A new way...

OK, so most of you know I'm still hovering over the ocean of indecision over the CPU. To add to the confusion is the $$$ issue as well as price/size/weight/performance/durability matrix.

Here is a blog that details a nice simple idea:
http://www.cs.vassar.edu/%7Epriestdo/latest.html
He is using the new sony UX280p. http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/05/sony-drops-the-ux280p-with-twice-the-ram-and-hdd/

This is kinda pricey (although i have found 2 sources under 800$) and i'm not sure it really holds up to the eee pc for the cost, but with the eee at ~400 and this for ~750 who knows. I'd get 2 cams, bluetooth, a big fat hdd, and slightly better battery life.

His blog also reminded me about my need for external batteries (batterygeeks seems decent) and is the 3rd serious proponent of the chord typing appliance. Any idea how to make something like this retreat into a sleeve?

Haven't had a chance to read these yet (free reg reqd) posting them to do it later:
Build a wearable PC (Part 1)http://downloads.techrepublic.com.com/download.aspx?docid=315130
http://downloads.techrepublic.com.com/download.aspx?docid=315130http://downloads.techrepublic.com.com/download.aspx?docid=315131
Security Issues for Wearable Computing and Bluetooth Technology http://whitepapers.techrepublic.com.com/whitepaper.aspx?docid=175530
Last for this post, but not least,
Props to the early wearable hackers:
http://www.hack247.co.uk/2006/11/07/blackjack-hacking-worlds-first-wearable-computer/

More considerations...

So given that I will not have a full time visual display, nor do I want random beeps and sounds emanating from my jacket, I need a invisible device to act as a notification. First to mind is a vibrator (think cell phone, not your horny little nymph of a girlfriend), this would be easily integrated, and difficult to detect from the outside, however they do seem to drain batteries quickly. Any ideas here people?

Second up is no full time input interface. I'm hoping I can get voice Recondition working on a basic level (hell if my cell phone can, why not?) as well as a few hidden buttons.
http://www.linux.com/base/ldp/howto/Speech-Recognition-HOWTO/software.html
http://www.faqs.org/docs/Linux-HOWTO/Speech-Recognition-HOWTO.html
http://freespeech.sourceforge.net/FreeSpeech/html/
(looks like I have 2 real options here, IBM's offering is out, their stuff is usually a bit obscure and hard to install and seldom maintained.)


As far as buttons on the outside, i am thinking touchpad or touch strip (think like a synth ribbon controller)


Some wearable pages/blogs:
http://staticfree.info/projects/wearable/
Kinda Basic, but a few good ideas.

http://www.ableq.com/
This site reccomends hardware for a fee for a purpose (usually disability.)
They have some good interface ideas such as electronic braille readers, I should look into this!

http://www.parvus.com/products/MilitaryAerospace/RuggedComputing/ZypadWL1000/
Purpose built wrist mounted mini-pc with Touch-TFT display that runs linux or ce. Interesting interface, bluetooth, etc, but a bit large for unencumbered use. Most likely pretty expensive.

http://www.frogpad.com/
One handed keyboard for limited space one-hand operation. Looks like a steep learning curve (as with braille) but effective... Maybe I should just wait for vr-glove and use more standard interface until then. My ideal is to make it intuitive, and this might not fit that goal.

http://www.holux.com.tw/
Manufacturers website for small usb-GPS units. Cheap and reliable with apparent linux support. Web site is not in English.

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/project/vuman/www/boeing/index.htm
Notes from a boeing brainstorming session on wearables from '96. Still some accurate info. Seems odd how little has really been standardized/accomplished in wearables in the last 10 years... what happened?

http://jakeofalltrades.wordpress.com/2007/09/30/25-head-mounted-display/
So this is a HUD that costs 25-125$ to make. It is a b/w LCD with 'eyepiece'. Instructions on hacking are easy and interface is pretty standard.

Cyborglogging Gloging Waht?!

Ok, so i start looking at existing wearable designs for ideas. What I tend to see, is intense specialization. I want an all-purpose device, while others want something to count cards or time roulette wheels (yes, all you wearable geeks should know the FIRST wearable pc was to cheat casinos, let nobody say we have not a noble lineage!) but something that does a bit of everything and can be configured to do new things when needed without a 2 week, knock-down, drag-out coding and troubleshooting session. I'm making this to save time, capture it, not waste it.

