The Next New Thing
One of the most significant trends in consumer technology is the emergence of wearables, and the convergence of hardware and humanity will change how we express ourselves through new media.
Earlier this year I installed an app called Checky, which bills itself as a phone habit tracker. It’s main feature is a simple counter which tracks how frequently I turn my screen on to use my phone. My typical range fluctuates between 45 – 65 checks, but it has ranged as low as 8 on weekends, and as high as 118 on “game days” – events I run (e.g. professional panel on campus, student government election day) that are the culmination of months of planning and require my intense involvement and management. After I saw the hard data, there was no doubt in my mind that for better or worse, my phone had become an extension of how my body interacts with the world around it.
Since the first room-sized digital computers, we’ve pined for smaller, more portable devices. That trend has accelerated as we transitioned from PC desktops to notebooks to netbooks to tablets and of course phones that rival PCs. Today’s phones are incredibly capable in terms of computing power, and with constant access to GPS and LTE/WiMax the phone is an always-on tool that knows us. The next leap in this trend will be transitioning to wearable technology, watches, glasses, and technology embedded in our clothing that will change how we interact with technology, and more importantly, augment our reality. Wearables create a new dimension of communicating as well as a format for recording our experiences.
This video gives us a taste of what is to come:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1uyQZNg2vE
Wearable technology is with out a doubt the future. GoPro cameras, Google Glass, and smart watches have emerged within the last few years but the cost to enter this market as a company and a consumer is still quite high. Personally aside from my phone I use my Nike FuelBand to track everything I want about how active I am on which days, which is really cool. I can’t wait to see what the future has in store.