7 ms·

I'd pay lots of money for a stylish watch or bracelet for my wife that would alert her to incoming calls and texts. She (like many women) keeps her phone in her

by dminor 15y ago

I'd pay lots of money for a stylish watch or bracelet for my wife that would alert her to incoming calls and texts. She (like many women) keeps her phone in her purse and rarely answers because she doesn't know it's ringing.

seclorum 15y ago
Maybe she needs an HTC Rhyme phone, with its dongle^Wcharm thingy: https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1333&bih=665&q=htc+rhyme+charm&g https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=... Its a dongle^Wcharm thingy that plugs into the phone and acts as visible alert for phone state while its buried in a purse. Pretty funny toy.
- mclin 15y ago
  Wow, genius. Good point, it doesn't need to be wireless to look good.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
stjarnljuset 15y ago
This is exactly my use case and I was excited when I saw inPulse posted on HN a couple months ago [0] until I realized my phone can't run cyanogenmod. Also, at the time I thought $200 (for the black watch) was a bit expensive until I found out that my coworkers are wearing $600 watches. [0] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3290884 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3290884
kalleboo 15y ago
The Sony Ericsson MBW200-series are probably the least "techy-looking" bluetooth watches http://www.inglue.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/sony-ericsson-mbw-200-2-08.jpg http://www.inglue.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/sony-ericss...
nl 15y ago
This one is $18: http://www.dealextreme.com/p/bluetooth-incoming-call-vibrate-alert-bracelet-black-25723 http://www.dealextreme.com/p/bluetooth-incoming-call-vibrate... $35: http://www.dealextreme.com/p/stylish-bluetooth-v2-1-bracelet-w-vibration-function-digital-time-white-81187 http://www.dealextreme.com/p/stylish-bluetooth-v2-1-bracelet... $35 (in red) http://www.dealextreme.com/p/stylish-bluetooth-v2-1-bracelet-w-vibration-function-digital-time-red-81189 http://www.dealextreme.com/p/stylish-bluetooth-v2-1-bracelet... As a (man's) watch, $54: http://www.dealextreme.com/p/0-8-oled-bluetooth-wrist-watch-with-caller-id-display-and-vibrating-alert-23915 http://www.dealextreme.com/p/0-8-oled-bluetooth-wrist-watch-... I'm sure there are more on Alibaba.
- angusgr 15y ago
  This one is $18 I think the operative word here is "stylish". Obviously taste is subjective, but my first impression for that one was "home detention bracelet"
  - nl 15y ago
    I agree. I wonder how a Kickstarter campaign for a better styled version would go? You could probably get the internals for < $10 in bulk.
latch 15y ago
I'd pay a lot of money for that for myself. Take this bracelet design: http://img2.etsystatic.com/il_570xN.309914418.jpg http://img2.etsystatic.com/il_570xN.309914418.jpg Replace the washer with a small system: micro controller, battery, bluetooth, a handful of LEDs and a motor for vibration. All of the heavy lifting, computational wise, can be done on a desktop or mobile device.
carlesfe 15y ago
Stylish is the keyword here. We've always seen "futuristic watches" on TV shows from the 80s, which looked cool, but after a few seconds you realize that you would only wear them if they were stylish and not a piece that screams "nerd!" when you look at it. We have the technology to build phone-watches, bluetooth enabled, with wifi, etc, but people just won't buy them. Why? They're ugly.
technolem 15y ago
So everyone wants something like this: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1104350651/tiktok-lunatik-multi-touch-watch-kits?ref=most-funded http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1104350651/tiktok-lunati... They took a ipod nano and turned it into a watch.

by dminor 15y ago

seclorum 15y ago

Maybe she needs an HTC Rhyme phone, with its dongle^Wcharm thingy: https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1333&bih=665&q=htc+rhyme+charm&g https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=... Its a dongle^Wcharm thingy that plugs into the phone and acts as visible alert for phone state while its buried in a purse. Pretty funny toy.

mclin 15y ago
Wow, genius. Good point, it doesn't need to be wireless to look good.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

stjarnljuset 15y ago

This is exactly my use case and I was excited when I saw inPulse posted on HN a couple months ago [0] until I realized my phone can't run cyanogenmod. Also, at the time I thought $200 (for the black watch) was a bit expensive until I found out that my coworkers are wearing $600 watches. [0] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3290884 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3290884

kalleboo 15y ago

The Sony Ericsson MBW200-series are probably the least "techy-looking" bluetooth watches http://www.inglue.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/sony-ericsson-mbw-200-2-08.jpg http://www.inglue.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/sony-ericss...

nl 15y ago

This one is $18: http://www.dealextreme.com/p/bluetooth-incoming-call-vibrate-alert-bracelet-black-25723 http://www.dealextreme.com/p/bluetooth-incoming-call-vibrate... $35: http://www.dealextreme.com/p/stylish-bluetooth-v2-1-bracelet-w-vibration-function-digital-time-white-81187 http://www.dealextreme.com/p/stylish-bluetooth-v2-1-bracelet... $35 (in red) http://www.dealextreme.com/p/stylish-bluetooth-v2-1-bracelet-w-vibration-function-digital-time-red-81189 http://www.dealextreme.com/p/stylish-bluetooth-v2-1-bracelet... As a (man's) watch, $54: http://www.dealextreme.com/p/0-8-oled-bluetooth-wrist-watch-with-caller-id-display-and-vibrating-alert-23915 http://www.dealextreme.com/p/0-8-oled-bluetooth-wrist-watch-... I'm sure there are more on Alibaba.

angusgr 15y ago
This one is $18 I think the operative word here is "stylish". Obviously taste is subjective, but my first impression for that one was "home detention bracelet"
- nl 15y ago
  I agree. I wonder how a Kickstarter campaign for a better styled version would go? You could probably get the internals for < $10 in bulk.

latch 15y ago

I'd pay a lot of money for that for myself. Take this bracelet design: http://img2.etsystatic.com/il_570xN.309914418.jpg http://img2.etsystatic.com/il_570xN.309914418.jpg Replace the washer with a small system: micro controller, battery, bluetooth, a handful of LEDs and a motor for vibration. All of the heavy lifting, computational wise, can be done on a desktop or mobile device.

carlesfe 15y ago

Stylish is the keyword here. We've always seen "futuristic watches" on TV shows from the 80s, which looked cool, but after a few seconds you realize that you would only wear them if they were stylish and not a piece that screams "nerd!" when you look at it. We have the technology to build phone-watches, bluetooth enabled, with wifi, etc, but people just won't buy them. Why? They're ugly.

technolem 15y ago

So everyone wants something like this: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1104350651/tiktok-lunatik-multi-touch-watch-kits?ref=most-funded http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1104350651/tiktok-lunati... They took a ipod nano and turned it into a watch.