"The things we wear on our bodies are an extension of ourselves -- a signifier of personality, gender, age, style, background and everything else that makes us who we are." -- Belindar Parmar, CEO of Lady Geek

One Cool Thing

• A while ago Kenneth recomended the podcast "Walking Back the Cat" to Robin, and there he found his Cool Thing, namely an app for Android called TextSecure. This handy thing replaces your SMS app and (when it can) encrypts your messages.
• After that Kenneth spoke of the posibillity for the game Sanctum 2 to come to Linux. Breaking news from an interview he did with Armin from Coffee Stain Studios for episode 1428 of Hacker Public Radio. Go listen to it!
• Do you want to send links to music to your friends? Henrik introduces us to a service by Tomahawk, that helps you find the relevant way for the recipient to be able to listen to it. Through Spotify, SoundCloud or whatever works best. Neat!
• John-Erik made us interested in the Retron 3 from Hyperkin, a retro gaming console able to play games made for the NES, FAMICOM, SNES, GBA and Genesis, with cordless controlers and other goodness. Might be availlable in Swedish store Kapten Krok, as well as on an Internet near you!

Shownotes

Finally, our hosts arrive at the All In IT Radio Space Station (AIITRSS?) to take a better look at today's world of technology. This time the center of attention is wearable technology, and who else to give us insight than John-Erik Eriksson! He's the proud owner and user of the Samsung Galaxy Gear, a new smartwatch to go with your Samsung smartphone. John-Erik describes it as a well-built device with great display, better battery life than expected and a build quality you could expect from a watch. The price of the device, about 2000SEK, is definitely understandable when looking on the tech specs (4GB internal memory, 512MB RAM, 1.9MP camers, 720p video recording...), but according to John-Erik he would never buy it separately, as he got it bundled with his new Galaxy Note 3. Also, the list of supported devices for the Galaxy Gear isn't that big, only mentioning Samsung devices such as Note 2, Note 3, S3 and S4. John-Erik is impressed with the technology, but concludes by saying that the Galaxy Gear is not for everyone, especially not himself. Kenneth, Robin and Henrik agree that the price might not be that bad, considering the amount of money people spend on ordinary watches. Robin would like to see more well-designed smartwatches that looks and feels more like an ordinary watch, rather than a small screen slapped on a wristband.

Next, the guys continue to look deeper into the wearable technology, discussing products and technologies such as Google Glass, smart contact lenses, training wrist bands, Pebble, ski goggles with HUD (Heads-Up Display) and even smart bras. Robin is very interested in the possibility of wearable tech in your daily training and fitness routines. Henrik mentions Google Glass as one of the most impressive things, but recalls things like helmet mounted cameras (e.g. GoPro) being used since the early 00's in motor sports and ski slopes. All agrees on the note that stuff like smart watches still are in the early stages, not performing that great and looks bulky, poorly designed or just plain ugly. Another note from Kenneth is that wearable technology should in some way interact with your body, mentioning Google's contact lenses for diabetics as an example. Henrik mentions that wearable tech should be easy to interact with in your everday life, not stealing too much attention or active thinking.

On the question of what wearable technology they would actually use, John-Erik mentions a motorcycle helmet with built-in GPS system and HUD, a fully voice controlled smartphone and an Ironman suit(!) Henrik really likes the ski goggles from Oakley and Recon Instruments, with a HUD, GPS, smartphone connectivity and built-in camera. He also remembers owning a piece of wearable technology, the T-Qualizer, a t-shirt with built-in equalizer displaying the audio volume. Kenneth wants a Direct Neural Interface, to connect his brain straight to the Internet.

Another aspect of wearable technology discussed in this episode is regarding open vs closed source code, vulnerability and data privacy. What happens when your life-depending device, a surgically placed heart defibrillator mentioned as example, stops working and you need to fix it but the device builds on closed source code? Can your smart refridgerator get hacked and send spam to the neighbours? Is your data from those afternoon exercises uploaded to Google and used in marketing? As always, the future looks bright and scary.

Links mentioned in todays show

• C|NET: "Three things Samsung learned from Galaxy Gear version No. 1"
• Swedroid: "Galaxy Gear kan användas med Nexus 4 genom knep" [Swedish]
• Wired.co.uk: "Why wearable tech is unwearable"
• SlipperyBrick: "Predictions of Wearable Technology"
• TechCrunch: "Google Unveils Smart Contact Lens That Lets Diabetics Measure Their Glucose Levels"
• care2: "Microsoft's New 'Smart' Bra Could Stop You From Over Eating"
• Youtube: Karen Sandler: Proactivism, where she talks a bit about the proprietary device that could save her life
• Lifehacker: "SquareWear Is a Tiny, Wearable Arduino"
• Twitter: Stuart Langridge asks why phones don't have the same lack of bezels as smart watches.
• Tqualizer, a cool wearable technology that Henrik has had for years
• The Oakley Airwave Goggles are high tech for your time in the ski slopes.
• ReconJet is a HUD for people on the move.

Let us wrap this up!

Send your feedback to the group !aiitr at Identi.ca or mark it with hashtag #aiitr at Twitter, you find me at both Identi.ca and Twitter as @AlltInomIT. Henrik you find at @Warpfuz, Robin at @RobinHarming and we recommend that you use G+ to reach John-Erik.

Theme music today by Ohmy's Sounds.
Music is released under Creative Commons BY 3.0.