Talk:Wearable computer

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This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Azurashi.

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Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 27 August 2019 and 14 December 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Dcp5228.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 12:47, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Too much text

There is way too much text. Suggest breaking into Introduction, Applications, History, Companies involved, and See also. Shashank Shekhar 16:52, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

Issues section

The section entitled "issues" does not cite sources.

So what's up with the "issues" section? Someone added the prophecy template. Does anyone think that micromanagement/surveillance has already happened because of wearable computers? --65.148.145.95 11:55, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

It does seem to be more prophetic than stating fact. The article should illuminate the topic of wearable computing, and the "Issues" section should illustrate the issues that the topic faces or the issues created by the technology. This current point might be a risk, but not an issue. Blathering1

• I think issues brought up in research papers are appropriate, especially if they are cited by others. But definitely no rampant speculation etc. --Treekids (talk) 02:32, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

So if I have some cited evidence to discuss issues with health concerns and things like that, it would be ok? But for things such as issues with data collection and surveillance that wouldn't really fit without citations on actual occurences? Because I have found articles where they discuss the fear of wearable computers being used for government spying (and I would cite things such as NSA phone taps) and the articles continue on to comment about how this is hindering the progress of wearable computers. Thoughts? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lippy12321 (talk • contribs) 16:34, 14 December 2015 (UTC)

American football?

Every once in awhile I'll see the quarterbacks in professional football games (as in NFL) doing what appears to be 'typing' on some sort of thing worn on their forearm. It looks like some sort of computer, but I don't know what it is or what it does. Does anyone know anything about this? PolarisSLBM 14:59, 23 March 2007 (UTC)pankaj

Eyeglasses?

How are eyeglasses wearable computers? In what way do they compute? Pocket watches, okay, they compute the time, but glasses, no. --Raulpascal 16:18, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Clearly Raulpascal is not a glasses wearer. I agree that glasses aren't anywhere close to a general-purpose wearable computer. But glasses do have a few similarities to wearable computers. Glasses give Image_editing#Perspective_correction_and_distortion, giving a "better than reality" Augmented reality. I can't think of anything that is not a computer that can do that. --75.48.165.135 23:49, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Rather than argue over it, would it be better to quote "A brief history of wearable computing" Bradley Rhodes? --75.48.165.135 01:44, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

Advertisement?

I'm pulling the following from "Commercial Viability", the buzzwords and general description (along with a non-captioned photo) make it seem like an advertisement:

"Currently, Arcom Control Systems (a member of Eurotech Group) offers the latest in wearable computers, the ZYPAD. The ZYPAD is a rugged wrist wearable touch screen computer with GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. The ZYPAD runs a version of embedded Linux Kernel 2.6 with a complete GTK desktop GUI and also Windows CE. The ZYPAD can run a number of custom applications such as Wireless RFID, GPS and Zigbee applications. " -- 69.243.168.118 23:38, 21 July 2007 (UTC)

I think this is a good example of a wearable computer though, Perhaps the entry could be re-written in an acceptable format? Darkeye11547 18:17, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

I re-added it to commercialisation (after the merge gave a lot of text that looked ugly). I think it is a good image of peoples idea of a comercialised wearable computer. I cut the adjectives out of the text, so it sound less adverttising.Yobmod (talk) 08:14, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

The market leader in text-based wearable computing is Motorola, whose WT4090 wearable computer comes from a long line of wearables from the company Symbol (bought by Motorola) who are the IP holders for wrist-worn computing. Why are they not mentioned in this article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 140.101.16.142 (talk) 20:08, 29 July 2010 (UTC)

Merge?

