Wearable PCs Under Linux 120
demachina writes "Xybernaut, a maker of wearable PC's featured in Slashdot a couple months ago, has added Linux support. They say Linux "provides a stable platform that works well in a network environment" and it "requires far fewer computer resources than competing operating systems and allows for increased efficiency" " This one has a wrist mounted screen among other things. I'm totally going gargoyle.
wearable goodies!!! (Score:2)
-andy
Hooray! (Score:1)
Lightweight (Score:2)
Down with monolithic OSs!
Re:wearable goodies!!! (Score:1)
:
Re:Hooray! (Score:1)
Although I was going to say, would a beowulf cluster of these things be an orgy? or just a meeting? There are however, interfacing.
Er, heh. Nevermind.
There goes my Christmas wish list... (Score:1)
But I think I'll pass on it. It makes you look too much like Lord Dread (pardon the spelling)...
I think I'll wait untill they come out with something smaller.
Sorry, but this stuff is lame (Score:2)
Have you looked at the pictures on the site? Did you ever wonder why there are so few pictures of people actually wearing these things, and that most of those pictures are tiny? It's because people wearing this stuff look like dorks, plain and simple. (And no, I don't mean to pick on this one company -- there is plenty of hideous wearable PC stuff to go around.) If your goal is to look like the biggest dweeb alive, I congratulate you -- other than that, I don't see what your fascination with these things are, Rob. Get a freakin' PDA already. :P
Cheers,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com
Good Stuff (Score:2)
Anyway, this kind of stuff is great. I can envision going to CSE class and being able to try out code as the Prof. talks about it without carrying around a distracting laptop, and so forth. With a remote linkup (somehow in the future) you could check out your email on your wristwatch and so forth.
Lots of possibilities, and the fact that it runs Linux now is great!
New OS needed (Score:1)
Depends on your definition of what's lame, huh. (Score:1)
Really, are you going to let what popular culture says is good to wear prevent you from having neat gadgets?
Great thing (Score:1)
Re:Lightweight/Heavyweight (Score:1)
the BeOS has a pretty good scalability, stability, and is POSIX compliant. Could be another cool alternative to mainstream OSes...
Re:Off topic. WAY off topic (Score:1)
It contained bit characters who always had wearables on, usually gathering intel for your favorite three letter agency. They were called gargoyles.
Re:Off topic. WAY off topic (Score:2)
Re:wearable goodies!!! (Score:3)
I know this one time I _had_ to make a phone call from a public phone, and there was somebody inside. So I started cursing the guy in Romanian (the whole thing is happening in Toronto) because he would not come out. Well, when he finally finished talking, he comes out and replies "It's all yours!" in Romanian. I can't imagine the look on my face when I heard him...
Now if we all had those language translators, none of it would have happened. I don't want to be deprived of he opportunity of making an ass of myself, do I?
OPEN SOURCE WEARABLE (Score:1)
"look at him! look at how cool he looks as he walks down the street wearing his copyrighted undistributable open source young actress," envious passers-by would observe!
"open source man, how in the hell do you plan on implementing this?!" you may be asking your computer screen at this precise moment. i will explain.
i'm sure some of you have seen "silence of the lambs." well... it has absolutely nothing at all to do with that! instead, i will use a security hole, an unsearchable web, an auction-indexer and a jon katz article!
further details can be found on the "copyrighted undistributable wearable open source natalie portman and open source drew barrymore project" home page, which has an unsearchable, unpostable url.
thank you.
def: going gargoyle (Score:1)
Re:Sorry, but this stuff is lame (Score:1)
*ROTFL*
Good thing you pointed that out to the styerotypically fashion consious readers.
Besides you wouldn't look like a dork wearing one - you'd look like a super hero!
-Little Sister
'Applicants for obligtory side-kick line up here'
Linux's gonna be big... but not on X86 (Score:4)
This is the reason why most of wearcomp stuff runs on embedded CPUs, such as the Motorola Dragonball series (as used in Palm) or the ARM chips (as used in Psion and Newton), NOT X86. Xybernaut does great stuff, but so far their systems have been hampered by the fact that they insist on running Windows on their wearables, so they need hefty processing power. Not that there are many companies in the wearable business anyway...
