In health, there sensors in wearable devices that check your pulse while you run.
Next up: Google is reportedly experimenting with ways to put its services into wearable devices, such as eyeglasses.
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Wearable devices that track people's vital signs are also going to be collecting mountains of extremely sensitive information.
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There are a number of other wearable devices that are great products, such as GoPro, but few actually can become a platform, Andresseen said.
As with all computers, there are some worries over the security of wearable devices that are able to store and wirelessly send personal information.
The big idea: building wearable devices that can tap into smartphones as a sort of personal computing and communications hub, according to the Times.
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Despite my skepticism, these new wearable devices are already raising questions.
Foxconn, as Hon Hai is also known, has been working on a spate of technologies that could be used in wearable devices, one of these people said.
"In 10 years the wireless landscape will have changed beyond all recognition, with the traditional terminal disappearing and alternatives such as wearable devices coming in, " Da Silva said.
Capabilities that Apple is exploring for wearable devices remain unclear.
The researchers' idea is to create a bracelet that uses bioimpedance readings to recognize its wearer in a secure, unobtrusive manner and communicate that identity to other wearable devices.
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Most of the current wearable devices confine themselves to health and fitness uses and contain basic technology, such as a motion-sensing pedometer that may offer less than precise readings.
Most of the wearable devices on the market, with names like LUMOback and Fitbit, are meant to capture health-related information about the person wearing them, such as heart rate and posture.
Start-ups and tech giants alike have been edging into the wearable devices market as the next big phase in mobile technology, with a variety of patents being worked on related to headsets.
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North Carolina State University is in partnership with Florida International University, Pennsylvania State University and the University of Virginia to better understand how our environment affects our health via tiny wearable devices.
While the company is widely believed to have innovative products up its sleeve, many analysts think the next developments that could really disrupt the market like bendable displays or mainstream wearable devices are years away.
It could be a couple of years before a dramatically new form factor hits the market for wireless communication, maybe involving wearable devices, and so Samsung and Apple must innovate as best they can on that old rectangular canvas.
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But wearable devices have taken on a new urgency for companies looking for growth beyond the smartphone market, which is already maturing in countries like the U.S. As core calculation and communications technologies shrink and sensors that gather various kinds of information proliferate companies are looking to embed computing in a broader array of devices.
From wearable devices such as those being pioneered by sportswear manufacturer Nike, and Jawbone to digital tattoos and "things that you can swallow that will check you out from inside, (such as) a project that adds an artificial organ to help the body use water more sparingly", Fairs believes the future could well be defined by objects almost disappearing entirely.
The researchers developed small, wearable electronic devices to accurately observe behavior.
It says assuming such problems can be resolved, about 485 million wearable computing devices might ship by 2018, providing a significant growth opportunity for Apple and the wider consumer electronics industry.
Although other businesses like IBM have been developing wearable computer devices, Pair claims the "Brave New Unwired World" show, which is making several stops on a world tour, offers something unique.
Wearable fitness devices are the current technology fad, with startups such as Jawbone and Fitbit, as well as larger companies like Nike and soon, reportedly, Apple, jumping in with devices to measure things like body movement and sleep.
There will be times I ask other people to take their wearable computers and recording devices off too.
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Last year, 30 million wearable, wireless monitoring devices including those used for medical and clinical use were sold in the U.S., according to ABI Research analyst Jonathan Collins.
MC10's conformal electronics platform makes high performance chips and sensors thin and bendable, transforming once rigid devices into truly wearable products.
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While much of the analysis can take place in the cloud data centres of the internet, the smartphone is the intermediary that is making the new wearable movement possible, as the devices connect to apps over Bluetooth wireless technology or other tethering methods.
"In the future we will see a much wider range of devices - many of which will be wearable, " he added.
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