IoT productivity revolution. Re-modelling of the workforce

Giving  the developments in the technology and the expected implications of IoT in business and society - we are [most probably] at the early phases of a new productivity revolution.

The industrial revolution brought with it significant social changes – urbanization, new social classes, new working class, changes in family structure. 

Is IoT and digitization going to generate a new productivity revolution, impact the society and re-model the workforce?

As in the past, technological innovation will make some of the jobs redundant. But will also create new ones or will reshape the workforce dynamics and structure.

The workforce is already undergoing a massive change. It has been called Gig Economy, the rise of creative class, the e-conomy, with “e” standing for electronic or entrepreneurial. Employees are leaving the traditional workplace and opting for freelancer or entrepreneurial life. While the economy has unwillingly pushed some people into independent work, many have chosen it because of greater flexibility and possibility to focus on more personally fulfilling activities.

 The work is becoming more digitized and more global. 

Working across geographies in real-time is becoming the new status-quo. Certain professions are at the foreground of the transformation - with the journalists and software engineers being the first ones to heavily enter the world of digital-global-freelancers. These are the first professions and activities to be impacted (and potentially benefit) from the fact that most information work is already digitized.

With the growth of the industrial IoT, the digitization and connectivity is extending to previously analog tasks and processes. Machines can be controlled remotely, processes are automatized, and the need for on-site workforce is decreasing.

In all productive revolutions, skills greatly determined the quality of life.  The digitization & globalization of the workforce means that potentially any skill can be employed real-time from any location on the globe. Where you live & where you work does not matter anymore - as long as you are “connected”. What matters is the quality of your work. The skills you can deploy. A reverse of the urbanization could even be possible, as the need to live close to the “factory” disappears. Maybe the next step in our societal evolution is a world of “highly connected villages”, with people working from home, and a life where the separation between work and life time is not well-determined? 

Will consumer IoT applications offer us the chance to improve certain skills and consequently enhance our competitiveness?

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References

Freelancing in America  

Global Online Employment Report 

IoT productivity revolution. Highly improved skills

“IoT represents the next major economic and societal disruption enabled by the Internet […] It offers a way to merge the digital and virtual worlds into a new smart environment which senses, analyses and adapts” [Peter Friess, “The Hyperconnected Society”].

Digital transformation is happening today both at economy level as well as at society level, and IoT is the leading platform that drives the change.
Industries, businesses and markets are changing how they operate.
“It’s safe to say that we are at the start of another industrial revolution. The rise of the connected objects known as the “Internet of Things” (IoT) will rival past technological marvels, such as the printing press, the steam engine, and electricity. From the developed world to the developing world, every corner of the planet will experience profound economic resurgence. Even more remarkable is the speed with which this change will happen.” [Dr. Shawn DuBravac, “The Internet of Things, Evolution or Revolution”]

People’s behavior and the way we interact is changing. Already today our working, shopping, entertaining, and communicating behavior is heavily digitalized. Tomorrow, we might express emotions with the help of objects, use our environment to achieve goals, offload cognitive tasks to things around us, and expect to be able to naturally communicate with the objects around us.

Through creating a fabric between things and humans, IoT has the potential to transform a multitude of aspects of our lives, but maybe the most intriguing one is the potential to transform us, to change the basic levels of our physical and mental capabilities, the way we interact, and finally to alter the grounds of individual’s competitiveness in the society. 

Highly Improved Skills

Better Informed

Situational awareness and voice control lay the foundation for a “second brain” as users relay on devices to listen for their (sometimes unspoken) requests and offer suggestions triggered by real-time observations and user history. In the digital form, solutions have been available for years already. GPS navigation systems guide us step-by-step to the destination, offering just-in-time voice guidance. A difficult cognitive task (navigating an unfamiliar territory) has been transformed into a trivial exercise of following directions. The combination of sensor-enabled wearable with the cloud-computing services, creates the possibility of building the next generation of situational-aware experience, real-time and truly personal. We will be better informed, we will have always access to the information that is right for us, at the right time, in the right place.

Improved well-being

The evolution in the sensor technology enabled the development of the first wearable tech consumer products, the sensor powered bands. Their main function is to track and measure activity level (function known as quantify self). Fitbit, Microsoft Band and the rest of the activity trackers on the market are designed to encourage their uses to maintain the desirable level of activity in their life, by applying Peter’s Drucker rule “What is measured, improved”

Self-competitiveness

The tracking devices and quantified-self applications can be useful in helping us to improve our habits and reach well-being goals – and even more they are driving a human behavior change, namely self-competitiveness.

