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Comment by andrewtbham | Hacker News Reader

Is the subtext of the article wearable computers?

I'm thinking Apple may start bringing out their own TV's/Loungeroom hubs.

They're known for their high quality displays and they already have a lot of the other technology that would be coupled with it - FaceTime, Siri, iCloud/iTunes, App store.

In fact, I think Siri and Facetime are both the key parts here. If you can get your TV to do things for you (eg book flights) and also use it as a simple communication point (FaceTime) - its in the realm of "future technology" that people think of when they imagine what's coming.

The iPod Nano. They even sell 3rd party watch cases for it.

What do you mean?

Smartphones are obviously wearable computers and they already exist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wearable_computer

Huh? Seems pretty clear from that that smartphones are obviously wearable computers.

They're the only type of "wearable" computers that make sense: i.e. computers you can easily carry in your pocket.

Occasional fantasies of computers built into actual clothes are the domain of people who don't understand clothes very well.

Exactly. There is nothing that would stop us from making smartphones water resistant and shock resistant and sowing them into clothes. It’s not that we don’t do it because it’s impossible, we don’t do it because it’s a stupid idea.

Ah, but think of the sponsor & advertising angle. Rent out the space on your t-shirt.

Eventually every surface will turn in to an ad. And animated ads after that. The animated t-shirt can't be all that far into our future.

It's got to be something like that. Otherwise it would be a complete waste of resources. (5% of non-retail staff would be something like 10%+ of all engineering staff...)

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