"It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Wearable computing. (Discuss)"

• I vote yes --Treekids (talk) 02:33, 1 February 2008 (UTC)
• I think yes as well. There is a lot of overlap between the two - can easily be combined into one. --User:Bradka 14:30, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
• I say yes also. These two are clearly the same thing, just different suffixes. Xonybubba (talk) 12:47, 28 April 2008 (UTC)
• I say yes - it was very confusing having 2 articles on identical subjects, with essentially the same name!Yobmod (talk) 10:42, 28 May 2008 (UTC)

So, i've done a first pass at the merge. Only thing lost was "Vision" section, which was poor and OR. History section here seemed to be a summary of the other articles essay, so probably needs to be edited down / re-written (check the history).Yobmod (talk) 08:01, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

Split? :-)

After doing the merge, i think it is time for a split :-). Specifically the "in fiction". If no-one object, i'll spin it off into an "in popular culture article", with a very short summary here (emphasising it's use in SF). Reason: I think it doesn't add anything substantial to this already long article, and if we are defining WCs as wrist watches, then almost all ficiotn since the invention of the pocket watch applies. And it is all unreference, and i don't see that changing any time soon.

This article seems to have enough info and images, that with cites, it could become a good article.Yobmod (talk) 08:14, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

External link(farm)

I'm copying the long external link list here, so help decide which should be kept. I'm dubious about any that link to a specific product or specific research group. Seem too much like advertising, and don't give a useful amount of info to the average reader. Many could probably used for references tho.Yobmod (talk) 13:29, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

• ETH Zurich, Switzerland - Wearable Computing Lab
• University of South Australia Wearable Computer Lab
• UCLA Embedded Reconfigurable Systems Research Lab (ERLAB)
• Eyetap Personal Imaging (ePI) Lab
• Eleksen Plc:- World leader in smart fabrics
• Georgia Tech College of Computing wearables group
• MIT Media Lab wearables group
• Andy Felong's wearable computing resource
• Artificial Intelligence in Wearable Computing (Special Issue in IEEE Intelligent Systems)
• Eyetap Wearable Computing Webpage
• The theory of Humanistic Intelligence
• Visual Memory Prosthetic (Wearable Face Recognizer)
• Wearable Face Recognizer web link
• Wearable Computing for the Blind (cross-modal vision)
• IEEE International Symposium on Wearable Computers (Academic Conference)
• Continuous Archival and Retrieval of Personal Experiences.
• International Workshop on Inverse Surveillance.
• WearIT@work: a large European research project on wearable computing at work.
• Project iWear: a project developing a framework to enhance wearable development
• IBM Almaden Research Center's half-keyboard belt computer
• A brief history of wearable computing
• The Tummy PC: A Practical Wearable Computer
• What am I wearing today? Details from decades of daily wear
• Wearable RFID technology

I disagree with the above part about advertising. In a developing and controversial field such as this, all the information possible should be easily accessible. These links are not easy to sift out of a web search like google, and had I known these links where available earlier, my life would've been a lot easier. An average reader would more than likely not be reading this topic. Only ones with interest and who would like to know more would stumble upon this. 66.8.242.209 (talk) 13:12, 7 June 2009 (UTC)

Info to be included?

tumhari maa ki chooth on Systems & Devices For The Disabled, June 1-3, 1977, Seattle WA.</ref> On the consumer end, 1977 also saw the introduction of the HP-01 algebraic calculator watch by Hewlett-Packard.

References

Plagiarism

This passage ...

... The commercialization of general-purpose wearable computers, as led by companies such as Xybernaut, CDI and ViA Inc, has thus far met with limited success. Publicly-traded Xybernaut tried forging alliances with companies such as IBM and Sony in order to make wearable computing widely available, ...

Appears to be lifted (or vice versa) almost verbatim from Application design for wearable computing By Dan Sieworek, Asim Smailagic, Thad Eugene per (Google Books) --208.80.117.222 (talk) 06:11, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

"First Pocket Watch" Time Frame

It seems that the section 1810 part of the History section of this article may be disputable.

While the section declares that the first "wearable timepiece" was made for the Queen of Naples in 1810, the History of Watches article claims that wearable timepieces have been around since the 16th century.

The same article also declares that pocket watches were first developed in the 17th century if the section is specifically referring to pocket watches.

So far, I have been unable to find another article on Wikipedia that supports the "Queen of Naples" statement. In fact, the cited webpage itself stops short of stating that the queen's pocket watch was the first one in existence. If anything, it indicates it is the oldest known documented transaction of a pocket watch, a very different idea.

