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Programming a Wearable Android Device
CowboyRobot writes "Dr. Dobb's reviews an alternative to Google Glass and goes through the steps of coding your own Android-based Heads-Up Display. 'By tucking their 428x240 pixel WQVGA heads-up display in the lower right corner of ski goggles, Recon has effectively created an unobtrusive HUD with a decent 600 MHz ARM Cortex A8 processor running Android 2.3.3 (Eclair). Network connections can be made via a Bluetooth-paired Android smartphone.'"
Let's not forget that Microsoft Research has done remarkable job at discovering and developing real life HUDs. For example back in 2004 Bill Gates himself assigned the goal of
How would HUD even work since your eyes need to focus on elements between far and close? Would you need to focus on the HUD? Does glasses work the same way? Could some nerd with glasses explain how do you focus on things?
Umm...unobtrusive if you are skiing, perhaps. If you are walking around town in the middle of September, not so much.
"..running Android 2.3.3"
4.1 is the latest, right? Thats your problem right there.
I used a broken android phone + dildo to make a vibrator with a video camera. The movies aren't as exciting as you might think.
We actually use it for science (infertility studies at a medical school I won't mention).
Eclair was Android 2.1. I can definitely see why soulskull was scared about dice imposing standards on the editors. Any other media outlet would have long since fired these flunkies.
A heads up display allows you to look straight ahead without adjusting your focal point or moving your eye. This doesn't look as though the image is projected onto the surface of the googles. the user must make an effort to view information, it is not overlayed with the normal field of view. It's just a mini-display tucked into the corner of diving googles.
Isn't 2.3.3 Gingerbread
Skiing is already kind of dangerous, and has lots of opportunities to run into things and people.
I'm not sure embedding a display that can distract you is necessarily a great idea...
A pure HUD overlay over the whole view that was primarily about warning you of collisions might be useful though. Especially indicators of things to the side just out of your FOV, or terrain radar warning you of ripples in the terrain you could not see because of flat light or snow.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I can't wait to have unsynchronized clocks and force close messages blasting into my eyes constantly, or at least until the battery dies. I don't get that enough with my phone and want it beamed into my eyes directly.
one on the visor of my motor cycle helmet. It would be nice to be able to see what's behind you while looking forward. Would also be nice to see you instruments without having to take your eyes off the road - RAS
Opti-Grab
Driving is dangerous too, yet every car comes with a vast array of readouts and inputs.
Good-bye
The article and summary both get this wrong. Also, most people would not consider ski goggles unobtrusive.
2.3.3 isn't Eclair it's Gingerbread
Yeah. Goggles are nice to shield your eyes from pokey bits of trees and ice in crashes. I don't like the idea of introducing a large, pointy piece of plastic so close to my eye. But the hardware/software combo is cool.
Driving is dangerous too, yet every car comes with a vast array of readouts and inputs.
Not as dangerous: the view ahead of you is clear, the other displays are out of the way and (most importantly) not impeding peripheral vision.
I would also argue that most people skiing have much less control ability than they do in a car to react to sudden peril. Hitting brakes or steering is very easy; braking/turning sharply on uneven terrain is difficult on skis or a snowboard.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Its bad enough we have people who text while driving.
commercial: "My sister was glade skiing. This is the text message she sent before she hit a tree at 30 mph and died."
An apostrophe means "woah, here comes an 's'".
(Paraphrase from Dave Barry, I think.)
I'm a bike rider (Motor, not foot powered) and I can think of many uses this would be handy for when on a cruise around the country side. The standard email/speed/weather apps would be handy. But how about adding a rear, wide-angle camera view that I could glimpse at without turning my head around. That would be pretty useful.
I'm not sure embedding a display that can distract you is necessarily a great idea...
It is just as distracting as the edge of your goggle frame, your hand as it moves into view, the hot skier chick who skied by.
How distracting is your speedometer when you are driving? That is about how distracting the Recon device is
Actually MORE dangerous, due to speed, momentum, limited visibility, traffic conditions, and the fact that you're sitting in a metal construction that can crush you in a million different ways if you get slammed by something. The vast majority of skiing accidents ends with no injuries, since it's not very dangerous. The vast majority of car accidents ends with at the very least equipment damage, and quite possible whiplash and so on.
As for your argument that people skiing has less control to react to sudden dangers, that's patently false unless you're talking about downhill speed-freaks - a very small portion of skiers most comparable to track racers in the vehicle world. Even so the occurrence of "sudden peril" is incredibly rare in the skiing world compared to while driving.