An Open Source project called TinyScreen has just launched which lets you create your own wearable devices like smart watches using a miniature Arduino hardware system with a color OLED screen. The hardware includes support for Bluetooth Low Energy connections to smart phones along with iOS and Android apps, and is small enough to create a set of smart glasses.
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(Score: 2) by crutchy on Monday October 06 2014, @08:48AM
if it doesn't look like this... http://www.ghostbusters.com/sites/gbusters/files/styles/promoted_video_thumbnail/public/trailer-thumb-v1_0.jpg?itok=POV__ddd [ghostbusters.com]
i don't wanna know about it
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Horse With Stripes on Monday October 06 2014, @11:42AM
This type of thing isn't for me; I'm not a gadget person. But their video is informative and doesn't try to present their product as the 2nd coming of anything. No "it's better than the iWatch!" or "you can make a touch screen interface for your baby's cell phone!" They've got a lot of software libraries so the DIY types can get right down to business.
I wish them luck. As the manufacturer I don't expect them to be able to imagine all the uses for something like this. There will be some very creative people who come up with some very interesting uses.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Monday October 06 2014, @01:20PM
"imagine all the uses for something like this"
They seem fixated on wearable tech applications, but the product is really just a small semi-smart presumably energy efficient display.
I started thinking of things like electronic store shelf price tags (instead of the e-ink competitors) and the gauges on my car dashboard and smart remote controls for legacy TV viewing (do people still watch TV or is that just an old person thing?).
The keyfob for my wifes car should have a display showing ... something. Although I can't figure out what right now.
I've occasionally thought an interesting high tech security badge would be a badge thats a blank screen unless you're in range of another badge or a security reader. A crook can't copy something they can't see. The pix displayed would just be the human UI, the actual security would be some crypto thing in the card. "You literally can't read my credit card unless its within 10 feet of my smartphone" (which leads to another set of interesting problems when my smartphone battery is dead or broken or stolen)
If they "must" do wearable tech, I would be mildly interested in a dumbwatch with a nice display. No interest in dick tracy phone-watches or sending tweets over my watch, especially if the battery life is only a fraction of one day like the current crop of smart watches. But I might buy a really nice looking high res watch. Well who am I kidding, I haven't worn a watch since the 90s, and probably never will again, but I would be more tempted to buy a really nice looking long battery life dumbwatch than a 3 hour battery life smartwatch.
(Score: 2) by AndyTheAbsurd on Monday October 06 2014, @01:45PM
The keyfob for my wifes car should have a display showing ... something. Although I can't figure out what right now.
A reminder of where she parked it? (You'd need a keyboard, probably in the car, and a way to communicate with the key fob, though.) Status of which doors are open? (My wife's car has a remote that's flaky, and it often takes many presses of the button to get the passenger side and rear doors open - and I'm not taking three or four, I'm talking "I hit the damn button ten times already, why aren't the doors open?!") Maintenance information or how much fuel is left in the tank could also be a good use for a display on a key fob, but again requires some way to communicate. Probably not too bad if it was set up so that the fob both charged and got updated information when it was in the ignition.
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(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday October 06 2014, @02:24PM
I could see the door status idea but most of the ideas are things that should be on the dashboard but aren't on the dash, including the door status. There's an idiot light on the dash that means one of 5 doors/hatches could be open. Thanks car, I'll just check them all instead of fixing the open one, real convenient of you thanks. Probably some idiotic patent preventing it.
The parking location is interesting because GPS probably isn't going to fly but installing a really cruddy single pix cellphone cam might work. So snap a pix of where you are, and then glance at the pix when looking for the car. Of course the camera and display will be better on a phone.
"the fob both charged and got updated information when it was in the ignition"
That might be the problem that it sits in my pocket all the time and doesn't go in the ignition. Its a Toyota thing. I would have to be convinced to lose the convenience of non-contact key in favor of a remote gas tank level. My car still does the retro "key in the ignition" thing and that might work for charging, but its getting kinda retro.
(Score: 2) by AndyTheAbsurd on Monday October 06 2014, @04:13PM
I could see the door status idea but most of the ideas are things that should be on the dashboard but aren't on the dash, including the door status. There's an idiot light on the dash that means one of 5 doors/hatches could be open. Thanks car, I'll just check them all instead of fixing the open one, real convenient of you thanks. Probably some idiotic patent preventing it.
I think a Chrysler LeBaron coupe that I used to have actually would tell you which door was open. Which was kind of dumb since there were only two doors (and the trunk, with a separate idiot light). But I should have said "unlocked" rather than "open" which is what the problem with my wife's van is.
The parking location is interesting because GPS probably isn't going to fly
Why not? Garmin makes watch-sized GPS devices [garmin.com]. You'd want a switch to turn the GPS feature on; it would be off 99.9% of the time since it's not that hard to find your car in the parking lot at the local grocery store but can be a major pain when you've forgotten where you parked after 10 hours at Disney World.
That might be the problem that it sits in my pocket all the time and doesn't go in the ignition. Its a Toyota thing.
I remember seeing an article about this feature being standard on the Suzuki XL-7 from five or six years ago. So although the specific technology used might be a Toyota thing, the idea certainly isn't exclusive to Toyota.
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(Score: 2) by cmn32480 on Monday October 06 2014, @05:36PM
Her keyfob needs an arrow that shows the direction to the car. But I imagine that with the distance restrictions of Bluetooth, that might not be very useful.
"It's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear" - Norm Peterson
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 07 2014, @05:13AM
After reading this I started thinking of things like grocery store shelf price tags... and second by second, individual shopper proximity sensitive pricing based on socioeconomic situation, race, gender, music taste... And then I started thinking about putting a gun to my head to stop myself from having any such further thoughts.