
Seiko UC-2000 (1984) – the dawn of wearable computers - stuuuuuuuuu
https://www.inexhibit.com/case-studies/seiko-uc-2000-1984-the-dawn-of-wearable-computers/
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11thEarlOfMar
How about a little "where are they now"...

MIT Wearable Computing, circa 1996:

[https://imgur.com/a/AlnEYkW](https://imgur.com/a/AlnEYkW)

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agumonkey
Epic shot

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acdha
Another interesting bit of history was the Seiko Message Watch, which had
time-sync and one-watch messaging over an FM radio sideband:

[https://mako.cc/copyrighteous/tribute-to-the-seiko-
messagewa...](https://mako.cc/copyrighteous/tribute-to-the-seiko-messagewatch)

Back before cell phones were ubiquitous that was pretty novel. I remember
being struck by how cool it was to step off the plane in Taipei and see it
update to local time while I watched. Getting pages about server downtime
using the email gateway was also a nice way not to lug a pager around.

The system didn't outlive Y2K, however, and since it was clear where the
market was going they simply shut it down rather than fix the Y2K bugs.

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Joeri
Microsoft also tried to build a smart watch in 2004 with the SPOT watch.

It’s remarkable how a concept can stick around for decades waiting on an
implementation that’s good enough to be viable.

Instead of trying to think of new things it’s perhaps better to go read tech
magazines of prior decades finding failed ideas and trying to breathe new life
into them.

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acdha
Smartphones are a great example: I had Richochet wireless on a Handspring
Prism almost a decade before the iPhone, including a web browser. The concepts
were there but it needed generations of hardware and software improvements to
make it viable as a mainstream product.

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oldManRiver
I had an iPaq and it was better than the early iPhone by far. PocketPC just
needed a touch interface instead of the pen.

Although the pen allowed a lot of fun games. There was a tennis one I really
enjoyed.

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jnaina
I had an iPaq too, along with a range of HTC/HP/O2 Pocket PC and Windows
Mobile devices. The overall experience was dismal with a very slow Mobile IE
browser and awkward UX using a stylus. Using the iPhone was like experiencing
an alien technology. Flew to San Francisco from Singapore just to buy an
iPhone and ordered a SIM delocker to allow me to use it on an non-AT&T
network.

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oldManRiver
Having a 206MHz ARM iPaq in ~2003 blew my mind. I had the addon pack for the
back and used it over WiFi without issues.

Built and sold several applications for it as well, so easy to develop for as
well.

Hell you couldn't even install apps when the iPhone came out, so if you were
using what was at least 5 year old technology it's no wonder you found the
iPhone to be a better experience.

I bet you think the iPhone was better than the Newton too eh? Kudos on flying
to SF instead of just having one shipped to you.

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jnaina
Yes, bought a Newton also. Gave up using given the Beta level software.
Couldn't ship one from the states those days. Apple didn't allow shipping
overseas and eBay price was way too high.

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walrus01
This thing reminds me a great deal of the 1980s design aesthetic used in a
bunch of "digital dash" cars, such as the Nissan 300Z:

[https://www.google.com/search?q=300Z+dash+digital&num=100&cl...](https://www.google.com/search?q=300Z+dash+digital&num=100&client=firefox-b-1&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjFxsutl97cAhVollQKHVv5A3IQ_AUICygC)

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matheusmoreira
Is there a name for this aesthetic? I like the way it looks. Reminds me of
aircraft HUDs.

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jdietrich
>Is there a name for this aesthetic?

ＡＥＳＴＨＥＴＩＣＳ.

[https://www.reddit.com/r/VaporwaveAesthetics/](https://www.reddit.com/r/VaporwaveAesthetics/)

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srcmap
1984: Seiko UC_2000 - Z80 CPU 2-10 Mhz (?) - 8K ROM - 2K RAM

30 year later: From
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_S1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_S1)

2014: Apple Watch. - ARM CPU 500Mhz - 8G Flash (?) - 512MB RAM.

    
    
                        -  X 50-250            - X 1000       - X 256000 
    
    

30 year from 2014: Any chance for this?

2044: ??? Watch - CPU 25-125GHz (?) - 8TB Flash - 128TB RAM.

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trevyn
Unfortunately, the UC-2000 seems to have a 1.5-year battery life, so your
extrapolated 2044 watch will only work for 6 minutes before needing charged.
:-)

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craigsmansion
That Epson RC-20 model looks ready for a re-issue, and with a programmable
Z80, I wouldn't even mind an exact copy (with modern battery technology). The
future looked so cool back then.

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tluyben2
I’d get one now. Especially if Z80.

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agumonkey
Slightly less capable I think but HP-01 was a wrist calculator (with data flow
oriented operators)
[https://duckduckgo.com/?q=hp-01+watch&atb=v119-3__&ia=web](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=hp-01+watch&atb=v119-3__&ia=web)

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ClassyJacket
A fantastic video about this amazing device:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGQrsSEaZkI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGQrsSEaZkI)

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collective-intl
Great video, thanks!

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tluyben2
I have a bunch of these: pocket and wrist. I like them. They still work and I
would wear that over an Apple watch any day. That is just taste though. I
would buy a small programmable, none networked, ‘infinite battery’ watch like
this now.

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ahansen
Do you have a bunch of this particular model, or do you have a range of these
types of watches. I'd love to hear what other watches like this there are!

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Rebelgecko
I saw a cool project that uses an Android phone in lieu of the original
keyboard. The signal from the keyboard is spoofed via the magnetic field of
the phone's speaker

