New Trends In Wearable Technology
By Catherine Clinch

In the new frontier of wearable technology, one simple fact will be the make-it-or-break-it element:  consumers want wearable tech to be such a seamless experience that they can forget they are even wearing their technology. Even if they’re worn on the outside of clothing, the items have to feel as if they are invisible. That means the device must be small, yet have an extended battery life. Extra points if it is multi-functional. It has to look good and make the wearer feel as if they look good using it. If wearable devices can maneuver through this complicated set of challenges to offer a consistent and reliable user experience, consumers will embrace it and allow wearable tech to invade their daily existence. 

Recently, Technology Marketing Corporation brought their Wearable Tech Expo to Los Angeles. Hosting a two-day conference is a challenge under ordinary circumstance. But doing it when you and your team are the proverbial strangers in a strange land affords an increased degree of difficulty. TMC produced an effective series of panels and product presentations that demonstrated how wearable tech is going to invade our lives and make us thankful that it did. 

Fashion may be the most important contributing factor to the mass adoption of wearable tech and it’s taken a long time to get the techies talking about it. Ultimately, technology companies will realize their limitations in this area and form partnerships with top designers. While the combination of Dolce & Gabbana with Motorola will not be happening in the next few weeks, it will definitely emerge as a trend long before the end of this decade. Get ready to see gadget ads for wearable tech in the pages of The September Issue 2014, because when celebrities walk the red carpets next year, the answer to the question “Who are you wearing?” may include Martian and PointView.

Hybrid Functionality is an emerging trend as companies look to add unique features to their existing product line. Plantronics introduced a Concept Model earpiece that blends hearing and movement with the addition of a gyroscope system that enables tracking in what they call “free fall” movement. In essence, this can ultimately obliterate the dilemma of senior citizens who have fallen and can’t get up by immediately notifying a caregiver of the fall so that assistance can be provided. With the right application, it could also enable your ear piece to warn you and wake you up if you were in danger of falling asleep while driving. Simultaneously, this data can be recorded and uploaded to a program that analyzes (among other things) frequency and intensity. It is interesting to note that Plantronics is not developing apps for the production concept headset or anything else in their product line. They are, however, making it available to app developers.  

Smart Glass is no longer the sole domain of Google. Originally developed by the military to give soldiers “Terminator vision” while leaving their hands free to maneuver weapons, multiple manufacturers are releasing their own interpretation of how this wearable tech can improve the quality of your life. When they are worn in public they tend to look pretentious, ridiculous and/or unnecessary, which is not going to incentivize people to wear them. Google gets kudos for paving the way and showing the world what smart glass is and can (theoretically) do for the greater good of mankind. Even so, if you see a Millennial in a suit wearing Google Glass for no apparent reason, the pretentious/ridiculous/unnecessary litmus test will still be the most appropriate. 

Camera Glasses offer a twist on our obsession with taking pictures or shooting video as an automatic response to any moment that may contain an opportunity to memorialize something of meaning. But when you hold up a camera, the mere fact of its presence introduces an artificial element into the equation and has an impact on the moment being recorded. Camera glasses that have an HD camera in the center bridge between the eyes enable you to get clear point of view, eye contact images from children, pets or other objects of your affection. Furthermore, they enable law enforcement personnel to get a more objective recording of how a perpetrator acts during a contact and get both visual images and voice recordings throughout physical confrontations through an unobstructed view. The next generation of these glasses will enable live broadcast, which could also offer journalists in the field an opportunity to send live feed reports through the satellite while they are actively immersed in a story as it unfolds.

Smart Watches are, in their current iteration, head phones that you wear on your wrist. Anyone who is old enough to remember Dick Tracey’s two way wrist radio will get a giggle out of how prophetic the comic strip turned out to be. Eventually, they will be stand-alone phones that can perform all of the functions of a smartphone, but they currently need to be connected to a mobile phone that is kept in close proximity. I wish smart watches had been available when I was juggling an infant, a toddler and a preschooler, which leads me to suspect that moms will make up a large segment of the early adopters for this item. One of the unfortunate details is that (with rare exception) they tend to resemble the plastic-banded digital watches that Casio produced in the 1980's. 

