Wearable Tech is Advancing, but Isn't for Everyone Quite Yet (Video)

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Wearable Tech is Advancing, but Isn't for Everyone Quite Yet (Video)

Posted by Roblimo on Wednesday December 11, 2013 @07:43AM from the too-sexy-for-my-technology dept.

Dan Rosenbaum is the editor and publisher of Wearable Tech Insider, which means he covers wearable technology every day. He's obviously a good person to chat with if we want to learn what's going on in the wearable tech world. So we did just that. The overall sense we got is that wearable tech is less of a gimmick than it was a few years ago, but isn't necessarily something all of us need quite yet. One note here: Dan is not a Google Glass fan. Watch the video (or read the transcript) to find out why.

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I was a wearable tech pioneer by Spy+Handler · 2013-12-11 07:45 · Score: 3, Funny

in the 80's wearing a Casio Databank watch, I blew everyone away in my 6th grade class.
1. Re:I was a wearable tech pioneer by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-11 07:53 · Score: 1
  
  I think back then it was called cheating.
2. Re:I was a wearable tech pioneer by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-11 07:55 · Score: 1
  
  Some of the Alpha dorks had calculator watches in the 80's where I went to school.
3. Re:I was a wearable tech pioneer by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-11 21:02 · Score: 0
  
  I'm here!
4. Re:I was a wearable tech pioneer by antdude · 2013-12-11 23:25 · Score: 1
  
  I am still wearing one (DB 150 model) these days since my high school days (early (19)90s), and people are still blown away like my old schoolness (19.5" Sharp CRT TV from 1996, VCR [interfacing with my desktop PC, DVR, TV, analog speakers, clicky keyboards like Model M, hates typing on touch screen keyboards, etc.] from my dotcom days, analog bone conduction hearing aid (refuse to get implants for digital), etc. I don't even own a mobile phone since I rarely talk and go out due to my disabilities.
  Casio doesn't even sell DB models anymore and they are impossible to find them these days ($159.99 on Amazon!). I also haven't found any good replacements. Smart watches require mobile phones which I don't want. I want something tiny, light, and useful on my thin wrists since I can't hold things in mid air easily. :(
  
  --
  Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
5. Re:I was a wearable tech pioneer by antdude · 2013-12-11 23:31 · Score: 1
  
  Me too. People call me dorks all the time even when I am an old fart. :P
  
  --
  Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Tin foil hats are for everyone! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-11 08:08 · Score: 0

They are very fashionable too!
I feel like we've been warned about this... by neoritter · 2013-12-11 08:10 · Score: 3, Interesting

"But things are going to get really cool in 20 years when it is not just me collecting data about, it is not just all my friends who we are collecting data about, but it is our town, it is our country, it is our world. That’s going to be really cool. And that’s going to be transformational. We are in the really early days of that right now." Please tell me I'm not the only one that's scared by this sentiment. Maybe I've been reading and watching too much dystopian science-fiction... I'm fully aware this is an emotional reaction on my part, but I can't help but feel that this isn't a good thing. We already are up in arms over the NSA stuff, what's the difference? Mr Rosenbaum seems to understand the risks but is excited about this "transformational" future. That just seems scarily depressing to me.
1. Re:I feel like we've been warned about this... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-11 08:17 · Score: 0
  
  Please tell me I'm not the only one that's scared by this sentiment.
  Anyone that understands the implications should be worried. That doesn't mean that we won't have an opportunity to use the transformational technology well. There will be awesomeness and there will be abuses. On an aside - is there still utopian sci-fi? I personally wouldn't mind discovering some. :)
2. Re:I feel like we've been warned about this... by brooklyn_dan · 2013-12-11 08:22 · Score: 1
  
  No argument for the potential for abuse -- and the NSA is certainly demonstrating it. I won't share my personal data in small groups; it's not my boss's business to know how much I'm working out. But in aggregates of millions or billions, my personal data becomes, well, less personal. If someone wants to mine me out of that mountain, they're going to need an awful lot of computing power. Some folks, obviously, have it but most don't. For them that do, very little other than tinfoil hats are going to fend them off. dan rosenbaum
3. Re:I feel like we've been warned about this... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-11 08:25 · Score: 0
  
  Gargoyles are ostracized for a reason, numb nuts.
  The dude's an idealist who has never had to live in the real world. Hopefully something will come along an teach him that humans are vile scum before he does something that makes the rest of our lives worse.
4. Re:I feel like we've been warned about this... by neoritter · 2013-12-11 08:34 · Score: 1
  
  Cloud Atlas would be a semi-recent one. But usually utopian and dystopian science-fiction are kind of one in the same. Think of The Giver. That's a utopian society but the book exposes the flaws of such a "perfect" society. I can't think of any that would fit the bill though that are recent besides Cloud Atlas. Stranger from a Strange Land and some of the other Heinlein novels I'd put under utopian sci-fi. But those are obviously old hat for most sci-fi readers by now.
5. Re:I feel like we've been warned about this... by neoritter · 2013-12-11 09:10 · Score: 1
  
  Computers get faster and more powerful every day. It's not that difficult in today's age to have a computer that can crunch these numbers and it's only getting easier. If you can't get a singular computer, distributing the processing power out to other computers is not an incredibly difficult task today. SETI does this and then their are the malicious bot nets made of multiple infected computers that can do it. Is there little we can do to stop it? Maybe. But that doesn't mean you give up, lay down, and go full monty. We have a current drive to make the internet less anonymous, part of this is fueled by the anti-bullying sentiments of late (and I'm disparaging the attempt to prevent bullying). But if you want to have this beautiful world of shared computing experiences, anonymity on the net is a must if you want to preserve some modicum of privacy. HuffPost, Facebook, Google, they want to know you not your online persona.
6. Re:I feel like we've been warned about this... by Dr+Max · 2013-12-11 13:30 · Score: 1
  
  The short story manna http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm shows two societies post robot worker revoutlion; one thats very much distopian and one thats very utopian.
  
