The next big shift in IT's cycle will come strapped to our wrists.
We are already migrating into a landscape of people who are empowered with information-gathering and reporting devices. These portable devices, in order to be truly effective, require interaction with the cloud or the Internet. But today, these devices rely heavily on tethering, a trend that will not last given our insatiable demand for mobility and flexibility. Users, from top executives to students, will increasingly insist upon WiFi connectivity.
DIck Tracy Calling
Chester Gould set the bar high when he drew Dick Tracy and his high-tech wristwatch. (Source: Wikipedia)
The vision of the future, as drawn by Chester Gould, included wearable tech not far beyond our current technological reach. Yes, we have the components necessary to make a Dick Tracy watch. For connoisseurs of the 1940’s comic strip, this is an exciting prospect.
Police Detective Dick Tracy, as drawn in the popular comic, sported a highly functional tool -- his watch. This device, which looked very similar to any other watch, featured capabilities far beyond the technology of the day, including videoconferencing, big-data search, and navigational guidance. In fact, it had components that exist, in larger form factors, in today's tech world.
Rumors that Apple will be releasing a device akin to the Dick Tracy Watch are surfacing across the web, although Apple has not confirmed these stories.
Apple stores stock bands for its popular Nano iPod, which many users sport similarly to a wristwatch. Fossil released the Abacus AU5005, a wrist PDA running Palm OS, but it never gained any market traction. First released in 2004, it's possible Fossil could rerelease Abacus with the recent advent of BlackBerry 10. (See: BlackBerry 10 Faces Enterprise, BYOD Hurdles.)
Almost three years ago, another big tech player cited the comic strip in a widely reported blog post. Carl Taussig, director of IS at HP Labs in Palo Alto, referred to a watch in development in a one-line description: “We call it a Dick Tracy Watch." Since he posted this in May 2010, the HP product cannot be far off.
Handy, Dandy Device
People can customize Pebble's watch face, apps, and other features, according to the developer.
(Source: Pebble)
There are smart wristwatch options out there, if you want one sooner than later. For example, Pebble Watch expects to ship its customizable, wearable tech, which lists for $150, next quarter (it's taking pre-orders now). Born from a KickStarter campaign, this small manufacturer didn't wait for the big boys to get to market, and tried to carve its own niche early.
Sony, which is a big company, has the SmartWatch, which lets wearers access text messages, emails, and status updates, as well as apps on Google Play.
One reason these intelligent, connected wristwatches will succeed is our evolving connectivity.
MediaTek, an off-brand smartphone manufacturer, is mounting a plan to release a no contract, $100-range smartphone. In fact, I've seen some reports that the smartphone market will settle into a $50, no-contract price.
Smartphones and other mobile devices built on an operating system with advanced connectivity options are becoming the norm, not the exception. Phones that look for WiFi, rather than defaulting to 3G/4G connectivity, are storming the market. As the saturation percentage increases, and as devices ship at a lower price point, business environments of all sizes will be challenged with wireless informal device support, also known as BYOD.
Corporate offices, traditionally protected by a hard firewall-based network edge, are being forced to recognize this micro army of devices. Incorporating the ad hoc user via tethered Bluetooth device or 802.x enabled WiFi is IT's reality. As I wrote recently, there are tools out there used solely to compromise networks via WiFi radio, tools that are accessible and free.
Understanding the impact of these devices in relation to governance, security, and accessibility requires a current look at adoptable and available technology.
Too often, when I broach this topic with clients, they greet me with understanding nods and placating statements. They get that "this is the future." Acknowledging that the future is here is rare. A real threat exists, not tomorrow, but today.
In nature, a tsunami builds far off the coast, spurred by an underwater shift in the landscape, far below the visible surface. On the horizon, you can't see any real change. Only after the massive wave has had time to build and gain momentum does the destructive force strike a coastline. Plummeting hardware costs, market innovators, user demand, and established standards constitute the digital plate shift -- and these events have already happened in our industry.
The tsunami of BYOD, in the form of inexpensive wearable tech, is about to hit the coastline of IT. Can your department swim?
— Michael Starnes is CEO of Orlando-based Starnes Consulting.
If Siri or other voice-controlled interfaces actually worked as well as advertised, then MAYBE wristwatch computing would become as popular as tablets are now....
But given how many times I've needed to repeat myself to Siri to get simple weather search results... I don't see myself wearing a wrist device anytime soon.
