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The latest research note from analyst firm Gartner argues that wearables need to be more useful and dropout is a ‘serious problem’ for the industry.

The 2016 Gartner Personal Technologies Study showed that the abandonment rate of smartwatches is 29% and 30% for fitness trackers as people do not find them useful, they get bored of them or they break.

Angela McIntyre, research director at Gartner said: “Dropout from device usage is a serious problem for the industry. The...

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It’s no longer a matter of “if” but “when” for mass adoption of wearables in the enterprise. Whilst they haven’t been mass adopted by consumers, they have a huge opportunity in the enterprise, and the number of organisations already integrating wearable technology into their networks has nearly doubled since 2014 – increasing from 13% to 24%.

Although smartwatches have similar capabilities to...

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A research team from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore has presented a new graphene-based supercapacitor at the 252nd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in Philadelphia.

The flexible micro-supercapacitors could trigger new developments in the realm of wearable technology, with a myriad of possibilities such as smart T-shirts that charges mobile phones or dishwashing robots, according to the researchers.

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Verkotan, a CTIA authorised test lab, is improving wearable testing with the GPS Air Performance Test that is patent pending. The test has been developed with other leading players in the wearable industry. The Centre for Wireless Communication (CWC) at University of Oulu and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland TEKES and Hilla Program contributed in funding of the project.

Verkotan has developed a real over the air GPS...

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A research group from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) has developed ultra-thin transistors aimed at improving the performance of electronic and wearable displays.

As the IoT era gains ground, there has been robust demand for wearable and transparent displays suited to the requirements of various fields such as augmented reality (AR) and skin-like thin flexible devices. However, the researchers argue that previous technology for flexible transparent displays...

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Technological advances in the growing wearable computing market are bolstering growth rates in both consumer and non-consumer markets. This is in sharp contrast to how the scenario was before the present, when wearables were a fringe market of curious devices that were bulky, unaesthetic and impractical for consumer applications.

BCC Research projects that the global market for wearable computing products will exceed $171.2 billion in 2021, on a five-year compound annual growth rate of...

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Quadrant Information Services, a technology supplier to property and casualty carriers, has argued that the insurance industry is being transformed by big data analysis and miniaturised data collection devices with the phenomenon impacting both health insurance and auto insurance.

A recent study by research group Strategy Meets Action revealed that though only three percent of health insurers are currently using wearable devices to help set individual rates, approximately 22% of health...

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Security providers Kaspersky Lab and WISeKey have announced a partnership developing technology to protect wearable devices.

The market for connected wearables is estimated to be growing by 35% on an annual basis, while smartwatches, fitness trackers and payment wristbands are expected to account for one in five mobile payment transactions by 2020, with a predicted worth of $500 billion (£x) per year, according to Tractica.

Kaspersky and WISeKey argue that wearables are...

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The athlete stands on a platform surrounded by thousands of spectators, tense with expectation. In front of him is a barbell loaded with 750 pounds. He failed his first attempted lift, but with close monitoring from his coach, using technology that senses form and muscle recruitment, he is able to adjust his strategy in between sets. The lifter can now approach the 750-pound...

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Frost & Sullivan has released a report that names wearable electronics among the leading microelectronics technologies in the future, with the segment expected to make headway in terms of adoption soon.

Wearable electronics is expected to play a major role in consumer and healthcare applications and this development along with the rise in the use of smart devices is boosting the development of microelectronics technologies.

The demand for cost-effective and robust devices that...

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If you want to appreciate the promise and the challenge of applying new technology to healthcare, look no further than the UK National Health Service.

In 2013, the Secretary of State for Health Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt challenged the NHS to “go paperless by 2018." The goal of this challenge was “to save billions, improve services and help meet the challenges of an ageing population.”

A paperless healthcare facility would have many benefits. It would enable...

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After being touted as “the next big thing” for some time, wearable technology has captured the attention of the consumer. The big question is – what should developers and marketers consider from a legal and regulatory perspective if they’re developing or using wearables?

While the ability to summon a taxi or order a pizza at the flick of the wrist may be a...

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Wearables are creating an exciting new era for the health industry, with more data about its users available to ensure our bodies remain in peak condition. The problem is that - aside from telling us to get off our rears or letting us know how far we've run - current devices are creating a whole bunch of data but without much context. 

Addapp wants to change this...

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Juniper Research forecasts that wearable advertising spend will reach $68.7 million (£46.5m) in 2018, a huge leap from $1.5m (£1.02m) by the end of this year – and the growth of the Apple Watch will fuel this step up.

It’s a concept which has had marketers licking their lips in anticipation for months – another screen on which to display ads and sell dollars. Many have laid out their ideas for how this shift will take place; Jeff Lawson, CEO of cloud communications provider Twilio,

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Long-term readers of my articles will know I'm a fierce critic of Apple, but something happened during their last event and recent discussions at SXSW seem to confirm they’ve changed an industry in a way I don't think the Cupertino-based giant has since the debut of the original iPhone…

When ResearchKit was announced, I was...

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Our data science intern, Heng Li, obliged our begging and wrote a blog post about what he’s been working on for us this winter. Here is what he told us:

This winter I have the pleasure of working on a data science internship project for Strap along with Qiyao Wang. Simply speaking, the goal of our...

The wearable sector is seeing its growth fuelled by fitness devices which are able to track our location, heart rate, and even specific movements. This of course has led to security and privacy concerns, but what if your device could end up putting you away for some time in the slammer?

It’s not much of a surprise that law enforcement want access to the data from our devices and cloud services as we live increasingly digital lives.

A personal injury lawyer in Canada has used data from a Fitbit smartwatch to...

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Strap, the Cincinnati-based wearable technology software and analytics platform, has announced it has raised $1.25 million in seed investment.

The round of funding was led by CincyTech, with Mercury Fund, Vine Street Ventures, Danmar Capital, Hyde Park Venture Partners and New Coast Ventures among others contributing.

With various hype around wearable technology focusing primarily on the devices, Strap focuses on a platform which developers can build upon. The main product is...

Salesforce has announced a bunch of new stuff on its Salesforce Wear wearable tech platform, with an array of new hardware manufacturers on board alongside more ISVs and partnerships aiming to create killer enterprise applications.

Five new device manufacturers – Epson, Jawbone, Meta, Oculus and Vuzix – have lent their support to building apps on the platform, joining the likes of Google Glass, Samsung Gear and Pebble.

"The explosive growth of Salesforce Wear has validated the need for a...