Wearable computer maker chooses Crusoe

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by James Evans

(IDG) -- A Minnesota-based wearable computer maker announced Thursday that it is working with Transmeta to put the low-power Crusoe chip in its latest offerings.

Wearable computer-maker Via chose the Crusoe chip because it offers low power and low heat requirements, while still offering the processing power to run applications that mobile workers might use, Via President Ed McConaghay said in a statement. The Crusoe chip has more readily been seen in laptops from Sony, NEC, Fujitsu, and Hitachi. In recent weeks, IBM and Compaq have decided to cancel plans for laptops that would have used the Crusoe chip.

During the first quarter of 2001, Via will begin offering its wearable computers, which will come with 700MHz Crusoe processors and run Microsoft's Windows 2000 operating system, Via spokeswoman Nancy Crowe said.

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The full-function PC is about the size of two card decks laid end-to-end and is worn on a belt around the waist, she said. The unit has a 6.4GB hard drive and 64MB of RAM. It weighs about 3 pounds with its batteries included.

The base model will start at $2,000 and go up to $5,000 with applications and peripherals added on. The wearable PC is designed to work with Via's new SVGA (Super VGA) indoor readable display or its indoor/outdoor display. Pricing on the displays was not immediately available.

Input into the Via wearable computer can be done by voice or from a touchscreen display. The units are designed to handle bumps and bruises of everyday use, including withstanding a 4-foot drop, according to Crowe.

Northwest Airlines is using the current generation of Via's wearable computers for customer check-ins and non-routine aircraft maintenance, Crowe said. Via's current wearable computers, such as the Via 2 Wearable PC, use 166MHz Cyrix processors.

"Our computers are currently being used for customer service management, supply-based management, inspection, quality control, or maintenance. For the most part, it is a type of tool that most consumers would not see, except for like how Northwest is using it for its gate agents."

Early versions of the Crusoe-based wearable computers are already being used by the U.S. Military Police in field tests at Fort Polk, Louisiana. The program is financed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

The computers being tested don't look much different from a regular backpack, said Henry Girolamo, program manager of the U.S. Army Soldier Systems center in Natick, Mass. The Via computers being tested by the Army weigh less than 1 pound not including the battery, use a 600MHz Crusoe chip, and can be controlled by voice or the click of a mouse on a officer's belt, he said.

About 20 military police officers recently tested the wearable computers in Louisiana, Girolamo said. Officers ran the computers through a serious of drills to test streaming video, face recognition, speech recognition, mapping settings, and conferences and voice translation. The soldiers saw the video display of the computer on a VGA screen embedded in their glasses or a clip-on display.

"It has all the same look and feel of looking at a 13-inch monitor," Girolamo said of the 800-by-600 VGA display, developed by MicroOptical in Westwood, Mass.

Burnsville, Minn.-based Via, which has approximately 65 employees, will have its wearable computers on display at fall Comdex in the Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products booth.

Transmeta extends its battery's life, but what about its own?
November 3, 2000
Wearable gadgets offer modern look for military
October 19, 2000
NEC is latest to unwrap Crusoe-powered laptop
October 18, 2000
Transmeta CEO comments spark debate
October 2, 2000
IBM's wearable PC may debut early next year
June 30, 2000

Crusoe problems blamed on software emulation technique
(InfoWorld)
From Borg to Vogue
(PC World)
Wear your own personal network
(IDG.net)
IBM's wearable PC may debut early next year
(IDG.net)
Transmeta goes public as vendors evaluate chip
(IDG.net)
Compaq rejects Transmeta's Crusoe
(InfoWorld)
IBM postpones Crusoe laptop
(IDG.net)
U.S. market for wearable computers will reach $600M by 2003
(IDC)

ViA Inc.
Transmeta Corp.
MicroOptical Corp.

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