Add Comment

FORMATTING HELP

All Comments Hide marked as read Mark all as read

  • Posted by $ AJAshinoff 9 years, 2 months ago
    Not so keen on things like this...including GPS apps/systems. No one on this planet, wife included, needs to know where I am whenever they care to know. My whereabouts are at my discretion to divulge.

    I have a very basic cellphone without Internet access other than text page ability.
    .
    Reply | Mark as read | Best of... | Permalink  
    • Posted by robertmbeard 9 years, 2 months ago
      I also don't see a reason why I would ever buy one, assuming they are legitimately working on prototype development (and not a fake money making crowd-funding scheme...) and later solve all of the design problems/challenges.
      Reply | Mark as read | Parent | Best of... | Permalink  
    • Posted by fivedollargold 9 years, 2 months ago
      Big brother knows where you are regardless, unless you remove the battery.
      Reply | Mark as read | Parent | Best of... | Permalink  
      • Comment hidden by post owner or admin, or due to low comment or member score. View Comment
      • Posted by Robbie53024 9 years, 2 months ago
        True. Most people don't know that their cell phone is "pinging" transmission towers all the time. That's how the system knows where to transmit incoming calls. It would be highly inefficient to send the call everywhere, so your phone is constantly sending out a signal saying "here I am." That way, the system knows which tower (or perhaps some small number of towers) to route the signal to, to get to your phone. Some phones do this whether they are "On" or "Off." So, as RMB says, unless you've removed the battery, you can be tracked via your cell phone.
        Reply | Mark as read | Parent | Best of... | Permalink  
  • Posted by IndianaGary 9 years, 2 months ago
    From the Cicret website:

    "WARNING: we are still working on our prototype and didn’t launch any pre-order/order of the Cicret Bracelet. So don’t trust any website selling it yet."

    This is being crowd-sourced and is in the works. Perhaps in a year or so it will be real.
    Reply | Mark as read | Best of... | Permalink  
  • Posted by mspalding 9 years, 2 months ago
    This has been identified as a scam. The guy has raised nearly $98k euros. If the image is being projected from the bracelet then when you touch the image with your finger, everything on the side of the finger away from the bracelet would be blocked.
    Reply | Mark as read | Best of... | Permalink  
  • Posted by barwick11 9 years, 2 months ago
    There is absolutely zero way this thing works exactly like it shows in the video. The power required to project a screen that clearly onto human skin is very high, unlikely to be contained in a small device like that unless it runs for 3 minutes at a time.

    Also the projection isn't interrupted by things like, oh... hair, and um, your hands "touching" the screen?

    This is at best a well-made marketing video, and at worst a scam. Probably somewhere in the middle.

    Something like this is achievable in the near-term though with flexible displays.
    Reply | Mark as read | Best of... | Permalink  
    • Comment hidden by post owner or admin, or due to low comment or member score. View Comment
    • Posted by Robbie53024 9 years, 2 months ago
      If you look very closely starting about the 40 sec mark, you can see the graphic moves its placement on the arm. This would not happen if it were real.
      Reply | Mark as read | Parent | Best of... | Permalink  
    • Posted by dansail 9 years, 2 months ago
      While I understand your skepticism and I partially agree this is a well-made marketing video, the technology has gotten pretty far with imaging and sensing. It is a nice design of technology, that's for sure, and the bugs will be worked out.
      Reply | Mark as read | Parent | Best of... | Permalink  
    • Posted by png 9 years, 2 months ago
      You're right, of course. This device is inherently impossible as described. I don't mind when a company uses special effects to mock up something they intend to build, but in this case, it's clear to me that the person doing the fundraising has no intention of ever making the product.
      Reply | Mark as read | Parent | Best of... | Permalink  
  • Comment hidden by post owner or admin, or due to low comment or member score. View Comment
  • Posted by Robbie53024 9 years, 2 months ago
    There's one of the segments where you can see that the graphics don't stay on the arm at the same place, so this is merely a simulation.
    Reply | Mark as read | Best of... | Permalink  
  • Posted by Herb7734 9 years, 2 months ago
    This is not a device for me -- but definitely for my grandson who is 22. This is really something I could not even imagine a few years ago -- and I have a pretty good imagination.
    Reply | Mark as read | Best of... | Permalink  
  • Posted by radicalbill 9 years, 2 months ago
    I bet not many people know that in 2007 it was mandated that all cars be made with a transponder, like an EZ-Pass. Even if your car is the cheapest, base model, it has this. If you check FCC database, you will see the "readers" for these transponders are embedded and active on most highways, and soon all of them will be on and they will know exactly where your car is at all times, and if you have a trasponder key, it will know where that is as well. 1984 is here
    Reply | Mark as read | Best of... | Permalink  
    • Posted by $ Mimi 9 years, 2 months ago
      My one conspiracy theory that I hold dearly is that the Cash for Clunkers program was more designed to get older models that didn’t have the transponder installed off the street rather than save an industry.
      Reply | Mark as read | Parent | Best of... | Permalink  
      • Posted by radicalbill 9 years, 2 months ago
        That was exactly what the program was for. There will be another one again in a few years to get the remaining ones, and if you still have a vehicle that is old, you will need to have a transponder installed.

