Wearable Computer

Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Wearable Computer shopping experience:

1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Wearable Computer offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Wearable Computer at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.

2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about

3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Wearable Computer? Wrong! If the Wearable Computer is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.

4. Questions - Got a question about Wearable Computer then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....

5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Wearable Computer? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Wearable Computer and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.

6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Wearable Computer wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.

7. Feedback - happy with your Wearable Computer then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.

8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Wearable Computer site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site

9. Contact - got a question about Wearable Computer, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.

10. Payment - ready to pay for your Wearable Computer, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.

Wearable computers are computers that are worn on the body. They have been applied to areas such as behavioral modeling, health monitoring systems, information technologies and media development. Government organizations, military, and health professionals have all incorporated wearable computers into their daily operations. Wearable computers are especially useful for applications that require computational support while the user's hands, voice, eyes or attention are actively engaged with the physical environment.

One of the main features of a wearable computer is consistency. There is a constant interaction between the computer and user, ie. there is no need to turn the device on or off. Another feature is the ability to multi-task. It is not necessary to stop what you are doing to use the device; it is augmented into all other actions. These devices can be incorporated by the user to act like a prosthetic. It can therefore be an extension of the user’s mind and/or body.

Such devices look far different from the traditional cyborg image of wearable computers, but in fact these devices are becoming more powerful and more wearable all the time. The most extensive military program in the wearables arena is the US Army's Land Warrior system, which will eventually be merged into the Future Force Warrior system.

History Broadly speaking, the first wearable computer could be as early as the 1500s with the invention of the pocket watch or even the 1200s with the invention of eyeglasses.

The first device that would fit the modern-day image of a wearable computer was constructed in 1961 by the mathematician Edward O. Thorp, better known as the inventor of the theory of card-counting for blackjack, and Claude E. Shannon, who is best known as "the father of information theory." The system was a concealed cigarette-pack sized analog computer designed to predict roulette wheels. A data-taker would use microswitches hidden in his shoes to indicate the speed of the roulette wheel, and the computer would indicate an octant to bet on by sending musical tones via radio to a miniature speaker hidden in a collaborators ear canal. The system was successfully tested in Las Vegas in June 1961, but hardware issues with the speaker wires prevented them from using it beyond their test runs. Their wearable was kept secret until it was first mentioned in Thorp's book Beat the Dealer (revised ed.) in 1966 and later published in detail in 1969. The 1970s saw rise to similar roulette-prediction wearable computers using next-generation technology, in particular a group known as Eudaemonic Enterprises that used a CMOS 6502 microprocessor with 5K RAM to create a shoe-computer with inductive radio communications between a data-taker and better (Bass 1985).

In 1967, Hubert Upton developed an analogue wearable computer that included an eyeglass-mounted display to aid lip reading. Using high and low-pass filters, the system would determine if a spoken phoneme was a fricative, stop consonant, voiced-fricative, voiced stop consonant, or simply voiced. An LED mounted on ordinary eyeglasses illuminated to indicate the phoneme type.

The 1980s saw the rise of more general-purpose wearable computers. In 1981 Steve Mann designed and built a backpack-mounted 6502-based computer to control flash-bulbs, cameras and other photographic systems. Mann went on to be an early and active researcher in the wearables field, especially known for his 1994 creation of the Wearable Wireless Webcam (Mann 1997). In 1989 Reflection Technology marketed the Private Eye head-mounted display, which scanned a vertical array of LEDs across the visual field using a vibrating mirror. 1993 also saw Columbia University's augmented reality system known as KARMA: Knowledge-based Augmented Reality for Maintenance Assistance. Users would wear a Private Eye display over one eye, giving an overlay effect when the real world was viewed with both eyes open. KARMA would overlay wireframe schematics and maintenance instructions on top of whatever was being repaired. For example, graphical wireframes on top of a laser printer would explain how to change the paper tray. The system used sensors attached to objects in the physical world to determine their locations, and the entire system rantethered from a desktop computer (Feiner 1993).

Commercial viability 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, but in 2005 their stock was delisted and the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection amid financial scandal and federal investigation. Xybernaut emerged from bankruptcy protection in January, 2007. In 1998 Seiko marketed the Ruputer, a computer in a (fairly large) wristwatch, to mediocre returns. In 2001 IBM developed and publicly displayed two prototypes for a wristwatch computer running Linux, but the product never came to market. In 2002 Fossil, Inc. announced the Fossil Wrist PDA, which ran the Palm OS. Its release date was set for summer of 2003, but was delayed several times and was finally made available on January 5 2005.

Evidence of the allure of the wearable computer and the weak market acceptance is evident with market leading Panasonic Computer Solutions Company's failed product in this market. Panasonic has specialized in mobile computing with their Toughbook line for over 10 years and has extensive market research into the field of portable, wearable computing products In 2002, Panasonic introduced a wearable brick computer coupled with a handheld or armworn touchscreen. The brick would communicate wirelessly to the screen, and concurrently the brick would communicate wirelessly out to the internet or other networks. The wearable brick was quietly pulled from the market in 2005, while the screen evolved to a thin client touchscreen used with a handstrap.

In fiction

One of the most well known instances of wearable computers in fiction is that of James Bond, usually - but not only - in the form of a watch.
In Neal Stephenson's cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, a minority of people known as "gargoyles" wear computers for information gathering.
In David Brin's science fiction novel Earth (novel), many people (especially the elderly) wear "video" glasses on which they can record criminal or anti-social behaviour and send the images directly to the police etc.
In the manga and anime Dragon Ball series, the Scanner (Dragon Ball) is a Head-mounted display worn over one eye to determine the relative strength of combatants.
In the 2004 Robin Williams film The Final Cut (2004 film) an implant called a 'Zoe' chip was placed into new-born infants so that their entire lives would be recorded and could be replayed after their death.
The 2006 Vernor Vinge novel Rainbows End deals with a near-future society in which wearable computing has reached a level whereby individuals who "wear" are at all times Augmented reality into both the "real" world and the Internet, and in which users may customise their experience of the world, seeing and hearing and feeling what they choose to.
Cookie from Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide has one. The screen is in his glasses, the mouse in his hand, and a printer in his back pocket.
In the movie The Tuxedo Jackie Chan is using a state-of-the-art spy suit with an advanced wearable computer and electronics.
In the movie "Resident: Evil," the computer techie wore one on his arm.
In the animated television series Futurama, the captain of the ship, Leela, wears a computer on her wrist.
In the video game series Splinter Cell, the main character Sam Fisher has almost always used a wrist computer called an OPSAT on his wrist.
In the anime series Dennou Coil, the main characters live in a city prevalent with Augmented Reality, and wear glasses that function as computers.
In the Mars series by Kim Stanley Robinson, most of the Martian populace wears a cellphone/pda/laptop combination called a wristpad. Wristpads take the place of modern-world cellphones.