–– amanisdude (talk) 03:45, 13 May 2013 (UTC)

Note: This would also make personal watches older than the Qing Dynasty abacus ring in the previous section. –– amanisdude (talk) 03:48, 13 May 2013 (UTC)

Sport and health

I am surprised to not find a section dedicated to physiological devices, I mean all sport and health accessories among Wearable technologies.

I think about all gadgets like DirectLife from Philips, Fitbit, Reebok Checklight, Nike Run, Cityzen sciences sensors for firemen, and other sport watch. All these accessories are connected and their data can be transfer to smartphones or computers.

I think that a section could be dedicated to these devices too. Tks.

See for example some references to sport and wellness at:

http://www.wearable-technologies.com/2014/01/count-down-is-on-wearable-technologies-innovation-world-cup-announces-finalists/

http://www.wearable-technologies.com/2014/01/the-new-wave-of-wristbands/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:7E8:C049:801:34E5:34BB:721F:22F6 (talk) 13:56, 8 February 2014 (UTC)

- Luxorion

Battery Backpack

Perhaps a silly idea, but can't the person wearing (several) wearable computers simply use a backpack with a battery and MagMIMO transmitter (see http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22329884.000-wireless-charger-powers-up-iphone-in-your-pocket.html MagMIMO )

Appearantly, MagMIMO allows a huge amount of freedom to charge appliances at a distance (unlike say witricity, Qi, ...) so it may probably be possible to simply allow the technology to be used to make batteryless appliances (batteryless wearable computers) and have it instead constantly power the appliances from a short distance.

The main advantage is that besides reducing the cost for the appliance, it also reduces the weight and need to recharge each and every appliance (after energy depletion). Also, in a backpack, one can put much larger (less performanent) batteries -such as the more ecologic car or deep cycle batteries instead of lithium based batteries- and still have a huge amount of energy stored (nearly unlimited operation time for appliances).

Perhaps it can be mentioned in article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:A03F:12D6:D900:213:20FF:FE3B:A79E (talk) 09:26, 16 February 2015 (UTC)

Adding new stuff

A new technology someone could look into, I will be away for a couple months so I will add it if no one else has by the time I return, is called Thync. It's a technology that is a wearable computer that attaches onto your head and can send pulses into you brain that will alter your mood. Pretty interesting addition to the world of wearable computers. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lippy12321 (talk • contribs) 17:29, 14 December 2015 (UTC)

Merge Definition into Intro?

I'm currently editing this article as part of a class project. One of the things that sticks out to me is the Definition section. It is quite small and it seems awkward to have a section for the topic's definition when the term (and it's various interpretations) should be defined in the Intro section. I intend to merge the Definition section into the Intro to fix this. Please leave feedback, any would be appreciated.

Azurashi (talk) 22:41, 3 April 2016 (UTC)

External links modified

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1800s

I've removed this whole section to below as none of this is novel, just more wristwatches, which arguably aren't wearable computers anyway!

The first wearable timepiece was made by watchmaker Breguet for the Queen of Naples in 1810. It was a small ladies' pocket watch on a bracelet chain. A wristwatch is a "wearable computer" in the sense that it can be worn and that it also computes time. But it is not a general-purpose computer in the sense of the modern word.

Girard-Perregaux made wristwatches for the German Imperial Navy after an artillery officer complained that it was not convenient to use both hands to operate a pocket watch while timing his bombardments. The officer had strapped a pocket watch onto his wrist and his superiors liked his solution, and thus asked La Chaux-de-Fonds to travel to Berlin to begin production of small pocket watches attached to wrist bracelets.

Early acceptance of wristlets by men serving in the military was not widespread, though:

Wristlets, as they were called, were reserved for women, and considered more of a passing fad than a serious timepiece. In fact, they were held in such disdain that many a gentlemen were actually quoted to say they "would sooner wear a skirt as wear a wristwatch".

— International Watch Magazine

Ben Finn (talk) 13:34, 3 March 2018 (UTC)

References