Wearable Computing: Hardware In All Shapes at CES 2014

Jan 9, 2014

Capgemini

2014 is expected to be the year of the wearable. If CES is any indication that is. Me and Sander have been quite busy following the wearables trend and our next VINT report, available at the end of this month, dives deeper into this trend and deals with questions on how this will evolve, what to expect on the application side of things and how this might lead to a era of more empathic devices.

The idea of wearables to me is to eliminate as much time between intention and action as possible

Not needing to get out your phone to take a call is just a small example. The internet of things on a individual level should work like a network of invisible buttons that anticipate your intentions, eventually eliminating time between intention and action and just knowing a users intention.

Of course wearables are often dubbed the new phase of mobile device, post-pc 2.0 sort to speak. While the smartphone and tablet markets seem to have devolved into a battle of bigger displays and faster processors, the form-factor for wearables is still open and will stay open until (and IF) the one device to rule them all comes along.

At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week, there have been a lot of announcements concerning new wearable devices. To show the diversity in function and hardware design, I lined up a few in this post.

Pebble, launched a new smart watch, this time it looks more like a regular watch. (image)

Sony’s new wearable tech, Core, should be the “heart” of Sony’s vision for wearables. Sony also showed off the tiny fitness tracker, the “smallest device” Sony has ever made. (image)

The Razer Nabu, a device that combines a smartwatch with a fitness tracker, tracking your exercise while it updates you on incoming e-mails and tweets. (image)

iHealth announced three new wearables at CES 2014 designed for monitoring health: a wearable pulse oximeter, an ambulatory blood pressure monitor, and wireless ambulatory ECG. (image)

The

Footlogger, a Bluetooth-connected insole with sensors that will track everything from fitness levels to developing dementia. (image)

Avegant Glyph debuted a set of prototype Virtual Retinal Display goggles at CES 2014. (image)

British chipmaker CSR unveiled a new line of Bluetooth Smart jewelry with a more traditional approach to notifications. CSR’s jewelry boast Bluetooth Smart-connected LEDs that can be customized to display different colors when you receive different kinds of notifications on your phone. You can also use a companion app to pick a color to match your mood or outfit. (image)

Seen any other wearables that look cool or extraordinary? Please share them in the comments.

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Sogeti Labs

SogetiLabs gathers distinguished technology leaders from around the Sogeti world. It is an initiative explaining not how IT works, but what IT means for business.

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