The Intersection: Buckley on Technology: Wearable computing: Why ...

In the middle of January I bought a Nike Fuel Band and I realized something fascinating..... I love being tracked.? Now not to suggest that I'm Orwellian, but one of the things that's have always been about is keeping track of all of my daily activities.? Whether its the number of phone calls or emails that I'm sending each day, my workouts or my pace towards my sales goals.....I'm all about the data and how it enables me to really have a handle on where I am relative to where I'd like to go.? That said, the FuelBand takes this to a whole new level and got me thinking about the fact that this sets the stage for another wave of innovation.....or as my title suggests may lead to the "Next big thing". I wrote about my early experiences with the Fuel Band last month -Gamification and the Art of the Connected Workout - but the more I've interacted with this device the more I've realized its power.? Human experience is not something that just fits into a simple box, but there are certain things that we do on a repetitive basis that CAN be tracked and evaluated by devices of this type.? So why do I think this is the "next big thing"?? It fits the profile for ubiquity. One of the challenges that any technology faces is acceptance and immediately thereafter is ease of use.? When I started using computers in the 80s, the goal was to make them as complex as possible, limiting the number of folks that could really "use" technology...and designed to provide job security for tech professionals.? Today, that approach is a thing of the past and in fact if a technology is deemed to not be "consumer friendly" you are likely to see that product fade quickly.? FuelBand is the first of what I believe will be a wave of "like devices" (much like we saw with Apple's success with tablets leading directly to an entirely new device class), that together with social sharing and the ability to hold others accountable, may constitute another leap forward in how we use technology for what it should be used for.... The betterment of mankind. Think I'm crazy?? Have a thought about what other products/wearable computers (can anyone say Google Googles?) are going to change our world? Drop me a note in the comments section....I'd love to hear from you.

Source: http://buckontech.blogspot.com/2013/02/wearable-computing-why-tracking.html

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