What Linux will offer is the ability to adapt to multiple platforms: you can do your development on your top-of-the-line Athlon system at home, then quite easily port onto your uCsimm [uclinux.org] system. I personally think that we're going to see a lot of new wearable systems based on light-weight embedded systems and uCLinux.
BTW, for anyone who is interested, go see the International Symposium on Wearable Computing [gatech.edu] home page (you can download most of the presentations from 98 and 99 as PDF (abstracts) and RealVideo). Another good place (though still heavily under construction) is the Wearable.org [wearable.org] page. Did you know, for example, that you can harvest power from your shoes [computer.org] to power a wearable?
WinCE Is Not suCky, Eggheads (Score:1)
Just because it came out of MS doesn't mean it sucks. Look at the meeces, the keyboards, Excel 97, Hearts, VB, Age of Empires x, and Windows 2000. =P
Wouldn't want to disappoint you but... (Score:1)
The distinction is between Monolithic Kernels and MicroKernels. The difference is that Monolithic kernels handle everyhing needed _inside_ the kernel, while MicroKernels delegate certain parts of the OS (i.e. filesystems, Process Management and advanced scheduling) to some "special" processes.
See Minix (I've seen it) or Mach.
Actually some aspects of Linux are more alike to microkernels (flush daemon, update daemon, NFS client...), so I'd put the Linux design somewhere inbetween monolithic and microkernel, closer to the former.
All this just to tell you that you used the wrong word
Wearables (Score:3)
Anyway, that's not the worst problem... between a removable eyepiece and a hidden earphone w/ tts software (I have long hair, easy to hide an earphone), I think I have the unobtrusive bit down.
The real problem is internet access. To make full use of a wearable computer, it needs to be connected to the network. I should be able to real time monitor my servers, be alerted of email, read slashdot, send email, fix my servers, post to slashdot... all while riding in the car, on the train, in the restauraunt. Cell modems are simply too expensive.
And the current solutions aren't enough. The Palm network offers "web clipping" - which amounts to them sending you what they want you to see. Telnet? Not a chance. Sprint's wireless web service? It has possibilities, but with the metered usage they currently offer, it's not much better than a cell modem for price.
Anyway, I doubt anyone has a solution (short of start up your own telco/ISP). However, as near as I can tell, the worst barrier to making the most of mobile computing is the communications barrier.
Re:New OS needed (Score:1)
Battery Life (Score:1)
BOB_THE_EXPLORER: "Oh look! Natives! I'll just fire up my universal translator on my wearable, and we'll be good to go. Wait? What does this little light here mean?"
ROB_THE_SIDEKICK: "It means your batteries have run out."
BTE: "Oh dear."
NATIVES: "Iba-Gibba-Goo. Wop-Wop-Wop."
(*STAB*, *STAB*, *STAB*)
BTE: "Alas! If only I could have used my wearable, I would have been able to trade all of their food, land, and women for a few plastic beads."
RTS: "Yes, but you still would have been ugly."
What distro? (Score:1)
Re:Off topic. WAY off topic (Score:1)
(As a quick FYI, I think about half the recurring characters ended up getting tech implanted in them one way or another by the end of the series... talk about a set of writers with a mean streak towards their characters . Definately not your usual Disney fair... except maybe the last season).
Now I'm going to have to go give Snow Crash a read...
- Reunite Gondwana-land
Slashdot Duped Once Again... (Score:2)
OTOH, I do think it's a good stock--been a fave of mine for a while and so my bank account thanks you for the mention on Slashdot as it is already causing the stock price to rise.
Re:Great thing (Score:2)
What the release *should* have read (Score:3)
--
FAIRFAX, Va., Dec. 14
markets.
Edward G. Newman, president and chief executive officer of Xybernaut, commented, ``We are pleased by the addition of these Linux-based systems to our product lineup. Our initial Linux sales to major companies in the automotive, shipping and aerospace industries have been -- oh, who are we kidding. The only big upside to this announcement is that we should get plenty of attention from Slashdot.'' He then added, ``Geez, I hope our servers are up to this. We don't want to end up being poster children for that stupid IBM commercial where the guy's in an AA-like meeting and talks about his web site going down.''
Dr. Edwin Vogt, executive vice president for Xybernaut's European Operations added, ``We have successfully integrated hardware and software into a mobile device whose geekiness is unrivalled, even by the popular pocket protector.''
--
Sargent
As shown lame, but so what? (Score:2)
The pictures that you will see displayed for these systems are second generation wearable computers.