Improved senses

Today we have our smartphones, the best example of how smart and connected our devices became. When we are looking into buying our next smart phone – we are searching for one even smarter. More processing capacity, they “think faster”, have more memory, a better “vision” with higher and higher camera resolution, improved audio system with dual-sensor array microphones and more. What we would really want is for us to become super-humans. To have better memory. To see, hear, sense better. Wearables can surely help to have a better vision and hearing (they do it even today, without being neither connected nor smart). But even more, the smart connected gadgets of the future might be able to give us real access to a 6th sense. What if the teacher in the classroom does not need to wonder any more – “Is this lecture proceeding well or are all my students bored to death?" What if the sensor data from the smart connected desks in the room can be collected to give the teacher an average of the “class engagement” so he can “sense” what his students are feeling so it can adapt the speed and tone of the lecture?

Improved effectiveness in achieving our goals

Persuasive applications can help us to change our behavior in order to achieve personal goals (i.e. quit smoking, lose weight, become more productive, more active). Within the IoT context the potential exists to make use of the physical environment (=the objects around us) and get better support in fulfilling our goals. From a smart scale to assist with weight management, to a smart cup that recognizes the beverage that is put into it, displays its nutritional value as well as health implications and supports us in managing our drinking habits, to a smart toothbrush used to teach healthy habits to children, the surrounding objects can help us to self-manage and induce positive changes in our behavior.

Better Self-control

In the near future new possibilities to create digital augmentation of reality will emerge. Combined with services that would evolve from the predictive applications of today (i.e. Cortana or Google Now), smart devices will increasingly function as smart assistants to users, anticipating what information they need based on past behaviors, current location, environmental conditions and detailed information about their physical (vital signs) and digital (calendar, contacts) state. By having the input of sight, hearing and vital signals overlaid with mobile services, AI and machine learning, both in-situ and preemptive access to information can be provided. Purveyors of these systems could market them with promises such as "minimizing cognitive lift and give you more time to focus". When we get cognitive assistance, we can improve our capacity for self-control and capability to focus – theoretically at least.

Improved emotional connections

Dr. John M. Gottman, internationally recognized authority in the area of human relationship, has advanced a model that identifies the basic components of emotional connection. According to Dr. Gottman, people frequently make what he calls “bids” for emotional connection. According to this model, the most harmful response that a person can receive for an “emotional bid” is not an angry response (turning against), but a non-response (ignoring, turning away). In many cases the bid is ignored because it has not been recognized, but the harm is done nevertheless.

Wearables become tangible connections between loved ones over any distance. We don’t miss the “emotional bids” sent to us anymore. Bracelets vibrate or light up when the significant other is thinking of us. The jacket our son is wearing allows us to send him a hug while we are at work. We get instant reminders when we feel down that we are loved. When we are happy, the feeling is going “out” to the dear friends. Sharing love becomes a constant part of our day, it’s done effortlessly and instantly through our gadgets. Our emotional connections and hence our emotional health could improve.

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The question arises – if IoT could really change our behaviors and way of living, what are the consequent social implications? 

The industrial revolution brought with it significant social changes – urbanization, new social classes, new working class, changes in family structure.

What is the potential of social changes that can be brought upon us by IoT disruption? 

In all productive revolutions, skills greatly determined the quality of life.

How big will be the impact of digitalization on re-modelling the work force? How will assessing individual's competitiveness change? Can the access to IoT devices and applications create a new "social class"? 

We are privileged to live in these times – when great economical and societal disruptions are about to erupt. From within, they seem to be unfolding in slow motion. And probably the actual drama and speed will become clear only in hindsight. Nevertheless, the change is happening. 

--- to be continued

Wearables and Predictive agents. Towards better behaving, cognitive-offloaded humans

“A general “law of least effort” applies to cognitive […] exertion. The law asserts that if there are several ways of achieving the same goal, people will eventually gravitate to the least demanding course of action. In the economy of action, effort is a cost, and the acquisition of skill is driven by the balance of benefits and costs. Laziness is built deep into our nature.”
― Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow

Thanks to the work of Daniel Kahneman and others, we now understand our cognitive processes as being divided into two systems. System 1 produces the fast, intuitive reactions and instantaneous decisions that govern most of our lives. System 2 is the deliberate type of thinking involved in focus, deliberation, reasoning or analysis – such as calculating a complex math problem, exercising self-control, or performing a demanding physical task. [DK]

