[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4Cast #729: Has 2020 become the year of the wearable?

[OPLIN OPLIN]

Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.
<http://www.oplin.org/4cast/>
[image: OPLIN 4Cast]

OPLIN 4Cast #729: Has 2020 become the year of the wearable?
December 16th, 2020

[image: Smartwatch on man's wrist] Early this year, I made the decision to
give a fitness wearable another try. I'd had an original Fitbit for some
time, but found that the band was hardly sturdy and it tracked very little.
I thought 2020 might be the time to try something more akin to a
smartwatch, so I bought a Fitbit Versa 2, which also allowed me to receive
text notifications from my phone; a feature I've since come to rely on. Of
course, not long after I purchased it, Fitbit announced the advent of the
Versa 3 and the train of progress moved on.

Wearables have been around for a while, and their capabilities continue to
expand. In 2020 alone, wearable device sales have jumped more than 30%
<https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/20/samsung-wearable-device-sales-are-up-more-than-30percent-this-year.html>--I
wasn't the only one wanting on the wearable bandwagon. A lot has been
happening in this tech space lately.

   -
   - Dating Is Bad Enough Without Adding Wearables to the Mix
   <https://gizmodo.com/dating-is-bad-enough-without-adding-wearables-to-the-mi-1845880627>
   [Gizmodo] "Look, technology and gadgets already play an outsized role in
   making dating miserable. Waiting for texts, getting ghosted, unsolicited
   dick pics, agonizing over whether it’s appropriate to send a peach or
   eggplant emoji, feeling weird when that crappy date finds you on Instagram
   and stalks your Stories—it’s already a nightmare. "
   - Another paper suggests wearable devices can predict COVID-19 before
   symptoms
   <https://www.marketplace.org/2020/12/14/another-paper-suggests-wearable-devices-can-predict-covid-19-before-symptoms/>
   [Marketplace] "Predicting disease would be an unintended feature of the
   Oura device. And smartwatches and fitness trackers have also been found to
   provide early COVID warning signs, with strong data correlations, even for
   patients with no symptoms who can nevertheless spread the disease."
   - Way more than watches: Where wearables are going
   <https://www.digitaltrends.com/wearables/smart-watches-rings-hearables-2020/>
   [Digital Trends] "Sure, the Apple Watch Series 6 is fabulous. But there’s
   reason to look beyond Apple if you’re investigating wearable tech. There’s
   an array of intriguing devices that go way beyond watches, helping us train
   our bodies, stay healthy, and sleep deeper, as well as gadgets that can
   even enhance our innate skills or give us amazing new powers. "
   - Mastercard (MA) Expands in Contactless Wearable Payments Space
   <https://www.yahoo.com/now/mastercard-ma-expands-contactless-wearable-175605301.html>
   [Yahoo] "This chip can be used in a range of battery-less wearables and
   accessories, such as watchstraps or keyrings. These devices can then be
   used for making contactless payments."

*From the Ohio Web Library <http://ohioweblibrary.org>:*

   - WEARABLES FOR SAFETY: Worker Acceptance, Union Buy-In & Data Security
   Measures
   <https://search-ebscohost-com.proxy.oplin.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=144910921&site=ehost-live>
   (Gianatti, T.-L. (2020). WEARABLES FOR SAFETY: Worker Acceptance, Union
   Buy-In & Data Security Measures. *Professional Safety*, *65*(8), 16–17.)
   - Global Wearable Sensors Market Analysis and Outlook to 2026 - Impact
   of COVID-19, Potential Opportunities, Companies and Forecasts
   <https://search-ebscohost-com.proxy.oplin.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&AN=16PU2428650160&site=ehost-live>
   (Global Wearable Sensors Market Analysis and Outlook to 2026 - Impact of
   COVID-19, Potential Opportunities, Companies and Forecasts. (2020).
   *M2PressWIRE*.)
   - VIRAL TECH
   <https://search-ebscohost-com.proxy.oplin.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=145309114&site=ehost-live>
   (accellieri, E. (2020). Viral Tech. *Sports Illustrated*, *131*(11),
   42–47.)

------------------------------
The *OPLIN 4cast* is a weekly compilation of recent headlines, topics, and
trends that could impact public libraries. You can subscribe to it in a
variety of ways, such as:

   - *RSS feed.* You can receive the OPLIN 4cast via RSS feed by
   subscribing to the following URL:
   http://www.oplin.org/4cast/index.php/?feed=rss2.
   - *E-mail.* You can have the OPLIN 4cast delivered via e-mail (a'la
   OPLINlist and OPLINtech) by subscribing to the 4cast mailing list at
   http://lists.oplin.org/mailman/listinfo/OPLIN4cast.

© 2020 Ohio Public Library Information Network
[image: Find us on Slideshare] <http://www.slideshare.net/oplin>  [image:
Find us on Facebook] <http://www.facebook.com/oplin.org>  [image: Find us
on Google+] <https://plus.google.com/107751358238995507967>  [image: Find
us on Twitter] <http://www.twitter.com/oplin>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.oplin.org/pipermail/oplin4cast/attachments/20201216/5a2fc699/attachment.htm>