Wearable Technology SXSW 2014 Ryan Davidson Technical Director @Discorax
The good, the bad, and the WTF!?
You’re Doing It Wrong
Google Glass Was everywhere!
What you actually look like using Google Glass in public.
So, who can actually use this? • Technicians • Surgeons • Anyone that could use access to alerts or information quickly
On a scale of 1-10 Usability: 4 Coolness: 2 Practicality: 6 Novelty: 9
Overall:
5
# of Sightings: ~42 There were easily hundreds of these being worn around the streets of Austin.
Smart Watches While cool, these devices Appear to have limited Practical application beyond what a normal watch would do. The form factor is so small it’s difficult to read much more than your calendar or a tweet and interaction is very difficult. Also, you have to pair it with your phone so you still need your phone in your pocket to use the device.
Pebble Watch
Samsung Galaxy Gear
On a scale of 1-10 Usability: 3 Coolness: 7 Practicality: 5 Novelty: 2
Overall:
4
“I love snapping pictures when people think I’m just checking what time it is.” - H. Casteel
Gaming Tech The wearable gaming tech had some bright spots. Resolution and latency are still an issue, but both are improving rapidly.
Oculus Rift
Epson Movario Glasses
Moff smart toy
Usability: 7 Coolness: 8 Practicality: 4 Novelty: 7
Usability: 8 Coolness: 7 Practicality: 6 Novelty: 6
Usability: 10 Coolness: 8 Practicality: 8 Novelty: 9
Overall:
Overall:
Overall:
7
7
9
Wearable Health While not as easily spotted, there were plenty of people keeping track of the miles they walked between sessions on their fitbit, Nike Fuelband, and other health devices.
Spree Fitness Headband
Nike Fuelband
Usability: 6 Coolness: 3 Practicality: 2 Novelty: 7
Usability: 6 Coolness: 7 Practicality: 6 Novelty: 2
Usability: 6 Coolness: 4 Practicality: 6 Novelty: 2
Overall:
Overall:
Overall:
5
5
Fitbit
4
Other Some of the best and brightest from SXSW 2014 included a motorcycle helmet with 360 views and HUD, a solar dress that can charge your phone, and a wifi body suite.
Skully Smart Motorcycle Helmet*
Wearable Solar
B.B. Suit – Wearable Wifi
Usability: 8 Coolness: 10 Practicality: 10 Novelty: 9
Usability: 8 Coolness: 8 Practicality: 8 Novelty: 8
Usability: 4 Coolness: 2 Practicality: 4 Novelty: 7
Overall:
Overall:
Overall:
9
*Winner of the SXSW 2014 Wearable Tech Award
8
4
Key Takeaway:
The current Wearable Tech is pretty much useless at the moment. It’s almost always
an attempt to replace something your smartphone already does. It makes it so you don’t have to take it out of your pocket, that is the only advantage. That’s not enough to make it transformative. It’s simply novel. However, there are opportunities
to expand wearable tech and the data it produces to create smarter systems that provide us with information that we can use to drive behavioral changes. That’s when Wearable Tech will become transformative.
THANK YOU