"People who are cognitively busy are also more likely to make selfish choices, use sexist language, and make superficial judgments in social situations. Memorizing and repeating digits loosens the hold of System 2 on behavior” [DK]

Developments in sensor-enabled wearable technologies bring about fundamental shifts in interactions paradigms and new capabilities for real-time, contextual-aware systems. In the near future new possibilities to create digital augmentation of reality will emerge. By having the input of sight, hearing and vital signals overlaid with mobile services, AI and machine learning, both in-situ and preemptive access to information can be provided. We will get cognitive assistance. It has the power to significantly change the way we live [and improve our behavior and self-control – theoretically at least]

Level 1: Helpful Guidance

Situational awareness and voice control lay the foundation for a “second brain” as users relay on devices to listen for their (sometimes unspoken) requests and offer suggestions triggered by real-time observations and user history.

Phase 1: Digital Experiences (mainstream)

In its digital form, solutions have been available for years and are today mass-market consumer experiences.

GPS Navigation Systems guide us step-by-step to the destination offering just-in-time voice guidance. A difficult cognitive task (navigating an unfamiliar territory) has been transformed into a trivial exercise of following directions. Cognitive effort is minimized and we would not choose in any normal circumstances the paper-map over the GPS navigation system.

DriveSafe.ly is one mobile application example of a system that offers in-situ helpful guidance. It reads text messages and emails aloud in real time and automatically responds without drivers touching their mobile phones

Phase 2: Physical-Digital Hybrid Experience (emerging)

The combination of sensor-enabled wearables with the cloud-computing services creates the possibility of building real-time, truly personal contextual experiences.

The GPS navigation system or the DriveSafe.ly would issue their recommendations and guidance purely based on specific, system internal triggers (i.e. a missed turn on the road, a new text message) and regardless if you are in the right personal context to receive the guidance.

For example, if your baby cries loudly in the back seat when the message arrives and you can’t really interact by voice/audio – the voice interaction interface might not be useful even for “declining” to be read aloud the message, so would be suitable if the system will be able to detect the level of high noise you are hearing now and start a conversation with you only at the right moment (i.e. when you can actually hear the message)

Furthermore by knowing the condition of the driver through a variety of sensors (heart rate, for example), it’s easier for the car to understand the driver’s state. The vehicle could change a song to relax the driver, for example. Ford is already seeking to use the technologies to better monitor driver health.

Another evolution powered by the wearables relates to shifts in the user interaction paradigms toward more natural interactions – better experience of voice interactions with the hearables, better visualization opportunities with glasses, better gestures interface with wrist/ring wearables. Ultimately this can take the driving toward a hands-free, immersive experience.

Starting to take into use these opportunities, Mercedes Benz has developed the Glassware project, which is designed to work seamlessly with a car’s navigation system. Route directions are overlaid via glasses onto the road, allowing drivers to keep their eyes away from a GPS screen.

The automotive environment is just an example of how the integration of physical with digital can actually improve the experience and lift the cognitive effort in certain situations, and hence allowing us to focus better in what matters. 

Level 2: Predictive Assistance

Smart devices will increasingly function as smart assistants to users, anticipating what information they need based on past behaviors, current location, environmental conditions and detailed information about their physical (vital signs) and digital (calendar, contacts) state. Purveyors of these systems could market them with promises such as "minimizing cognitive lift and give you more time to focus"


Phase 1: Digital Experience (emerging)

Cortana and Google Now are intelligent personal assistants, augmented with predictive search capabilities. At the beginning they were able to guess what notifications and apps would be most useful for you. But their capabilities are increasing, powered by machine learning. The systems are designed to learn user’s behavior, find patterns in the activity, expand the insights from different other applications and input sources and continue to refine their capabilities in predictive recommendations.

Osito is a predictive intelligence application for smart phones that helps you get where you need to be by merging traffic information, weather, flight details and your calendar.

Phase 2: Physical-Digital Hybrid Experience (early phases)

Combine an intelligent personal assistant like Cortana or Google Now with a wearable, sensor-based system and the result can be quite powerful.

The cognition-assist presentation devices (in form of eyeglasses of hearables for example) can use own sensors, add the information from the other connected devices (e.g. the smartphones, car, wrist bands), apply analytics and predictive algorithms and alert us in real time with relevant information, taking in consideration our full sensory circumstances, digital presence and activity history.