        When I would tell people of the "Pay Per Mile" program, that turns all roads into toll roads, they would say, but how do you get rid of all these old cars.

        After the cash for clunkers, they don't think I am crazy any more.
        Reply | Mark as read | Parent | Best of... | Permalink  
        • Posted by $ Snezzy 9 years, 2 months ago
          Will I have to get a transponder for my pony cart? For my horses? For my bicycle? For my shoes?
          Reply | Mark as read | Parent | Best of... | Permalink  
          • Posted by $ Mimi 9 years, 2 months ago
            I’m thinking you will probably be ‘grandfathered’ in, while children born in the future will get some type of micro-transponder put in the bloodstream or under the skin with their first immunizations.
            Reply | Mark as read | Parent | Best of... | Permalink  
        • Posted by $ Mimi 9 years, 2 months ago
          It might be mandated to install the transponders, but as far as I know, there is no law that the little black box or the transponders can’t be uninstalled. I’m surprised this hasn’t opened a new market for people who value there privacy.
          Reply | Mark as read | Parent | Best of... | Permalink  
          • Posted by radicalbill 9 years, 2 months ago
            The transponder is part of the ECU, and can not be uninstalled. In fact, if the car is parked where it can not get a signal from the satellite, ground based transponder, or cell network, the car will deactivate and you will not be able to start it.

            This is how I found out about this in the first place. A relative had a new car that was parked in a garage for 6 months, and they could not start it. Called AAA and they tried everything and could not get it to start. It would turn over, but not start.

            I called the dealer, who told me to call corp, and I did and they walked me through getting a secret screen to come up on the GPS and they gave me a code to enter, and the car started right up.

            They told me I had to drive the car outside, to where it could get a signal within 30 minutes or it would shut off again.

            I just watched Part 3 and was very disappointed. So much missing that was in the book. I was looking forward to seeing half the country destroyed by Project F. What happened, why did they tone the movie down so much ?
            Someone needs to remake part 3 and follow the book.
            Reply | Mark as read | Parent | Best of... | Permalink  
  • Posted by $ blarman 9 years, 2 months ago
    So here's the official website: http://www.cicret.com/wordpress/

    Yes, this is a concept item, no working, marketable item is out yet.

    Here's my impression:
    1) How's battery life? Projection is REALLY power-intensive. My bet is that this is only good for use for about 45 minutes before it dies.
    2) I can believe the sensor technology - it has been in the Microsoft Kinect for 3+ years. It's the projector I'm skeptical on. Skin is a lousy reflective surface for most colors because different layers of the epidermis absorb different colors at different rates. You'd have real trouble with resolution and image clarity.
    3) Phone - it uses Bluetooth just like an earbud, but it isn't the phone itself. It probably does support WiFi connectivity, however, just like most phones and tablets. So the GPS tracking phobia is unlikely to be justifiable based solely on the Circet.
    4) Android-based (Google).
    5) Waterproof. Fantastic. Noone likes having to replace their phone when they lean over and it drops into the toilet or the sink, or just the fall to the concrete.

    I'd love to see a real one, but I'm not going to be investing at the moment. Now if you had teamed this with one of the ultra-thin flexible screens that rolled out from the bracelet, I think you would have a more feasible product concept.
    Reply | Mark as read | Best of... | Permalink  

FORMATTING HELP

  • Comment hidden. Undo