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US Professor Lives
Constantly Connected
Thad Starner lives constantly connected with the internet. He wears
special glasses, with a little display that enable him to read the
screen of a portable computer, always in his bag. He has a small
kind of keyboard always in his hand, and all the wiring runs hidden
in his cloths.
In this way the self styled "cyborg" can access relevant
information in seconds, during a conversation. He carries scientific
papers and entire books in his hard disk, and has a fast internet
connection.
Ah, yes ! He has worn that no-stop since 1993 !
For eight years, Starner — an assistant professor in the future
computing environments unit of Georgia Tech's College of Computing
— has been what he and his colleagues jokingly call a "cyborg,"
constantly accompanied by the wearable computer.
Once just a dream, the wearable computer is now an indispensable
component of his life. He relies on it for everything from organizing
his days to giving lectures to being prepared for the unexpected.
An advocate of continuous-access, everyday-use systems, Thad has
worn his custom wearable computer in such a manner since 1993, arguably
the longest such experience. Thad is a co-founder of the IEEE International
Symposium on Wearable Computers (ISWC) and co-founder and first
member of the MIT Wearable Computing Project. In 1999, Starner was
named one of Technology Review's TR100 - 100 individuals under 35
who exemplify the spirit of innovation.
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