

A Brief History of the Wristwatch - jcater
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/05/history-wristwatch-apple-watch/391424/?single_page=true

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beloch
This article made me realize the one application where I'd actually want a
smart-watch: Outdoor winter sports.

When I'm out skiing or boarding, I usually have a phone in my pocket for
coordinating with other people. It sucks having to stop, take off gloves, dig
it out of my pocket, and operate the thing while my digits freeze. The person
at the other end has the same problem too, so you can expect a delay of half a
minute or more before they answer. Texting with freezing fingers is often more
practical than placing a call! In many ways I was happier in the days when, if
I got separated from others, I could just shrug, go search for powder and
perhaps meet up with them for lunch if we'd arranged a meeting time and place
in advance.

A smart-watch or other wearable that would allow me to place and take calls
without taking my gloves would be nice, but really, I can't imagine such a
thing working very well. It would be better to have voice control and audio
integrated into your helmet. There are already bluetooth helmet hookups...
Maybe I should look into this and stop writing about the wrong tool for the
job!

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stephengillie
Gloves that can operate touchscreens have been widely available in my area for
years. Hopefully they will be in yours soon too. Most of them are under $10 at
grocery/drug stores.

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ahsteele
Anecdotally it is only recently that capacitive gloves that you'd want to wear
for snowboarding / skiing in the conditions alluded to by the OP have become
available.

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doragcoder
Fashion is goes in cycles, so it makes sense:

Pocket -> Wrist -> Pocket (phone) -> Wrist...

Now if I can just get my 10-year old patent for wrist squares to go
through....

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stephengillie
What was the wrist device before the pocket watch? A wrist-slide-rule?

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Someone
No. The pocket watch predates the slide rule (~1530 vs ~1630;
[http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_watches](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_watches),
[http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slide_rule#History](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slide_rule#History))

~~~
elinchrome
Wristrock.

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DogeDigital
Has the degree of journalism degraded so much that including "sorry ass fad"
more than once in the same article that it is passed as a completely
acceptable piece?

