我相信超便携穿戴式计算机将会是下一件产业大事，但这类产品可能还得等上10年才能达到像iPhone那样的影响力。Google试图藉由 Project Glass 大步领先，开创了一个非常大众化的产品原型打造程序，虽然很炫，却完全不保证成功。
在日前庆祝以太网络诞生40周年的活动上，与任职于Microsoft Research、研究可穿戴式计算机的产业老将Gordon Bell的一场闲聊，进一步巩固了我看好可穿戴式计算机前景的信念；他告诉我，脸部辨识与医疗感测将会是该类产品的两大杀手级应用。
作为研究计划的一部分，Bell随身带着一台移动摄影机；他在午餐时间对我们一小群人说：“我的结论是，可穿戴式计算机是一种记忆的辅助；”而脸部辨识将会是其关键功能。
讽刺的是，Google Glass项目经理最近透露，该公司目前并没有计划使用脸部辨识功能；我猜想以上声明的动机有一部分应该是基于对隐私权的忧虑，另一部分则是认为相关技术仍在初期发展阶段。我相信未来的可穿戴式计算机将会支持高度精确的脸部辨识，并且能克服相关的隐私权问题；但以上两者都是很大的挑战。
脸部辨识在安防监控应用中发展的比较成熟，而在消费级别电子上却还刚起步
jggesmc
要 在不受限的人群中达成精确的脸部辨识，技术上有其难度──特别是当资料是由日常生活使用的消费等级摄影机来收集时；此外脸部辨识系统需要处理那些透过主流 无线网络所传送的资料，这类系统的响应必须实时，才能在一般使用者偶尔于半路上遇到其它人时派上用场；而这将使得相关技术挑战更加艰巨。
而脸部辨识将遭遇的市场营销与法规政策议题想必也是难以厘清，我可以想见其复杂度；不过就像Bell说的，我相信脸部辨识会是可穿戴式计算机的杀手级应用。
本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
第2页：也可望为医疗保健领域带来革命
第3页：Google Glass暂时领先，Apple来势汹汹
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• 可穿戴式设备离上市还有很长的路要走
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• 可穿戴电子四种应用取向，突破口在哪里？jggesmc
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可穿戴式计算机也可望为医疗保健领域带来革命。比利时研究机构IMEC等地的科学家们，已经投入人体局域网(body area networks)多年，并逐渐取得进展；微软的Bell身上配戴了一个Fibit品牌的心律监视器，并投资了多家开发可穿戴式医疗保健装置的新创公司，包括设计了一款像是腕表的心跳传感器的Bobo Analytics。
Bell告诉我：“我强烈地感觉到必须让医疗照护不仅限于专业医疗院所，”他与许多人都预见了人们将可持续不断接受医疗监测的未来；云端服务能分析、追踪病患的资料并提出报告，期望能预防健康问题发生。
而这方面应用也同样面临技术与市场营销/法规政策相关议题挑战；举例来说，内建于日常衣物或配件中的所谓干式传感器(dry sensor)，必须能在人体内外的噪声干扰中收集精确的数据。至于该类产品可能面临到的医疗责任与赔偿等政策问题，就又更复杂了。
可穿戴式ECG & 体征监测服演示平台和应用案例
jggesmc
其实可穿戴式计算机的发展已经有好一段时间，例如美国国防部高等研究计划署(DARPA)早在十年前就已经投入相关计划；今日产业界则是有更多小规模公司着手开发各式各样的可穿戴式设备，主要是提供给运动健身爱好者使用──该应用市场不必受医疗法规政策约束。
本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
第3页：Google Glass暂时领先，Apple来势汹汹
相关阅读：
• 可穿戴式设备离上市还有很长的路要走
• 想做谷歌眼镜开发者需要注意的11点
• 可穿戴电子四种应用取向，突破口在哪里？jggesmc
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Google显然已经藉由Project Glass在消费者心目中占据一定份量，但这并不意味着该产品将同样赢得市占率；Google仍将克服不少障碍，包括因为一般使用者所愿意负担的重量有限，而使得其电池续航力受到限制。
总有一天，Apple或是其它公司将会推出像是iWatch、iBelt 或 iShirt…甚至iGlasses等等让我们惊艳的产品，能攫取市场上的某部分需求、但不一定要非常明确；我认为一整套可穿戴式设备共同搭配使用的应用也将具备庞大发展潜力。
多年来，包括飞利浦(Philips)等大厂的研究人员(主要来自欧洲)积极开发导电纱线(conductive yarns)，其主要目标是将可穿戴式传感器直接织进衣物中；这真的是很酷，但看来会是等手表、眼镜甚至皮带等第一代可穿戴式设备诞生之后才会问世的更下一代产品。而当我们迈向“织品计算机”之前，科技与时尚界的合作可能只会激荡碰撞出让智能手机看起来像是一只Hello Kitty娃娃的手机壳。
有鉴于仍有诸多挑战有待克服，我预期真正实用的超便携穿戴式计算机还要等上好几年才会诞生，而在那一天来临之前，就让我们拭目以待吧！
本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
编译：Judith Cheng
参考英文原文：Wearable Computing: Let's Get It On，by Rick Merritt
相关阅读：
• 可穿戴式设备离上市还有很长的路要走
• 想做谷歌眼镜开发者需要注意的11点
• 可穿戴电子四种应用取向，突破口在哪里？jggesmc
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Wearable Computing: Let's Get It On
Rick Merritt
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- I'm convinced ultra-mobile wearable computers will be the next big thing, but it could take a decade before the iPhone of this product class arrives. With Project Glass, Google is intentionally trying to leap ahead, creating a very public prototyping process that is fascinating but by no means guarantees success.
