Inside this Article

1. Introduction to How Digital Jewelry Will Work

2. Give Me a Ring
3. Of Mice and Monitors
4. The Java RingLots More Information
5. See all Home Gadgets articles
Jewelry is worn for many reasons -- for aesthetics, to impress others, or as a s
ymbol of affiliation or commitment. Basically, jewelry adorns the body, and has
very little practical purpose. However, researchers are looking to change the wa
y we think about the beads and bobbles we wear. In the next wave of mobile compu
ting devices, our jewelry might double as our cell phones, personal digital assi
stants (PDAs) and GPS receivers.
Essential Gadgets Image Gallery

Photo courtesy IBM

By the end of the decade, we could be wearing our computers instead of sitting i
n front of them. See more pictures of essential gadgets.
The combination of shrinking computer devices and increasing computer power has
allowed several companies to begin producing fashion jewelry with embedded intel
ligence. Today, manufacturers can place millions of transistors on a microchip,
which can be used to make small devices that store tons of digital data. Researc
hers have already created an array of digital-jewelry prototypes. "We've made on
e of almost everything except tongue rings," says Dan Russell, senior manager of
IBM's Almaden Research Lab, where IBM is developing digital-jewelry technology.
Russell says that digital jewelry is the beginning of the disintegration of the
personal computer into tiny pieces. In this edition of How Stuff WILL Work, you
will get a look at these new microdevices that could soon be adorning your body,
and see how they will make daily communication and computing even more ubiquito
us.
Give Me a Ring
Soon, cell phones will take a totally new form, appearing to have no form at all
. Instead of one single device, cell phones will be broken up into their basic c
omponents and packaged as various pieces of digital jewelry. Each piece of jewel
ry will contain a fraction of the components found in a conventional mobile phon
e, according to IBM. Together, the digital-jewelry cell phone should work just l
ike a conventional cell phone.
Let's look at the various components that are inside a cell phone:
â ¢ Microphone
â ¢ Receiver
â ¢ Touchpad
â ¢ Display
â ¢ Circuit board
â ¢ Antenna
â ¢ Battery
IBM has developed a prototype of a cell phone that consists of several pieces of
digital jewelry that will work together wirelessly, possibly with Bluetooth wir
eless technology, to perform the functions of the above components.
Photo courtesy IBM
Cell phones will one day be comprised of digital accessories that work together
through wireless connections.
Here are the pieces of IBM's computerized-jewelry phone and their functions:
â ¢ Earrings - Speakers embedded into these earrings will be the phone's receiver.
â ¢ Necklace - Users will talk into the necklace's embedded microphone.
â ¢ Ring - Perhaps the most interesting piece of the phone, this "magic decoder ring
" is equipped with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that flash to indicate an incomi
ng call. It can also be programmed to flash different colors to identify a parti
cular caller or indicate the importance of a call.
â ¢ Bracelet - Equipped with a video graphics array (VGA) display, this wrist displa
y could also be used as a caller identifier that flashes the name and phone numb
er of the caller.
With a jewelry phone, the keypad and dialing function could be integrated into t
he bracelet, or else dumped altogether -- it's likely that voice-recognition sof
tware will be used to make calls, a capability that is already commonplace in ma
ny of today's cell phones. Simply say the name of the person you want to call an
d the phone will dial that person. IBM is also working on a miniature rechargeab
le battery to power these components.
Photo courtesy IBM
IBM's magic decoder rings will flash when you get a call.
In addition to changing the way we make phone calls, digital jewelry will also a
ffect how we deal with the ever-increasing bombardment of e-mail. Imagine that t
he same ring that flashes for phone calls could also inform you that e-mail is p
iling up in your inbox. This flashing alert could also indicate the urgency of t
he e-mail. In the next section, we will look at an IBM ring intended to change t
he way you interface with your computer.

Of Mice and Monitors

Two of the most identifiable components of a personal computer are the mouse and
monitor. These devices are as familiar to us today as a television set. However
, in the next decade, we could witness the disappearance of these devices, at le
ast in their current form. Several companies, including IBM and Charmed Technolo
gy, are working on ways to create a head-mounted display. IBM is also working to
shrink the computer mouse to the size of a ring and create a wrist-worn display
.
The mouse-ring that IBM is developing will use the company's TrackPoint technolo
gy to wirelessly move the cursor on a computer-monitor display. You're probably
most familiar with TrackPoint as the little button embedded in the keyboard of s
ome laptops. IBM Researchers have transferred TrackPoint technology to a ring, w
hich looks something like a black-pearl ring. On top of the ring is a little bla
ck ball that users will swivel to move the cursor, in the same way that the Trac
kPoint button on a laptop is used.
This TrackPoint ring will be very valuable when monitors shrink to the the size
of watch face. In the coming age of ubiquitous computing, displays will no longe
r be tied to desktops or wall screens. Instead, you'll wear the display like a p
air of sunglasses or a bracelet. Researchers are overcoming several obstacles fa
cing these new wearable displays, the most important of which is the readability
of information displayed on these tiny devices.
Photo courtesy IBM
IBM has developed a prototype bracelet display.
While IBM is in the development stage, Charmed Technology is already marketing i
ts digital jewelry, including a futuristic-looking eyepiece display. The eyepiec
e is the display component of the company's Charmed Communicator, a wearable, wi
reless, broadband-Internet device that can be controlled by voice, pen or handhe
ld keypad. The company says that the device could be ready for the mainstream ma
rket by the end of 2001 or early 2002. The Communicator can be used as an MP3 pl
ayer, video player and cell phone. The Communicator runs on the company's Linux-
based Nanix operating system.
The eyepiece above displays images and data received wirelessly from the Communi
cator's belt module.
The Java Ring
It seems that everything we access today is under lock and key. Even the devices
we use are protected by passwords. It can be frustrating trying to keep with al
l of the passwords and keys needed to access any door or computer program. Dalla
s Semiconductor is developing a new Java-based, computerized ring that will auto
matically unlock doors and log on to computers.
Photo courtesy Dallas Semiconductor
The Java Ring can be programmed to give you access to every door and device.
The Java Ring, first introduced at JavaOne Conference, has been tested at Celebr
ation School, an innovative K-12 school just outside Orlando, FL. The rings give
n to students are programmed with Java applets that communicate with host applic
ations on networked systems. Applets are small applications that are designed to
be run within another application. The Java Ring is snapped into a reader, call
ed a Blue Dot receptor, to allow communication between a host system and the Jav
a Ring.
The Java Ring is a stainless-steel ring, 16-millimeters (0.6 inches) in diameter
, that houses a 1-million-transistor processor, called an iButton. The ring has
134 KB of RAM, 32 KB of ROM, a real-time clock and a Java virtual machine, which
is a piece of software that recognizes the Java language and translates it for
the user's computer system.
At Celebration School, the rings have been programmed to store electronic cash t
o pay for lunches, automatically unlock doors, take attendance, store a student'
s medical information and allow students to check out books. All of this informa
tion is stored on the ring's iButton. Students simply press the signet of their
Java Ring against the Blue Dot receptor, and the system connected to the recepto
r performs the function that the applet instructs it to. In the future, the Java
Ring may start your car.
Mobile computing is beginning to break the chains that tie us to our desks, but
many of today's mobile devices can still be a bit awkward to carry around. In th
e next age of computing, we will see an explosion of computer parts across our b
odies, rather than across our desktops. Digital jewelry, designed to supplement
the personal computer, will be the evolution in digital technology that makes co
mputer elements entirely compatible with the human form.