Tag: wearable tech

Will Google miss its wearable technology opportunity?

| April 9, 2015

The company has yet to show that it has secured a long term position within the smartwatch category.

Google does seem to have embraced the idea of wearable technology as it produced an open-source software, Android Wear, that could be installed into the devices of hardware partners, and it had even been selling test models of smart glasses for a while through its Google Glass line, but it has shown that it is moving toward a higher amount of control over a heavier version of the operating system, including its APIs, which are typically licensed to smartphone and tablet makers.

Some have reported that they believe that Google doesn’t want to repeat past mistakes through its Android Wear.

The Android operating system for wearable technology is considerably more closed than the version of the OS that is designed for tablets and smartphones. Because of this, many OEMs have become a little bit leery of choosing the operating system for their own wearables. Samsung, for example, has chosen to use its own proprietary platform, the Tizen OS, for the majority of its smartwatches in the Gear line. LG is another brand that has created its own Wearable Platform OS, using the WebOS that it obtained from Palm.

The upcoming release of the Apple Watch is expected to throw the wearable technology market forward.

Wearable Technology - Missed OpportunitySince that device is clearly based on a smartwatch version of the iOS platform, many are starting to wonder if Google’s actions to protect itself from the mistakes it had previously made in its standard Android operating system could actually be what locks it out of the wearables market, when all is said and done.

Samsung has previously battled it out with Google over the degree to which Google has attepted to control the implementation of the Android OS. As TouchWiz UI is used by Samsung to differentiate the version of Android that it uses from that of other devices, Google wasn’t pleased that Samsung had chosen to move some of its apps around.

This demand for control and failure to open up the Android platform was what drove Samsung to use the open source version of the Android OS to develop Tizen and steer away from the limitations it faced from Google.

Wearable technology hackers sought by FTC

| April 2, 2015

The Federal Trade Commission is seeking them for their broadened mobile tech unit and for the internet of things.

The FTC is responsible for the oversight of a broad range of different operations that investigate tech practices of companies, looking into issues such as data security and privacy and is now looking for hackers for areas such as wearable technology, mobile tech, and for the internet of things.

The Mobile Technology Unit (MTU) isn’t anything new at the FTC, but it is seeing a sizeable expansion.

The MTU performs independent investigations into a range of different components of the mobile environment. Recently, a number of the efforts of this unit were placed in the spotlight as it worked to spread awareness of the perceived dangers between certain mobile apps and their use by young children, in addition to the types of overall risks that are connected with mobile commerce activities. The tech under the FTC’s oversight is rapidly evolving and it must now keep an eye on everything from wearable technology to entire smart households.

As wearable technology and the internet of things come into play, the MTU has undergone its own evolution.

FTC - Wearable TechnologyIn this, the MTU is now being converted into the Office of Technology Research and Investigation (OTRI), and it will be experiencing a massive expansion of its role. It will now be overseeing wearables, smart homes, connected vehicles, mobile payment methods, and anything else that can be defined in a way that it would be categorized as a part of the internet of things.

Along with expansion, the FTC is looking to boost its staff with people who would be capable of hacking into each of those various forms of consumer technology. It is also on the lookout for a full time position that would be responsible for the coordination of all of the projects that would result from the OTRI research. There is also a two-year research fellowship being made available to recent grads with the right combination of policy and tech education.

These latest moves by the FTC are a reflection of the pace and size of the growth of wearable technology and other connected devices in homes, vehicles and on our very person.