Daniel Pitts’ Tech Blog

It seems to me that the technology is here, or at least almost here, and all it would take is one company to put all the pieces together.  I have idea of where to get many of these, but due to time and budget constraints, I haven’t been able to start on this.

• Miniature computer. Maybe gumstix Overo Fire based computer running Linux.
• Wifi and/or Cellular internet connectivity.  (The Overo Fire supports WiFi and Bluetooth)
• Glove based input devices (virtual keyboard and pointer/mouse).
• Video glasses/HUD. Myvu, eMagin, or preferably Lumus glasses.
• Solar cells to augment battery life.

The bare minimum is the core computer with wifi.  Overo supports an LCD touch-sensitive screen, so you can get input/output through that.

The glove based keyboard is the next important feature. I have yet to see anything on the radar for this type of device.  A pointer device is less important, but would be useful.  It would have to be part of the glove system to be useful.  Oh, and the gloves would have to be rain-proof (water resistant).

The next that I would need is the video glasses. The Lumus glasses look promising, as they allow basically an overlay, rather than off-to-the-side or block-your-vision display.  Unfortunately, they won’t be available to consumers directly from lumus, so we’ll have to rely on vendors.

Finally, the Solar power would enable longer (perhaps unlimited) up-time.  A back-pack made with flexible solar fabric may be the best solution, giving you both the power boost, and an accessory to store additional physical material (real-paper books, lunch, etc…)

This feels real close to me.  If someone had been focusing on this vision, I believe it would have been done by now .  This is the sort of thing shown in science fiction, but it is actually possible in the next few years.