Current Trend: Technology is invading our lives. In fact, computers are moving ever closer to us. We now carry more processing power in our pockets than we housed in whole buildings thirty years ago. As this continues, it is not hard to imagine a world of wearable computing and a line of, what I call, bluetooth spectacles.
The Problem: You often meet new or old friends but cannot recall important information. Instead of reaching for your phone for a quick glance at Facebook, imagine a virtually invisible computer right before your eyes, augmenting your reality.
Technology: Certain apps already use your phone’s camera, while others tether over bluetooth to share data and make for a more seamless user experience. Currently Siri is the talk of the town, but that’s because we have yet to view the world through Bluetooth spectacles.
Implementation: These glasses of the future would work much like the heads up displays that fighter pilots use. Ideally we could hide all of the necessary pieces of tech behind thick hipster chic frames to provide a layer of augmented reality over everything you see. With a small camera on the bridge of your nose to detect the outside world (as well as your hand gestures), your IPhone will help you see the world in a whole new way.
Social Media feeds adjacent to your friends
Or just the hottest youtube video keeping you entertained during a boring meeting
The Future: After bluetooth spectacles, the next paradigm of wearable computers would likely afford people the ability to broadcast their lives from a first person point of view. And of course, the logical next step after bluetooth spectacles would be bluetooth contact lenses, but that’s a subject for a whole other post. In the meantime, you’ll have to close your eye lids and imagine that technology yourself.