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Dick Tracy's New Linux Box?

Posted by timothy on Thu Jun 29, 2006 09:27 AM
from the could-potentially-are-key-words dept.
Handhelds Software Hardware Linux
An anonymous reader writes "The Zypad is a new arm-wearable computer right out of Futurama. It can run Windows CE or Linux and has a 400 MHz CPU, 64MB Flash memory, 3.5 inch screen. The Zypad leaves the user's hands free — it has no keyboard, just a touchscreen and navigation keys. Voice recognition is 'being developed.' It turns on only when you look at it, so it saves power. It has GPS and Bluetooth/WLAN/GSM connectivity. Price: 1000 Euro." Too bad it's not yet available for sale — that screen looks more useful than the one on IBM's Linux watch from 2000.
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  • voice recognition (Score:5, Informative)

    by Douglas Simmons (628988) * on Thursday June 29 2006, @09:28AM (#15627672) Homepage
    For those of you in search of voice recognition ware that has already "been developed" you should check out Dragon NaturallySpeaking [nuance.com]. I got it for my boss who's paralyzed from the neck down and it works beautifully, making his life easier. Training only took 15 minutes and the accuracy is impressive. It comes with a headset mic but I recommend splurging on the Plantronics CS50-USB [amazon.com] wireless headset.

  • Futurama, eh? (Score:5, Funny)

    by dema (103780) on Thursday June 29 2006, @09:31AM (#15627691) Homepage
    The Zypad is a new arm-wearable computer right out of Futurama.

    So it's pointless, except on rare occasions when it can used for completely random tasks to fill plot holes?

  • mispronounced (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Dun Malg (230075) on Thursday June 29 2006, @09:33AM (#15627708) Homepage
    Voice recognition is 'being developed.'



    Somebody mispronounced 'doesn't work yet'.

    • Re:mispronounced (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 29 2006, @09:44AM (#15627791)
      No, they said that, the voice recognition just thought they said "being developed."
    • Voice recognition does work, does exist, and is in use. Our department uses Dragon Naturaly Speaking as well as a few others for some of our staff that have limited mobility. Is there still a long ways to go? Yes no doubt, but it is out there. I haven't personally played with it for about 5 years (moved to a different job), and even back then I was pretty impressed.
  • For Euro 1000, this thing should have some sort of antipersonnel weapon built in. When the price comes down, this might be practical as a daily computer -- I know that with wireless Internet on one at a $500 price point I'd spend a lot more time out of the office.
    • For Euro 1000, this thing should have some sort of antipersonnel weapon built in. When the price comes down, this might be practical as a daily computer -- I know that with wireless Internet on one at a $500 price point I'd spend a lot more time out of the office.

      I doubt it. From the description, anything you can do on this new toy, you can do (probably easier) on a PDA-Phone. No one REALLY works on PDA-phones either. You work on a LAPTOP where you can type at a reasonable speed.

      Granted, my Treo can

  • As worn by Duke Nukem Forever! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Shoten (260439) on Thursday June 29 2006, @09:35AM (#15627725)
    "Too bad it's not yet available for sale..."

    Too bad it's not yet in existence. When I see a radically new gadget from some company I've never heard of whose press release touts multiple moves forward in different realms of technology, and all they have to show is a computer-generated graphic of the thing...well, I've never seen any such device ever show up to market. Not ever, in my memory.
    • ...can I connect my Optimus keyboard to it?

    • Re:As worn by Duke Nukem Forever! (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Too bad it's not yet in existence. When I see a radically new gadget from some company I've never heard of whose press release touts multiple moves forward in different realms of technology, and all they have to show is a computer-generated graphic of the thing...well, I've never seen any such device ever show up to market. Not ever, in my memory.
      Oh, believe me. It exists. We have a couple of them in the lab here, and they work great. They have some problems with audio, but that appears to be a proble

    • It does work! (Score:4, Funny)

      by Tribbin (565963) on Thursday June 29 2006, @11:07AM (#15628387) Homepage
      They have a full working version.

      The problem is they set a bit wrong and it only works when you don't look at it.
      • I was sort of hoping it would look exactly like Leela's wrist thingy, instead of thise euro-designed gonna-look-dated-in-three-years thing. A big bulky wristcomputer might actually be worthwhile, especially if it's ruggedized enough to handle being on someone's arm (look at the kind of abuse watches get). The one in the picture looks awfully fragile to me.

        Plus, you'd build strong arms lugging it around all day.

  • So... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 29 2006, @09:37AM (#15627740)
    does it have an ARM processor? In that case, do you need a StrongARM to be able to use it?

    • Re:So... (Score:3, Informative)

      by IdahoEv (195056)
      do you need a StrongARM to be able to use it?

      Yes, regardless of processor. The press release says it weighs 390 grams, which is 0.86 pounds.

      Go to your local sporting good store and get a 1-pound ankle weight. Try wearing in on your wrist all of the time. (Even let .14 grams of the sand out if you like).

      You'll find out it's a lot heavier than you thought, especially for vaporware.

  • Good news, everyone! (Score:5, Funny)

    by saboola (655522) on Thursday June 29 2006, @09:37AM (#15627741)
    If you were all sick and tired of having women hit on you before, I have this new device to show you!

  • Headlines (Score:4, Insightful)

    by penguinstorm (575341) on Thursday June 29 2006, @09:37AM (#15627742) Homepage
    If it's right out of Futurama, why does the headline mention Dick Tracy?

  • It's morphin' time! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Mayhem178 (920970) on Thursday June 29 2006, @09:38AM (#15627748)
    Now all we need are wrist communicators, an evil witch thing on the moon, and a big floating head in a jar.

