backgrounding all the sync work that would be the death wish for actually making calls, especially since there seemed to be an ever-so-subtle nod that the phone will be responsible for providing internet connectivity to the rest of the PAN. If you're running a vertical HP stack, it makes sense to make the watch target the board room instead of the server room. The gen pop at Slashdot has no issue beating devices into synchronization if we care enough to do it. Getting board room execs to start fawning over HP kit instead of Apple kit is ultimately what they appear to be after, but I'll touch on Apple envy in a bit.
-The presenter discusses the issue of syncing all your devices together and that the Metal Watch is the point of contact for them. This sounds good in the tone of the overall broad vision he's casting, but the nuts and bolts get complicated VERY quickly. Metal Watch might run a complete software stack, but you can't make it as simple as he claims. How do you assign a watch to its owner? Browser config? great! How do you assign devices to the watch? More browser config? a bit chicken-and-egg there, but it's either that or the just-as-fun process of doing a Bluetooth sync between devices. If the watch is the key to the whole thing, how do you protect it, since it will likely be a prime target for theft if it can re-sync everything to new devices? If it's not, then what's the point? If a watch is damaged, how does one migrate all the aggregate data from each of the devices to the new watch? More browser config? Does the watch literally sync everything it can find? Either HP Labs have figured out how to put Deep Thought onto a wrist, or at some point, the user must tell the watch what to do. He talks about computers making smarter decisions, and I think they will ultimately be able to do so, but I for one am NOT a fan of relinquishing control to a computer just yet.
-As was brought up before, how does one charge the watch? What if it dies mid-day? I'd think that at least one quick solution would be to have an 'emergency juice cable' that can charge any device from any other device - powering the watch from a laptop or using the tablet as a jumper cable to make an emergency call from a dead phone would be an excellent feature to have, but it must be considered since there's no way that a watch battery is
Yeah. The Kin got a lot of "positive reviews" too. Face it, MS is a joke in the mobile space and WP7 is a flop. Of course, they'll be pushing that dead whale down the beach for a long time with the bulldozers their mountains of Windows and Office cash are paying for. Must be nice to have monopoly money. Must to suck to be one of their shareholders.
People who like having a finely-crafted little mechanical machine on their wrists (though I suppose that could fall under the "jewelry" category, though I don't see it as quite the same thing). Or people who don't like having to reach into their pocket to see what time it is--there's a reason why wristwatches replaced pocket watches. That said, I think I'd take an Omega or a Patek Philippe or even a Casio over an HP.
Great now I'll be able to sync all my WebOS devices!!! Except I don't own any WebOS devices and neither does anyone else I know. Great plan but missed it by this || much.
But - there is no there there ... its just air and fluff ... when will it actually BE something - ...
stop "selling" me concepts that I can't buy today and don't yet exist
Uh, you do realize that Apple, when annoucing the iPad, felt it would be fitting in-betwee the laptop and the smartphone, right? Because they fit in different categories - the smartphone is carried everywhere and must be small and mobile. The tablet is less mobile and is carried around a home or on business in a bag, but offers more screen real estate to do work on than a phone. And a laptop is there because there are things a tablet can't do without compromising battery life, portability, or other things.
That's how Jobs introduced the iPad. Converging devices is nice and all, but it leads to compromises that are inherent in the whole thing. You can buy PC tablets, but they're heavy, don't last long and their UI is atrocious because apps were designed for a mouse and keyboard interaction. Now you want to a phone as well, which means I have to carry this 2lb tablet PC to make phone calls? And if the battery dies, I'm SOL?
It's why there's a range of devices, from dumb make-a-call-only phones, to smartphones, to tablets, to laptops, desktop-replacement laptops and full-blown desktops. Each has their strengths and weaknesses.
And for the record, I wear a watch - not a spiffy one, just a plastic Casio - it does what I want it to do - namely tell time without reaching for anything and having to turn it on.
I still prefer my Rolex.
That's a "Brag post"?
Please. Let us know when you've moved up from mass-produced stuff to something good, like my Patek Phillipe.
That's a "That's a "Brag post"?" post?
Please. Let us know when you've moved up from "It's got some dude's name on it!" stuff to something that's just as good at orders of magnitude less cost, like my Casio.
WP7 is a flop, but not because its bad. In fact, its really good. The thing is everybody just bought their smartphones. They just got there late. From a development standpoint, its pretty fucking awesome. If I didn't already have a Motorola Droid, I would probably pick one of these up just to write software for it. Visual Studio remote debugging with the same codebase across Windows, Xbox360 and WP7 using C#.... what more could you want?
I said this right after a demo/preview of the platform "It'd be really sweet if anybody wanted it." That doesn't make it bad at all. And for the record, the reason the phone would be awesome is because of their non-monopoly products. XBox Live and Visual Studio which stand really well on their own merits. Face it, Microsoft has gone from a company of bad development to a company of bad marketing. If you didn't blindly hate them you would see that.
If I can just reach out with my words and touch a butthole, just one, it will all be worth it.
I just fixed all of my watches (I have 9, it turns out) because I'm tired of pulling my phone out of my pocket, pulling it out of its slipcase, and turning it on, then turning it off, putting it back in its slipcase, and putting it back in my pocket, just to know what time it is.
With a wristwatch it's a glance, maybe a twist of my arm and a glance, and I hardly realize I've done it most times, I just know what time it is.
And, yes, a watch is as much a piece of jewelry as any other accessory. But almost all cellphones are marketed and selected based on their blingy aspects, so there's no differentiation between them and watches, there.
You aren't "winning" by any chance, are you, chuckles?
Remember when every new HP product, bar none, was excruciatingly cool?
