Sensory-augmented computing: wearing the museum´s guide

Personal computers have not lived up to their name. Most machines sit on a desk and interact with users for only a small fraction of the day. Notebook computers have become smaller and faster, enabling mobility but the same staid user paradigm persists. Typically you must stop everything you´re doing, use both hands, and give the computer your full attention. Wearable computing is poised to shatter our preconceptions of how we should use a computer. A personal computer should be worn like eyeglasses or clothing and continuously interact with the user on the basis of context. With heads-up (head-mounted) displays, unobtrusive input devices, personal wireless local area networks, and a host of other context-sensing and communication tools, wearable computers may act as intelligent assistants. It is argued that a wearable computing device that perceives its surroundings and presents multimedia information through a heads-up display can behave like an intelligent assistant to fulfill the promise of personal computing