Asus Says Netbook Is Dead, Hello Wearable Computers 264
pinkgadget27 pointed us at a story where the ASUS chairman waxes poetic on the end of the Netbook class that it pioneered, ChromeOS replacing Android, and the future you probably didn't know about: Wristwatch Computers.
Wait there pardner (Score:2)
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Even they think that's more of a long-term thing. (They say 5 years, before they are on the market. Which might be possible. It'd take longer yet for them to take off, my opinion.)
From the article, they have no reason to think the netbook is dead yet. Just that sooner or later it'll be replaced with something smaller and more functional.
Which is probably true, as long as you don't think it'll happen in the next couple of years.
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Well they are wrong. Screen surface size matters. A wristwatch form factor is not a replacement for a laptop or even a netbook. People have claimed this could be circumvented with foldable displays, but those have been vapor so far. E Ink was supposed to be used in foldable displays, yet the one use of it I can remember of after all these years, the Kindle, is most definitively not foldable. Foldable displays also have issues regarding input. A hard surface is useful since it means it can withstand pressur
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Which would be one of the reasons they are not ready for prime time yet: The display issue hasn't been solved.
Sooner or later it will be, somehow. Foldable, projection, HUD, implant, something else; one will work well enough to be usable. Then we'll see if the other problems are solved or solvable.
Really: He's not saying it's ready now. He thinks it will be sometime soon, and he's got his company working on it so they'll be ready when it is.
He didn't say the netbook is dead. Just that it's a short-term
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Why do all these designs rely on tiny interfaces? That Nokia video had it fold out, but the "keyboard" was still minuscule.
There used to be an old projection keyboard, where it projected a keyboard onto whatever surface you wanted, and made little clicky noises when you typed. That plus one of those tiny projectors duct taped around the innards of a smart phone and you've got a respectably powered computer with a large screen and a normal sized keyboard that fits in your pocket. Well, if you have kinda big
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Used to be available? [thinkgeek.com]
Re:Wait there pardner (Score:4, Insightful)
There is nothing new to Asus vaporware, but out of every five failures comes a great product. Some of their products are stillborn like the external video card that wasn't compatible with Vista's driver model, others are released but technical issues or poor adoption like the C90S upgradable laptop. Then they come out with a tiny notebook that runs x86 and create an industry.
Other companies that make innovative products like Apple had their flops too, but sometimes a flop drives a new market, like the Newton, other times they move into an existing market and fail, like the Pippin. Then out pops iTunes and iPod and iPhone and they're a market driver again.
Even Microsoft had its flops amongst their many hits (love em or hate em, you've gotta admit, they are very successful) - the MSX [wikipedia.org], and Bob to name two.
Ergonomics? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Imagine something a little more bracelet-like... and even then, the idea of a wristwatch/wearable computer isn't a new idea at all... Companies have being developing wristwatch computers for a long time now.(http://www.pcworld.com/article/65623/is_that_a_pc_on_your_wrist.html)
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At least with the Slashdot crowd it would be simple to implement the "shake to shuffle" setting.
Connect that to the paper-clip from Office and you can get a dialog box like:
You seem to be masturbating.
Do you want me to:
[ ] Tweet this!
[ ] Search for datingsites.
[ ] Leave you alone?
Re:Ergonomics? (Score:4, Insightful)
Not to mention you'll only have one hand to use it with. Have you ever tried typing/texting with a single hand? Its not as intuitive as two thumbs or a full fledged keyboard with 10 fingers.
Re:Ergonomics? (Score:5, Funny)
Mod this +5, Ironic.
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The future looks pretty cool if you think outside the box a little. It's v
Dictation. Right. (Score:4, Funny)
How about dictation...
Dear Mr. Barnsmithers, ...
Thank you for inquiring about our project. That's product you stupid fucking piece of shit. Jesus Christ almighty, don't you understand anything?
Re:Dictation. Right. (Score:4, Funny)
Reminds me of this failed Microsoft demo [google.com]....
Yikes.
Request information for NEW DISPLAY (Score:3, Funny)
No, I don't think so. Better ask for the latest display models.
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How about dictation,
Double the killer select all
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Why would you want to wear your data uplink on your wrist? I keep mine in my pocket. It's called a smart phone. That way it's less likely to get broken, doesn't advertise itself as something worth stealing, and I don't have a big clunky thing on my wrist.
