Wireless WEARABLES.

Charmed Technology combines high-tech with high-fashion

Alex Lightman wants you to be a walking Internet portal. The founder of Charmed Technology Inc. in Beverly Hills envisions a world where the power of a cutting-edge desktop computer and mobile wireless devices converge on the body in the form of small jewelry, a pair of eyeglasses, and even articles of clothing.

Charmed, a spin-off of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab, where Lightman studied, has emerged as a leader in what analysts agree is a burgeoning field: wearable wireless technology. The company's products, mass produced and ready for shipping, include everything from a digital business card that can "read" and store data from other business cards through infrared scanning, to a wearable wireless computer kit, the "CharmIT," which sells for about $2,000.

In fact, Lightman doesn't just envision this world. He creates it.

The most sci-fi-ish of the Charmed "wearables" is probably a prototype device featuring miniature, head-mounted computer display screens designed to hang in front of a wearer's eye so they can view information while looking straight ahead.

"There is a tremendous amount of academic and industry interest in wearable wireless computers, which is going to translate into a range of technologies and a huge number of applications," said Rohit Shukla, president and chief executive of the Los Angeles Regional Technology Alliance.

While R&D of wearables is hot at many universities -- including USC's Integrated Media Systems Center -- no one has made the technology as sexy and real as Charmed Technology.

Charmed co-founder Katrina Barillova, who has a 007-worthy resume that includes a stint as an intelligence agent for Czechoslovakia, leads the company's popular international fashion tour, "Brave New Unwired World." At the shows, models, including Barillova, demonstrate how Charmed's wearable wireless computers can be integrated and used with slinky fashion items.

Lightman gets so excited about the technology that it's hard for him to stop naming the possibilities:

"It's an extension of the senses. Wearables are about having an interface for everything and having it with you wherever you go."

"We will see telephony, health care, games, diaries and photography -- to name but a few businesses -- all based on wireless wearables."

A geek and a businessman

Lightman is definitely a "geek," the term tech workers affectionately use to refer to their hyper-creative, computer-savvy peers.

But he's also a businessman.

Charmed recently took in $3 million in financing from Charles Schwab, who personally invested the cash, and an earlier seed round of $3.5 million from Yazam, a New York-based venture capital firm.

"The No. 1 reason we invest in any startup is that we look for a good return," said Yazam executive director Shai Stern. "Charmed is way ahead of the game. They also understand how to keep their bum rate down."

The Charmed team and their investors are banking that the next major change that hits the Internet and computing will be the move to wearable wireless devices. In fact, Lightman believes, the Internet will spread from desktops to all aspects of daily life, opening thousands of new commerce opportunities.

While that might be a little too visionary, Lightman's business model stems from a very practical premise: convergence of devices is good and divergence of devices is bad.

"It's wasteful to make so many new devices to communicate," he said. "All the new devices coming out need memory and input and output, so why bother separating the devices and giving them incompatible software? Why not design a family of functionality with common operating systems and flexibility for input and output?"

Badges that beam

The company's Smart Badge is an example of an early-stage wearable wireless device with a very practical purpose. It's a sort of business card that communicates and stores information.

At conferences or other business functions, it can be worn or held so that its infrared beam scans other badges, picking up information and thus eliminating the business card exchange. Users can plug the badge into a centralized contact point at the end of the day and download the data.

Charmed will soon begin marketing its high-tech "Charmed Communicator." The device is a series of modules that look like exotic jewelry. The first is an eyeglass headset that functions as a computer screen and allows the user to read e-mail, surf the Web and perform other computer screen functions. Another piece, which fits in the hand or pocket, acts as a touch-controlled mouse. The third module, the hard drive, is the size of a small mobile phone and can hook to the user's belt.

"What Charmed Technology is providing is very practical technology and not hugely expensive," said Shukla. "It's dependent on miniaturization, but that's already here. This is not sci-fi."