I had an opportunity several years ago to work on a first generation wearable computer project at the University of Oregon. You talk about lame! That thing was made from the guts of a notebook PC (I forget what model) stuffed into a heavy duty fishing/hunting vest, with a bulky set of virtual glasses and Dragon Dictate for voice control. Control was problematic, and the darned thing didn't even DO that much, but the department head was happy, which counted for more.
The point is, it was lame and useless, but it served its purpose of proof of concept! That work, and similiar projects, allowed the second generation of wearable computers to be put together as something halfway useful.
As for the next generation of wearable computers, I think that you will find that wearing one will no longer mark you as a dork or dweeb. Screen projectors will routinely be fitted into standard eyeglasses (or sunglasses, for those who are "too cool" to be a four eyed nerd). Controls will probably be by voice and or some sort of control glove that will not be too conspicuous. And noone will be able to tell you are wearing a computer unless they look real close.
As for the advantage of a wearable system over a PDA... Well, a PDA has (at best) a 5" screen. I would imagine that the effective size of a projected screen from a wearable could be as large as desired. Can we say 32" monitor?
Mike Eckardt [geocities.com] meckardt@spam.yahoo.com
A smart choice (Score:1)
Re:wearable goodies!!! (Score:3)
Mirror of some Photos (Score:2)
http://www.angelfire.com/sd/sdmirro r/index.html [angelfire.com]
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur.
Re:What the release *should* have read (Score:2)
Slashdotted of course (Score:2)
Re:Actually (Score:1)
I think a good OS should have both, for scalability and dynamical reshaping of the resouces i would advice microkernel, while a monolithical kernel tends to be more secure and also a little faster, because it doesn't have to care too much with the message overhead.
If i'm wrong, please reply
Re:Great thing (Score:1)
Re:WinCE Is Not suCky, Eggheads (Score:1)
Actually, Sega Rally 2 does.. Imagine the horror I experienced when I popped the disc in and saw this image [min.net] pop up on the screen.
I managed to crash it too, I popped the disc out while it was at the title screen and it returned me to the main dreamcast menu, and the right half of the screen flashed for like 10 seconds and then it just locked up.
Thanks, Microsoft.
You gotta be kidding me... (Score:1)
Re:Depends on your definition of what's lame, huh. (Score:1)
After all this time, though, there still aren't any mobile computer accessories that are "cool" to have -- at least the PalmPilot doesn't have much stigma anymore, but people don't think, "Damn, he's got a Pilot -- I bet he gets all the chicks!" I'd be pretty surprised if MTV/Dawson's Creek/etc. ever make computers a cool thing to have around for anything but looking at porn or their respective websites.
The Apple iBooks probably have some coolness factor, but I'm not convinced that they're really computers -- I think someone pasted a picture of a Mac desktop onto a colored toilet seat. Besides, I'll go back to the abacus before I ever use MacOS again. :P
Cheers,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com
Expensive (Score:2)
Personally, I'd rather try to cobble together my own which I could probably do for about half that price.
-=-=-=-=-
We have a couple of these... (Score:4)
It was a good idea, but IMO wearables should be much less invasive then that. Give me my Palm Pilot any day.
For some commentary on the Xybernaut from Steve Mann's Cyborg crew up in the University of Toronto, look here [techreview.com].
Re:WinCE Is Not suCky, Eggheads (Score:1)
Re:Linux's gonna be big... but not on X86 (Score:1)
Re:Sorry, but this stuff is lame (Score:1)
That's what it means to "go gargoyle." A gargoyle eschews all social graces to be permanently, constantly wired. Check out Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash for the coining of the term.
Re:New OS needed (Score:1)
Think about hacking a human brain...
Maybe this sounds kinda creepy, but isn't the computer an extention of your brain already? Dont you use the computer to store important information, which you otherwise would forget?
Yes, it is creepy...
Re:def: going gargoyle (Score:1)
Obituary (Score:2)
Rodney Geekfreund passed away yesterday when he dodged a virtual missile in the game on his wearable, only to get hit by a non-virtual crosstown bus.
