- The main unit: It doesn't have to be ultra tiny, but should be able to be belt-worn. 3 lbs with one battery is about the top limit. Here are the features the main CPU should have, hardware wise:
- Mini-IDE interface internally to use laptio hard drives. (shock-mounted!)
- SD/MMC or SDIO expansion slot.
- Keyboard and pointing device connectors. USB is fine, and so is bluetooth or other RF. The pointer should be pocketable and the keyboard could even be one of those PDA thumb pads. No Twiddlers. Only geeks like them.
- Video output of at least 640 by 480. This should go to a Head Mounted Display (see below).
- Two, hot-swappable battery connections. Sometimes you just need limitlessly expandable power.
- Ability to recharge the battery while hot, from an AC outlet or 12v DC car plug. As a mobile solution, a car charger is mandatory. A Solar recharger would be a nice bonus.
- Full duplex audio, at least 16-bit stereo.
- Synchronization ability via network or USB. Setting it up to emulate a USB removable media storge device would be easiest. (like a myriad of mp3 players out there.)
- The Head Mounted Display. Arm-mounted displays or other tablet like displays are over rated. A wearable needs a HMD.
- It HAS to be light weight
- AND unobtrusive.
- Minimum of 640 by 480 resolution, color.
- It could have an LCD in the main unit with a fibre optic connection to the eye piece.
- Mountable to glasses.
- Integrated ear piece or headphones and microphone.(Like the Jabra ones for cell phones)
- The display should cover about one third to one half of the user's field of view.
- It should be adjustable between eyes, top, bottom, or center of the FOV, and left, right, or center in either eye.
- Adjustable brightness, contrast, color, and focus.
- Modular Accessory Hardware. These items should be optionally available or might be built in.
- Wired Ethernet jack
- WiFi networking
- Bluetooth (Might be better to build this in.... but could be modular)
- GPS
- Digital Camera (mountable to the HMD would be nice...)
- Cell Phone
- POS/Inventory/Data Collection tools such as bar code scanners, credit card/smart card readers, and receipt printers.
- Bundled Software. Some things you just need to have.
- Integrated Development Environment: So users can port/write their own software.
- Control Panel with setup wizards
- Easy Software installation and removal. (Package Manager)
- Security Control Panel: Detailed settings for ALL security functions.
- Multi-user login, possibly with single-sign-on support for networked computers.
- Basic networking stack with utilities such as ping, traceroute, nslookup, etc.
- Personal Information Manager: Must sync with Outlook, Yahoo, Mozilla, Evolution, etc. Extra bonus if integrated with GPS, cell phone, or other software.
- Remote Applications Software: X Server, RDesktop, VNC, etc.
- SSH
- Web Browser: with SSL, tables, frames, cookies, etc. supported.
- Email client: POP, IMAP, and SMTP support.
- Basic Office Suite: Text document editor, spreadsheet, and presentation software.
- Desktop/Server synchronization via USB or network.
- Media Player
- PDF reader
- Network File Sharing: SMB, NFS, etc.
- Personal Area Networking: Tiny web server to send out business cards, or greeting info, scanning for other systems, PIM and GPS integration, etc.
- A few simple games... Solitaire comes to mind...
- Optional Software: Other stuff it would be nice to have.
- GPS Mapping system
- Photo browsing for digital camera
- PGP/GPG Encryption
- Instant Messenger
- SIP Phone
- POS
- Inventory and Data Collection
- Custom Police and other Emergency Services applications.
- Language Translator
- Speech Recognition
- Speech Synthesis
- Location-Aware (GPS) PIM, System settings, and Networking.
- Location Aware Photo Comments
- More games!
- PAN-enabled and Location-aware games!
- Marketing: How you marlet this wearable will go a long way to your profit margin.
- Business Executives on the go, or who need privacy.
- Hip, 20-somethings and teens.
- Data Collection
- Mobile POS Systems.
- Field Service Technicians
- Military
- Emergency Services
- As a Thin Client
Monday, February 21, 2005
Why hasn't anyone done this?
For years now, I've been interested in wearable computers. I'm often awed by the power of the hardware out there and the capabilities of the software that is available, but despite all these advances, I'm surprised no one has made a wearable computer for the masses.
Honestly, I don't think it would be too hard to make, either. So for the world to see, I now present my own ideas of what I wish someone would make. I present these ideas to the public under no license whatsoever. I disavow any copyright to these ideas, so I leave those with the resources to make something like this without claim to any intellectual property rights for myself. All I ask is first that someone makes something like this and, second, if it proves to be profitable, send me one. You can find contact info in my Blogger profile.
So.... here are my ideas:
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