Wearable Computers: Are You Man, Machine or Marvel? - Say Media

The summer movie season is underway and if we39re lucky the slate of blockbusters from the likes of JJ Abrams Zach Snyder and Neill Blomkamp won39t disappoint Aside from the widelens wideeyed plot heavy pop candy we39ll most definitely see we might also see a glimpse into our future While past films such as RoboCop Terminator Blade Runner Minority Report and the Star franchises both Wars and Trek provided some hint or harbinger of things to come a more intimate interconnection between man and machine one might argue that Iron Man has shown the closest future of the pack Not so much in the flying suit capacity but if you attended CES or SxSW in recent months there is something to be said for the appeal of an augmented wardrobeThe iWatch Google Glass Leap Motion and other entries into either zero interface or wearable computing have us captivated awestruck and even downright techrabid But perhaps the best word to describe that visceral feeling we have when we see these inventions is nostalgic We39ve always been fascinated with the blending effects of bridging man and machine Some of the best stories and prognostications on human evolution gush over the potential of this symbiosis But to capture the reality of what39s in store for us it may be best to look back and identify some patterns Up first Wall StreetNot only did the iconic district deliver the indelible image of the quotGekko phonequot but also it was the first bastion of the Bluetoothwearing douchebag First heralded as the answer to hands free wireless telephony these standalone headsets have become as much a point of judgment as an entry into judicious mobility At the most recent SxSW many of us witnessed the first public sightings of Project Glass Whether this spectacle is truly as spectacular as many believe it might be there was another undercurrent on the streets of Austin until Glass is more commodity than oddity the additional vision it brings the bearer may divide audiences New technology is often divisive Jealousy or curiosity ostentation or adoption every conspicuous form of technology undergoes some measure of appeal and apprehension Regardless of what occurs here it39s nice to see Google realize the providence of another great tech visionaryThere was a synth heavy rock band out of Denton Texas called Ghosthustler that emerged around the same time as that IBM commercial One of their more popular records Parking Lot Nights payed homage to one of the first commercially available gesture based peripherals Nintendo39s Power Glove The concept was simple control software with your body Nearly two decades later Nintendo took things a step further by introducing the Wii wireless remote Xbox and PlayStation flavors arrived a few years later but we39ll have to wait until next month to experience what may be the first latencyfree version in Leap Motion39s highly anticipated Controller It39s one thing to understand gross motor movements it39s something entirely groundbreaking to add nuanced fine motor learning to the picture Groups ranging far from hardcore gamers including medical equipment manufacturers and the Department of Defense have taken notice And to think that Matthew Broderick39s War Games once presented Tic Tac Toe as advanced computing for our Armed ForcesBut any talk of electronics certainly consumer electronics typically starts and ends appropriately or not with Apple In this vein the iWatch rumors continue and whether you believe some who say it will be nothing more than a slap bracelet with a retina display which is compelling enough as long as it39s safe it would be foolhardy to think that Cupertino39s attention to this space would result in a common timepiece or simple iteration of what39s come before it Though while the original iPhone was revolutionary it shared a number of traits with the first batch of Palm Pilots with their snaptogrid UI and original mobile app store experience This is not to say that the combination of phone Web and music wasn39t a killer marriage What could be more impressive though is a potential iWatch39s melding of phoneWebmusic with Siri gesture control and Apple TVImagine a perfectly contained techosystem intuitive motion navigated content surfing secret handshakelike parental controls voice recognized preferences no remotes to lose and buttonless connectivity to your entire digital profileThat39s not just thinking different it39s superDoug Grinspan is Say Media39s Mobile PublisherSay Media is a digital publishing company that creates amazing media brands Through its technology platform and media services Say enables its portfolio of independent content creators to build passionate communities around key consumer interest areas such as Style Living Food and Tech For more information visit wwwsaymediacomRead all Say Media39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Say DailyCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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