This one makes my sphincter clench.
its really good. The thing is everybody just bought their smartphones. They just got there late
So, 300,000 new Android activations daily is happening because everybody already has a smartphone? Bullshit. Please stop with the excuses. Furthermore, MS has been in the game longer than Google and Apple hence Windows Phone 7 .
From a development standpoint, its pretty fucking awesome. If I didn't already have a Motorola Droid, I would probably pick one of these up just to write software for it. Visual Studio remote debugging with the same codebase across Windows, Xbox360 and WP7 using C#.... what more could you want?
So, you're a VS fanboy. Yay. I have VS2010 right here. As well as Eclipse, Komodo and gvim. They're IDE's that all do pretty much the same thing. Personally, I prefer vim and could go on and on why I think it's great but whatever.
XBox Live
Holy, fuck! You can play games on your cell phone??? Shit, sign me up! Wait...
Face it, Microsoft has gone from a company of bad development to a company of bad marketing.
Yeah, sure, blame it on marketing. Whatever makes you feel better about failure, buddy.
I'm waiting for the ring... the one ring to rule them all.
Obligatory Dilbert. http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1998-09-12/
Dude, woah....
That was intense. I'm glad you use a bunch of different IDEs, and clearly establishing your dev-wang length is important to you. I stand by the fact that Microsoft got to the party late even though new Android activations are happening every day. People use Android because thats what other people are using, the way people use iPhones because thats what people are using, the way people used iPods because thats what people were using. Its not ever feature based or we would have all been on Betamax and Facebook wouldn't be a household name.
The development community around Android, the recognition of "oh my friend has one of those!" and the same thing with iPhones plays a huge part in this. Xbox Live integration is pretty sweet, a lot of people like it and the achievement system and it integrates another communication protocol, specifically from my console to somebody else's phone. It gets in on the social aspect of stuff. Marketing should have seen the need for WP7 earlier and pushed hard for it, thats why its a marketing failure.
Have you seen or used a windows phone? Have you experienced the integration Microsoft has developed between all of their products? Its getting to be really awesome. I just wish WP7 came out a year and a half ago. Maybe then people would have bought it, there would be a market and dev community, people would use the integration with Xbox Live, new and expanded features would come out.. but it won't. We both agree on that, I dont' know why you decided I had to be talked down to about it like I have a dog in this fight because I develop with Visual Studio.
I'm sure its because you've got big fat dick and a lot of ladies' numbers in your android based phone.
If I can just reach out with my words and touch a butthole, just one, it will all be worth it.
Why should a classy gentleman need to know the exact time? As if he's a professional record-keeper of bus arrivals or something? The rich only need a rough idea of what time it is, such as: can I get my boat back before sundown, have the servants prepared dinner yet, did I drink all night, etc...
Only the lower classes worry about such things, e.g., "It's 9:01, the boss is sure going to be upset..."
--Paraphrased from Paul Fussell's book "Class"
I still prefer my Rolex.
That's a "Brag post"?
Please. Let us know when you've moved up from mass-produced stuff to something good, like my Patek Phillipe.
Pot. Kettle. Black.
Ceci n'est pas une
Stop spreading FUD, idiot. I'm typing this right now on a "PC tablet" with a keyboard and more pixels than the iPad, a fingerprint reader, a USB port, SD and CF slots (all without dongles) and wired LAN/VGA with a dongle, and it still weighs less than the iPad. Battery life kinda sucks (thanks to x86 -- I'd kill for an ARM Cortex version), but it's sure as hell not heavy. And for your little UI rant, you do realize that real OSes have interchangeable components? No need to give up the ability to run PC UIs when you need them, you can run both if you don't cripple the OS, and you can run both _well_ if you get the hardware.right (i.e. full hardware keyboard and clitmouse)
Tablet PCs, UMPCs, etc. didn't die because they sucked, they died because they weren't marketed worth a damn, and because the advertising for laptops made all the folks who would have been UMPC early adopters spend all their money on ridiculously large desktop-replacement notebooks to leave permanently sitting on their desks instead. So UMPCs didn't sell, so manufacturers stopped developing them.
FWIW, I consider my U820 (now discontinued in favor of the inferior UH900) the high-water mark, but you know what? They couldn't sell them (outside Japan and Korea, anyway), because bastard idiots listen to marketing (which is mostly bigger-is-better lies selling lardarse laptops) instead of making up their own minds. Now everyone who sees it wants to know where to buy one -- but it's too damn late, they already killed it by deliberately ignoring all devices that aren't shoved in their faces with a bloody advert.
Now the iPad at least has decent marketing, so apparently there's a broad resurgence in tablets (mostly ARM now, hallelujah!), and maybe this time next year the new wave will finally match my U820, so I guess I should calm down and be happy. /nerdrage
I don't like to wear jewelry, but I do wear a watch when I want to keep close track of the time (which is not all of the time). I find it much less intrusive to wear something small strapped to my wrist than to carry always around an electronic device that needs to be constantly charged, protected against damage, and which allows people (including the government) to track my location at every minute and to interrupt me when I'm thinking (even if I don't answer it).
Someone with mod points needs to rate these last few posts as "-1 Get a Room"...
... But they are too heavy and thick for my tiny hands and wrists. I still prefer CASIO Databank watches (150 is the one I use now). :(
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
You don't put your watch in a slip case, do you? Just give up your urge to protect, give in to your urge to just "use freely", and at most put a screen protector on your phone (like i do). No need to protect your phone so much.
I use a pocket watch thank you very much, my watch comes ATTACHED to it's slip case.
Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
I'm too lazy to fuss with a watch, i look at the sun and guess. Usually I'm within ten minutes, which is good enough.
Subversion of spatial scale luxury decoration ideas.