What Not to Wear

Wearable technology seems to be a big buzz topic this year, with the unveiling of the Samsung Gear line, which for now only features their watch, and Google Glass having a targeted release for next year. Having your tech gear be wearable brings on a wide array of implications for every area of technology. For social media, having a camera that can shoot from your point of view at any time allows users to post an increasing amount of things from their lives to their preferred media. It also allows for new innovations with navigation, allowing the directions to be directly placed in your field of vision with Glass' heads up display. Another big advancement is 'pay per gaze' advertising that Google is rumored to be looking into based on a patent application. Their patent uses the camera on glass to determine what a wearer is looking at. This patent would have a lot of interesting uses, allowing a computer to determine what information to display based on how long a user looks at different items. However it also allows for a new idea in advertising.. This sort of advertising would allow advertisers to truly only pay for what they get, only shelling out when a viewer looks at their advertisement, if they only glance quickly and close, a certain amount, if their gaze stays for a long time, they pay more.

     Their a lot of serious implications that come with these advancements. Is it truly safe to have your directions placed right in your environment, or will it prove to be a fatal distraction to drivers? As far as privacy goes, would you really want an advanced hacker to be able to tap into a camera on your face and being able to see what you see any time you wear the devices. I can also imagine a lot of people being uncomfortable with the idea of companies collecting and analyzing what you look at in your life to determine their next advertising campaign.

    Over all, the idea of wearable technology is still in its infancy, with only a few serious contenders out there. However, if there are enough early adopters to convince the industry that it could be profitable, we could see the majority of the population with it sooner than you think.