A watch computer is a non-solution looking for a problem. The form factor just isn't useful for much other than telling the time.
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While it wouldn't make PDF viewing much easier, the fictional computer cuff at the bottom of the article had approx 2-3"x 3" viewing area, similar to an iphone or bb storm. And I know people who read PDFs on those.
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The desktop computer is on its way out for everyone but typists and coders. When your wristwatch automatically interfaces with any number of large screens at your office or home, not to mention printers and fax machines, who is going to be worrying about the size of their watch display? We have the technology to do that now... and that's just one of many possible evolutions of UI. The possibilities are quite astounding.
Typists (Score:5, Insightful)
The desktop computer is on its way out for everyone but typists and coders.
And guess what anyone is who writes e-mail, blog posts, or forum posts: a typist.
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That's great if all you do is use your computer as a fancy telephone.
Look at anyone who uses a computer professionally, whether it's a secretary, coder, CEO or whatever. They've got a desktop or notebook. Sure, if we invent a super battery maybe my notebook will morph into a piece that's like a phone, a wireless keyboard and some big screens, but it's not going to morph into a watch, in isolation. Screens are getting bigger, not smaller.
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The desktop has been "dying" forever. You know who likes desktops? People who want to i
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1) allows the blind to see - but with crappy resolution. Also do a search for "seeing tongue" - seeing is in the mind.
2) allows paralyzed people to control devices with their thoughts.
So if tech improves, the screen will be in your head. And the keyboard too.
No need to waste energy on backlights.
Add wireless tech and some "software glue", and you'd have virtual telepathy and virtual telekinesis.
The real problem is Copyright Law and DRM. The laws and DRM systems might prevent you
Re:Ergonomics? (Score:4, Funny)
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Or a third eye (or even more
It'll be interesting if children get augmented at an early age. We currently have stereoscopic, 3 colour vision, but they might have something far better.
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Oh come on! Didn't you ever have a friend who wore one of those wristwatch calculators? Weren't you amazed by how quickly and easily they could calculate tips or do other feats of mathematical prowess in mere decaseconds by poking at the tiny, tiny buttons?
This would be just like that, but with applications that fit even worse onto a miniscule one-handed interface!
Re:Ergonomics? (Score:4, Funny)
i remember that kid
he would type "dolly parton is 5'5" (55) and her chest size is 37 (37) and she weighs 80 pounds (80). if she lost 8 pounds (08) she would be"
and then he would hold his wrist upside down and 55378008 becomes "BOOBLESS"
this was the very height of witty reparte in the 6th grade
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Why would we wear our computers when they are already on our phones?
Or are they also looking at wearable phones?
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Re:Ergonomics? (Score:5, Funny)
a 1"x1" oval viewing screen strapped to your wrist
Nah, it's going to be a "Flavor Flav"-style wearable that goes around your neck - 17" screen and all.
History of computing paradigms (Score:5, Interesting)
One thing I've noticed over the many years I've been following the computer industry is that despite what hype marketing departments, CEOs and industry analysts spin, often times new devices don't replace the older devices so much as just augment the array of where you use a computer. So time has shown that you generally don't have to worry about a mass switch to newer technologies. These dates aren't exact, but its generally when they started showing up in the public eye.
*Mainframe/Server (1940s-infinity): Untouchable by user, but keeps track of info the user can't, makes sharing easier, etc. This will probably never go away as long as there is a need for reliability and massive storage.
*Workstation/Terminal (1950s-1990s): Let's you do stuff in relation to server/mainframe, but only at work.
*Desktop personal computer(1977-20??): Let's you try to do stuff at home. Can usually keep up with or exceed most innovations in technology. We will probably always have some sort of stationary access point for computing.
*Standardized Gaming Consoles (1977-infinity):Makes easier for most people to play games, but have never been realistic for computer-type work. Often goes back and forth between whether computers have better games. And no, this isn't the first time people have said "The end of PC/computer gaming". I think gaming consoles come and go with the cycles of the economy.
