Reading

A Short History of the Computer

Computer Ongoing

Training target:

Read the following reading materials and use the reading skills mentioned in the passages above. You may also choose some parts of this passage to practice.

Text. What’s Wearable? Wearable computers are the next wave of portable computi

ng and they go way beyond laptops.

Imagine watching a movie projected through your eyeglasses onto a virtual screen that seems to float in your field of vision， or imagine working on an automobile， an airplane，or an underwater mission and reading an instruction manual，communicating with co-workers， or inputting data via computer—all without lifting a finger from the task at hand.

To date， personal computers have not lived up to their names. Most machines sit on the desk and interact with their owners for only a small fraction of the day. Smaller and faster notebook computers have made mobility less of an issue， but the same staid user paradigm persists.

Wearable computer hopes to shatter this myth of how a computer should be used. A person’s computer should be worn，much as eyeglasses or clothing are worn， and interact with the user based on the context of the situation. With heads-up displays， unobtrusive input devices， personal wireless local area networks， and a host of other context sensing and communication tools， the wearable computer can act as an intelligent assistant.

Micro Optical Corp.， based in Westwood，Mass.， has designed two models of an eyeglass display—one that clips onto the side of the user’s glasses， and the other integrated directly into the eyewear. Though the user still needs a CPU—a laptop， a wearable computer， or even a DVD player or cell phone—the monitor or screen is actually projected through the user’s eyeglasses.

Gerg Jenkins， sales manager at Micro Optical，says the LCD is positioned near the user’s temple. A projected image passes through the lenses of regular eyeglasses， bounces off a mirror， and displays the illusion of a full-size monitor floating in front of the user’s face. The display weighs less than an ounce， so it’s much more comfortable than some of the earlier head-mounted displays.

Jenkins says he can’t disclose which companies are currently using the product， as it is still in beta testing. But the display can incorporate night vision capabilities for the military， and is used in electronics sectors to aid in working on circuit boards， for example. And in medicine， the eyeglass display is aiding the work of endoscopic surgeons，enabling them to probe the veins of patients without having to look up at a screen to view their work.

Jenkins says his company is also paying close attention to cell phone and WAP industry. Eventually the technology will put video in your cell phone LCD， but right now the displays on cell phones—especially the newer， smaller designs aren’t large enough to handle the images. Micro Optical hopes to sell its display as an accessory for other products， such as cell phones， DVD displays， and wearable CPUs.

Wet PC Called the Wet PC， it compris

ed a miniature personal computer with a mask-mounted virtual display and a novel one-handed controller—called a Kord Pad. The computer was mounted in a waterproof housing on the diver’s air tank.

A cable from it was connected to the waterproof virtual display which presented the diver with a high contrast display“floating”in the field of view. A second cable was connected to the Kord Pad， a5-key device which the diver could hold in either hand and which was used to control the computer by pressing single or multiple keys. A Graphical User Interface（ GUI） shows the user which key（ or keys） to press. The GUI facilitates the wear ability and usability of the Wet PC—underwater computer. It was the result of several years of research into interface design and functionality. Rather like playing the piano， the user can interact with the computer in a very natural way—the diver can access and record information with one hand， even while swimming.

The Wet PC can help salvage-divers，maritime archeologists， and police divers find objects， record or look up information， or simply monitor their location at all times. Scientists could use the unit for mapping and monitoring coral reefs. Navy divers could use the Wet PC to search for mines and other unexploded devices.

The Wet PC has applications in education，recreation， and tourism as well. Divers can use the Wet PC to navigate reefs and create a digital guided tour for underwater tourists.

The Challenges of Wearable Computer

The creation of wearable computers is not without challenge—primarily， how to produce an affordable product. Most units aren’t priced for the average consumer. On the development side， designers and engineers continually strive to increase the functionality and comfort of wearable computers.

“One of the big challenges for us is to continue to make them user-friendly and to maintain usability as the functionality goes up and the size goes down，” says Danny Cunagin， president of Logic.

And while most wearable computers use standard desktop computer specifications—Pentium processors，Windows operating systems—creating a user interface that is easy，unobtrusive， and comfortable to use.

Exercise.

Answer the following questions according to the text above.

1.What does the wearable computer include? Try to give some examples.

2.What is the advantage of the wearable computer?

3.What is the structure of the WetPC? 4.What is the use of the WetPC?