Too much cognitive load, especially on long term, even if coming from small details & tasks - it gets us tiered and has implications on our well-being. “What do I need to buy from the grocery store, when do I have my son’s school appointment, do I have time to go to the bank between the other two meetings, what bus shall I take, what was the thing I had to ask from my daughter’s teacher, what was that substance I recently heard as being harmful and should check if it is in the margarine I buy, where did I see that face before, where do I need to turn” - they are all basically simple things, that we need to remember and "solve" constantly, and we need to have the correct information available easily, at the right time.
A cognitive-supporting system “knows” what my next question is and will give me the information ever before I am asking for it.

For example, a pedestrian-enabled navigation hearable could direct me more accurately on the route by knowing in which direction I am turning my head/in which direction I am looking.

Or, imagine this scenario: the eyeglasses I am wearing recognize the face of the person is approaching me as being the new CEO of a company that is our customer (I have meet him once, exchanged business cards, but I have lousy face recognition memory) The invisible earpiece whispers in my ear CEO’s name and reminds me that I have a meeting scheduled with his team next week. I get a hint to remember the hot topic and I can now quickly touch on the subject as we are together in the elevator. I just got memory assistance (face, meeting, and topic) the connection made with a future event and the guidance on how I shall act in order to get better results in a future situation. It significantly released my cognitive effort and improved my chances of success with the customer.


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References
http://electronicsmaker.com/automotive-intersecting-with-wearable-technology
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~satya/docdir/ha-mobisys2014.pdf
http://www.ibmbigdatahub.com/blog/cognitive-computing-wearable-prosthetic
http://bigthink.com/delancey-place/the-two-systems-of-cognitive-processes
Thinking Fast and Slow. Daniel Kahneman. Publisher: Farrar, Straus, and GirouxDate.

IOT Persuasive Applications: Using the Environment to Achieve our Goals

Persuasive technology term has been coined in 2003 by B.J. Fogg. It is described as “software or information systems designed to reinforce, change or shape attitudes or behaviors or both without using coercion or deception”.

Persuasive applications can help us to change our behavior in order to achieve personal goals (i.e. quit smoking, loose weight, become more productive, more active).
Within the IOT context the potential exists to make use of the physical environment (=the objects around us) and get better support in fulfilling our goals.

Phase 1: Persuasive mobile applications

Since 2003 a great deal of progress has been made in developing applications of persuasive technology. Health maintenance, including dieting and discontinuation of smoking is one of the biggest applied areas. On the mobile phones the technology has the potential to increase the persuasive effect by the promise of giving feedback in the right moment, at the right place. Even more, the diversity of sensors now present on the smartphones provide ways to achieve persuasion not only based on time and location but also based on sensed context.

“Quitty” application has been designed to motivate health behavior change and persuade people to quit smoking. It engages smokers in real-time, wherever they are and its feedback is tailored to the quitting stage.

Figure 1: Quitty: smoking cessation application

Tens to hundreds of applications exist in the mobile stores to assist weight management and diet control, but according to a study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, most of them score low on inducing long-term behavior changes [1] “Lose It!” by Fitnow Inc. got the highest score on the usage of persuasive strategies. The applications includes weight tracking, food logging and calories counting, exercise logging and goal reminders and makes tracking as easy as possible in the aim to enable lasting lifestyle changes.

Figure 2: Lost it! Weight control application

Powered by sensors and ubiquitous connectivity, the persuasive mobile applications perform real time analysis of human behavior and allow for immediate feedback and interaction with the users. However their potential is limited. Being handheld or residing in the pocket, the device itself does not offer true ambient awareness and it is limited in the types of actuations it can provide.

Phase 2: Persuasive (Personal) Objects

With IOT and smart connected gadgets the applications can be extended further into the physical world. The surrounding objects can really help us to self-manage and induce positive changes in our behavior.

The emergence of commercial wearable devices for tracking fitness related activities represents the first widespread adoption of persuasive IOT devices. Fitbit, Microsoft Band and rest of the activity trackers on the market today are designed to encourage their users to maintain the desirable level of activity in their life – by applying Peter’s Drucker rule: “What’s measured improves”

Figure 3: Microsoft Band

Assisted weight management: applying the power of persuasive applications to the old-fashioned bathroom scale, Withings smart scale can measure weight and body-fat and privately uploads data to the cloud. “Because data is great, but personalized coaching is even better” the dedicated Health Mate application breaks down user’s main goals into achievable weekly targets and follows up the progress with relevant tips and reminders.

Figure 4 Withings smart scale

Poor eating habits are correlated to increased weight as well as to poor digestion and health risks – being one of the most common habits people are trying to change. The HAPIfork is a connected, sensor enabled fork that monitors eating habits and comes with an application and coaching program designed to improve the eating behavior and help you slowing down.

