New open compute platforms are coming, with profound implications for devices with a screen and the companies that make them. Leveraging the Smartphone ecosystem and Moore’s Law, entrepreneurs are creating a new class of devices. These devices, built as general purpose compute platforms, are cheap enough and small enough to disrupt legacy closed, single function devices.
Start-ups and giant global companies like Sony Ericsson and Motorola have identified the wrist, or the Smart Watch, as the primary application to launch these new platforms. The Smart Watch is only the starting point, a beachfront for this opportunity.
Can the market for wearable devices expand beyond the wrist. Will a minimal interface, “Glance”, become a break-through, like multi-touch? Will Wearable Devices spawn an ecosystem of entrepreneurs building new Apps and services? What are the challenges of start-ups creating the Wearable Platforms?
Hear about opportunities and implications for entrepreneurs at the next MIT/Stanford Vlab event. Click here to register.
When:
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
6:00 – 7:00pm Networking and Refreshments
7:00 – 8:30pm Panel Discussion and Q&A
UPDATE:
CNET’s press coverage: http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57360777-76/when-will-wearables-be-wearable/
Any technology that brings convenience, also faces concerns over security. Warning calls about computer viruses from email and the internet are now disregarded as constant but insignificant problems. Cyber Attacks are escalating from large-scale theft and disruption of computer operations, to more lethal attacks that destroy systems and physical equipment—according to the head of the US Cyber Command. The security firm, McAfee, estimates that cyber attacks cost corporations and individuals over $1 trillion globally every year.
Augmented-Reality holds the promise of merging the physical world with information, but the ‘killer app’ remains elusive. Today, the rise of the smartphone and tablet – with powerful 3D, 4G, and high-res cameras – combined with significant advances in computer-vision, are finally unleashing the full power of AR. Technology leaders such as Intel, Qualcomm, and Nvidia, are targeting AR’s disruptive potential on mobile advertising, gaming, and education, by heavily investing in next-gen AR platforms.
With reduced government funding for space programs, the outlook is shifting away from traditional space organizations over to the funding of private entrepreneurs. The coming years are projected to see a dramatic growth in technological innovations and new business models – only paralleled by the Internet growth in the 1990s – and universal access to space.
Many consider energy efficiency the easiest path to immediate gains in reducing carbon emissions and counteracting the ever-increasing cost of energy. As an example, Al Gore contends that turning American television sets fully off rather than using standby mode will eliminate the need for a 1,000-megawatt coal-fired generating plant.
The cost of creating, sharing and distributing data in real time has become essentially zero, leading to an explosion of user generated content. Currently, every minute,
Today, an increasing number of pervasive and connected sensors are intelligently monitoring our daily lives and contributing to the rapid dissolution of the divide between our physical and digital worlds. This sensor revolution is creating anew layer of the Internet — what some analysts and researchers call the “Internet of Things”.