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The Future is Wearable Computers

Posted on September 26, 2018 by admin Posted in Hardware, User Interface Leave a comment

What it is: At Apple’s latest event, the Apple Watch stole the show from the latest iPhone.

At one time, everyone used a PC to do everything from finding driving directions to chatting in real time with instant messaging apps like ICQ and AOL Instant Messenger. Then the world shifted to mobile computing with smartphones and tablets. Now many people rely solely on their smartphone to do many tasks, meaning they don’t need a PC as often or even at all.

The shift to mobile computing helped kill the growth of the PC market. Now the next big shift is moving from mobile computing to wearable computers. At Apple’s recent event, the Apple Watch proved far more interesting than the latest iPhone. Each iPhone offers more improvements but the Apple Watch is where all the major advances are occurring.

The Apple Watch is evolving into a real-time health monitor but also with optional cell phone calling. Now you can make and receive calls directly from your Apple Watch. Since the Apple Watch is with you at all times, there’s far less chance of misplacing your device to make and receive calls.

For elderly people, the Apple Watch adds a crucial feature that detects falls. If you fall and don’t get up, the Apple Watch will automatically call for help. The main difference between the iPhone and the Apple Watch is that the Apple Watch is with you all the time. That’s the crucial difference between mobile computers and PCs. You can’t take a PC with you all the time but you can take a smartphone with you.

Likewise, you can’t always guarantee you’ll have your smartphones with you at all times but you can guarantee you’ll have an Apple Watch with you at all times just as long as you remember to strap it on in the first place.

The smartphone replaced the PC because it let you take a computer wherever you happen to be. The wearable computer will replace smartphones because it not only goes wherever you go, but it’s harder to misplace or lose. The Apple Watch is the future of Apple and computing in general.

One huge problem with smartphones is that they keep getting bigger, yet an Apple Watch is far simpler to carry. Eventually, expect people to rely on the Apple Watch to make and receive phone calls, and then rely on an iPhone or iPad to do anything else such as watching videos or browsing the Internet.

The Apple Watch and wearable computers is the future of computing.

To read about the latest features of the Apple Watch compared to past versions, click here.

Lower Life Insurance Premiums with the Apple Watch

Posted on September 20, 2018 by admin Posted in Business, Hardware, Medical Leave a comment

What it is: John Hancock is offering lower life insurance premiums for people who use a wearable computer to track their health.

Insurance companies are in the business of making money and to do that, they need more people to pay in than they pay out. To avoid paying out claims in life insurance, John Hancock is turning to an “interactive life insurance” policy. That means if people exercise and track their health using a wearable computer like an Apple Watch, their life insurance premiums will be lower.

The goal is to keep people healthy as long as possible so John Hancock won’t have to pay out life insurance benefits. Yet that shows how the Apple Watch and other wearable computers are proving valuable as real-time health monitors. To encourage people to use a wearable computer, John Hancock offers it as at a discount. The company’s goal is purely monetary, but the benefits means Apple Watch and other wearable computer users can stay healthy and enjoy life longer as a result.

For anyone still confused about the purpose of the Apple Watch, think real-time health monitoring. If you’re concerned about staying healthy and alive, then you need an Apple Watch. For those critics who don’t care about staying healthy or alive, feel free to ignore the benefits of wearable computers and take yourself out of the gene pool prematurely.

The wearable computer market is the next hot market after the mobile market of smartphones and tablets. At Apple’s last event on September 12, the company introduced new iPhones but the Apple Watch stole the show. Eventually, more wearable computers such as smart glasses will steal the show too, and the iPhone will just become another commodity like the Macintosh.

The future shifted from traditional PCs to mobile computing, then to wearable computers. The Apple Watch is just the start of wearable computing with smart glasses promising to become the next big product. Hopefully if you use the Apple Watch, you can improve your chances of being alive long enough to see and use Apple’s next wearable computer in the next few years.

The Apple Watch as a Health Monitor

Posted on September 14, 2018 by admin Posted in Hardware, Medical Leave a comment

What it is: The latest Apple Watch offers electrocardiogram, which is new for a consumer product.

When the Apple Watch first appeared, people wondered why they would need one. After all, an iPhone worked just fine and the Apple Watch offered a much smaller screen. While the iPhone and iPad App Store had taken off in popularity, the App Store for the Apple Watch remains more or less stagnant. Most people don’t use an Apple Watch for anything but brief glances, so constant interactivity is fairly useless on an Apple Watch.

Yet the biggest strength of the Apple Watch is its ability to monitor health symptoms in real-time passively. Once you strap an Apple Watch on, it keeps recording your health data, which is why adding an electrocardiogram is a huge feature.

Users can put their finger on the digital crown as the Apple Watch passes a current across the chest to track electrical signals in the heart, directly, which is far more accurate than interpreting based on pulse. The process takes about 30 seconds and the user will receive a heart rhythm classification. Normal rhythms will be classified as “sinus” rhythm, and the Watch will also classify irregular rhythms, such as atrial fibrillation.

While this may not be as accurate as a dedicated machine, this feature in the Apple Watch can detect possible heart irregularities early. The early a problem is detected, the sooner the person can get medical attention, thereby saving lives. Previous versions of the Apple Watch have already saved numerous lives and now this latest feature can potentially save many more.

While young people have traditionally been the market for new technology, the Apple Watch is unique in that is targets older people. The newest Apple Watch can detect when a person falls and then contact emergency services automatically if the person doesn’t get up. This will likely cause many young people to buy one for their elderly parents. Now the real trick is getting these elderly people to wear the Apple Watch regularly.

The Apple Watch is mostly a self-contained unit, unlike the iPhone and iPad. The Apple Watch App Store will likely remain small compared to the iPhone and iPad App Store, but that’s because the products target two different uses. The iPhone and iPad is great for interaction on the go. The Apple Watch is far better for brief glances and constant health monitoring, which neither the iPhone or iPad can do easily.

