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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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Clint Zeagler | Curator / Designer
Thad Starner | Curator
Kevin Shankwiler | Designer
Yoni Kaplan | Designer
Tavenner M. Hall | Text and Images
Wearable computers and head-mounted displays are in the press daily. Why now? While the basic technology has existed for decades, only recently have these devices become practical and desirable. Using consumer, professional, and “maker” devices, this exhibit demonstrates four challenges along the road to making a consumer wearable computer: power and heat, networking, mobile input, and displays. The groups of head-mounted displays shown here reflect product categories that developed as these challenges were addressed:
· virtual reality displays which seek to remove the user from reality
· portable video viewers for entertainment
· industrial systems designed to support work tasks
· early academic and maker systems that provide smartphone-like productivity and communication abilities for everyday use and
· current consumer devices that leverage modern miniaturized sensors and wireless mobile networks to provide services that are “there when you need it, gone when you don’t.”
