Slyly, this years wearable technology conference presented by Stained Glass Labs was named Glazed. Keep up now, software for the futuristic Google Glass is now called Glassware, and I can just see a future where a sea of Matrix-like data is being spread over every attention grabbing glass-like surface possible.
This is surely not your grandfather’s technology. The mundane Pedometer, which was the beachhead of the Fitness Tracking technology category was first envisioned way back in history by Leonardo Da Vinci. And it was in 1946 when Chester Gould introduced Dick Tracy’s two-way wrist radio.
Over time the power of technology innovation and miniaturization together with improved batteries have meant that you really could have that Boombox, Computer, Phone, Camera, Fitness tracker and more all in the palm of your hand. But where do we go from here? Sure I can see the wrist or belt based devices, but devices like the Google Glass evoke an Augmented Reality future.
Distraction or timely relevant and short information? Some superimposed, irrelevant notification streams, like incessant twitter data is one surely undesirable vision, almost as bad as being forced to watch advertising in some A Clockwork Orange kind of way. But having superimposed language translation or exchange rate calculations just by looking at something, now that’s interesting. Better yet tell me this fellow walking up to me is an old classmate by facial recognition to jog my memory and show bit of his latest Facebook’s posts, that’s powerful location aware real-time data I’d like to see. Sure some may say this is just a new way to “Info Snack”, and some might scoff of having to wear a personal HUD. At least until the technology is almost invisible when worn.
One company well on its way of bringing this HUD vision is Optivint. And as one session posited there’s a coming transformation of a CIO to a CWO (Chief Wearables Officer), we will surely have an exciting future soon to look forward to. Imagine an ORA head-mounted display which allows hands-free simultaneous vision of a virtual image and the real world.
There were also more people wearing Google Glass than any conference I’ve been to in the Bay Area.
For a change, there was something for women thanks to Hermione Way who was running around the event giving demos of Vibease, a new, discreet sensual vibrator device. When paired with our state-of-the art smartphone app, you have the power to take your personal Vibease experience to the next level.
Imagine listening to Fifty Shades of Grey with a hands free vibrator that vibrates in perfect sync with the audio fantasy and doing it with your partner on the phone. The idea is that your pleasure doesn’t need to be solely imaginative anymore.
The Glazed team (Stained Glass Labs) did a great job pulling together an interesting cast of characters around mobile, virtual and augmented reality and the wearable world across two tracks and from two perspectives: enterprise and consumer. We hope they will continue the dialogue on and offline!
TechZulu also did a live stream of the event and Ubergizmo was responsible for a stylin’ after event — be sure to see our post on the “digital fashion show” at the tail end of the event. The visuals may just turn you from a wearable skeptic into a fan!
Check out a video kicked off by Redg Snodgrass and Robert Scoble which provides a great overview of the wearables landscape today.
With additional reporting by Renee Blodgett. Photo Credits: Renee Blodgett except for Optinvent glasses, which was taken from their corporate site.
