Word: xybernaut
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...look like an interstellar villain because I'm test-driving the Mobile Assistant IV, a "wearable computer" produced by Xybernaut, a small Fairfax company. It's hard to believe, but the doodads attached to my head and waist add up to a full-fledged PC, with 233-MHz Pentium chip, 32-MB memory and upwards of 3 GB storage. The keyboard on my wrist has 60 keys, and there is a trackball built into the central processor. Suspended in front of my left eye is a full-color vga screen scarcely larger than a postage stamp but so close...
Before coming to the mall, I tried out the MA-IV at the Xybernaut headquarters. I surfed the Web, first checking out some Star Trek sites (it seemed the appropriate thing to do), then the soccer scores and my e-mail. I considered playing an online computer game, but then remembered that I'm lousy at those. So I sent a how-are-you message to my boss in Hong Kong. For the first 10 minutes I fumbled with the tiny keyboard and trackball. But soon I was able to write entire sentences with relative ease - about 10 words...
...scarcely feel the extra weight at first; but after 30 minutes my neck and shoulders are strained from wearing the 400-g headset. With time, practice and some gym work, I could probably get used to the load. Luckily I won't have to. In a couple of months, Xybernaut will launch the MA-V, the next-generation wearable. In December it will release the first mass-market version, yet unnamed (MA-VI? I don't think so), made by Hitachi under license from Xybernaut. Product specs are a closely guarded secret, but it's a fair bet that...
FASHION FORWARD No surprise that COMDEX attracted folks who are really attached to their computers. But literally attached? Yup. Rockwell, VIA and Xybernaut each offered "wearable" PCs. Xybernaut's Mobile Assistant II weighs 2 lbs., slips around your waist and runs on battery power...