Tech, Meet Fashion
Intel and Opening Ceremony Collaborate on MICA, a
Stylish Tech Bracelet
By NICK BILTONSEPT. 3, 2014
It’s time we stopped calling the current crop of gadgets
“wearable tech.” Instead, I propose we start giving them a more appropriate
name: “ugly tech.” Because let’s be realistic, most wearables today are really,
really ugly.
Take the Pebble, a smart watch with a black-and-white
screen, which first had its debut on Kickstarter in 2012. While geeks love the
watch for its ability to show text messages and emails, the device itself looks
like a small Kindle strapped to your wrist. Smartwatches made by LG, Samsung
and Sony aren’t much better, with cheesy faux leather or rubber straps, and
thick masculine watch faces that look as if they’re supposed to be paired with
a pocket protector.
The Neptune Pine watch is so large, with its
2.4-inch screen, that at first glance it appears to be a joke product meant to
poke fun at other gadgets. (Alas, it’s very real.)
But this genre of ugly could be on the precipice of change. On
Tuesday, Apple, the venerable leader of cool, is expected to unveil a wearable
iWatch that will, given the company’s track record, likely be the opposite of
ugly.
The less-glamorous Pebble shows text
messages and emails. CreditNatalia V. Osipova/The
New York Times
While we don’t have much of an idea what the coveted iWatch will look like, I was
able to glean one small detail from people at Apple who work on the company’s
wearables.
