I read Kurzweil's book a half a year ago or so and it was quite good, it did get bogged down in various debates about the concept of AI a bit too much close to the end. One book that I think you should read is Accelerando by Charles Stross, especially the first chapters are about a guy with a wearable computer that functions as an 'meta-cortex'.
Thanks for the pointers, I've heard of Charles Stross but not read any of his stuff. I'll keep an eye out for it but I don't have as much time as I'd like for reading these days, partly because I'm busy doing crazy stuff like this
Re Beagleboard: yes, it seems well within my hardware skills (which mostly involve plugging things together and switching them on). I'll stick with the Pandora as I have mine ordered, but at some point in the future I may get one for the DVI output. I've seen the Lumus page, it looks like just the thing, but as you point out it's not available yet. The Vuzix cost me 200 quid (excluding eye-shield), exactly the same as the Pandora.
My Vuzix arrived today, it's charging as I type this so I won't be posting full details for another 4 hours or so. I will however post some first impressions after unpacking the box...
Firstly I was out when it arrived, and it seems my neighbours must also have been out as I found it tucked behind my wheelie-bin. This has nothing to do with Vuzix of course, but I'm a bit disappointed with DHL. Upon opening the box I found everything in order and well packed with copious amounts of bubble-wrap. The package includes...
- The HMD which is attached to the battery pack by a little over 1m of wire
- A multilingual manual and a separate note explaining the adjustment of the nose bridge
- A card giving details of their support line and telling me I get 10 minuets of free telephone support
- 3 video cables (iPod, Nokia, RCA)
- An optional tether strap that goes around the back of the head to keep the HMD in place
- A couple of foam pads for the integral speakers
- A couple of clips to help with running the cables about your person
- A drawstring bag, presumably for keeping the HMD in although it won't offer any physical protection
I also paid extra for a USB charger (I needed one anyway) and the 'immersive eyeshield'. The charger looks to be cheap and nasty but it works well enough and comes with both 2 and 3 pin mains attachments. The eye-shield is more or less what I expected, it's made of soft rubber and seems fairly durable. I can't help feeling it's price (£15) is unjustified, ideally it should be included as part of the base package, but the HMD itself is priced reasonably so I don't feel cheated.
The battery pack is a lot smaller than I anticipated, around the size of your average mobile phone. It's also very light. I'd be happy to have a battery twice the size but apparently it lasts 4-5 hours which seems sufficient. The wire that connects it to the HMD comes out one end and on the other there are 3 sockets: AV in, micro USB (for charging) and a headphone jack in case you want to use your own headphones. The speakers that are integrated into the HMD are detachable which is nice, although I'll probably use them unless I encounter problems with comfort or sound quality.
The HMD itself is around the same size as I expected, although I thought it would be heavier. The build quality seems acceptable, around what you would expect from your average piece of consumer electronics. I had some problems with the nose bridge, it fell off when I was adjusting it, but it was easy enough to clip back into place. The nose bridge does seem a bit fiddly and is adjusted simply by bending the wire the pads are stuck to. I assume this arrangement was chosen because the HMD is designed to be used on top of glasses for those people who wear them, but as I don't I would have preferred a more rugged but less flexible design.
Upon putting them on there are a few things that immediately struck me regarding comfort and ergonomics. The legs don't have a curve at the end to hook around the back of the ears, I don't think this impacts their stability but it does feel kind of strange. Getting them on is a little uncomfortable for me, they feel like they are designed for someone with a smaller head, but once they are in place they are fine and I do have a particularly large head (that's me in my avatar). The speakers need bent into place but once this is done they also seem comfortable. Note that they are not in-ear buds, they are designed to sit outside the ears.
There's more peripheral vision than I expected, I'm wearing them as I type this and if I tilt my head up I can see under the HMD well enough. The exact alignment may change once I actually power them up and align the optics for best picture quality. The tether doesn't seem very secure, there are 2 rubber loops that slip over the legs, but there's nowhere for them to lock in to. The end of the legs are rubberised too, so friction seems enough to keep everything from falling apart but I won't be surprised if excessive head movement causes one side of the tether to fall off.
Even although I have yet to power them on I can just about see the screen area, I heard someone describe the picture size as
'an A4 sheet of paper held at arm's length' and that seems fairly accurate. It doesn't look quite as big as the 22" wide screen monitor on my desk, but it's close.
I'll know more later once I've switched them on, feel free to ask questions
