Wearable Computing
A lot of people are excited about Google Glass and the possibilities it may open up for the future of wearable computing. But not everyone, and a few venture capitalists at the Wearable Tech Expo in New York are among the sceptics.
Companies looking to wearable computing should check out the little Kickstarter that could, the Pebble. As of Friday, the company has sold over a quarter million smartwatches, and about a million apps for the new device have been downloaded so far.
As the computer market continues its downward spiral, thanks in part to the rise of tablets and other mobile devices, no PC maker has been a better example of the new hard-luck paradigm than Dell. But the computer manufacturer is hoping to jump start its own recovery, by betting on the new, but untested wearable computing market.
On Tuesday, June 25, the same day Sony announced its new 6.4-inch phablet version of the Xperia Z, called the Xperia Z Ultra, Sony also announced new or upgraded NFC accessories, which might make actually using a behemoth phablet more practical: the SmartWatch 2 and the SBH52, a Bluetooth mini handset for music and phone calls.
It turns out that Americans aren't the only ones nervous about the privacy implications raised by Google's new experimental wearable smartphone technology, Google Glass. A letter from ten government privacy officials, representing seven governments around the world, has been sent to Google expressing their concerns about the new device.
A new report from the Wall Street Journal indicates that the burgeoning market for wearable computing will be getting quite crowded in the years to come. While Google, Apple, and Samsung have all pretty much made it clear they're entering (or at least interested in entering) the race, it now seems that Microsoft is working on their own version of a "smartwatch."
The modified Adidas basketball-style shoe has an embedded accelerometer, gyroscope and pressure sensors that can relay audio data about a wearer’s level of activity to a smartphone, Bluetooth device or via conical speaker affixed onto the shoe’s tongue. The shoe is constantly measuring what one is or is not doing --- and then pointing it out.
Sure the iPhone and iPad have remained relatively the same since their initial releases, but there's an exciting prospect around the corner that everyone agrees Apple will be entering - wearable computing. A first small step? A wearable shoe sensor that will presumably communicate with Apple devices such as the iPhone and iPad.
It looks like developers who forked over $1,500 to Google last year will be getting their Google Glasses early in 2013.
