Wearables were yet again at the forefront of this year’s CES15 held in Las Vegas earlier this month. Criticised last year for lacking style and having little differentiation in terms of functionality, both hardware manufacturers and software developers alike appear to have taken onboard the comments and there has been a definite move to create something that looks good as well as providing increasingly smart technology.
Some though see the future of wearables as ‘invisible’. Whilst clearly they are generally conspicuous objects right now, the future points to ‘sensors’ overtaking ‘wearables’ as the buzzword, as they are seamlessly integrated into more everyday objects like rings, sweatbands etc, promising to take this exciting technology forward.
The focus right now is still very much one of health and fitness and this will likely continue its march with increasingly clever sensors being able to warn us we are not working our muscles in the right way. Of course the imminent launch of the new Apple iWatch, likely to be accompanied with significant marketing support, will spur this on and could see 2015 as the year that the general public embraces life-logging more fully.
Having been reliant on my chunky but trusty Garmin for years, my (now also redundant) Nike Fuel Band Christmas present of a few years ago was welcome addition to my collection of life-logging devices. However, I soon realised that nothing really worked together and I like many others, realised I had developed an unhealthy obsession with the number of Fuel Points I achieved in a day (as well as tired arms from my Star Trek like wristwear !). Said Fuel Band is now in the draw and I am back to the ignorant bliss to my achievements.
But the reality, I am a self-confessed fitness queen and such technology should really be perfect for me. I will certainly revisit what is now on offer. Perhaps there is something out there that offers me exactly what I need in one device and one connected software solution. But whilst I am a keen fitness fanatic, many aren’t. With alarming statistics regarding obesity and general encouragement about all us being active, can the new players on the market help cross over the technology to make it accessible, attractive to a wider audience and aid the cause!?
The positives are that the entry price point is coming down as competition increases and the inevitable publicity around the Apple launch will create mass awareness and desire for another iThing.
But beware: the other, darker side of really successful wearables could be data. We’ll be spied on even more intimately than we currently are via our web behaviour. A case in Calgary, Canada, could be a first, where data from a Fitbit is being used to try to show that a fitness trainer who suffered an accident had lower activity levels than would be expected for someone in her profession. The case is claimed to be unique – but that’s only so far. Perhaps in the future, our wearables will be used to prove if we really are as active as we claim to be, and really did run (or walk) where and when we said we did.
According to Sony, wearables have to pass the “Turn around” test if they are to be successful… a sign they’ve embedded themselves in our lifestyle and behaviour. That is, would you turn around to go home to get it if you found you’d left it behind in the morning ? For this sample size of one, the answer is yes, if it would stop the third chocolate biscuit of the day being eaten!
But here’s a thing… is the technology taking over and spoiling those moments of Just you and the breeze in your face… that is until Apple brings out its iBreeze wind-sensor-calorie-adjustment-beanie !!!
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