Science fiction movies have led us to believe that in the future, everyone will wear silver lame´. While this may or may not be the case, we will definitely be sporting wearable technology.We delve into wearable technology's past and present to make educated speculations about its future.
Wearable Technology: Where Fashion Meets Function
Forget normcore! The most interesting fashion trend is wearable technology. Though Inspector Gadget is often cited as a pioneer of the trend, wearable technology existed in the minds of inventors at least since the Renaissance and the concept was realized with the advent of the pocket watch years later. More recent incarnations of wearable technology include devices like Bluetooth headsets. Though wearable technology has come far, it still has a long way to go. Recent innovations in wearable technology lead experts to speculate on how it will evolve and its potential to revolutionize many aspects of personal and professional life.
Trendsetters
Once a piece of technology is mass produced and becomes a staple of the average household, the next step seems to be perfecting a portable version. For instance, the popularity of the gramophone in the early 20th century paved the way for the invention of the iPod a century later.
Similarly, in 1998, a few years after the PC solidified its place in the average home; South Korean inventors unveiled a “wearable computer,” a forerunner to Google Glass. In April 2012, Google released a video introducing the world to Google Glass, eyewear with the ability to capture still and moving images from the wearer’s point of view, display directions, and share it with others-in real time or as a message- among other things.
The Spring 2014 Collection
In 2014, examples of wearable technology’s influence on society abound. For instance, seeing someone chat with an unseen friend in public no longer raises red flags about the person’s mental health, thanks to the aforementioned Bluetooth headset, which wirelessly connects to the end user’s mobile phone via radio waves.
Still in its early stages, Google Glass is currently in the possession of a few Explorers. Developers are working on improving the look of the product as well as finalizing a model that prescription eyeglass wearers can use before Google Glass becomes available to the public later this year. Google is also preparing to launch a software development kit for use in Android smart watches, fitness trackers, and other wearable devices in the coming weeks. Senior Vice President, Sundar Pichai, says that his company is, “just scratching the surface of wearable tech.”
As Google plans to flood the consumer market with it, wearable technology is quietly seeping into the professional realm. Many hospitals are now combining augmented reality with wearable devices, allowing doctors and nurses a closer look at patients, helping them to find veins and other body parts when performing injections and surgeries.
Fashion Forecast
Indeed, it is the business world that experts believe can benefit most from advancements in wearable technology. Speaking from a financial standpoint, Duncan Stewart, Director of Research at prominent business consulting firm, Deloitte, predicts productivity would increase if forklift truck drivers in warehouses could wear a device that would help them identify pallets and boxes. Others see wearable technology’s potential to protect, speculating that the rate of work-related injuries would decline in industries like construction if workers were aided by wearable gadgets. OMsignal, a company that manufactures “smartwear,” apparel with technology built-in, thinks its undershirts, which track the wearer’s vital signs, could save the lives of firefighters and others whose jobs place them in dangerous situations.
WIFI: The Best Accessory
The growth in adoption of wearable technology will surely present a newly charged demand for consistent Internet connection. Cisco is predicting that by 2017 every person on Earth will have 2.5 Internet enabled devices; this will definitely create a strain on mobile data networks and public WIFI networks alike. While Bluetooth can be used to facilitate device to device communication, data transfer speeds are lackluster and a closed loop connection with no Internet access is pushing in the wrong direction as far as technological evolution.
The answer is obviously WIFI and Slice will help work environments’ wireless networks accommodate these innovations. Wearable and other forms of technology released within the next few years will be designed to work with 802.11 AC WIFI, which will allow for the transfer of data at a throughput much greater than Bluetooth’s 1mb per second maximum. Slice advises businesses to upgrade as soon as possible and is offering a great deal on access point conversion. WIFI’s ability to transmit huge amounts of data in real time may convince more industries, especially those that handle emergencies, to rely more heavily on wearable technology.
The workplace is not the only environment that will have to evolve to sustain the growing ubiquity and sophistication of wearable technology. Enterprise level access points, such as these ones by Ruckus Wireless, should be strategically placed throughout cities and areas with high transient populations. Enterprise level access points can support hundreds of devices on concurrent locations, which will allow end users to offload from their mobile data networks in order to stay online wherever they go without having to rely on data from congested mobile providers. Perhaps in the not so distant future, mobile data providers will deliver Internet access to users by beaming it down from space via hundreds of tiny satellites. Until then, simple “Earth WIFI” will have to suffice. It will certainly be interesting to watch the future of wearable technology unfold.
Dressed for Success?
Like everything, an industrial revolution has its pros and cons. While the use of wearable technology in the workplace could save time, money, and even lives, some warn that it will create a host of network speed and security concerns for IT departments as well as raise new ethical quandaries for HR professionals.
Wearable technology’s implications for personal life are just as mixed. Whereas gadgets like fitness trackers and Google Glass make information more readily accessed and shared than ever before, there is an element of risk involved in using them. Sadly, as technology grows more powerful, so do the viruses that threaten it. Furthermore, a sophisticated, wearable, piece of technology can essentially act as a tracking device, aggregating information about the end user that can easily be exploited by hackers. Another thing to consider is the time it takes for society to adjust to a new technology. A San Francisco Explorer was allegedly attacked for wearing Google Glass to a bar by patrons who believed she was using the eyewear to record them without their consent.
Though recent developments have revived the conversation about wearable technology, the concept of it has existed as long as there have been people searching for ways to make work and leisure safer, easier, and more cost-effective. As this search continues, so does the evolution of wearable technology. Time will tell which form wearable technology takes, how well it is received, and the extent of its impact.