Gordon Bell, an industry veteran investigating the field at Microsoft Research, helped me crystalize my belief in wearables when I chatted with him informally at a recent event celebrating the 40th anniversary of Ethernet. He told me facial recognition and medical sensing are two killer apps for these products.
Bell wore a mobile camera everywhere he went as part of his research program. "What I concluded is that [wearable computers] are a memory assistant," and facial recognition plays a key role in that job, he told a group of us over lunch.
Ironically, the Glass project manager at Google recently said the company currently has no plans to use facial recognition. I suspect that statement was motivated at least in part by privacy concerns and in part by the still nascent state of the technology.
I believe tomorrow's wearables will need to tap into highly accurate facial recognition services and find ways to overcome privacy concerns about them. These are both big challenges.
There's hard technical work ahead making facial recognition of unconstrained populations really accurate -- especially when the data is gathered in the normal course of life using consumer-grade cameras. Making the challenge even tougher, facial recognition systems must handle data sent over mainstream wireless networks, and these systems must respond in time to be useful to the average users as they casually encounter other people.
I can't even begin to untangle the marketing and policy issues around facial recognition. I know they are significant. Like Bell, I believe the app is killer for the product category.
Wearables could also revolutionize healthcare. Researchers at Belgium's IMEC and elsewhere have been working on body area networks for many years, making stepwise advances. Today, Bell wears a Fitbit heart rate monitor. He also has invested in multiple startups specializing in wearable health devices, including Bobo Analytics, which makes a heart sensor worn like a wristwatch.
"I feel strongly you have to get healthcare out of the hands of people like cardiologists," he told me.
He and others see a future where people are continuously monitored. Cloud services analyze and track the data, reporting and hopefully anticipating problems.
Here again, there are technical and market/policy issues. For example, so-called dry sensors casually worn in clothes and accessories have to get much better in collecting accurate data in the midst of the noise in and around the body. And I don't even want to open the Pandora's box of policy issues around liability and reimbursement. They make the debate around Obamacare sound like chamber music.
It's fascinating to watch the growing number of people involved with Google tinker more or less in the public eye with a prototype of the next big thing. But let's get some perspective here -- they are far from the first pioneers in this field.
责编：Quentin
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