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I promise (I think) this will be the last before Christmas. An entertaining and enlightening view from Wired magazine. Their point is not that technology will fail to find ever-expanding roles in our lives, but rather that the hype-machine on wearables as currently understood is running out of gas. I love it, particularly the title.
(The actual title doesn't show in the link below, which is a shame. If you don't happen to click on the link, it is Goodbye, Wearables. You Had a Stupid Name Anyway, which appeals to my childish sense of humor)
For fitness I wear a heart rate monitor strapped across my chest, then go out cycling on my road bike. I haven't wore a wristwatch for over a decade and see nothing compelling enough to start wearing one in 2015, although I've seen many attendees at DAC wearing FitBit devices this past year.
The success or failure of the wearables market largely depends on advertising and marketing campaigns to build awareness and create demand.
Right here, right now, here’s what we learned in 2015: The most exciting wearables won’t look like computers. They won’t look like anything. Look down at whatever you’re wearing now. That’s the future of wearables.
His point seems to be (and I like it) that much of what we have considered continues to view technology as primary, with new places we can use it, whereas more rationally, it is likely to be an invisible enabler of new capabilities in contexts we already understand (clothing, jewelry, etc).
Next year is VR's year. Wearables will have different definition in parallel space matrix created by virtual reality. Whether you wear a dinosaurs or a galaxy is totally your choice. And that is far beyond the game industry.
The current limit of Wearing devices is due to the lack of imagination, or simply the hard reality. Why do we need glasses if we have clear vision?
Let's put it to the VR world. Glasses help to protect you under the deep sea, where we get big guy accompany us.
The next trend is implantable devices that are powered by the body itself. Pace makers, hearing implants, pain control and numerous other active implants are already here and have been for a long time and they are just the very beginning. This area is set to grow at a geometric pace, especially with the science and application of mems coming on strong. This will be part or the "Great Acceleration" and it will come fast.
The most widely used wearable right now is the Bluetooth head set/ear piece. We have just begun see the uses and interface capabilities of these devices. They are literally in their infancy and will give us voice control over everything and if we don't want to use our voice, we will use the controls on the ear piece itself. This is the portal for voice recognition input to our increasingly technical world that is expanding at an almost frightening rate.
When adding voice print/bio print(heart rate and other bio markers that can be pulled from the ear) the blue tooth earpiece could handle coupled with the phone or other interface the partial list below
financial transactions
auto/motorcycle
house doors
work place interface
computer/smart phone interface
stereo/TV interface
bio implant interface
any hardware/software locks
a method of devices providing instructions, warnings and status
In short, the blue tooth ear piece interface is a compact wearable interface to the world that can provide positive ID through a number of biometric and other methods
VR would be nice for sporting events so you can see the cheerleaders and the audience. Why don't they show cheerleaders on TV? Last time I was at a 49er game I was somewhat surprised at how many cheerleaders there actually were! 2 dozen at least?!?!?!? You could also get a better view of the halftime show.
Part of the problem is our preconception of what a wearable is. Whatever it is that just came to mind, you need to forget. I agree that wearables will be invisible and not placed on our wrists. They will blend in. A good example of this is TraceUp - a small gadget that goes on your ski and tells you all about your day on the slopes. It's a favorite of mine. It's small, unobtrusive and easy to use. Maybe 2015 will be the year when all the 'wearables' will eventually look to us like the first Motorola mobile phones - think 'brick'.