Figure 5: HAPIfork

There are even smarter gadgets that can help with improving our drinking habits. Vessyl is a cup that recognizes any beverage you pour into it, displays its nutritional content, and syncs all your drinking habits to your smartphone. The device tracks how much you’re drinking and indicates your hydration level. Can help to improve your water drinking habits, reduce your daily caffeine or sugary drinks intake and even support the weight management control with the capability to display the nutritional content.

Figure 6: Vessyl cup

Zami Smart Chair includes sensors that can track posture, sitting periods and even fine-grained details about your behavior while seated – such as whether you fidget. The companion applications is designed to prompt you to move more and provides feedback on sitting habits, coaching toward a good posture and a healthier lifestyle.

Figure 7: Zami Smart Chair

Medication management is another application area. CleaverCap is a persuasive pill bottle that connects to WiFi, dispenses only as directed, sends notifications and reminders and uploads patient data to the cloud. The system increases the adherence to medication and has the potential to decrease the patient’s health risks.

Figure 8:  Cleaver Cap

Teaching children healthy habits by using playful engagement techniques is not a new trend. It is hence not a surprise that one of the first applications of commercial IOT gadgets using persuasive technologies came in the form of smart toothbrushes for children. Kolibree is a sensor enabled toothbrush (has an accelerometer, a gyroscope and a magnetometer) that comes with a mobile application and motivates healthy habits by turning brushing time into an interactive game.

Figure 9: Kolibree toothbrush 

Phase 3: Persuasive Ambient Intelligence?

By combing and adapting the power of IOT personal devices and public ambient devices, the next phase can emerge: ambient intelligence or “smart environments that change and accommodate users’ needs and wishes when a person enters it” [2]

In such a scenario the environment or physical space of a person consists of sensors that can sense the user and his surroundings and actuators that can offer feedback and evoke actions perceivable to the user. The ambient intelligence is providing consistency and cross-application of persuasion independent of the object used and only based on the knowledge that persuasion is required.

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It’s 2020 and your goal is to lose some weight. But now it’s Friday evening and none of your friends are available, you are getting quite bored and the idea of a pizza and beer start to sound very good indeed. You start walking toward your favorite pizzeria and when you order the menu board at the pizzeria refreshes to show the calories you are going to take in; your wearable band privately notifies you on the consequences on your diet. You have second-thoughts, start to wonder if you can actually skip the pizza and in that moment your friend calls and asks you to a dance club. You cancel the order and go for the dance — your weight target is under control!

What happened? Was it a coincidence or did all the pieces really come together at the right moment? Did the environment support you in achieving your weight goals?

The menu screen at the pizzeria detected that you have a very low calorie target set on your wearable device. It therefore connected to your wearable band to send the significant calorie intake of your order. Combined with the information received from the weight scale in the morning and the activity tracking data, the wearable app was able to calculate accurately the pizza’s impact on your weight and predict what you will see tomorrow morning on the scale. The GPS on the mobile phone identified the location you are in as being a pizza place and sent the information (together with a calorie alert) to your friend which was part of the support group helping with your weight target.

The data has flowed through your environment (both the surrounding gadgets and your virtual networks) to influence your behavior and delivered on the desired persuasion.

As the IOT continues to evolve, the strategies of persuasion will blend into the environment creating an ambient intelligence where the physical and virtual spaces are merged.

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References

1. Mobile Applications for Weight Management: Theory-Based Content Analysis. Kristen M.J. Azar & all. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Volume 45, Issue 5, November 2013, Pages 583–589.
2. Persuasion Mobility in Ambient Intelligence. Lukas Ruge, Andreas Schrader. Ambient 2013, The Third International Conference of Ambient Computing, Applications, Services and Technologies

Article originally Published in Prescouter Journal

Wearables 1H 2015 Monthly. Best Cool or Crazy ?

The wearable market has been nicely growing in 2015 and the analysts are expecting wearables to soon become mainstream business. While majority of the wearables fall into the fitness tracker and smartwatch categories, with relatively predictable and rational features – there are enough devices presented this year that raise the question – is this genius or simply bizarre?

Here’s my list of the “monthly best doubtful wearables” for the first half of 2015. 

JANUARY: SMART BELTY

Imagine a motorized belt that adjusts to your body when you sit down, or extends itself as your gut expands during the eating session.... Has been launched in January at CES.  Unfortunately (sic!) does not seem to be available for sales just yet.

