The Ups and Downs of Wearable Computing

Flood writes "The Washington Post has a front page story today about Xybernaut, billed as one of wearable computing's 'pioneers'. Interesting bit about the ups and downs of starting a cutting-edge company. " Wearable computing is something that will definitely come - but I still don't have a good feel for when. What do you folks think?

Comments

"Wearable" versus "Hands-free"

[Ledge Kindred]

I hate talking on the telephone. While I'm on the phone, I can't do very much. Even with a cordless phone, I've still got one half of my total number of hands dedicated to doing nothing but holding the phone up by my head. Rather irritating, IMHO.

I just bought myself a $100 hands-free cordless phone by GE. It's got a little headset like you see The Friendly Time-Life Operators using on those TV commercials, and a little "brick" with a phonepad and a battery in it that you clip to your waistband/belt and a cord that runs between the two. I thought when I bought it that it would be a novelty at best, but, because I am now able to do other things while I'm on the phone, like water my plants, feed the fish, vaccuum the living room, wash dishes, or whatever, it really makes a tremendous difference for me; when I have to sit in a chair and hold the phone against the side of my head, I get bored/antsy quickly and just want to hang up so I can do something with my hands.

I don't specifically want "wearable" computing, but I would love to have hands-free computing. If I could be in the back yard watering the plants, or taking care of my fish, or playing with my boa constrictor, or doing just about anything else "interesting" while I'm having to fire off half a dozen boring-but-job-related replies to half a dozen boring-but-job-related EMails, the people who communicate with me would probably get a lot more communication from me.

It would be nice if I could use this same equipment while I was at the mall to see if I could find a better price online for this nice DVD I'm looking at, or bring it with me to the grocery store so I can review my shopping list (or keep it with me when I'm not at the grocery store, so I can add to my shopping list when I think of something, instead of when I'm near my shopping list), that would be even better. But for me, the hands-free operation is more desirable.

And I don't mean something like the Palm Pilot. I find it's data input "capabilities" (i.e. Graffiti [sp?] and the fact that input has to happen effectively one letter at a time in that little square) extremely irritating at best and nearly useless in general.

Ideally I would like voice recognition, but barring that, some sort of very durable keyboard is the next best solution. I think most geeks can probably type a lot faster than they can write. I want something specifically designed for hands-free or nearly-hands-off operation - I don't want to have to hold it in one hand and type with the other to be able to use it, which also disqualifies all those wince boxes out there.

It has to have the same conveniences as my new phone -- I have to be able to make use of it while being mobile and having both hands free. Even if I have to use one hand to type to respond to EMail, it needs to be mostly hands-off.

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