WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY – THE GAME CHANGE



PicsThe Consumer Electronics Show goes into full swing today and companies will scramble to get the most attention from the media and the tech blog community. Although CES 2013 does not have big names such as Microsoft, Research in Motion, Apple and Samsung Mobile announcing anything big, it is still considered to be the one of the most important tech events this year.
One of the areas in tech I am most interested in is Wearable technology and I believe CES will be featuring a few advancements in this field. To those of you who do not know what wearable technology is- it is any wearable clothing/accessories that incorporates computing and electronics technology that has a direct and practical benefit to the person wearing it. I also add that wearable technology seeks to enhance human activity and how we interact with our physical environment. Recently this field in technology as seen a steady rise in popularity as we have seen more miniaturization in tech without any sacrifice in computing power. Another innovation that has helped in the growth of wearable technology has been the growth and advancement in data optimization and analysis (“big-data”).
The types of wearable technology innovations and applications coming out of CES 2013 will be a good indicator of how far wearable tech can and will go in the coming years. So far we have seen announcements about the following wearable techs:
  • Panasonic RP-BTGS10. A different take on how we listen to music from a headphone.
  • Vuzix M100 Smart Glasses. A possible competitor to Google’s Project Glass.
  • Fitbit Flex. A possible competitor to Nike Fuel-band and Jawbone Up
  • Fitbug Orb. An activity tracker designed to blend with your existing accessories
  • Body Media Core 2. An activity tracker that measures over 5,000 data points!
For now most of the advancements and application of wearable technology has something to do with health and fitness. This is mainly due to the fact that adoption of sensors/monitors in miniature sizes has only just begun. Just a few years back the only real sensor on our smartphones was GPS but now we are able to attach heart rate monitors and other sensors on our smartphones. A focus on health and fitness is also a fairly good entry point for wearable tech to start gaining traction because it caters to a human activity that is enhanced with processed and optimized data.
CES 2013 will also be showcasing some technology that are currently not applied on wearable technology, but I believe will soon be.
  • Flexible e-Paper Tablets. A tablet/ computer screen that you can literally roll into your knapsack. The flexibility of this tablet fits perfectly well with the need for wearable tech to conform/adapt to the human form factor. 
  • Gorilla Glass 3. If you need your wearable tech to withstand the forces of nature, then this innovation will be a god send.
  • Atmel’s XSense. This innovation will be a way for more sensors to be attached to your smartphone by making its entire casing an active surface.
These are just a few of the things I am excited about in 2013 and CES is shaping up to be a good start for Wearable technology to gain traction in the consumer market.

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