FEBRUARY: WEARABLE BANANA

Dole is a new entrant to the wearable market. One of the biggest producers and marketers of fresh fruit and vegetable Dole presented the first edible wearable in February this year for the Tokyo Marathon: a wearable banana.

MARCH: DISCO DOG

The wearable for pets are no less interesting than the ones for humans. In March Party NYC started a Kickstarter campaign for Disco Dog, a jacket that can turn you loved friend into a billboard of messages or a rainbow of blinking LED. It keeps your dog safe too. If he runs too far from his Bluetooth enabled host, the Disco Dog can tell passers-by that it’s lost

APRIL: SELFIE SHOE 

Starting off as an April Fool’s day prank, Miz-Mooz the popular shoe brand from New York might still go on and make them a reality (at least they are considering, according to their site)

MAY: WEARABLE TECH FASHION (WTF)

Actually this one might be a strike of genius, the perfect example of why wearable technology fashion might not always be short for “WTF”.  

The unstainable shirt is exactly what the name says – a shirt that is unstainable. It is made from the crepe de chine, so it looks like a shirt, but it is actually covered in a series of tiny fibers. True wearable tech. 

The question is – does it really work? And would I like  it for a cocktail party? 

Launched in May, the shirt ranges in price from $25-$40 and comes in four styles. 

JUNE: THYNC, THE MIND-ALTERING WEARABLE

Woke-up in the morning on the wrong side of the bed? Did somebody's malicious comment on your Facebook post really stick into your mind and it is ruining your mood?  Worry no more. Thync is a brain-wearable (brainable?) that is designed to alter your mind and improve your mood. From the beginning of June is also on sales for 300$

As the year continues let’s see what other goodies we get on the list!

Will Wearable Technologies impact Human Behavior?

I’ll make it clear from the beginning – I am biased. I have been, since childhood, a big fan of sci-fi literature and movies.

This might have something to do with my current interest and belief in the future of wearable technologies, contextual computing, augmented reality and their convergence.

My question is not if/when wearable technologies will go mainstream and become an inherent part of our lives, but rather what is the correlation between these technologies and the human behavior change.

More precisely:

1. Can wearable technology go mainstream before/without a change in the human behavior? 
2. What are the steps and triggers in the human behavior change process? 
3. How would the new technology impact the human behavior, how will we act, learn, eat, live – in a world where wearable tech is as common as smartphones are today? 

The evolution in the sensor technology enabled the development of the first wearable tech consumer products – sensor powered bands, their main function being to track and measure our performance (function known as quantify self). These devices proved to be useful gadgets, helping us to improve our habits and reach our fitness goals – and even more they are driving a human behavior change, namely (self) competitiveness. When the change is accepted and becomes addictive, the market demand is consequently following.

The sensor powered bands are obviously the first successful story in the wearable tech market. A new product category has emerged, but they are still far from being a mass-market product.

We could assume that in order to reach mass-market, the cycle above needs more iterations, with hardware advancements, but more significantly with new functions/applications that would trigger desired human behavior changes.

The current limitations and developments needed in hardware are the clearer ones, with the most vital areas for improvements being about power optimization, miniaturization and flexibility of the components to enable truly fashionable designs, and of course increased processing capacity to enable more stand-alone complex functionalities (and all at the same time). While no perfect solutions exist today, the problem statements are well-defined.

The same cannot be said about the applications – where the question throughout the industry, analysts and consumers is not about what needs to be improved, but rather “what is it”? The right question, however, is not what new functionality the wearable technology could enable, but what is the human behavior change we aim to influence?

Product development has at its core the consumer need. Following Maslow’s pyramid of needs we shall look from the basic need of being healthy, to the needs of autonomy, belonging and socializing and finally the needs for knowledge and self-actualization. And never to be under-estimated, the addiction our brain has to convenience and immediacy [Thinking Fast and Slow]

For the sake of the game, we could paint some possible scenarios.

The need to be healthy.

Wearables become highly accurate and reliable in quality biometrics, plus convenient to use daily. Technology companies liaise with medical institutions and authorities, so that the devices are started to be promoted by the private and health sectors and insurance companies offer discounts when the gadgets are used for daily health-tracking.

The data is imported constantly to the health service(s) cloud and available in real-time for doctors. Not only would the doctors have significant information available at the time of the check-ups, but the need to check-up with doctors for less severe diseases would decrease. In fact, you are not expected to schedule an appointment anymore, but your doctor will call you to schedule a checkup based on the data received and analyzed. Furthermore, wearable in health sector could actually enable “DIY health”.

