Google Glass falls by the wayside, but hopes for an optimistic future

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Google Glass is gone. Well, it has in its current form anyway, after the tech giant announced in an indirect way it was ceasing sales of Glass Explorer on January 19.

In a Google Plus post entitled “We’re graduating from Google[x] labs”, the company states it is closing its Explorer Program to “focus on what’s coming next.”

“Interest in wearables has exploded and today it’s one of the most exciting areas in technology,” the team...

By James Bourne, 16 January 2015, 0 comments. Categories: Devices, Eyewear, Google.

Researchers debunk claims of wearables powering the quantified self

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We’ve got some bad news for you. That Fitbit, or Jawbone you got for Christmas isn’t going to magically make you a healthier person, or even really influence you to become healthier, just because of the technology involved.

That’s the key takeaway from a study recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), which argues that mobile health apps need to do better in utilising theories of health behaviour, rather than focus on the...

By James Bourne, 15 January 2015, 0 comments. Categories: Devices, Fitness, Health & Wellness.

What were the best wearables on show at CES 2015?

Picture credit: JINS MEME/YouTube

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is a hub for all types of technology, from smartphones to washing machines. Yet, alongside connected cars, there was a clear appetite for wearable technology at this year’s event.

Recent research from Accenture found that over the next 12 months 12% of consumers plan to buy a wearable fitness monitor, with the same number expected to buy a smartwatch in the same time frame. Within five years, 40% and 41% respectively expect to...

By James Bourne, 09 January 2015, 0 comments. Categories: Bluetooth, Connectivity, Devices, Ecosystems.

Misfit and Swarovski team up to push wearables further into fashion

Picture credit: Swarovski/YouTube

Misfit Wearables has launched two Swarovski Shine wearables at the Consumer Electronics Show in a partnership with the jewellery brand.

The wearables are available in a crystal and violet face, with the latter utilising a unique “energy crystal” technology which enables charging through exposure to light. Lest this innovation goes the way of the sundial, Misfit writes: “This is the world’s first wireless activity and sleep monitor that utilises an...

By James Bourne, 06 January 2015, 0 comments. Categories: Devices, Fashion, Smartwatches.

Sony wants to make your glasses "Smart"

Japanese giant Sony might be facing serious financial woes at the moment, but it's not stopping them from trying to find their next "Walkman" product. The company has invented a wearable display which can turn your favourite pair of spectacles into a modern wonder next to the likes of Google Glass, maybe.

Sony intends to show-off their smart eyewear kit at the CES in January

An OLED microdisplay is attached to the user's glasses and will provide relevant...

By Ryan Daws, 17 December 2014, 0 comments. Categories: Devices, Enterprise, Eyewear, Health & Wellness, Virtual Reality.

Bitdefender proves Bluetooth wearables’ vulnerability

Most devices on the market use Bluetooth to communicate, and therefore rely on a six-digit PIN code to authenticate between them. This represents approximately one million possible keys which with today's computing power is simple to crack and allow an attacker access to private data about the user without consent.

The researchers showed how information from the wearable device could be revealed in plain text

Other than just notifications, wearable devices are collecting data such as...

By Ryan Daws, 15 December 2014, 0 comments. Categories: Bluetooth, Connectivity, Devices, Privacy, Research, Security.

Apple Watch expected to be most popular workplace wearable in 2015

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41% of respondents in a new Accellion and Vanson Bourne survey expect to see the Apple Watch in its organisation in the coming year, ahead of Google Glass and the Sony Smartwatch.

Apple’s smartwatch, which is still at a tentative early 2015 release date, is certainly getting a lot of consumer and enterprise buy in compared to Glass, the second generation of which will be powered by Intel chips

By James Bourne, 02 December 2014, 1 comment. Categories: Devices, Research, Smartwatches.

Next-gen Google Glass to feature Intel chip, targeting enterprise

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Reports have surfaced that the next generation of Google Glass wearables will feature an Intel chipset, having moved on from Texas Instruments.

The move pushes Intel further into the wearable tech space, and represents the search giant going back to the drawing board in terms of its design for the product, which has recently come in for criticism for its target towards the consumer space.

By James Bourne, 01 December 2014, 0 comments. Categories: Devices, Eyewear, Google, Workplace.

New report asserts military, medical sectors as hottest for wearables uptake

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A study from Reportlinker on the wearable electronics and semiconductor market has agreed the current state of wearables for enterprise is far stronger than the consumer equivalent.

The report analyses the different industry sectors, market drivers, demographic factors and emerging markets, and notes the difficulty of sizing up a market which is so nascent and contains so many potential offshoots.

For the purposes of the report, Reportlinker classifies a wearable computing device...

By James Bourne, 28 November 2014, 0 comments. Categories: Devices, Health Monitoring, Health & Wellness, Research, Workplace.