are wearables even wearable?

the point of wearable electronics, like the iWatch among a plethora of others, is not merely to serve as replacements to watches or extensions of your phone. These devices are incremental inadequate solutions to a complex problem of human and machine interaction.

These are not novel ideas. Science fiction made the logical step to such interfaces decades ago. Beyond the delicious sparks of imagination they invoke, such ideas typically lacked practical merit, and most products created today seem to have been designed in the likeness of such ideas.

That we are slapping a screen that we must touch with our fingers onto one arm in itself is wonderful progress -- it signifies how economic scales and innovation have spurred on magnificent development in batteries and the electronic systems they power. However, to achieve the goal of a more natural interface with a machine, we cannot hope to simply twist the shape of a previous innovation (the tablet/cell phone) into a modality that emphasizes its weaknesses.

Enough technobabble. I envision technology that uses a gestural interface to facilitate our interaction with it. For instance, why not be able to control a screen held in my left hand, while simply making gestures with my right hand? Or, a shorthand system (similar to Pittman, Gregg, etc.) modified for the use of finger strokes that can allow efficient passive writing?

We are gradually shifting into a computing paradigm where obvious external computing devices will not be necessary for the masses. We are carrying extremely powerful devices that are becoming ever smaller. Soon, devices will offer enough computing power that will make it such that we will be offered a host of displays in a multitude of forms -- window panes, clothing items without screens, table tops, etc., that seamlessly connect to the computer we carry.. on us... and eventually within us.

We have brought all these components together, now I believe we will begin splitting them up - your interface separate from the brains of the device separated from the device you use to see what you're doing. Heh, even this will be seen as an inadequate incremental step once we have virtual interactions with our machines in parallel to our real world existence. But such things are 'slightly' further away smile emoticon

So, enjoy the ride. Enjoy these lovely rises and falls of devices that will forever pollute the world's landfills. That's not at all my point in all this, but it just occurred to me that that is the end of the line for our poor intermediary inventions. Perhaps the conundrum of a natural machine-human interface itself is paradox, because how could such a thing ever be natural?

like i've said, it's a great time to be curious and driven. you can build the world, whoever you are, whatever mistakes you've done. Don't believe the anti-millenial attitude about 'not following your passion'. Do follow your passion. But commit to it, and work tirelessly at it, and don't keep changing your mind. Trust me, I know a lot about going about it the wrong way. I am an expert at making poor decisions. But by dumb luck that journey is finally leading me to discover what it does take to achieve your dreams.