*Laptop (1980s-2020): Allows you do stuff in previous, but some people still prefer a desktop for power, customization, easy of repair
*PDA/iPhone/Droid (1993-24th century): More convenient than a laptop, but generally only used for organization type stuff, still need laptop or desktop for most things. Actually, if you look at Star Trek, you'll notice that they don't really have a one-device-does-it-all thing either.
*Tablet PC(1995-death of HP): More convenient than a laptop, but probably not as rugged. Only useful in some situations. Annoying when the touch display stops working. Will probably never catch on.
*Notebook computer (2007-?): Can put it in your purse and hold it like the bible, but good luck reading a document, doing anything useful. My wife uses hers to play Netflix movies while she uses her fullsize laptop.
*Wristwatch computer: Makes it a little easier to have fast access all the time to stuff a PDA would do for you. But you still need laptop or desktop.
So here we are in 2010, and all of these computing access paradigms still exist. None of them have replaced the previous paradigm even close to as much as they claimed they would. The only think I could think might replace the desktop/laptop paradigm is if headset computing comes along and allows you to see a virtual large display and you can think what you want to do and it will happen reliably. But we still have a ways and people will need to get used to that. Some people won't want to mess up their hair and what about when you need to drive, etc.
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'*Notebook computer (2007-?):"
Nitpick: It's netbook, not notebook. "Notebook" has been the term for "full sized laptop" since the mid 1990s.
Since I've got a netbook, I've found that I really enjoy it. The size is just right for carrying in a backpack, and it lets me focus and concentrate on work (reading ebooks and writing) that I wouldn't otherwise get done at my desktop due to distractions. So I don't think it will be going away for me anytime soon.
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What you do is, you wear glasses that display the screen across your entire visual field, and you connect them to the computer with Bluetooth.
Why not? The glasses have already been built. (At least one design of them has.) And it might make for a *REALLY* interesting driving experience.
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Despite having an iphone of my own, I still don't buy into the mindless hype. The device is
very limiting and very constraining. This is why there's so much fixation on the apple tablet
idea. Such a thing might make the multi-touch UI something more of a curiosity.
Even a smaller netbook is problematic for those of us with big hands and current sub-netbook
type interfaces are nothing to do even serious goofing off with.
DUPE! (Score:2)
A dupe from Dick Tracy, that is.
This "wearable computer" crap comes along every 5 years. It's still the epitome of lame, even by slashdot standards.
Re:DUPE! (Score:5, Informative)
More than dupe, Asus Waveface Ultra looks more or less like a direct rip-off of one concept from two years ago: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_Morph [wikipedia.org]
Though the idea, when approached that way, as an advanced "cellphone" which can also wrap around your wrist, isn't completely stupid...
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Especially to find a genuine need, a portable, inexpensive computer to browse wifi from anywhere. Asus et al. love the netbook craze, except the margins on them are nowhere near "luxury item". A wearable computer would be, at least at launch, and that makes them salivate.
Big companies marketing seems driven by the wishful thinking of marketing more and more, and less about what computers want to buy, I predict they will meet with harsh reality's clue-by-four in the near future.
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Wristwatch computers? I want a wristwatch phone! A wrist watch is far too small to use as a computer; even my i776 cell phone is crappy using it to access the internet, as the screen is way too small.
The netbook, otoh, is small enough to carry around and big enough to watch a movie on.
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I want a wristwatch phone!
Done! [wired.com]
Now, where's my Dick Tracy wristwatch videophone!
To Infinite... And Beyond! (Score:2)
Is it the future already?
How soon till I can flip open my wrist panel and call Star Command?
Re:To Infinite... And Beyond! (Score:5, Insightful)
Is it the future already?
What do you mean "already?" Do you know how long I had to wait for my own flat screen computer, communicator, self-opening doors, and all the other impossible stuff they had on Star Trek? About the only thing that we don't have, out of all the impossible things we do have (microwave ovens, phonorecords you can play in your car, GPS, iPods...) is faster than light travel, replicators, and transporter pads.
Yes, this is the future, and I had to wait a long time for it.
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I grew up with Television, Flatscreens were around by the time I was 10, there has been a Microwave around since as long as I can remember.
The future for me is voice interacting Smart AI computers built into my car or home, a handheld device that -actually- does everything, and transparent/holographic heads up displays in the consumer market.
I know we aren't quite there yet, but we're close.