  --
  Rocket Surgeon.
7. Re:I feel like we've been warned about this... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-12 07:18 · Score: 0
  
  livingoutside.net isn't bad, and it's pretty optimistic. Also, free.
wearable tech by phantomfive · 2013-12-11 08:24 · Score: 4, Insightful

I think the popularity of the wristwatch for most of the last century shows that people are willing to have wearable tech; if it provides enough practical use, people will find a way to make it fashionable (that any accessory can be made fashionable is aptly demonstrated by the existence of the codpiece).

--
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
1. Re:wearable tech by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-11 09:03 · Score: 0
  
  > any accessory can be made fashionable is aptly demonstrated by the existence of the codpiece
  Sure, but it didn't demonstrate that accessories were necessary or useful.
2. Re:wearable tech by westlake · 2013-12-11 09:51 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  I think the popularity of the wristwatch for most of the last century shows that people are willing to have wearable tech; if it provides enough practical use.
  The wristwatch is one of the few pieces of jewelry --- stand-out, expensive jewelry --- that have ever became socially acceptable for a man to be seen wearing in almost any social setting.
3. Re:wearable tech by mythosaz · 2013-12-11 10:39 · Score: 1
  
  I'll add that the wedding ring is probably the only other one.
  Over-the-top wedding rings and watches aren't appropriate in a lot of settings, but "stately" watches and wedding rings are always acceptable.
4. Re:wearable tech by phantomfive · 2013-12-11 10:49 · Score: 1
  
  It's worth clarifying that what you say only applies in recent times.......a few hundred years ago it was more common. This photo from 1913 is an example.
  
  --
  "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
5. Re:wearable tech by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-12 00:26 · Score: 0
  
  Also, if the technology is a weapon, then it's okay. Or at least some sort of military gear. It's always been acceptable to wear tech things that could kill someone. And really, anything wearable is a technological product. Clothes don't grow on trees.
Awkward. Phrasing in the article, it is... by kaizendojo · 2013-12-11 08:29 · Score: 1

Wow, reading that summary hurt my head.
1. Re:Awkward. Phrasing in the article, it is... by solidraven · 2013-12-11 09:40 · Score: 1
  
  He also manages to talk about wearable electronics without ever mentioning the main research institutes driving the technology development for it.
Never watch the video. by 140Mandak262Jamuna · 2013-12-11 08:35 · Score: 1, Flamebait

Unless there is some visual information best conveyed by moving pictures, it is not worthwhile watching the video. My throughput is much faster in reading, and absorbing info at the bit rates limited by the reading speed of some talking head is wasting my time. Worse, the info rate is so low, unless the topic is riveting and delivery top notch, my mind starts wandering. Provide a transcript or be gone.
Further I am coding in the other window, dont have time to have a blabbering talking head on this window. A page full of text, start and stop reading, few sentences at a time when the code is building, that is something I like. Video? At working hours? No way.

--
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
1. Re:Never watch the video. by Roblimo · 2013-12-11 08:40 · Score: 1
  
  We *do* provide transcripts for almost all videos. Your point?
2. Re:Never watch the video. by sandbagger · 2013-12-11 08:43 · Score: 2
  
  >Unless there is some visual information best conveyed by moving pictures, it is not worthwhile watching the video.
  Mod this up.
  
  --
  ---- The above post was generated by the Turing Institute. Maybe.
3. Re:Never watch the video. by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-11 09:23 · Score: 1
  
  I think his point was quite clear, fag. Make the "show transcript" link more prominent or show it automatically.
  Slashdot is such a god damn waste of time. The entire site has gone down the shitter. You "editors" and Taco are all sellouts.
4. Re:Never watch the video. by 140Mandak262Jamuna · 2013-12-11 12:21 · Score: 1
  
  "Watch video to find out why " is slashvertisement and is a bit annoying.
  
  --
  sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Jacket drying. your jacket is now dry... by sandbagger · 2013-12-11 08:42 · Score: 1

All we need to do is start wearing our trousers inside-out and we can be as cool as Marty McFly.

--
---- The above post was generated by the Turing Institute. Maybe.
Google Fad Video Camera by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-11 10:19 · Score: 0

It's just a video camera folks, and the creeps using it to stare at asses and surreptitiously record people's conversations in restaurants are the same creeps as the ones doing it with any other gear.
In Soviet Russia... by xxxJonBoyxxx · 2013-12-11 14:05 · Score: 1

In Soviet Russia, wearable technology covers you!
>> which means he covers wearable technology every day