As long as Apple continues pursuing health benefits with the Apple Watch, the Apple Watch has the potential to become a huge product that could dwarf the iPhone. Not everyone needs an iPhone, but everyone is concerned about their health, especially the elderly. Since the world is aging in many countries, the Apple Watch will continue growing as well. The future isn’t just mobile, but wearable computers, and the leader in wearables will be the Apple Watch.

The History of the Apple Watch

Posted on September 10, 2018 by admin Posted in Business, Hardware Leave a comment

What it is: On September 12, Apple will announce new Apple Watch models.

When Apple introduced the Apple Watch in 2014, many people didn’t understand why someone might want a wearable computer. Like any new product, sales were slow at first but now after several generations, people have figured out that the best use for the Apple Watch is real-time health monitoring.

The latest Apple Watch promises better health sensors along with a larger screen and thinner body to make it lighter than before. However, the basic functions of the Apple Watch remain the same. First, real-time health monitoring. Second, providing short notifications easily visible without the need to pull out an iPhone. However a third basic function is that the Apple Watch really works best when paired with an iPhone or a Macintosh. That makes it easy for people to buy other Apple products and pull you into Apple’s ecosystem. Once people start using two Apple products, they’ll be far less likely to switch to a rival product.

Although the September 12 event will focus on the Apple Watch, keep an eye out for smart bands, a rumored product that first appeared when the Apple Watch was introduced. The idea behind smart bands is to provide extra sensors that most people might not need in an Apple Watch. In addition, some health sensors require government approval (such as glucose monitors) so Apple won’t want to delay the launch of any Apple Watch model just for a feature most people may never need or use.

So smart bands could contain additional sensors that people need. Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, even hinted a long time ago that he was wearing and testing a glucose monitor so people with diabetes can monitor their glucose intake as they eat. While such a glucose monitor may be further in the future, it’s going to come to the Apple Watch eventually and it will likely come in the form of a smart band.

The Apple Watch is continuing to grow and already dominates the wearable computer market with its growth assured for many years. While people think of Apple as an iPhone company, they’re actually much more with the Apple Watch threatening to surpass the iPhone in the long term future.

When you think of all the benefits people have found with the Apple Watch today, it’s hard to imagine people were so critical of the Apple Watch when it was first introduced. Then gain, people were also critical of the Macintosh, the iPhone, the iPod, the iPod, iTunes, and practically everything else that has revolutionized the world, so the next time Apple introduces something new, don’t think of how the new technology fails to duplicate the old technology. Think of what the new technology can do that the old technology cannot do, and that will be its greatest advantage.

To read the history of the Apple Watch, click here.

Wearable Computers Used to Track Chronic Health Conditions

Posted on August 30, 2018 by admin Posted in Hardware, Medical Leave a comment

What it is: Users track chronic health issues with wearable computers.

When Apple first released the Apple Watch, many people couldn’t see a need for one. Over time, Apple Watch users have found the best uses for their device and that involves real-time health tracking. Because a wearable computer can monitor a user’s health without the user’s constant interaction, the Apple Watch can easily monitor health symptoms and store this data for analysis.

Using data collected by the popular health app Cardiogram, researchers noticed that a vast majority of real-time health tracking isn’t just for improving health such as athletes might need, but for managing and tracking chronic health conditions. In other words, if you currently have a serious health condition, a wearable like the Apple Watch can help you monitor your condition so it doesn’t suddenly get worse.

For anyone still confused as to the purpose of the Apple Watch, they just need to protect their health. That’s a simple explanation for why someone might want an Apple Watch that anyone can understand. You might not need an Apple Watch to make phone calls (but it can be handy to have a phone strapped to your wrist, especially for the elderly who may fall down). You might not need an Apple Watch to play games, but you might want an Apple Watch to help you monitor your current health conditions so they don’t get worse.

Protecting your health and monitoring it in real-time is the main use for the Apple Watch. If you’re not interested in your health, then you probably don’t need anything else either from medicine and diagnosis machines to wearable computers like the Apple Watch. If you’re like most people who do care about your health, the Apple Watch can literally be a life saver.

Apple to Design Own Health Processors?

Posted on August 14, 2018 by admin Posted in Hardware, Software Leave a comment

What it is: Apple may be designing their own processors for health sensors on the Apple Watch.

It’s no secret that Apple wants to custom design their own processors to optimize the performance of their products. Unlike Android smartphones and tablets that use off-the-shelf components, Apple uses optimized processors that allows the iPhone and iPad to run faster than similar Android devices even if those Android devices sport more RAM and faster processors.

Now Apple may be designing their own health processors for health sensors embedded in the Apple Watch. The main goal is to offer a non-invasive glucose monitoring sensor that could be used on the Apple Watch. Such a proprietary sensor would not only create a huge market worldwide, but also lock any competitors out from using similar technology.

The Apple Watch and wearable computers are the future. Just as the iPhone surpassed the Macintosh as Apple’s primary product, so will the Apple Watch eventually surpass the iPhone as Apple’s primary product.

Microsoft isn’t competing against the Apple Watch, having abandoned their Microsoft Band product after two generations. Samsung and other Android device makers keep trying to push wearable devices but they lack the same level of integration that Apple can offer through the Apple Watch in unlocking your Macintosh or paying for products through Apple Pay.

The combination of the iPhone and Apple Watch will fuel the future for years to come. If Apple can perfect non-invasive glucose monitoring using proprietary sensors, that’s the time when Apple will become a health company and less of an iPhone company. That’s why Apple is really pursuing proprietary health processors because that’s the future and that’s the big prize if they’re successful.