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...yes. Zardoz, not Star Trek.
A TOS terminal is like a Mac Plus without the fashion sense.
It even uses the same media... '-)
A lot of tech is not as new as the kids think it is.
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Point of order.... (Score:5, Interesting)
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Fine, but they can pry that 'fad' out of my cold dead fingers!
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Reading the article (yeah yeah), he says nothing about the netbook being "dead" or even declining. Just your standard Slashdot editorial slant -- fabricating a headline out of thin air.
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Re:Point of order.... (Score:4, Insightful)
Any given technology can be said to exist in one of two states: Growing, or dying.
There's a third choice: stable. Mature technologies are all around us, silently doing their jobs without much fuss or bother. We don't notice them, because we've grown up with them, but at one time they were the Next Big Thing. They stopped growing except for very incremental improvements years or decades ago, but they're not going away any time soon.
Look at your refrigerator. Unless you've spent a lot of money for one with various gizmos, odds are pretty good it's much like the one your parents had when you were a kid. It may be a little quieter, a little more energy-efficient, and the temperature control may be a little more consistent, but it's basically the same machine. But there was a time, just within living memory, when temperature-controlled, electric-powered food storage in the home was absolutely revolutionary. It changed the way people lived at least as much as the internet has, and it addresses a far more fundamental need. But unless it breaks, you probably don't spend much time thinking about it. Why should you? It's just a fridge.
I suspect that the classic desktop (or "desktop replacement" laptop) PC is going the same way. It's a useful machine, and there's really no particular reason to change it, or -- for the vast majority of users, anyway -- to run out and get the latest and greatest. Nor is there any reason to get rid of it. There have of course been many incremental improvements, and there will continue to be. But the fundamentals of the user experience haven't really changed that much for the last decade. It's my strong impression that a much higher proportion of computer users are quite comfortably using ten-year-old computers than was the case ten years ago, and I expect that proportion will only continue to increase. Using a 1990 computer in 2000 was a constant exercise in frustration; using a 2000 computer in 2010 is just fine for what the majority of users do on a daily basis. By 2020, they'll be refrigerators.
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Besides, the origin of netbooks is varied and fuzzy that "pioneer" is a worthless or contestable claim anyways.
It's nice that they're trying something different. But their vision of a replacement is not likely to succeed, you only need to look at the long history of palm top/ultraportable/netbook/UMPC style computers that were interesting but failed to take the market beyond a niche. Claims of the death of an existing technology from anyone with vested interest its supposed replacement must be taken with
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Netbooks only died because nobody wants to put SSDs in them any more. A netbook was useful to me because it had only one moving part (a fan), was low pwer enough to use during class, and had a full keyboard. If flash memory were cheaper, I think we'd see it continuing to fulfill that niche. As soon as you add an HDD, it's just a small, weak, expensive laptop.
That said, I still love my 1st-gen Eee PC for travel. There are times I want a keyboard and the Droid just isn't big enough.
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Actually, the suit in question was very wise, much more so than the Slashdot headline makes him out to be.
If I had to paraphrase what he said in the article, it would be more along the lines of
Dead already? (Score:4, Informative)
Really? I thought the point of the article was that its death was inevitable, and that wearable computers are the future. How does that translate to "Netbooks are dead already"?
But hey, if you filter out editorial stupidity from slashdot we will have only one or two "news" every week or so.
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Your mistake was to read the article, nobody else does.
Re:Dead already? (Score:4, Insightful)
I know you are joking but I didn't have to read the article. All I had to do was realize that the headline sounds immensely stupid given that wearable computers are not really a replacement for a netbook as of yet, and then I just had to skim the article to verify that it was the poster and not the original article that was being moronic.
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But hey, if you filter out editorial stupidity from slashdot we will have only one or two "news" every week or so.
You appear to have accidentally a whole word there...
This will go the way of the "Smart watch" (Score:2, Interesting)
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But it's really stupid to even consider comparing something you wear and something you use to actually get work done. I realize these suits want us to believe that netbooks are only capable of media consumption, but they're capable of and used for much more.
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Someone made a Linux watch once as a novelty...
great! (Score:3, Funny)
I can wear it as I commute with my personal electric flying machine to my shiny new, high paying "Green" career.
