Wearable Computer Experiment

It's a little bit easier to read than it appears, because it's not easy focusing the camera on the display.  I fixed the screen overscan around the edges, by trimming the plastic face mask.  And the contrast is not quite right, I can barely see the cards when I try to play Solitaire (which is probably the app that I would use most often).  The Clock program from Windows 3.1 looks ok, and is a reasonable app for the wearable computer...the largest watch around...requiring a belt or something to hold the computer and scan converter and battery, and either a hat or headband to hold the display (I think it's too big for glasses).  The display shown above is viewed through the mirror and lens that are part of the camcorder viewfinder assembly.  Without the mirror, the display is really hard to use, since everything is reversed side to side.  Also, it requires a lot of magnification to see a 1/2" display and read anything on it!

I think the contrast problem is due to the limited bandwidth of the viewfinder display, as it was not intended to display computer graphics, only low fidelity "scenic" video.  Perhaps the experiment shows that a better display is needed...which probably means spending money.

The computer has a PC Card slot, so I can pop in a network card and connect it to my LAN, or put in a modem card and go on the Internet.  Not much romm left on the little hard drive right now...I suppose I could delete the win95 setup files now that the network is working, and install some other apps..but with the very limited readability, it's probably not worth messing with now.

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The viewfinder video monitor assembly from the donor camcorder.

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The Compaq Contura Aero 486sx33 laptop, minus case, LCD, and battery.  The AiTech PCS-1106 Pocket Scan Converter (out of it's white plastic housing) drives the composite mono video monitor, which is a camcorder viewfinder, from the laptop VGA output.  Replace the mouse with the laptop trackball, hardwire the video scan converter to the processor board, and add a battery...instant wearable computer...for free!  (ok, it wasn't free, but it is fully depreciated)

My other two wearable "computers" are watches, one is a Nixie watch, the other is a Casio scientific calculator watch.

This watch contains a PIC microcontroller, and a two digit Nixie tube display.  The display shows first the hours, then the minutes, each for about a second, upon being manipulated into the viewing position.  Very fun at the movies.  I get a lot of "What's that thing on your wrist?" questions, which I usually answer with (whispering at first, then loudly), "it's a WRISTWATCH!".  Go to nixiewatch.com to get more info...look in the "history" section.

This watch is from the mid 1980s, and I used it quite a bit while I worked for the government as an engineer.  It has a scientific calculator, the top row of buttons selects the functions, which are shown above and below the display.  Several of these "scientific" functions are merely metric-US conversions, but all of the functions have an inverse also.

I recently "discovered" this watch in a desk drawer, where it sat without a battery for probably 15 years!  I found that these watches are now highly sought after by modern day nerds, since Casio quit making them a long time ago, concentrating instead on the "data bank" type calculator watches.