The consumers have, through sensor enabled wearable, the knowledge and hence the possibility to act for disease prevention, rather than only seek treatment when required – a desired change in the human behavior.

The need for emotional connections

Dr. John M. Gottman, internationally recognized authority in the area of human relationship, has advanced a model that identifies the basic components of emotional connection. According to Dr. Gottman, people frequently make what he calls “bids” for emotional connection. According to this model, the most harmful response that a person can receive for an “emotional bid” is not an angry response (turning against), but a non-response (ignoring, turning away). In many cases the bid is ignored because it has not been recognized, but the harm is done nevertheless.

Wearables become tangible connections between loved ones over any distance. We don’t miss the “emotional bids” sent to us anymore. Bracelets vibrate or light up when the significant other is thinking of us. The jacket our son is wearing allows us to send him a hug while we are at work. We get instant reminders when we feel down that we are loved. When we are happy, the feeling is going “out” to the dear friends.

Sharing love becomes a constant part of our day, it’s done effortlessly and instantly through our gadgets. Can it become addictive?

The need for autonomy and being in control

People have an instinctual need for safety, autonomy or being in control, yearning for a predictable, orderly world.

Wearable technologies and embedded sensors will passively be gathering information from their users and the environment, to create knowledge which is optimized and predictive to an individual’s current need, creating a safe world where we are always in the know. We will be getting the information that we need, at the right time and in the right place.

You get notified at the right time to leave so that you catch the bus that gets you home at your usual time.

Its Friday night and, as usually, you are out with your wife when you pass by a restaurant recommended by a friend and you are reminded just in time that you wanted to try it.

You missed the call from your mother while at work, you get reminded to call back when you arrive home (and not during you’re dinner with the suppliers).

It will rain in the afternoon, you get reminded to pick up the umbrella when you are at the door to leave for school.

You are having such an interesting conversation with your friends and what to share about the last book you’ve read but you can’t remember the title anymore. The gadget has been listening to your conversation and comes back with the right answer.

And, equally important, your wearable will never tell you “it’s time to go for a short walk” while you are in a meeting with your boss, even though you stayed on the same chair for 4 hours ….

This future is not science-fiction anymore. Luckily the sci-fi literature is still safe with the teleporting and time-travelling topics. At least for now


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Originally published in Prescouter Journal, October 2014 

Smarter Devices or Smarter People?

In a world of “everything connected” we will have the possibility to do many things differently. It is the creativity in finding this difference that will lead to the breakthrough in the Internet of Things.

We are thinking today how to build smart devices. Nest, Google’s smart connected thermostat learns the environment and your habits and in about one week is able to personalize its features to you and dynamically adapt to the context.

How about devices that would help people to better adapt to the context, to react faster to a change in environment? What if the teacher in the classroom does not need to have doubts anymore – “Is this lecture proceeding well or are all my students bored to death”? What if the sensor data from the smart connected desks in the room can be collected to give to teacher an average of the “class engagement” so they can adapt the speed and tone of the lecture?

Today we have our smartphones, the best example of how smart and connected our devices became. When we are looking into buying our next smart phone – we are searching for one even smarter. More processing capacity, they “think faster”, have more memory, a better “vision” with higher and higher camera resolution, improved audio system with dual-sensor array microphones and more.

What we would really want is for us to become smarter. To have better memory. To see or hear better.

Would the smart connected wearables of the future help me to become (or at least appear) smarter, more knowledgeable, to have a better vision or hearing?

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Read more about "Internet of Things- A Challenge of Imagination"
@ http://www.prescouter.com/2015/01/internet-of-things-a-challenge-of-imagination/

2015 Trends for Wrist Wearables: From Niche Use Cases to Mainstream Business

Several forecasts issued in the last months (IDC, CCS Insight, 451 Research) are estimating significant increase of the wearable volumes in 2015 compared to 2014 and even stronger growth by 2019, with volumes estimated between 155 and 250 million units globally.

What appears evident from all the forecasts is that wearables are becoming a mainstream business.

The change might be fueled by couple of new business models – which are breaking the current limitations of the category perceived as solving only “niche consumer needs”.

Symbiosis with a mass-market industry: Smartwatches - Automotive integration accelerates

At IFA 2015 in Berlin, a new generation of smartwatches has been introduced. Top brands like Asus, Motorola, Samsung, Huawei and Alcatel each presented at least one smartwatch and several of them were stressing the devices' capabilities to integrate with some late-model connected automobiles and offer new levels of control and interaction.

