page_title: Wearable computer
section_title: 2010s
hierarchical_section_title: Wearable computer / History / 2010s
caption_attribution_description: Earlier this year I backed a Kickstarter project to create two beautifully machined watch housings for the new iPod Nano, called the LunaTik and TikTok. www.kickstarter.com/projects/1104350651/tiktok-lunatik-mu... I haven't worn a wristwatch since I was 17, but the idea of a multi-touch color wrist computer/timepiece/Instagram photo gallery was too good to resist. Of course, such futuristic accessories aren't entirely without their drawbacks; if you haven't used the Nano for 36 hours or so it goes into a deep sleep to conserve battery power, which results in a brief boot-up delay the next time you turn it back on. I find this somehow charming. Yet another quirk of modern techno-life which I suspect Douglas Adams would have greatly appreciated.
context_page_description: A wearable computer, also known as a wearable or body-borne computer, is a small computing device worn on the body.
  The definition of 'wearable computer' may be narrow or broad, extending to smartphones or even ordinary wristwatches.
  Wearables may be for general use, in which case they are just a particularly small example of mobile computing. Alternatively they may be for specialized purposes such as fitness trackers. They may incorporate special sensors such as accelerometers, thermometer and heart rate monitors, or novel user interfaces such as Google Glass, an optical head-mounted display controlled by gestures. It may be that specialized wearables will evolve into general all-in-one devices, as happened with the convergence of PDAs and mobile phones into smartphones.
  Wearables are typically worn on the wrist, hung from the neck, strapped to the arm or leg, or on the head, though some have been located elsewhere. Devices carried in a pocket or bag – such as smartphones and before them pocket calculators and PDAs, may or may not be regarded as 'worn'.
context_section_description: Standardization with IEEE, IETF, and several industry groups (e.g. Bluetooth) lead to more various interfacing under the WPAN (wireless personal area network). It also led the WBAN (Wireless body area network) to offer new classification of designs for interfacing and networking. The 6th-generation iPod Nano, released in September 2010, has a wristband attachment available to convert it into a wearable wristwatch computer.
  The development of wearable computing spread to encompass rehabilitation engineering, ambulatory intervention treatment, life guard systems, and defense wearable systems.
  Sony produced a wristwatch called Sony SmartWatch that must be paired with an Android phone. Once paired, it becomes an additional remote display and notification tool.
  Fitbit released several wearable fitness trackers and the Fitbit Surge, a full smartwatch that is compatible with Android and iOS.
  On April 11, 2012, Pebble launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $100,000 for their initial smartwatch model. The campaign ended on May 18 with $10,266,844, over 100 times the fundraising target. Pebble has released several smartwatches since, including the Pebble Time and the Pebble Round.
  Google Glass launched their optical head-mounted display (OHMD) to a test group of users in 2013, before it became available to the public on May 15, 2014. Google's mission was to produce a mass-market ubiquitous computer that displays information in a smartphone-like hands-free format that can interact with the Internet via natural language voice commands. Google Glass received criticism over privacy and safety concerns. On January 15, 2015, Google announced that it would stop producing the Google Glass prototype but would continue to develop the product. According to Google, Project Glass was ready to "graduate" from Google X, the experimental phase of the project.
  Thync, a headset launched in 2014, is a wearable that stimulates the brain with mild electrical pulses, causing the wearer to feel energized or calm based on input into a phone app. The device is attached to the temple and to the back of the neck with an adhesive strip.
  Macrotellect launched 2 portable brainwave(EEG) sensing devices, BrainLink Pro and BrainLink Lite in 2014, which allows families and meditation students to enhance the mental fitness and stress relief with 20+ brain fitness enhancement Apps on Apple and Android App Stores.
  In January 2015, Intel announced the sub-miniature Intel Curie for wearable applications, based on its Intel Quark platform. As small as a button, it features a 6-axis accelerometer, a DSP sensor hub, a Bluetooth LE unit, and a battery charge controller. It was scheduled to ship in the second half of the year.
  On April 24, 2015, Apple released their take on the smartwatch, known as the Apple Watch. The Apple Watch features a touchscreen, many applications, and a heart-rate sensor.
caption: LunaTik, a machined wristband attachment for the 6th-generation iPod Nano
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