Are the editors working from the Gernsback continuum today?
eeh... (Score:2, Insightful)
...Wristwatch Computers.
hahahaha HA HA HA oh god, oh god... it kills me.
You know, I can just believe that we can cram everything but the input and display into that small of a space -- but the human interface problem makes any further degree of minaturization rather pointless for general-purpose computers. In select circumstances, you can get away with a lack of keyboard or a mini one, but really -- anything you plan on using heavily you want to have a decently-sized display and an input device with more than two buttons.
But even
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If the watch was just a display+wireless to the main unit, it wouldn't need much juice. Consider it a way to dual/triple head your phone.
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What cracks me up is that everytime somebody says "computer this" and "computer that" everybody is comparing it to a desktop / laptop.
It's not going to be something you have instead of your computer at the office, or your gaming rig at home.
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Congrats, you just described a smart phone.
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Just because the processing/storage hardware is in the watch doesn't mean the display and input device has to be.
Though their concept device looks to have about as much screen real estate as any current touch smartphone.
Wristwatch computers? Already have that. (Score:3, Informative)
We already have wristwatch computers for decades. That's what electronic wristwatches are, those that Casio has been pumping by the barrel since the the 80s, such as this one [wikipedia.org]. Naturally, nowadays we have more computing power available in a smaller form factor but that doesn't mean that we haven't been wearing computers for ages.
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If we want to go with "anything with a microprocessor is a computer" then sure, but I think when most people think of a computer they imagine something that can run a web browser, play games with, and use a word processor.
It's like saying that my sister's little electric barbie car is an automobile... I mean, sure in the strictest sense it has four wheels and a motor -- but I don't think I'll be using it for the morning commute anytime soon.
I don't know about web browsers and word processors but games? We already have that for ages [handheldmuseum.com]. So the point stands. Moreover, the wrist watch reference was only made due to wrist watches being mentioned specifically by Asus as some sort of "new revolutionary paradigm". If we look beyond wristwatches and also consider other gadgets such as cell phones and mp3 players then the reality of this, which is that we already have it for decades, will become clearer. In fact, I've stopped using a wrist watch since
No they aren't (Score:3, Interesting)
No size of portable computer from wristwatch to 17" notebook will ever be obsolete. Different tasks require different sized screens, and people who do those tasks will always want the most portable device they can do them on. Yes, for some tasks that will mean a wristwatch. But for many others that means a smartphone, or a netbook, or a desktop computer with three 21" monitors.
Haven't we had this discussion before?
maybe some day (Score:3, Insightful)
Ever? Science fiction writers say screens will go away, replaced by glasses or contacts or other type of worn HUD which can show things in an arbitrarily wide field of vision. It ain't reality yet, of course, but it doesn't really sound all that far-fetched.
Leela's Wristamacallit or Wrist-lo-jackimater (Score:3, Informative)
Gives real-time stock market quotes, forecasts the weather, beams distress signals from anywhere in the universe, and tells the time in over thirty-six thousand time zones. (from the back of the action figure box)
Certainly (Score:2)
The concept is an exciting one. Sci fi has been toying with the idea of "wrist pads" and other wearable sophisticated electronics for decades now. However a fundamental problem remains: the power source. Although some effort is being made in that area too. I just don't want to think about where they're planning on storing the batteries...
Two Words (Score:2)
PIP Boy
The reality of wearable computer is context sensitive information. Not comprehensive feature sets.
You put the following into a wearable PiP Boy computer and they'll sell like mad:
SMS\Instant Messaging
Current Fuel Prices at bookmarked gas stations
RSS Feed (We have ad those on pagers for 3 decades)
TO DO Lists
Calendar\PIM
Digital Rolodex
Vitals (heart rate, blood sugar, pill timers)
Integrated cell phone to a head set or in-canal ear piece
Memory slot for MP3 player
Grocery Lists
Bank RSS feeds (think Mint.co
but (Score:2, Insightful)
Good article, and IMHO good predictions (Score:2)
I think that the prediction that there needs to be more content before mass market success of tablets is right on.
At breakfast this morning, one of my non-tech friends was talking about the TED talk on wearable computers where spacial glasses would create virtual keyboards and displays on walls, tables, etc. That is what I would to see available soon :-)
For now, the Android platform is looking good: easy to develop apps for, mobile devices support voice commands, etc.
