Wearable Computers Are Coming

by David Streit

Today’s wareable computers may not be ready to introduce into your business environment

With the recent spate of new-technology announcements including wareable computers, it may be tempting to shoehorn the latest-and-greatest into your business process, but a wait-and-see approach may be the best way to ensure everything actually fits

As a managed services provider (MSP), I use advanced Internet-based software to manage my clients’ local computers and servers, which includes remote and automated maintenance, monitoring and alerting of operating conditions, antivirus scanning and removal. Complimenting this is cloud computing, where computers, rather than being locally installed, are hosted at remote data centers and accessible over the Internet to store, manage and process data. Most of my small business (SMB) clients are using a hybrid of local systems and cloud services such as hosted anti-spam, corporate email and online backups.

But cloud computing and managed services now feel so “yesterday”  Even smartphones and tablets feel somewhat passé. Why? Because wearable computers and other related technologies have become today’s hot topic.

What are wearable computers?  They’re computing devices worn on a person, on, in or under clothing, or on the head (Google Glass), wrists, fingers and other exposed body parts. Samsung just released a smartwatch, Galaxy Gear, and Apple is rumored to be working on the media-dubbed iWatch. The Galaxy Gear is currently designed to work with a Samsung Galaxy 4 smartphone for Internet and data access, but when smartwatches get to the point where they can stand on their own, they may be more useful and flexible.

 

 

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wearable computer Samsung Gear Samsung Gear wearable computer

 

This is especially true when they’re combined with nano-computers, which go under the skin and in the body to communicate with external wearable computers to improve health and fitness.  For example, “digital tattoos” are sensors placed just under the skin to monitor things like glucose levels in the blood.  A user can swipe his arm over a smartphone to decide if he can have a slice of cheesecake after dinner.