Re: Internet Access for Wearables (Score:2)
CDPD is used in the Palm III's Minstrel, and the new Palm V Omnisky Minstrel [www.omnisky.com] [omnisky.com]). If I recall there are a couple of PCMCIA type II and III cards that support it as well (the Spider comes to mind)
AT&T has 'unlimited' service for it at around $25/month for the palm $55/month for other devices in many areas (called AT&T Wireless IP Service [attws.com]) and it gives you a 19.2k TCP/IP stack.
The service is damn near ideal for wearable/pda use, so, I wouldn't go so far as to say there are no options for internet connectivity.
Re:Lightweight (Score:1)
Re:Wearables (Score:1)
Perhaps something like the OmniSky [omnisky.com] service currently available for Palm PDA's would be perfect for this sort of thing if the hardware issue could be worked out. Right now coverage is spotty at best outside of major cities, but it's wireless and has a fairly inexpensive flat-rate plan at $50/month. Also, Bluetooth would be perfect for wireless connectivity while wandering around the office.
Re:New OS needed (Score:1)
Re:Battery Life (Score:1)
Granted, this is all second hand information - I'm building my wearable now, so I haven't had a chance to really figure out if this is more of a pain than what it's worth.
Its good enough for James Bond :) (Score:2)
Boojum
Re:Lightweight (Score:1)
More Than Just a Strapped-On Laptop (Score:3)
What constitutes a wearable computer? Well, for one, I think that anything that makes me lose my balance is pretty well out of the running. ("Yeah, I just hang this here iMac off my hip. I walk a bit funny, but I can play Quake anywhere!") Further, traditional input methods are pretty much as waste of time.
Obviously, voice-based input is the way that things have to go. I've never had a great deal of luck with that on any of my systems, but I recently used Jupiter, MIT's voice-based weather service. Call (1-888-573-8255) and ask it any question that you want about the weather anywhere in the US. It's really an amazing system.
Short of that, considering the processing power that's required in order to handle voice adequately, a VR keyboard might be a good first step. A HUD could show you a keyboard, floating in the air. Small devices on the fingers (like little round bandaids, perhaps, on the backs on top knuckle) could track your finger movements so that you could type.
Audio-based feedback, as we all have probably found, is helpful. So now we need a small device on the back of the ear(s), too.
Glasses, headphone, fingerpads, microphone, CPU. With all of these things, you truly do *wear* your computer. Quite an assembly to get all of this on.
Is it possible to improve on this setup? Of course. Somewhere in the middle ground between hanging a Toshiba Satellite on your belt and pulling on a computer-suit is going to be the everyman's wearable computer. And if I knew what that would be, I'd be a very rich man.
Re:WinCE Is Not suCky, Eggheads (Score:1)
WinCE is a modular kernel (Score:1)
Re:wearable goodies!!! (Score:2)
But.
What about privacy? Having to speak to your computer while anywhere other than your private office negates all the advantages of the wearable.
One poster above mentions that he should be able to configure/control his servers using his wearable while on a bus or in a restaurant. A truely useful capability. But what if the guy sitting behind you is ease dropping on your configurations while you speak them?
What about peoplewho whould use it to manage their investments? Or to handle business deals? Voice activated wearables will never make it in the business world unless they have physical access methods that are as easy to use as voice recognition or the good ole' keyboard.
Time to sic the industrial designers on the problem.
Re:Wearables (Score:1)
Re:WinCE Is Not suCky, Eggheads (Score:3)
I notice that Rob isn't asking for one.... (Score:1)
so what? (Score:2)
And if I remember correctly, you've been able to get linux as the OS for a while now. It's just this is the first press release. Maybe their meaning of "support" is technical support as opposed to just having the OS capable of running on the box.
On a related note, guess who's stock jumped up 15% today? (begin sarcasm) Coincidence? Good thing I bought it when in august when it was $1. I tripled my money.
Re: Internet Access for Wearables (Score:1)
Re:New OS needed (Score:1)
Re:Wearables (Score:1)
Current wireless solutions are not enough, unless you happen to live in one of the major cities which are offering unlimited wireless access.
Though, I must also admit that things are improving greatly. It looks like my area may be getting such access sometime in the near future (next 6 - 18 months). The spotty coverage is still less than ideal, though.
As far as LAN wireless, those products exist and are pretty good already. My main concern was coverage while not at home or office - which is still an average of 5-6 hours a day, sometimes more.
Anyway, thank you for the pointers... AT&T doesn't offer it here yet, but there is a chance for someone to offer it in the future!
