Incremental Blogger

Wearable Tablet PCs?

PBS's Scientific American (hosted by Alan Alda) this season had a segment on Brian Clarkson's research project of recording his life with a wearable computer. From the PBS transcript of the show:

BRIAN CLARKSON Well, basically I've been spending the last couple years trying to record my life.

ALAN ALDA With that-That's all you need to record your life?

BRIAN CLARKSON Yeah. This actually records about 360 degree video. Because there's two cameras-one in the front, and one in the back.

ALAN ALDA Oh yeah. Where's the recording device? In that thing?

BRIAN CLARKSON In the turtle shell.

Wearable computers are a bit much for me, but I got a kick out of the show. I've dabbled with computer vision systems over the years and I've been intrigued by the problems involved in indexing and analyzing vast image streams. Brian took the idea personally and has been recording his life, including the day when he first met his girlfriend.

A wearable Tablet PC isn't much of a stretch. In fact, I see that Freeman Pascal is experimenting with the idea using his HP/Compaq TC-1000. (He's also working on getting Linux to run on his TC1K--although I don't quite see why he needs Linux for his wearable computing ambitions.)

I thought about tossing my FIC SlateVision into a backpack connected up to a Veo Mobile Camera (check splintercell's review of this camera) clipped to my shirt pocket--but unfortunately the camera isn't up for the job. It's easily overwhelmed by bright outdoor light and a bit too slow to avoid generating blurry images. Would have been wild though to collect a time-lapsed stream as I walked through the local park.

Anyone captured a movie with their Tablet PC like this?

Posted by Loren at June 19, 2003 07:26 PM