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This reminds me of a technology from a couple of decades ago that seemed to disappear: wearable computer monitors. What ever happened to those?

Basically, you wore this thing like eyeglasses on your head, and it had a small arm that extended in front of your eye (but a little below it). When you looked down, it appeared like a computer monitor was hovering in front of you. The very early models were 320x200 resolution in monochrome (red on black), but I tried one at a trade show in 2000 that I think was 800x600 in VGA color, which at the time was pretty decent. I'm surprised these never got more popular; they would be great for laptop computers: you could have total privacy in your viewing (unlike a normal screen), and with improvements in the technology you could potentially "see" a much larger screen than a normal laptop has.

Does anyone else remember these?




Yes. They were terrible. Best case was Google Glass, which sounded entrancingly innovative until you tried one and immediately lost all interest.

Resolution was very low, battery life very short, UI very annoying, appearance very embarrassing.


I actually enjoyed my Google Glass, primarily its always-on easy-to-reach nature. Pulling your phone out of your pocket, turning it on, and unlocking it is a trivial action, sure. But putting your finger up to your face is still an order of magnitude faster and easier. As a result, I found myself taking way more photos and having literally dozens more phone calls with friends and family. It was pretty interesting.


Resolution and battery life were too low, costs too high. This is essentially what Google Glass was in a more compact and usable package.


The only times I ever saw them in the wild was for a security guard. He was using them to watch a movie from what I think was a mini-disc player.




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