  • Is it for sale or not? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by OlivierB (709839) on Thursday June 29 2006, @09:40AM (#15627762)

    Publishing a price means that I can bid the asking price and get the product. If it is not available, then the price is "announced to be" and is currently non-existant.

    Slashdot editors could learn a thing or two by spending a week in writing/journalist summer-camp. Day in and day out they write non-sensical blurbs, never mind they don't check-out the underlying articles, at least post a cohesive summary.
    • Okay, I can certainly see digging at the editors for not being the most professional editors in the world, but this is a bit silly.

      Anyone who has ever seen /. before knows that the blurbs are user submitted, and in many articles and the FAQ itself Taco has stated that the only editing they do is either in dire need or malformed html.

      As such it is pretty obvious, especially with the new quoted view with the CSS that the price information was written up by the submitter, and the mention that it isn't actu

  • How does it "only turn on when you look at it?" How would it know? That part just doesn't make sense to me

  • Well.. (Score:3, Funny)

    by GmAz (916505) on Thursday June 29 2006, @09:41AM (#15627770) Journal
    I would love to have one, but wouldn't dare wear it outside anywhere. Every person I know already knows I am a huge nerd, but still. By wearing that, it gives all other nerds the right to kick my @$$ too.

  • 64MB should be enough for everyone (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Speare (84249) on Thursday June 29 2006, @09:46AM (#15627802) Homepage
    Sorry, but in 2006, anything with only 64MB of flash storage space will not, contrary to the website's hype, revolutionize the way we use computers. Unless you're talking about a rising desire for austere minimalism.

  • I wonder... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Aqua_boy17 (962670) on Thursday June 29 2006, @09:48AM (#15627812)
    'It turns on only when you look at it'
    I wish it was that easy to turn my wife on.

    Seriously though, I'm curious about the technology that makes this possible (no I didn't download the PDF yet). It would be pretty slick to incorporate this into other devices.

    It's a cool idea, but personally if I were to drop a thousand euros on one of these I don't think I'd be wearing it on my wrist. I'm kind of a klutz sometimes and am pretty hard on watch crystals so I don't think it would take me too long to crack the display.

  • Physics majors have to work somewhere (Score:5, Funny)

    by El_Smack (267329) on Thursday June 29 2006, @09:52AM (#15627844)

    "It turns on only when you look at it,..."

    Looks like they have a Quantum Physics guy hiding out in R&D.
  • These armbands aren't right out of Futurama, they're right out of Ark II [70slivekidvid.com]

  • This looks just like something I've seen before [slashdot.org]...
  • "the device could conceivably serve as an everyday tool as common as the mobile phone or the palmtop."

    It could but it ain't going to happen. No one but the most extreme, purist form of nerd is going to be seen dead wearing one of these things. Might have applications in military or warehousing, but those kind of people would probably as happy to have something that sits in a holster until required.

  • seriously, you would get a VGA touchscreen, 620mhz cpu, a library of several thousand apps, you could hack it to run linux if you wanted, and would only cost you about $200-400.

  • If I saw someone wearing that, I would think they were a total goofball--beyond just geeky, into the realm of "do you realize how freaking silly that looks". Perhaps in 5 years, wearable computing won't be so odd... but right now it would look goofy.

    One opening I do see for this, however, is in industry. Just as the Xybernaut [xybernaut.com] (a commercialization of Steve Mann's work in wearable computers, IIRC) is selling to workers who need easy access to computer data without the heft and inconvenience of a separate m

  • The one rule I figured out . . . you could make the ultimate prosthetic, aid, wheelchair, etc. - but if it's ugly, nobody will use it. That's why such a large percentage of amputees usually wear a non-functional prosthetic that looks (kinda) like their missing limb; some don't even bother with the functional "claw" type attachment at all, because they'd rather look normal than have the lost functionality back.

    This thing is pretty ugly looking - even Toranga Leela would sneer at it! I predict a dismal sal

  • Left-handed model? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by T1girl (213375) on Thursday June 29 2006, @10:39AM (#15628212) Homepage
    I'm wondering if it comes in right-handed, left-handed and ambidextrous models. Being a petite-sized person with small wrists and rather short arms, I would find this clunky device rather cumbersome. It would feel like having a can of soda strapped to your arm. A larger person with beefy arms might find it too tight, although the armband does appear to be adjustable (it reminds me of a blood-ressuren cuff.) Also, the person in the picture is wearing a short-sleeved shirt. In cold weather, would you wear it over your shirt and sweater, or would you have to roll up your sleeves. I don't even like wearing an ID badge.

  • seems upside down (Score:3, Insightful)

    by kencurry (471519) on Thursday June 29 2006, @11:05AM (#15628369)
    On either wrist, you would want the keypad on the inside (medial side). If you put this on either wrist, the text (as displayed in the photo) would be upside down.

    Did marketing do their homework on the photo for press release?

  • Fast forward 10 years... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Odiumjunkie (926074) on Thursday June 29 2006, @11:35AM (#15628568)
    What? People WORE those things? On their WRISTS? But they're massive! WHAT? HOW many gigahertz? Only four hundred? WHAT!? Megahertz? No way! No way, you're joking right? How could that even run voice recognition? WHAT? ...
      • Heh. If Dell were making it, there'd be 'consumer branding' involved.

        Gotta make sure those gateway rustlers don't steal their cattle.
    • Oh for goodness' sake it's just a PalmPilot/PocketPC molded to fit around the arm

      No, this [pcmag.com] is a PalmPilot that fits on your arm. Mine's been working well for me for a while now. It even doubles as a gaming device that DOES NOT accidentally fall into the toilet (no comment, thank you). Although I admit, having a bigger screen would be a bonus.

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