Thanks, Michael, for the forward look into a future that's closer than we think. Although there are bound to be hurdles to bring a wristwatch device to market with the features you outline, it will happen. Makes sense: the demand for constant connectivity, convenience of having the device in a convenient place and mobile lifestyle are good reasons consumers would welcome this tech option.
We would be one step away from embedding technology into the skin (as gross as that sounds!), which is sure to follow some day.
I agree. voice activation software needs to come of age before tech like a smartwatch will become adopted by the mainstream. I can see value in a smartwatch and would likely wear one but not until it is more usable than currently available on the market. It is cool to see the direction of tech however
Voice recognition will be the necessary key to success for smallish gadgets. And the price will definitely be a factor for me. It's one thing to have the convenience of an easily wearable device but another if I have to take out another mortgage to pay for it.
Healthcare providers are using temporary tattoos to attach sensors, too. This linked article is recent, but I read articles a few years ago about the use of high-tech tattoos. Obviously they don't have the same capabilities as smart watches -- tats are designed for a very specific purpose rather than everything from accessing messages to playing games -- but I find this type of application even more exciting, in some ways.
Voice recognition does need to improve before these smart watches become as useful as proponents believe. I don't think many folk will want to use a stylus to use their watch, no matter how cool, smart, or feature-packed the device is. They'll want it to work simply--and little buttons won't do the job.
There is no real technical problem. Enterprise networks have the ability to control who or what attaches to their network. Any one does actually, just control who gets the correct autheintication information.
With the nonstop rise in smartphones and mobile operating systems, the realm of smart watches has gained momentum. However, I am not sure of the usability of the smart watch.
I agree with you. Smart watches seem like a neat idea, but just that--an idea. I don't think it will be very useful. If it can replace the functionality of smartphones or tablets, then why not? But I don't think it can, and we don't really need to be touting around another 'smart' gadget that only has limited functionality.
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Throughout their generations, medical records have promised us lowered costs, increased efficiency, and generally better healthcare. However, despite untold dollars and the efforts of some very smart people, we've yet to realize a fully electronic medical record.
When one of my team members recently responded to network-down call at a client's home office, he quickly established, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the edge device -- a customer premise equipment (CPE) router -- had been compromised. Regaining control of the edge router proved difficult. A neighbor who was within range of the 802.11n wireless radio was actively hacking the router, overpowering the field tech with password resets in real time. In order to regain control of the network, the tech had to remove the antennas, allowing for LAN access only to the routing edge, and effectively cutting off the hack by cutting off his basic access.
This year's opening keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) broke the mold: Dr. Paul Jacobs, CEO of Qualcomm, delivered the first non-Microsoft presentation in a dozen years. Though Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer did make an appearance, the presentation was dominated by a core technology for release by Qualcomm this year.
A recent release of the popular TweetDeck app for Twitter power-users gives new life to software that had previously taken a wrong turn. Here's a quick walk-through of the new TweetDeck, to show you why it should be at the top of your Twitter toolkit.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
Facebook's Graph Search may face some profound challenges and risks, first, because Facebook users haven't been thinking of their posts as product reviews; and second, because Facebook will now have to contend with the social-network equivalent of SEO "gaming" of results.
A survey by JD Powers found that customer interest in product features is lessening as phones evolve. Rather than features, price is driving purchases, and that change could have a dramatic impact on how IT departments secure these devices.
New tools like laptops, tablets, smartphone, and wireless connectivity let us work from San Diego to Katmandu, and anywhere in between. But time management remains a problem.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
The whole Amazon.reader debate is a double-stupid. It's stupid to think that there's any e-book buyer who doesn't know Amazon's URL, and it was stupider to let ICANN launch the whole free-form TLD initiative to start with.
While NFC's original goal was to enhance mobile commerce applications, it is finding its way into a number of other uses, which is creating both opportunity as well as challenges for IT departments.
Enterprises would like to move to cloud computing but are hesitant because they are concerned about providers’ ability to secure company data. Here are some tips that help to ensure that if breaches occur, the business is not left holding the bag.
Edmunds separates customers into segments based on the info it collects on its site and from partners, and uses that to push out custom content, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
The automotive website uses propensity modeling to target ads and customer registration forms, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
Subsidized handsets, rather than locked handsets, should be the focus of regulators. We're not getting good deals, not fostering innovation, and weakening our power as buyers.
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