ASUS is dumb (Score:5, Insightful)
Dead...? (Score:4, Funny)
Sorry, but I won't believe it until confirmed by Netcraft.
obligatory get off my lawn (Score:2)
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Long term, yeah, inevitable -- but gradual. (Score:2)
In the long run, wearable computing has seemed inevitable to me since about 1994 or 1996.
What happened in 1994? That's about when I got my first laptop, which got me used to mobile computing. I used it to take notes in lectures. Then in 1996 I bought my first PDA, the Apple Newton MP120.
And I started to do mobile device software development, and to participate in discussions/forums with other developers. Other developers including Steve Mann. Go look him up, right now. Go ahead, I'll wait.
So yeah, aft
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Some of us imagined devices like this DECADES ago. Now how long it will take for human tech to catch up is another matter.
I don't think Mr. Asus is going to get to see it.
Until.. (Score:2)
Not on my wrist (Score:3, Interesting)
The way I see it... (Score:3, Interesting)
There's no need for a general purpose applications device on one's wrist, except for very specialized applications: phone, text messaging, compass, navigation, perhaps. Maybe calculator. The same sort of "apps" we had on relatively small screened cell phones of a few years ago, like my Moto E815 (damn that thing had a great radio).
The trouble with this is that it's extremely battery limited. Still, if you want uberportable basics that run for one day, it's O.K.
A step up is the modern IPhone or Android-powered phone. Belt clip size, with decent battery life (because it can hold a bigger battery). Now, combining the two allows for interesting possibilities: the wristputer now becomes an auxilliary display device: glance at your wrist to see your appointments, or incoming calls, etc. Just swap the SIM card from the wristputer to the cell phone to use the latter's mobile data connection.
One step up is the single screen ebook. I see this as a handheld, which can function as a phone, or use the bluetooth or wifi connection to the belt-clipped phone, for dialing and call management (in parallel with the cell phone and wrist computer: if I'm reading a book and a call comes in, or I want to make a call, I'd like to do that from the UI on the book I'm reading instread of having to reach for another device (earbud, wristputer, or belt-clipped phone). Of course, it too can take a SIM card, if that's all you want to carry.
Finally, for more serious reading, in the format of a traditional book, at the expense of size, is the dual-screen ebook, that folds. This one has color screens (instead of just, perhaps, e-ink). It has all the capabilities of the single-screen e-book.
Each device is optimized for a particular purpose, but can be pressed into service for alternate uses: which devices a user caries depends on their physical activity and the types of computing they expect to be doing. I can very much see the single-screen e-book as a universal remote control, for example.
They are so desperate to shake off the netbook... (Score:4, Interesting)
small projectors will liberate video screens (Score:3, Interesting)
I saw some neat demos at SIGGRAPH of self-registering projectors. You only have to get them approximately head-on. Tehn they detect the descrepency and warp the projection into the perfect desired rectangle.
Computers are dead (Score:2)
wristwatch computers... (Score:2)
Wristwatch computers... Geeze... Unless they've developed the telepathic interface, I don't see this going any further than the last hundred or so times someone's tried it. Even at high resolution, the screen on a wristwatch is too small for much more than alerts and headlines.
This illustrates a fundamental misunderstanding of the netbook niche. It's not the computing power. You can build more resources into a phone if you want to pay enough. It's having a large enough screen to get work done in a s
Article title should read... (Score:2)
Asus Says Stuff You Already Bought Is Dead, Hello Stuff We Want You To Buy Soon.
Digital watches (Score:4, Funny)
Those are still a pretty neat idea.
Wearable==head mounted display, data glove input (Score:2)
I'm sorry, but until I can look at a minimum of 1600x1200 resolution display, and give input by hand gestures (data gloves), (and maybe voice), it isn't wearable computing.
I want to be sitting absolutely anywhere and wiggling my fingers in the data gloves and making gestures, looking at >=1600x1200, with reasonable speed & memory capacity. Or hell, even walking around so I don't get so damn fat.
--PM
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Forget detecting broken bones, give me a wrist watch that can repair a machine gun, feed me, enable magical objects that increase my luck and change the resolution of my eye sight all from a set of sub-menus.
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FO3
For shame.