September 28, 2004

Sweet Solar Backpack

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A picture like that doesn't really need much explaining, but it's really worth it...

The solar panels are waterproof, tough, and light according to the manufacturer. In addition, they have an internal 2,200mAh Li Ion battery to store solar energy when you're not using it, but it can also be charged up by AC. Finally it has all sorts of electronics adaptors, much like the igo.

Oh wait, there's more. It's made for all your gear, with a laptop sleeve, phone/mp3 pouch, another mp3 pouch inside the bag, and hidden power cables to take power to various pockets.

I'm not sure how much it costs, but when I find out, I'll post an update. To be released this November. I thought I wanted a POV camera, but maybe I'll try to get this for myself. If you can't own a wearable computer, at least you can own the bag.

[Link via Harley Grusko on the Wear Hard Mailing List]

Posted by nym at 09:48 PM | TrackBack

Collar Computer Patent


Wearable Computer manufacturer, Xybernaut, has encouraged the kludge that is the patent office by patenting a:

"WEARABLE COMPUTER SYSTEM THAT IS INTEGRATED WITH A GARMENT COLLAR".

While I'm not a lawyer, I do think this is a stupid patent since it discourages innovation, isn't revolutionary, and because of the pile of prior art, like nomadic radios, the gumstix computer, or wifi gps cow collars.

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"Wireless earpiece or eye-glass display. A collarmounted near-field transceiver allows connectionto head-mounted peripherals" [[Hewlett-Packard ]


"Computers will be in your collar, so you can whisper when you talk with them and hear without bothering others." [Invisible Computer]


"The general areas we have found to be the mostunobtrusive for wearable objects are: (a) collar area, (b) rearof the upper arm, (c) forearm, (d)rear, side, and frontribcage, (e) waist and hips, (f) thigh, (g) shin, and (h) top ofthe foot." [[Carnegie Mellon University]


"...an MP3 player and a GSM phone, controlled by a unified remote control. The system uses voice command via a microphone hidden in the collar, and retractable earphones extend out from the shoulders for listening to both music and phone calls." [Enter the Cyborg]


[Link from Bryan Hurley on the Wear Hard Mailing List. Thanks Bryan for the scoop! Upper right photo from igargoyle: persistent aware collar. Lower left photo from Nomadic Radio]

Posted by nym at 06:08 PM | TrackBack

September 21, 2004

My Little Cyborg

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[Link via boingboing]

Posted by nym at 12:45 PM | TrackBack

September 10, 2004

Burning Man Tech Photos

I'm recovering from Burning Man, and have a slew of emails from people about igargoyle to respond to. The below are photos from Burning Man and show me, my brother, and Rich Gibson. More details on our camp can be found at http://roam.igargoyle.com/.

Some things just need to be purged.

Posted by nym at 01:13 PM | TrackBack

September 03, 2004

At Burning Man

Here is my location right now.

40.74959, 119.24354

I'm in the middle of the Nevada Black Rock Desert with Rich Gibson's iBook posting a fucking message. Yes I'm a geek, and even in the most dusty place on the planet can be technologically hip.

In other news, the False Profit guys have a Monkey vs Robot camp in my village. The score is currently:

Monkies: 12
Robots: 11

Posted by nym at 03:34 PM | TrackBack