Health and Fitness is a growth industry that manages to sustain momentum through thick and thin (pun intended) economies. Beyond the impending rush to fulfill New Year’s resolutions that involve gym memberships and unrealistic goals, wearable tech offers opportunities to record daily movements like walking. This may be the most effective point of entry for new users. A simple device worn on the wrist is far less noticeable than a pedometer attached to a belt or a band around the upper arm or leg and, again, invisibility is a key to adoption. Another intriguing advantage to wearable tech in this sector is the fact that we can build a community of like-minded individuals and gamify our work outs. 

The very big news that was barely mentioned at the end of last week had nothing to do with the government shutdown. Although, if you’re a malicious hacker doing something nefarious and want to hide behind a great big distraction, the government shutdown was as good as it gets. As the news media immersed itself in the story of individual citizens who were struggling to deal with the sudden instability in their lives, Adobe got hacked.

You know Adobe. You use their Reader program to turn document into a PDF. Almost every attachment you receive is a PDF. But what you might not realize is that many of the websites you use for work, for shopping, or for playing games are built on a platforms that use Adobe’s Cold Fusion and Cold Fusion Builder programs.

This is where it can get bad for you, me and everybody else.

Whoever hacked into Adobe is probably looking to inflict a much greater deal of damage than stealing credit card data. The hackers stole the source code for Reader, Cold Fusion and Cold Fusion Builder – three programs that have permeated our daily lives.  Many software developers use the Cold Fusion system to build the enterprise websites that run some of our largest businesses.  These are websites that have established a measure of trust with you, so that you access their information while allowing them to access your information. By manipulating a few lines of Adobe’s source code, the hackers can gain access to your computer and wreak havoc in one or more ways we don’t even want to imagine.

We’re barely into the 21st century and our lives have already become irrevocably computer centric. Foreign nationals who cannot afford to compete with our military have discovered that a few smart people with the right computers can inflict massive damage to our infrastructure using a few lines of code.  So, when the time comes to face World War III, we might be more appropriate to designate it World War I.T. because it doesn’t matter how many boots you have on the ground when a war is being fought in the cloud. 

Ever since I can remember, the month of September has been the start of my personal new year. As the beginning of a new school year it heralds an opportunity to begin a new journey, which – as a lifelong learner is an exciting opportunity. But as a devotee of media, September is the mark of a new television season. I record the first episode of every new show and watch the season opener of each series I have decided to follow. At the end of the first week, I’ve already figured out which shows will be around for a holiday episode. That being said, you can make your own decisions.

Here is a list of questions that can help you make an informed decision on which shows will most likely endure:

1.      Do you like these characters? I mean, do you REALLY LIKE these characters? If you were trapped on an island in the middle of nowhere for an undetermined period of time, after family, friends and loved ones, would these characters be included on your “I hope they’re stranded with me” list?

2.      Do you like these characters enough to want to have a cup of coffee with them once a week? If they worked down the hall from your office would you take the time to stop and chat when you ran into them? Or would you merely walk past them wondering how their department functions?

3.      If there was a crisis and these were the people in charge, would you follow their instructions because they inspire a sense of trust? Or would you run in the opposite direction?

4.      Did the sit com make you laugh out loud at least once?

5.      Did a single moment in the drama move you to a sense of feeling or wonder about how the character would get through this scenario?

6.      Did you know how the story was going to end before the first commercial break?

7.      Do you personally care enough to come back next week to spend another 30-60 minutes of your time with them?

8.      Do you personally think you’ll want to be visiting these characters on a weekly basis for the next five years?

If you can answer these questions about all of the shows you watch, chances are you will be able to predict the hits and misses of the 2013 season. Obviously, as with all things, there is an exception. We KNOW for a fact that we will finally be hearing the end to the story of HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER.