As those like the moto360 watch straps? Or some other type of non-user replaceable straps? It would be better if they weren't with standard lugs
Dot Watch – A braille and tactile smartwatch
31–40 of 101 posts
Re: Dot Watch – A braille and tactile smartwatch
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
I sometimes wonder what technology would look like if it were developed by an alien culture with no sense of vision.
I somehow believe that the evolutionary pressure towards sight is so large (i.e. the benefit of sight is so great) that we're essentially guaranteed any sentient biological extraterrestrial will have it.
>essentially guaranteed any sentient biological
The evolutionary pressure toward radar or at least sonar is pretty fucking big too (huge benefit) so where's mine?
Re: Dot Watch – A braille and tactile smartwatch
#33Any reason for the blind to use this over earbuds paired with Siri, Alexa, or any other voice-based interface?
The same reason we prefer to read our texts over having Siri read them outloud in public.
Re: Dot Watch – A braille and tactile smartwatch
#34Any reason for the blind to use this over earbuds paired with Siri, Alexa, or any other voice-based interface?
I have been working for the past 7 years with a blind programmer. With a "tactile" watch, he can quickly know what time is it without minimal interaction with the hardware (open the lid, touch the watch, close the lid) and without disturbing the current course of action with other people. The same way you quickly check your watch.
What I see as really good if it can hit the market at that price is that it will help push down the price of braille strips. At the moment a strip costs about 100€ per cell. If you want a 80 cell strip to do some programming, it costs new about 8000€...
Re: Dot Watch – A braille and tactile smartwatch
#35That looked a bit like blogspam, or whatever the word it. It wasn't very information-dense, anyway. The manufacturer seems to be here: http://fingerson.strikingly.com/ . I guess it's a smart watch since it pairs over BT with a cell phone, and can show notifications from the phone. It can show the current time without a phone connection, yay. No custom installable apps on the watch itself as far as I could see, but pe…
The submitted link was to an RNIB podcast that discusses the watch. Audioboom is official home to those podcasts. https://audioboom.com/posts/5655817-the-first-braille-smartw... The five minute audio podcast has interviews with the company and with users and explains a bit about why this is different to existing braille displays.
Oh, okay. I tend to expect textual information for a title like that; I never listen to podcasts. Thanks for the heads-up.
Re: Dot Watch – A braille and tactile smartwatch
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
yes i guess the evolution of our vision was driven in part by hunting (being able to resolve animals at a distance) and gathering (being able to discern colours of berries)
also the medium in which we primarily exist (i.e air). If we existed in water, or in soil, then the collection and classification of light would not be as important.
I think the vast amount of seeing marine creatures is a massive counterexample. Evolutionary biologists think that the ability to detect any photons grants an advantage: in environments where there is light, eyes evolve, even when the light is dim. It's only in completely lightless environments that eyes no longer provide an advantage (i.e. abyssal plain or caves).
Re: Dot Watch – A braille and tactile smartwatch
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
All of your examples are related to food acquisition. Consider /imagine the non-sighted analogues of them, and how 'successful' they are/would be e.g. a worm the size of a mole[0] & how trivial it would be for predators to prey on it. [0]: not these ones tho https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Gippsland_earthworm
yes i guess the evolution of our vision was driven in part by hunting (being able to resolve animals at a distance) and gathering (being able to discern colours of berries)
My point is: these creatures evolved more specialised senses to improve their food-gathering, but they also all have eyes. Perhaps eyes convey a general advantage, regardless of how you find food?
Re: Dot Watch – A braille and tactile smartwatch
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
I somehow believe that the evolutionary pressure towards sight is so large (i.e. the benefit of sight is so great) that we're essentially guaranteed any sentient biological extraterrestrial will have it.
>essentially guaranteed any sentient biological The evolutionary pressure toward radar or at least sonar is pretty fucking big too (huge benefit) so where's mine?
You have eyes + aren't active while finding food/avoiding predators in an environment with limited visibility & great sound conduction.
Re: Dot Watch – A braille and tactile smartwatch
#39Any reason for the blind to use this over earbuds paired with Siri, Alexa, or any other voice-based interface?
I have been working for the past 7 years with a blind programmer. With a "tactile" watch, he can quickly know what time is it without minimal interaction with the hardware (open the lid, touch the watch, close the lid) and without disturbing the current course of action with other people. The same way you quickly check your watch. What I see as really good if it can hit the market at that price is that it will help p…
Wouldn't that be better served by a notch on the ring that rotates as time goes? An inner ring could do minutes and small/large bumps can help identify the time down to the closest 5 minute increment
The machinery to translate scalar time into discrete bump movement is going to be complicate, fragile and costly, while rotating a ring instead of the single arms is feasible, has been done already and only need tactile feedback for feeling the relative positioning.
Edit: there http://www.perkinsproducts.org/store/748-thickbox_default/br...
Just add a second ring and you're basically done.
Re: Dot Watch – A braille and tactile smartwatch
#40I could potentially see technology like this being useful even for people without vision issues. The ability to read information from a display without needing to glance down at the watch would be great.
There are apps out there for phones and smartwatches that will vibrate text messages in Morse code. With any sort of determined study someone can pick up basic (~5 WPM) Morse code in about a week.
Unfortunately the best way to increase speed with Morse code is to learn to recognize entire letters as one object and not count "dots" and "dashes", which is much easier with sound over flashing lights or vibrations.