> <fontfamily><param>Geneva</param><smaller>Anders Sandberg:
>
> >Well, I can only speak for myself, but I would really like to have
> >word processing, net browsing and email capability everywhere. My
> >dream is to have various search agents available that I could send
> >information gathering with a thought ("What is rheology really?")
> or
> >a simple command - anywhere, anytime. The ideal wearable would
> >combine the pager with the computer with the notebook.
>
>
> I guess I have to clarify my point a bit. Do you really care where the
> processing power is? I think that for the moment, stationary computers
> will continue to be faster and cheaper than laptops/wearables. So it
> seems better to concentrate on wearable connectivity, than on wearable
> processing power. With good enogh connectivity, the border between
> communication and computation starts to blur.
OK, I see your point. But at present it is cheaper and easier to get
useful mobile computing power than the reliable
high-bandwidth connectivity needed to have a big processor (or many)
elsewhere, and just the interaction in the wearable. This may change
in the future (I hope so), but at present it is not practical.
> Another point: You will not always have the spare attention to do
> word proccessing, web browsing or email anywhere.
Well, that is a question about training, user interfaces and if it is
possible to extend attention. Very important.
> With my Newton MP 2000 and Nokia PC-card I can do web browsing
> anywhere, and it gives me a feeling of safety and security. But
> still, for some reason, I do most of my browsing at the office.
> This is more a marketing than a technological point: How do you
> convice the potential customer that with wearables, she could work
> at places where she doesn't want to be in the first place?
This may be more of a cultural problem, we have been almost addicted
to the idea of offices and desks (residual territorialism) the last
decades. Wearables may enable us to dissolve this into territories in
cyberspace instead, but it will take time.
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Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension!
nv91-asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~nv91-asa/main.html
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