At CEATEC (Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies), an exhibition-event on the world of technology held annually in Japan, there have been some good things: glasses that teach you the way home, sensors that can detect the direction of the customer gaze, T-shirts that record the wearer's heartbeat.
Toshiba Glass, the smart glasses of the Japanese electronics giant, not only point the wearer in the right direction, but also offer a simultaneous translation service and can also have an industrial use, assisting workers at work , whispering in their ear the instructions and warnings necessary to best perform a given task. “We still don't know which type of wearable electronic media will be the favorite in the future,” notes Toshiba chief research scientist Yoshiyuki Kokojima. “Sure”, he adds, “constantly looking at a small screen like our glasses can be tiring, but a lot of information can be gathered with a quick glance and without even having to make the effort to lift a finger”. NTT Docomo, on the other hand, a leading operator in the field of mobile telephony, exhibits a T-shirt made of a special fabric capable of detecting heart beats; the data is then transmitted to a smartphone on which a specific application is installed. Fujitsu operates in a completely different field, which is aimed at bar and night club managers, presenting a device capable of guessing the tastes of customers in terms of alcohol. Small sensors scattered throughout the room identify which bottles the eyes of patrons intent on consuming a drink are directed to and provide the barman with valuable information on the preferences of his customers, adding a series of data on the origin, characteristics and price of each individual bottle. “This could be the way to do marketing in the future” comments Naoki Mishiro.
