You are what you wear
- Article 12 of 25
- Infoconomist, January 2002
Wearable computers are no longer just the stuff of science fiction. A growing number of companies are using them in real-life applications.
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Boeing, meanwhile, is using 'stacked chips' from California-based Irvine Sensors Corporation to reduce the size of its computers. It puts the chips into stacks of 50 to create centimetre-sized cubes that take up less power and generate less heat. Nevertheless, purpose-built chips are still lagging behind their desktop counterparts in terms of power and application support.
Another problem is the size of the screens. The Windows' icon-based interface can be distracting on heads-up-displays and displays based around eye pieces and pairs of glasses. Alternatives to Windows, such as the WearComp Operating System, may be more suited but, as yet, they lack applications.
“The applications to drive consumer interest are several years away and fear of the 'geek' factor will be a huge obstacle for some time, meaning that wearable computing is a commercial application for the next few years,” says Arrington of IDC.
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