In February 2014, Samsung launched the Galaxy S5, plus three new wearable
techs – the Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo and Gear Fit. In fact, Samsung's not the only one.
The Razer Nabu, the LG Lifeband Touch, Sony, and the Huawei Talk Band are all
entering similar smarter-band territory. The Apple's mythical iWatch could have
some of these elements in common, too. Wearable techs are
changing the way we live our daily lives. With the wearable gears from
different vendors, we receive notifications, track your heart rate,
control music, use a camera, speak on the microphone, share music, make calls,
receive calls, and other fancy things using a myriad of apps. Both, Bluetooth
Smart as well as optical sensors are state of the art for most of these bands. From
mood-monitoring smartphone bracelets to temperature-adjusting wristbands, these
high-tech accessory pieces are turning these otherwise ordinary bracelets into
fascinatingly futuristic designs.
Wearable techs date back to the 1960s and 1970s; wearable
computing devices found much of its history in attempting to cheat casinos.
Inventors built some of the first wearable in the 1960s to count cards and
improve a gambler's odds at the roulette table. A mathematics professor at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Edward Thorp, indicated that he had
created the first wearable computer to cheat at roulette and it allowed the
player a 44 per cent improved chance to win. In the 1970’s, the calculator
wristwatches came to being but without much impact in the market. The devices
got more sophisticated and in the late 1980’s, the first hearing aids were
developed but had power challenges due to short battery lives. Leading to the
year 2000, the wearable techs gained commercial relevance and more companies
invested into the research and development of this new trend. This lead to the
invention of wearable webcams, pacemakers and Bluetooth headsets.
Modern wearable techs include glasses, smart
watches, gears, hands free, fitness trackers, and so on. Wearable techs are
mostly used in an informal set up or for personal pleasure but cooperates can
also leverage from the benefits of these technologies as well. By using current
technological trends, companies can use wearable technology to improve business
processes, resulting in more satisfied customers and happier employees. When
faced with challenging tasks in the field, it’s tough for technicians to solve
complex problems with the use of real-time video with an expert or 3D video
tutorials illustrating how to troubleshoot a problem. Well, with the tools in
his or her hands, the only way for a technician to access this information is
via wearable technologies. Safety can also be improved via this technology,
monitoring of workers activity and issuing alerts or warning if need be. By informing
workers when a mistake is about to be made before it is made, companies can
increase inventory accuracy, making techs more productive and customers
happier.
The future of wearable techs is bright and is
beyond most of our imagination. It may seem laughable to suggest that people will
soon neglect their smart phones in favour of amped-up watches, eyeglasses,
rings, and bracelets. But then again, 10 years ago it seemed laughable to think
that people would use their smartphones to email, surf the web, play games,
watch videos, keep calendars, and take notes—all once core tasks of desktop
PCs. We can already see how wearable devices might peel off some of the phone’s
key functions: One study of smartphone users indicates that on average we
unlock our gadgets more than 150 times a day, with some of us pawing at screens
far more often than that.
Unfortunately, each of these benefits can also be
a drawback. With wearable computers, that frequency is likely to
increase—making corporate security even more complex and confusing than ever. Wearable
computers’ ever-presence and connectedness is at the heart of security
vulnerabilities that such devices have the potential to introduce at companies
large and small. Additionally, many of these devices feature GPS for maps and
user applications, which, if used maliciously, could allow an attacker to track
your physical position anywhere on earth.