One of the first uses that roughly parallels mine is Cyborglogging. this is tied in inexorably with other topics such as Sousveillance
and
http://glogger.eyetap.org/about.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sousveillance

and this apparently opens a whole new can of worms:

There's an interesting discussion going on the identity trail on what Steve Mann and Ian Kerr are calling "equiveillance", where a kind of inverse surveillance, which Mann calls "sousveillance" is used to balance the ubiquitous surveillance practices of government and commerce. The basic question is whether the negative consequences of widespread surveillance and collection of personal data can be balanced by individuals, who are being watched, monitoring and recording those engaged in that surveillance.

from Ray Corrigan's blog: http://b2fxxx.blogspot.com/2006/01/equi-veillance.html

more links:

http://www.eyetap.org/about_us/people/fungja/index.html
eyetap i guess evolved into glogger. Interesting guy and resources.

more soon!

It all started with a Gift and an Arguement

Thank you for both!

Link time;

B bought me:
http://www.scottevest.com/v3_store/40_Tactical_System.shtml

So my plan is to set up a wearable PC to record the day-to-day conversations whe we can never seem to recall who said what and when.

I want it to record ALL THE TIME and try to graph GPS of where I am. Perhaps even video.
This requires encryption for the safety, privacy, and security of myself, and everyone within distance. So that requires a PC. a SMALL PC.

So the question is to use off-the-shelf consumer stuff or get nitty gritty with embedded systems.

Since the two seem to be getting MUCH closer to each other, i figure a hybrid approach is needed.

here are some examples of main units:
Consumer---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASUS_Eee_PC (already runs linux, cheap, needs bluetooth)
My old tiny thinkpad (celeron 300 /w ide, 192mb ram, 1x USB, 1xPCMCIA, 800x600)
Hp pocket PCs (runs windows, so this is pretty much ruled out.)

Embedded---
http://gumstix.com/ (have not configured it yet, does their site hate FF?)
http://www.compulab.co.il/x270em/html/x270-em-datasheet.htm (nice! maybe sans display?)


So still problems to solve,

Storage - Most solutions have little or no storage. some have IDE but that can suck power (does flash use more or less than laptop IDE?) I could also set it to auto-stream over the net (EDGE, GPRS, 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth) but what if net was down, or i was far from it, cell phone charges threatened home, etc? Also need to worry about going thru airport security (x-ray, magnets) as well as the jacket already having small magnets.

Display - Glasses mounted HUD is cool, but very expensive, and fragile. I want to be able to do what I always do without worry of breaking a 1200$ pair of shades. Next thought was to use a watch as a screen (use old camcorder display?) but still no interaction... Finally I hit upon what I think is the best idea... Use my existing s60 bluetooth -enabled cell phone (nokia 6620) which I would already be using for EDGE based internet connectivity when wifi is not available. I found out I could install VNC with little or no trouble. I had heard that this was possible before ( http://sourceforge.net/projects/symvnc/) but now they have created a POSIX environment for S60 devices that allows a MUCH better port of TightVNC ( http://developer.symbian.com/wiki/display/oe/P.I.P.S.+Home ) so as long as I can figure out how to route the traffic over bluetooth to the device, i'm golden. This also partially solves the issue of controlling my wearable and provides a familiar and non-obvious method of control.

Power - I must admit, I have not even attempted to tackle this one yet. It mainly depends on the platform i use. Some will have their own power, but might end up powering aux devices, so additional batteries may be needed. I'm also interested in using power generated from natural movement (shoes, stride, etc), Solar or other radiated energy, and also trying to harness modern outlets of all size, shape, and output. (i.e. phone, POE, USB, Xlr Phantom, AC (110v, 220v), DC (3v-24v unfiltered), Audio jack (saw device that pulled power from airline headphone jacks).

GPS - This will be interesting to implement. Maybe I should settle on recording what cell tower is nearest for now, but gps would be awesome! Real time maps, logs, and weather!

Reproduce ability - I might make this system available for sale once most of the bugs are worked out. If I cannot doe to patent/copywright/GPL etc. I will sell the process of implementing it. It would be great to work on this stuff and help others realize common goals.

Interface - I feel this represents the biggest hurdle in computing today. Machine Human Interaction is still hopelessly awkward. I want to be able to pull up stuff from voice cues, which might contain audio of voice cues i recorded, and not freak out. I want o say "pull up conversation from friday around 6" and be greeted with A/V and a Map of what happened. failing that, at least a simple fast, 1-step process for recall.

Security - This PC must be aware and tolerant of viruii, hackers, and theft. All data should be encrypted and cleared from memory. Due to limiteds space, secure transmission (via multiple channels) . Perhaps a IDS for my PAN. This will be a chore due to all the networked systems and different communication technologies needed for this to be useful and trustworthy.

To Be Continued ...