Internet of Things & Wearable Technology Insights

There’s a movement taking place, says Tech Republic – and it’s focused on wearables and their use in the enterprise. More than 93% of companies participating in a recent APX Labs survey reported that they are evaluating wearable technology, and 87% believe that it will have a significant impact across their industry within the next five years.

“The invisible revolution that is underway is bigger than we thought it was,” said Brian Ballard, CEO and co-founder of APX Labs, the developer of the Skylight platform for enterprise wearable technology.

The purpose of the survey was to see who is using or evaluating wearables, and what they are interested in. Wearable technology is growing, with Gartner reporting smart glasses will result in $1 billion annual cost savings in the field services industry alone, and IMS Research estimating the wearable technology marketplace will grow to $6 billion by 2016....

Google Glass may be the most buzzworthy wearable display at the moment, but it’s far from being the only device of its kind.

If we learned anything at CES 2014, it’s that heads-up displays are getting more polished and are offering more functionality than ever before–giving Google some fierce competition. From wearable devices that augment your reality to simple spectacles that bring notifications from your phone to your face, here are some of the most compelling Glass alternatives.

BMW has started a pilot project to test the impact of wearable technology in improving quality assurance of its cars. Workers at the company’s South Carolina plant are using Google Glass to record and document potential deviations in the cars.

The project is a part of the BMW Industry 4.0 campaign, which is designed to evaluate the application of new technologies to provide support to workers in production and production planning.

BMW project coordinator Dr. Jörg Schulte said, “During the term of the pilot project, we are planning to add a video call feature so that a problem can be discussed with the responsible development areas right there and then.”...