Don We Now Our Desktop
Techno lore has it that in 1961 the first “wearable” computer was built to beat the odds in Vegas. The gadget, which fit inside a shoe, was used to time a roulette ball as it danced around the board and predict which quadrant it would come to rest in.
That story was told again and again by technology engineers, who gathered last week in San Francisco for the third annual Wearable Computer Convention. For two days, more than 100 high-tech innovators exhibited their “wears,” swapped innovations and basked in how far wearable technology has come.
At the convention, exhibitors donned headgear, wrist mounts and waistbands with evident pride, not the least bit inhibited by potential fashion faux pas. None of the products were for sale at the convention, although some are already on the market and available through retailers. Many were merely prototypes of products consumers may see sometime in the near future.
But as technology gets ever smaller, faster and more convenient, many believe computer machinery, which can be worn on the body without hindering everyday movement, will soon be upon us. Here is a sampling of what the future holds:
Invisible Monitor Eyeglasses: This device gives new meaning to the term “private screening.” These nonprescription glasses, developed by Massachusetts-based MicroOptical, transmit a video display onto a tiny square on the glasses’ lens. The image appears to float before your very eyes. The image is sent through a wire attached to a waist-worn computer. The glasses are expected to be on the market in six months; the price is not available. Wear the eyeglasses and you’re instantly liberated from your desktop, free to compute . . . anywhere. Just watch where you’re going!
M-Bracelet: Touch this plastic bracelet to a bank machine and withdraw electronic money. Take the money to a store and buy a pair of slacks. Or touch the bracelet to a friend’s bracelet and loan him a few bucks. That’s the idea anyway. The M-Bracelet, which uses metallic disks the size of quarters to store downloaded information, is still being developed by NCR, a London-based research company.
Wearable Ring Scanner: It looks like something Spock would haul out to subdue a retinue of marauding Klingons, but Symbol’s ring scanner has a decidedly more mundane purpose. Companies use the scanner to inventory warehoused goods, at a far faster rate than was previously possible. The scanner’s laser can read material two feet away. A digital display screen strapped to the wrist logs information on objects in the scanner’s field of vision. Symbol’s scanner has been available for nearly four years and starts at about $4,000. The New York company also sells a scanner for home use, for those who never want to misplace a can of soup.
The Itsy: This research project by Compaq Computer Corp. brings all the computing power of a desktop into a gadget the size of a cassette case. It weighs less than a pound and is battery-powered. The Itsy has a Game Boy-size screen with exceptional quality, and only a couple functional buttons. Most of the computing is done by gently rocking the device in different directions. The Itsy isn’t likely to become a stocking stuffer any time soon. Compaq is exploring ways to apply what the Itsy can do to existing products. One possible example, a cellular phone without all those buttons--something the California Highway Patrol would surely welcome.
Mobile Assistant IV: This miniature computer fits around the waist and on the head--but not in the hands. And that’s important, because Xybernaut manufactures the product primarily for industrial use. (Starting price: $5,000.) A power company, for example, might outfit its electricians with the Mobile Assistant to work more productively in the field. It does this by storing everything an electrician needs to know: demographics of a neighborhood, maps, client information--anything the company chooses to download. Xybernaut, based in Virginia, began shipping the Mobile Assistant to companies in December.
As for that little shoe-worn device intended to beat the Vegas odds? No one knows if it worked or not . . . and no one knows whether there’s one on the drawing board, either.