Volkswagen partnered with Samsung. Car-Net e-Remote app for Gear S2 will interact with certain Volkswagen models and offer the capability to start, lock and unlock the car as well as enable access to climate control or locate the car.

BMW groups together its range of intelligent services under the BMW ConnectedDrive banner. At the IFA 2015 BMW showcased new solutions for the “connected car”, including a new Remote App for Samsung Gear S2.

Ford developed an advanced remote-control key app for Moto 360 – which allows users to check driving range and battery charge for plug-in hybrid or electric vehicles. It also allows them to track their vehicle.



Wearable technology seem to be the next wave of our digital world interweaving with our automotive lives. This newly born symbiosis between smartwatches and cars might become one of the best use cases and killer apps for the wearables.

Addressing the growing consumer segment: Smart bands for seniors

According to a new study the AARP agency conducted in conjunction with Georgia Tech and Pfizer, elderly users find fitness trackers handy but feel they lack the right features and functionality.

Toshiba has decided to enter into this (potentially large) untapped market and launched in August a pair of smart bands specifically targeted for seniors. The Silmee W20 and Silmee W21 are professional-level devices with the Silmee biometric sensors for health and fitness measurements. They can automatically measure the amount of conversation and detect the user’s meal time, able to track the UV level, the heart rate, the skin temperature, the sleep quality as well as measures related to the physical activity. Both feature an emergency button to call a preferred phone number in case of need. The Silmee W21 contains GPS for remote location tracking.

With Japan market being few steps ahead in terms of aging population (25% population is over the age of 65 compared to US and UK where the percentage is about 15%) it comes natural to have a Japanese firm leading the focus on this specific consumer segment. But the aging population trend is global, this consumer segment will continue to increase across the globe and we can expect more companies tapping into it.

Entering the Enterprise

451 Research, an information technology research and advisory company, has released this summer a report titled "Time for Work: Smart Watch App Development Turns to the Enterprise" which concludes that wearables - specifically smartwatches - are no longer a niche consumer products but are gaining traction within the enterprise.

Key findings in the report showed 39% of the US IT decision-makers at companies that use or plan to use wearable technologies will deploy solutions in the next six months with another 24 percent planning to do so in the next year. The vast majority favor smart watches.

“The release of Apple Watch has opened the flood gates governing wearables’ adoption,” said Ryan Martin, analyst, IoT and Wearable Technologies. “We expect wearable technology to deliver a key interface and input into the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Wearables have the potential to become an interface – if not the interface – for IIoT access.”

The idea of wearables playing a larger role in the enterprise space is one shared by other players in the industry, including Intel’s Steve Holmes who said he expects wearables to become a major influence in the IT space

A world of Connected Gadgets

"Everything connected” is arguably the hottest topic in the technology world right now – even if universal consensus has not been reached on what “everything” is.

Key trends like ubiquitous connectivity, low-cost sensors and cloud computing are driving the changes and will eventually impact all the objects around us. More meta data is captured by sensors and everything gets connected, from the watch to the pill bottle.

Billions of sensors will be shipped each year. These sensors are on devices like wearable, lights, beacons, appliances and home automation systems; they get connected to other devices and Internet ecosystems. The pivotal point is that the sheer quantity of the connected devices is increasing as dramatically as their prices are dropping.

These connected devices are beginning to quietly talk to each other, leaving us to carry on as they recede into the background to make smarter choices for us. The impetus behind the user adoption is efficiency and productivity. Furthermore this “smartification” of objects, and the new forms of interactions they’ll give rise to, might have an impact on our social behavior.

It's happening already. Thing by thing.

The tag that will alert you when you leave your precious things behind.

http://www.m2mevolution.com/topics/m2mevolution/articles/371020-internet-things-advances-through-nokias-treasure-tags.htm

The smart lamp or the wireless charging plate that notify when you've got a missed call or a new message.

http://wmpoweruser.com/microsoft-mobile-shows-off-bluetooth-lamp-which-can-show-notifications/

The fitness band packed with 10 sensors that generates data about your heart rate, calories burned, sleep quality and activities throughout the day,

http://blogs.microsoft.com/iot/2014/10/31/the-power-of-iot-on-your-wrist/



The Nest smoke detector, Parrot plant sensor, Beam toothbrush, Adheretech wireless smart pill bottle and so much more.

How many "smart connected things" you have in use already? What is your favorite scenario in a world where the new smart things and connected gadgets would really start to improve our lives?