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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 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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