Reading the article “Landscapes, Long Tails and Digital Materialities: Implications for Mobile HCI Research” was like peering into the world of tomorrow, but in reality many of the technologies discussed already exist or are close to development today. In fact there are many examples of augmented reality, peripheral computing and other technologies incorporated in consumer products today. I will use this post to highlight some of these products specifically in Fitness, Fashion and general Function.
Fitness/ Health
One of the areas where wearable tech has been around for awhile is in the area of Fitness and health.
The first product I will look at is SleepShirt which monitors an individuals sleeping habits. SleepShirt contains 2 thin-film respiration sensors that measure the movement of the shirt and body throughout the night for detection of any sleep abnormalities. SleepShirt is designed by Rest Devices.
Fashion
The fashion industry is now finding ways to incorporate HCI technology into their desgins in an effort to sell fashion with real function, such as saftey and convinence.
One such product that caught my attention was Hövding, which is essentially a scarf/hood for bike riders that releases an airbag if a collison occurs. It does this with sensors in the the can detect when an ireggualr motion occurs, such as a severe swerve or bump, and transmits information to release the airbag. On top of this it is equipped with a blackbox which will record movement 10 seconds before and up to the crash in order to examine the data and improve its product.
Function
Besides a focus on saftey, wearable tech is also aiming to make our everday lives more convienent.
An example of this is Orange Mobile’s creation of rain boots that will charge your phone as you walk. The boots use thermoelectric modules inside of a power generating sole. The downside of the boots is that about 12 hours of walking will only produce about a single hour of extra battery life…but it has still sparked discussion and interest in the idea of using technology to make products more functional.
Conclusion
The rapid improvement in technology and innovation will only further lead to the implementation of technology in our daily consumer products. This should be benefecial to us as it could improve our health, keep us safe and make everday tasks more convinient.
Sean M.
marketinginthemodernworld 
As cliche as it might sound, the sky is the limit when it comes to what we will be able to accomplish with tech. Some things may not seem very useful now, like walking for 12 hours to charge a device for one hour, but a computer use to take an entire floor of a building and was only able to do basic calculations. The founder of Nokia invented what we now call a cell phone because he wanted to make the communicator from Star Trek. In fact a lot of our technology is inspired from science fiction. Once someone has the idea, then we can work on making it a reality.
This is also true for marketing. When ever an ad goes viral or is the “Best Super Bowl” ad, it usually is because they try something that has never been done before. The challenge then is to be the next greatest hit and do the next ad better. I remember the Darth Vadar Volkswagen commercial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R55e-uHQna0 which brought in the iconic sci-fi character Darth Vadar in a fun imaginative way. A car with a remote start 50 years ago would have seemed like science fiction.
Technology can either helps us grow and become better or be lazy and let the tech make decisions for us. I am looking forward to how people will continue to engage us with new technology and what sci-fi will inspire next.
Jason Stewart
This is all quite very interesting. As we all know innovations for products are bouncing off from any angle we look. However, is every innovation a good one? And if the innovation fails, then what? If an innovation fails and something valuable is learned and it does not kill the company, then the innovation can still be considered positive because new things were learned during the process. Another good question would be if the innovation is an incremental innovation or a breakthrough innovation. If it is incremental, some people may not even realize a change in the product and would not realize that there’s something more to it and might figure why they should buy it. If it is a breakthrough innovation, then it will be very obvious to the consumers what it different about the product and would be more inclined to buy it because they are more aware.
As for the innovations menioned in this blog, I think they are all really cool! Don’t think that the SleepShirt is something I would get, but it would definitely be useful for those that study sleep patterns, psychology, etc. Hövding is very cool! I think it looks good, which will make more people inclined to buy it instead of being embarassed to wear, and it would make travels of motorbikes much safer! And the rainboots are a very clever idea, however walking that long to just get an hour battery life? Don’t think that many people would find that worth it. Also, you don’t really see people wearing rain boots that much anymore either. A great idea though! Maybe they can incorporate the technology within a different product.
These are all pretty awesome technologies, that a few years back would have been unfathomable. Like Jason said, you would only see something like that in Star Trek. About the orange Mobile’s creation of the rainbows, I totally agree with Victoria on this one, although it woudn’t see like a good idea to walk for 12 hours to get only one hour of battery life, I find that they are on the right track. if something can be learned from a failed innovation, it is actually a success. It’s all a matter of hit and misses. learn from the ones missed and improve on the ones hit! Most of the technology that fall short have a huge potential if more research is placed into it.
I found Futurama’s Eyephone piece amusing, but there might be some actual truth behind all the satire. in fact technology has a tendency to fulfill what has been shown on tv. Not that I would want something encrusted in eye, but it’s not impossible either.
Btw I would be pretty interested in the sleepshirt. it has so much potential not only for a personal gain but also for the advancement of science! Just imagine, they could finally solve the issues of sleep. Or maybe sleep would be no longer for human sustainability. 🙂
Great Post!
Gabriel Riera
Cool article and I loved the video at the end. I really like Jason’s comment and I was going to say things much to the same effect. Stepping away for a second from ‘Wearable Tech’, another example of an idea sparking a development first considered unobtainable is a little thing from ‘Star Wars’ called ‘Warp Drive’. Now granted, it still isn’t completely feasible but the fact that people invent ways to copy what was first thought to be science fiction is awesome. http://io9.com/5963263/how-nasa-will-build-its-very-first-warp-drive
Now that we’re talking about technologically advanced clothing, I don’t think we’re too far off from something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8c3kdHKgVE The BlowDrying Jacket from Back To The Future. This seems more likely to be developed sooner but this adds to your argument that the Wearable Tech makes everyday life more convenient. I know one thing, if I was running late for a presentation and was caught in the rain, I sure wouldn’t hate having something like that!
Seriously, cool article.
Hi sean
First, great article.
Then … “shut up and take my money”
I didn’t know about these kind of innovations in the fashion industry but it’s true that there are a lot of possibilities in this field.
We still have a lot of things to do to make these products useful and attractive because they work with battery I guess. If this battery ran off during something important like a meeting, you don’t want it to bip or to vibrate like a phone to warn you and you don’t want it to ran out of battery either.
Maybe they can do something to charge it with the body temperature, i don’t know.
Anyway, if these products come on the market (and that I have enough money) I may buy them.
Interesting post! I think some of the innovations coming out that integrate technology with things such as fitness, fashion and just every day life are pretty incredible and really do add to our convenience. With that said, some are quite pointless and somewhat useless. I still believe that products in that category still have a long way to go before they will be largely adopted by the masses.
I’ve seen that air bag helmet advertised before on the internet and it seemed to be legitime, although I am not sure how many people would feel at ease with dropping their helmet for a “neck scarf” air bag one. As I said earlier I believe this type of product will take a long time before it is adopted, even though it is a pretty good idea.
As for the somewhat “useless” inventions that are more cool to use rather than helpful, there are the boots from Orange Mobile that require you to walk for 12 hours to produce 1 hour of battery life. I can see a few people that are either oriented towards saving the environment or just believe the boots are a cool idea to use this product, but it wouldn’t become a household item that everyone would use, unless in the future they can incorporate it into our everyday lives.
Good and interesting read!
Emanuel Vasilescu (Group 10)