Google, Apple Targeting Geeks with Wearable Computers

Get ready for the future of wearable tech.

Google and maybe Apple are working on ways for consumers to wear their mobile operating systems and apps, from Google Glasses to the Apple iWatch. Google unveiled Project Glass last year. Rumors of an Apple iWatch in development was reported by the New York Times recently.

Would you wear Google Glasses?

If you’re a fan of the Terminator movies, you’d be a candidate for Google Glasses. Imagine walking around downtown in a virtual reality where buildings and people are immediately identified via location mapping and face recognition. There goes Sarah Conner!

How about Apple iWatch?

If you used to wear a calculator watch as a kid, you’d be a candidate for an Apple iWatch (as well as a potential contestant on “King of the Nerds”). The only problem is that you’ll have to squint to surf the Web or read email – that is, until Apple comes out with a hologram emerging from the watch like something out of Star Wars.

The idea of wearable tech has been around for a long time, at least since the days of the Dick Tracy watch. My favorite is The Star Trek Next Generation communicator, a metallic badge shaped in the form of a Star Trek insignia pinned to the shirt. (For more, check out iPad’s Starring Role in Sci-Fi Movies.)

I also recall in the late 1990s talk of a shirt with gadgets embedded in it, but the shirt never caught on. Perhaps it was ahead of its time. So is the time ripe for wearable tech today?

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Yes, it is.

Wearable tech goes hand-in-hand with the geek culture. And for the first time in, well, forever, it’s cool to be a geek. Case-in-point: The hit television show “The Big Bang Theory” celebrates the brilliant nerd who gets a kick out of technology and gaming. The confident geek has replaced the steroid-mired athlete and plastic movie star as someone to appreciate.

We’re living in a geek fest, folks. So whaddya going to wear to the party?

Here’s a picture of the Big Bang Theory’s stars in a recent episode illustrating the movement. So hitch a ride and jump on board. Come to think of it, Howard Wolowitz’s Star Trek Borg costume is some killer wearable tech, too.