Re:Battery Life (Score:1)
/. effect (Score:1)
doo-doo-doo, we're sorry... the phone system is slashdotted.. would you please hang up and try your call again later.
Re:New OS needed (Score:1)
Re:WinCE Is Not suCky, Eggheads (Score:1)
Re:Wearables (Score:1)
Re:Wearables (Score:1)
I've been considering building my own Wearable for a while now. (off and on)
I'm leaning towards something around the power level of the Palm Vx or Handspring Visor Deluxe (the Springboard port has definite possibilities) with text to speech hardware. I haven't been able to try out any of those one-handed keyboards, but I would think that a braille keyboard (6 keys plus space, used 3 per hand could be broken apart and set 3 keys to a hip (or palm) for data entry in a pinch.
Then again maybe that onhandpc thing had the right idea in only really gearing up for data retrieval rather than data entry.
I considered using the Qualcomm pdQ as a base for one at one point, except the pdQ has its own proprietary undocumented connector and appears that Qualcomm is going to drop support to move to a CE platform. (Also, it doesn't help that the pdQ only transfers data CDMA (14.4kbps and the only carrier in my area that supports it is Sprint, and they charge by the minute)
Using a PDA for the heart of it would allow me to remove the 'getup' and still carry the information I want.
My journada has too much bulk for me to consider carrying something like that as a starting point.
I have a bunch of serial controllable LED displays that I could use for information sources
That parachute PCMCIA adaptor for the palm might be a place to start, when they ship it atleast, but that would rule out a handspring module and it probably would require some jerrymandering to fit together with a CDPD modem in place.
The question is then if I can fit a dual serial uart and a speech synth chip into a springboard module.
And dangit, this still won't let me play mp3s =)
Re:Actually (Score:1)
AFAIK the distinctive point about Microkernels is that cricical subsystems (filesystems, memory management policies, process scheduling policies etc.) are handled by user-level processes.
NT has a lot many services, its IPC setup is most impressive (I think it's because Microsoft tries to offer (N+1)-thousand way of doing things because they can't get the first N-thoudsnd right but need to support them anyways), but I haven't seen anything like "filesystem-as-a-process". From this point of view, Linux (with its nfsiod "processes") is more akin to a microkernel than NT is.
About whether a microkernel is better than a monolithic one. Some time around 1994 there was a very famous flamewar between a certain... what's his name... oh yes. Torvalds. Linus Torvalds, and a professor Andrew Tannenbaum (or was it Tannembaum? not sure), author of the Minix OS (and of the Amoeba distributed OS, but I've never seen any reference to it but in a Tannenbaum book). The Torvalds guy argued that Microkernels are but an academics' toys, because the advantages they offer don't hold in real life(TM), or at least aren't worth the effort. Tannenbaum of course defended microkernels (he is an academic after all), in fact both Minix and Amoeba are designed as microkernels.
Linux's gonna be big... much bigger than MSWindows (Score:2)
In a sense, much of what we've seen of computers today was predictable: the Dick Tracy wristwatch, Flash Gordon's viewscreen technology, etc. If the future were that simple to predict, WinCE might have been the answer.
But what's going to make an "ultraportable" successful is going to be a surprize. The PalmPilot won in the handheld category just because it was a better product, but it's a really subtle thing to describe exactly what is better about it. Yet, hold it side by side to a WinCE device and in about 60 seconds you prefer it, despite its paucity of apps. And that kind of subtle usability attribute is really hard to predict, even for the developers. I expect [hey, it's not exactly profound] that wearables are going to have many of the same attributes, or even more. It'll be like trying on shoes: this one pinches... ahhh! this one feels comfy. Having a variety of robust, mutable opensource OS and app solutions available to play with is totally key to allowing the widest variety of Gyro Gearlooses to experiment with kooky quirky variations, but there will be a buncha cool stuff coming out the other end.
I was thinking the other day that the automobile was invented, looking back, pretty far into the last century. But we think of them as a 20th century device. I think in 20 years computers are going to seem to have undergone as rapid an advance. Yeah, there were some primitive devices available back in '99, and in "aught one", but nothing like what's new for '19!!
note: I'm also predicting that we'll be back to using 2 digits for years again, lickety split, but that's off-topic.
