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While it’s not always easy to understand a new technology’s future application, it’s clear that wearables are already useful, and will quickly become even more so. Ken Olson, founder of Digital Equipment Corp., famously said in 1977, “ There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” Business Insider has a fun collection of luminaries who dismissed Apple’s iPad. According to research firm Canalys, annual smartwatch shipments are estimated to grow to more than 28 million units by 2015, and more than 60 million by 2017.Įvery time a new idea grabs headlines, there are experts who line up to pooh-pooh it. Some even go so far as to say that wearables + the rest of the Internet of Things (IoT) = the future of computing. While wearables may seem like nothing more than noise-making jewelry for early adopters (like myself), their future is very promising. They can also be clothing and accessory items. Wearables don’t have to be gadgets that go on your wrist, either. And of course, there’s a lot of speculation about Apple Watch, due out soon. Here’s a great photo essay from Tech Republic to give you a sense of it. Wearables have been a huge focus at tech conferences this year, including both CES and MWC. Sony is on the bandwagon, with a similar product called SmartEyeglass, and it doesn’t end here. Others hailed the technology, and predicted it would be back around again-and soon. Many assumed that was a noncommittal way to say that Glass was effectively dead. The device is no longer available to the public, though Google said it will continue to work on future versions of Glass in secret. It can augment your real-world view with contextual information such as the time, temperature, or directions. Perhaps the most famous-or infamous?-wearable so far is Google Glass, the “optical head-mounted display,” (or OHMD for short), that provides contextual information in the upper right corner of your field of vision. More recently, Fitbit, Nike+ FuelBand, Jawbone, and others have brought computer-controlled activity-tracking wristbands and watches to market. Chest-strap heart rate monitors from Polar, Garmin, and others have been around for decades. “Wearable” seems to be this year’s tech buzzword, but the devices are arguably not new. ( See a demo from Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2015 here.) More importantly, this is just the beginning of a new era in computing (read some of my more detailed thoughts on this subject at my LinkedIn blog). You can receive alerts when new BBM messages come in, read your messages, respond using voice recognition and more. BBM is officially available on a wristwatch near you. BlackBerry unveiled BBM’s integration with Android Wear at Mobile World Congress (MWC) earlier this week.