Multitouch Watches

I was quite bored today, so I went over to Engadget reviews and hit the "low to high" link, just to see the most fail objects that have been sent in there. I did come across quite an interesting article.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/18/ipod-nano-review-as-a-watch/

The general concept was taking an iPod Nano and strapping it to your wrist as a watch. Now since of course this is an iPod, it didn't have much in the way of wireless functionality and all that. They did come up with some interesting ideas.

And for those you think they would look like an idiot wearing an iPod on their wrist, I beg to differ.

http://lunatik.com/

Personally, I think a device like this would be pretty useful. A server app running on your desktop that many of us run 24/7 anyway, have the ability to stream Facebook notifications. Store all your music on it, maybe even make it a phone that requires earbuds with a inline mic. If we have smartphones, why can't we have smart watches?

EDIT: A watch that runs Android? Not out to the public yet, and it has a pretty hefty price tag: http://www.imwatch.it/

Knufire said:

And for those you think they would look like an idiot wearing an iPod on their wrist

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Except you are still wearing an iPod on your wrist.

Knufire said:

A server app running on your desktop that many of us run 24/7 anyway, have the ability to stream Facebook notifications.

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Sorry, but this is a terrible idea. Why would someone need notifications for Facebook on their watch? Completely absurd.

Interesting idea, but I wouldn't be interested enough to do it. Now, if there was an Android one and I'd be able to SSH into my servers to check on them, then we are talking something cool and useful.

Still in high school, Facebook was just the first thing that came to my mind.

Engadget had some intresting suggestions in the linked article, though these were specifically pertaining to the iPod nano:

• At the bare minimum, Apple should offer multiple clock themes. Ship with a handful of classy standards -- digital, a couple analog styles, maybe an ironic calculator face -- and sell the rest for 99 cents in the iTunes store. Instant moneymaker.
  
• There's Nike+ support in this thing, which means it's likely just a firmware update away from full-on Bluetooth, and that makes things very interesting. We'd love to see the nano connect to the iPhone and act as a secondary display for notifications -- how cool would it be to check your watch and quickly see who's calling, scan your text messages and triage email subject lines? You could even add in some basic control functionality for music and video playback, and we'd kill to be able to switch a phone to mute just by tapping on our watch. Apple's getting seriously beaten to the punch here by Android -- just check out the Sony Ericsson LiveView, which almost every Engadget editor is dying to own. (Update: We misread the spec sheet -- you need to add a dongle for Nike+ on the nano. All the more reason to add full-on Bluetooth!)
  
• You've got eight to 16GB of flash storage on your wrist -- you should never think about needing a USB stick ever again. All you need is the ability to partition some of that space to show up as a mass storage device -- it's not like iPod cables are hard to find anywhere you go.
  
• If you're connected to an iPhone, that means you have access to the GPS -- that's instant Foursquare / Facebook Places check-ins from your watch right there. Or hey, just tap your watch while you're out taking pictures to store a log of geotagging data that you can sync up to your photos later on.
  
• Why limit connectivity to the iPhone? We'd love to be able to see new IMs and emails from our PC on our watch, and the idea of a simple, wearable Apple TV remote control seems remarkably intriguing.

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