Speaking and Privacy Was: Re:wearable goodies!!! (Score:1)
The mic and the speaker for the system could be in one ear, to make the mic as unobtrusive as possible and to stop that dangly thing getting in the way. Then couldn't you essentially whisper, and the mic should be able to pick up much softer "talking" through the vibrations in the jawbone than if it had to go through air?
Just a thought.
Re:Wearables (Score:1)
Re:Speaking and Privacy Was: Re:wearable goodies!! (Score:1)
Sub-vocalization is definitely the cooler of the two options though.
UofT (Score:1)
Steve does have rig on him nearly all the time, but he switches wearcomps depending on what he's doing. As for being a dork, I don't see why he's any more of one than the hundreds of people who post to slashdot every day (myself included).
Ham radio is not for networking wearables. (Score:2)
--
Re:Good Stuff (Score:1)
Uh, no need to envision :) Check out the top picture on this [wearcam.org] web page. I was in the fall 1999 version of this course. But we havn't updated the page yet.
Privacy vs Opression (Score:1)
Re:New OS needed (Score:1)
Re:New OS needed (Score:1)
Re:Linux's gonna be big... but not on X86 (Score:1)
Here at UofT, we have wearables based on various flavours of X86, and the strong arm, and though the strong arm is a bit more battery friendly than the equivalent X86 chips, it's not that big a difference.
Batteries are old tech, we need to invent something better. Oh, and while we're at it, can we please hurry up with the fusion already?
Only open source software on these (Score:1)
Re:WinCE Is Not suCky, Eggheads (Score:1)
If you wince when you see microsoft software.. (Score:1)
you will like thier new super operating system called WinCE (wince).
Just because it came out of MS doesn't mean it sucks. Look at the meeces, the keyboards, Excel 97, Hearts, VB, Age of Empires x, and Windows 2000. =P
As long as you keep using thislogic, you will never have to worry that:
Microsoft didnt make the keyboards. They contracted out another company to do it.
Microsoft didnt make hearts. they just made the first freely available windows version of it. and this is of course questionable.
they didnt make Age of Empires.. It was made by a game company outside of microsoft.
The others stuff.. well lets just say the worthiness is questionable.
LW
Re:Depends on your definition of what's lame, huh. (Score:1)
CY
Re:Ham radio is not for networking wearables. (Score:1)
Well, that's not completely true! The Bavarian Packet-Radio Group [baycom.de] develops HIGH speed modems (19k2..76k8) especially for packet radio! (BTW: Most of the current packet networks are high speed (>19k2) already!)
The REAL problems using packet radio is:
Just my $0.02!
-- Sighm (PE1RXA, for anyone who cares!)
Re:wearable goodies!!! (Score:1)
not as much of a UI...
Re:UofT (Score:1)
My point, I suppose, is that when I saw Steve talk and subsequently had a group discussion between him and my research group at Carnegie Mellon, he seemed socially awkward simply because he was constantly either being distracted by his gear or distracting others by using his gear. Perhaps it's not a function of Steve personally; simply wearing such equipment may lower a person's capacity to interact smoothly with others.
I would assume that your group has done research on the social implications of wearables in addition to practical design issues?
Bearable Wearables with Linux (Score:1)
Here [winspect.org] is a web page describing work we have done with wearable hardware and Linux.
It provides some information on installing Linux on MA-III and MA-IV systems by Xybernaut and getting wireless networking and audio running. It also contains some comments on wearcomp and Linux based on our experiences.
We might start a Linux wearable HOWTO covering more aspects of wearcomp and Linux if people are interested.
Re:New OS needed (Score:1)
Re: shoes for harvesting power (Score:1)
1) save energy and slave labor
2) gain much healthier feet
3) have an opportunity to challenge rampant prejudice
Perhaps that rotary magnet generator would work strapped to a leg?
Re:UofT (Score:1)
Are you kidding? The group is part of the Computer Engineering discipline in the faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, U of T. Do you think the words social and implications appear in the same sentence very often around here?
Actually, I'm just kidding, for a bunch of seriously hard core geeks, we tend to spend a lot of time examining the various different ways in which a particular modification or piece of equipment might be used. But unfortunatly, we could probably do with a few more history/society/sociology credits in our academic diets.
As is the usual case with technology, a truely thorough examination of its impact will probably have to wait until it starts having an impact. People rarely think before they invent...
Re:UofT (Score:1)
Re:New OS needed (Score:1)