What's the future of wearable technology now that Google Glass is out? I discuss how perhaps the term can mean more than computers in our glasses.
Google Glass has been pulled from product roll-out for reasons much speculated but perhaps like The Sun's Page 3, it will be back. Google Glass was heralded as the future of wearable technology - we'd all be cyborgs following augmented reality Google Maps, reading Google Mail, and ignoring Google Ads - but when I tried it when interviewing game company Race Yourself one thing continually struck me: you can't look at two things at once.
Image: Blogger's own - Tom Church trying Google Glass with Alex Foster, CEO of RaceYourself
The fanfare of Google Glass shaped what we understood by wearable technology to mean computers on our body. Yet I don't think this is true. Wearable tech can mean much more and the fashion and jewellery industry is making great forays into this space.
Ontic Design is the world's first print-on-demand jewellery company that allows you, the consumer, to design silver and gold bracelets with graphical glass plates that slide on.
Image: Ontic Design
FullScream, the creative design agency I'm a Director of, teamed up with Ontic Design to create tools enabling anyone to make beautiful designs that go onto the 3D-printed bracelets. It's every part technology as it is fashion.
Some argued that Google Glass failed because it forced its "coolness" too much. It partnered with the powerhouses of fashion who in turn directed how the technology should be used and worn. Yet this is the opposite of what both fashion and technology stand for: liberation.
Wearable technology should mean more than Nike+ or Apple Watch. It should also mean technology that allows you to create and decide what to wear. Ontic Design is an example of a fashion company turning the industry upside down by allowing the consumer to direct and design the art. Here's one a customer designed for valentine's day:
Image: Ontic Design
As I wrote in How YouTube Will Change and The Future of Video, higher creativity is leading to more animation and motion graphics being used in amateur film-making. It won't be long before many videos will be interactive, such as Claudia Ligari's FW14/15 fashion film, and so you can imagine the possibility of being able to select something a character is wearing within the film and then customising it to how you like it and ordering it to be made on the spot.
Print on demand t-shirts have long been in business but with the development of 3D-printing, WebGL and the Internet of Things coming together the possibilities of what you can make is set to expand exponentially. It's a very exciting time to be at the front lines of both fashion and technology, and now that Google Glass is out the way we can get back to what wearable tech should have always meant in the first place.
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Read more from Tom Church on his creative design blog, Screams.