The mouse-ring that IBM is developing will use the company’s Track Point technology to wirelessly move the cursor on a computer-monitor display. You’re probably most familiar with Track Point as the little button embedded in the keyboard of some laptops. IBM Researchers have transferred Track Point technology to a ring, which looks something like a black-pearl ring. On top of the ring is a little black ball that users will swivel to move the cursor, in the same way that the Track Point button on a laptop is used.
This Track Point ring will be very valuable when monitors shrink to the size of watch face. In the coming age of ubiquitous computing, displays will no longer be tied to desktops or wall screens. Instead, you’ll wear the display like a pair of sunglasses or a bracelet. Researchers are overcoming several obstacles facing these new wearable displays, the most important of which is the readability of information displayed on these tiny devices.
Fig3: IBM has developed a prototype bracelet display
Charmed Technology is already marketing its digital jewelry, including a futuristic-looking eyepiece display. The eyepiece is the display component of the company’s Charmed Communicator, a wearable, wireless, broadband-Internet device that can be controlled by voice, pen or handheld keypad. The Communicator can be used as an MP3 player, video player and cell phone. The Communicator runs on the company’s Linux-based Nanix operating system.
III. OTHER DESIGNS AVAILABLE:
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GARNET-RING:
The picture above is of a ring containing a microprocessor. It vibrates to let you know that you have received a message from someone.
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THE JAVA RING:
It seems that everything we access today is under lock and key. Even the devices we use are protected by passwords. It can be frustrating trying to keep with all of the passwords and keys needed to access any door or computer program. Dallas Semiconductor is developing a new Java-based, computerized ring that will automatically unlock doors and log on to computers.
Fig4: The Java Ring can be programmed to give you access to every door and device.
The Java Ring, first introduced at Java One Conference, has been tested at Celebration School, an innovative K-12 school just outside Orlando, FL. The rings given to students are programmed with Java applets that communicate with host applications on networked systems. Applets are small applications that are designed to be run within another application. The Java Ring is snapped into a reader, called a Blue Dot receptor, to allow communication between a host system and the Java Ring.
The Java Ring is a stainless-steel ring, 16-millimeters (0.6 inches) in diameter, which houses a 1-million-transistor processor, called an iButton. The ring has 134 KB of RAM, 32 KB of ROM, a real-time clock and a Java virtual machine, which is a piece of software that recognizes the Java language and translates it for the user’s computer system.
Mobile computing is beginning to break the chains that tie us to our desks, but many of today’s mobile devices can still be a bit awkward to carry around. In the next age of computing, we will see an explosion of computer parts across our bodies, rather than across our desktops. Digital jewelry, designed to supplement the personal computer, will be the evolution in digital technology that makes computer elements entirely compatible with the human form.
IV. CONCLUSION:
Digital jewelry can best be defined as wireless, wearable computers that allow you to communicate by ways of e-mail, voicemail, and voice communication. The jewelry pieces work as a set. For example, imagine that your set consists of earrings, a necklace, and a watch. You can pick-up your messages and display them on your watch. In order to hear the message, if it’s a voice message, you can listen to it in your earrings. If you want to send out a message, you can talk into your necklace and it will allow you send a voice message. The works much like that of a cellular phone. It does almost all the same functions but looks nicer. Each piece has a small button on the backside of the accessory that when pressed activates the piece. You then use each piece accordingly. You may also, once marketed, choose to buy extra pieces for the set. This may include a ring that has a vibrating chip in it. The ring would vibrate to inform you of any incoming messages.
The basic idea behind the digital jewelry concept is to have the convenience of wireless, wearable computers while remaining fashionably sound. It is hoped to be marketable soon, however, several bugs remain. Charging capabilities and cost are just a sample of the problems that lurk.
