by Ralph Eck
| Mar 20, 2014
Wearable technology is viewed either as the next new frontier or as a market that was too early, over hyped and has disappointed. The early feedback on Google Glass has also been a mixed bag of good and not appreciated and sometimes even critically challenged. Wearable technology is not going to go away, in fact, I think it is set to truly break out and show once again that technological evolution will not be denied – sometimes it just takes a little trial and error to match ideas to markets. The recent announcement surrounding Google Android Wear are a huge step in that direction. While the early entries into the smartwatch arena were a “bit” unimaginative both from a fashion as well as a applications point of view. They were clunky and didn’t generate the kind of excitement that was needed to drive them forward – but as usual, Google is looking to change the game again.
Google announced the Android Wear project that will bring Android to wearable computers. They are kicking this off with smartwatches with dynamics apps, voice commands and an ever present awareness of where you are. This combination and power enable the watch to become much more than just a watch, it becomes an intuitive friend on your wrist. The futuristic options that this is going to introduce into our everyday lives is going to be intriguing to watch. At present the demo shows dynamic capabilities it currently has and you know it is just going to get better and better. With the smartwatch “linked” to your cellphone it is always aware of exactly where you are and can make some pretty educated guesses about what you are doing and pro-actively offers you virtually conversational input.
In the distant past we saw the first digital watches incorporating simplistic features like timers, stop watches and calculators as functions behind the traditional time telling. Who would have thought back then the options of today would be possible. Your watch now becomes not just your day timer but also the secretary reminding you that you have a meeting with the boss is 10 minutes. It becomes your wife telling you that tomorrow is Valentines Day and you need to get her a gift. But these are still the simplistic. You can wave your watch in front of the boarding gate scanner at the airport and you are cleared for your flight, you can ask it directions and it will guide you as accurately as the GPS system in your car, you can tell it to open your garage door or to turn on the air conditioning. It can track your vitals, determine how many calories you have burnt up during your workout and thus know in advance if you are entitled to that cold beer when you get home. Ask it search questions and get instant results. You can have total home control on your wrist and manage it all by simply talking.
And as the internet of things continues to integrate every fiber of our day to day lives the capabilities of this will just grow day by day. As the world around us gets more and more connected and thus available, we will simply be sitting back and giving commands to any digital device we are needing to interface to.
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