Fantastic El Clasico Match? No!!! It is just the beginning…

Did you watch last Sunday's "El Classico" match? If you are in Spain, you know it is one of the biggest rivalries between Los Blancos and Barca. For those of you who like football, maybe it was one of the best matches you've seen, with a lot of goals, cards, pushing and shoving, and also Messi's magic. Despite all the individual technical skill and coaching strategy, behind all this is technology. 

The sport industry utilizes technology to improve athlete's conditioning, to perform strategy analysis, and in training preparation, which ultimately brings higher quality matches. One of the technologies implemented is wearable devices. In soccer, athletes wear shirts, shin guards and shoes with sensors embedded within that are able to track crucial information.

How the technology works: the sensors in the apparel send a wireless data to a base station. The information in the base station is processed and relayed to a tablet so coaches and trainers can examine the data in real time. Simply by monitoring his tablet, a coach can now fully comprehend the physical impact on the athlete’s body, including: work rate, stamina, speed, distance, performance efficiency, and the power generated against the ball by every player, in every position.

From inducing in-game managerial decisions, such as team tactics, and substitutions, to analyzing trends to prevent over training and risk of injury, the technology will help maintain player performance at optimal levels throughout the season.

We believe despite being in juvenile stages of development compared to other technologies, wearable products will ascend in the coming years. The sport industry is expected to have a large impact on the financial growth of the wearable technology industry. At this point, several products are being evaluated for effectiveness and satisfaction by their users, and have already gathered a solid presence in the sports arena.

The likelihood of wearable products enduring future success is not only reasonable, but expected. Giving athletes and coaches the ability to measure performance in real time and make adjustments during the game will not only lead to increased quality of play, but can prevent devastating injuries from occurring. Athletes have already been influenced by wearable devices in the early stages of its presence and we can't wait to see where the future takes us.

Once the necessary research is done to make products more athlete specific, customizable, and more leagues allow the use of wearable devices in the game, the investment by players, teams, and leagues will strengthen. And we will see more quality and fantastic matches ahead.

Fashion Glasses: You won't believe how easy going shopping will be!!

Even though nowadays wearable technology may still be perceived as a complicated concept, and to many, a lot of these ideas might seem unreachable, or even subject to mocking, we have to permanently challenge ourselves by looking for innovating things that may help improve the quality of our lives.

Following our last blog (Google Glass) this week we would like to present you an interesting idea that retailers should seriously take into consideration: Fashion Glasses! Shadowing the same idea of face recognition and Google Glass technology, Fashion Glasses would help people scan other people's clothes so that they can figure out the brand and where that particular (or similar) garment can be bought.

Additionally, a person would be able to easily look at how the garment she has just seen would fit her, since the glasses would have the capacity of projecting a 3D image of the person "wearing" the clothes. 

These technological glasses would be attractive not only to consumers, but also to the whole retail market as this would represent an opportunity for producers to let others know their brand. Big retailers like ZARA could benefit from this technology because it would help boost its online sales, as people would also be able to shop the clothes they have just seen on other people a few minutes earlier. 

Source: Meta 3D glasses

Building up in the same example, ZARA could also generate value to its shareholders and its customers with this new kind of wearable technology, by:

• Saving fitting room’s spaces that could be better used as selling points;
• Allocate the time normally spent in queues (customers will no longer need to wait to go inside the fitting rooms), and instead buy more clothes; or
• Allowing their customers to show relatives in real time his or her picture with the clothes they’re considering to purchase, so that they can receive immediate comments/feedback.

Moreover, with Fashion Glasses, ZARA could also increase its market penetration in the men’s segment. It is a know fact that the average man doesn't like to go shopping. As a result, with this new techie device, men could have a better shopping experience and now be able to say “Hasta la vista…baby” to the endless hours of shopping.

To wrap up this week's blog let's say that prototypes related to this tech device are already being tested as you read this blog. Meta’s prototype is an example of this. Watch the video on their web page (Meta, Augmented Reality Glasses) for a better understanding.

Don’t forget to follow our blog for further news regarding wearable technology!

Google Glass, not released yet, but about to be banned already.

Nowadays, everybody knows Google Glass and talks about it, and its pre-released explorer version has been sold on ebay at a price as high as $2,100 dollars.

For those of you who can't afford such a crazy price like me, here is a taste of it and let's see how it works in front of your eyes on a YouTube demo:

While people are so excited about it and bet that the future of Google Glass will be at least as successfully as the iPhone, three American cities“think different.”

Illinois, Delaware and Missouri are set to introduce bills to stop drivers from wearing Google Glass headsets while behind the wheel. Other states - including New York, New Jersey and Wyoming - are set to follow suit. The irony in this regard is that one of the most important key features that Google advertises about its Glass is actually the GPS navigation app, which puts maps right in front of driver's eyes.

Will lobbyists of Glass be able to change the government's ideas? Will Glass be the next iPhone or wound up like Microsoft Zune? You can bet, but you don't know. What I do know is that technology innovations have undoubtedly made our life more connected and entertaining, however, every morning when you wake up and find you have 50 unread messages from WhatsApp, Skype, Gmail, or when you lose your participation points in your MBA class by checking updates on Facebook and Twitter, you probably wish that your life could be simpler and less distracted.

Everything has two sides, so does the debate on wearable devices, hence it's up to companies to make the best out of it and to eliminate the negative effects.

Introduction to Wearable Technology

As technology becomes more advanced, more convenient, and more integrated into our daily lives, we are becoming more dependent on what technology can do for us.  Similar to how the wrist watch changed the way we tell time, wearable technology will change the way we interact with computers and the world around us.

Offering users real-time feedback, instantaneous communication, and access to data anywhere you can imagine, wearable devices are beginning to shape our future.  With devices such as the Fitbit, Google Glass, Glowfaster Fitness Jacket, and Ring, among countless others already on the market or due to launch, wearable technology is conservatively estimated to become a $12 billion industry in the next 5 years (Ballve, 2013). 

With such a cutting edge market on the brink of explosion, in this blog we will aim to cover how wearable technology will fit into your life, the many products on the market, the benefits, and even the drawbacks, along with several other topics regarding this fascinating new industry.

                                 (Source: Trendblog.net)

For a quick glimpse, check out ‘The Future of Wearable Technology’: