A COMPUTER YOU CAN WEAR Mirah steps outside during her lunch break She glances down at the device strapped around her wrist It looks like a sleek watch but it’s much more It’s called a smart watch Mirah presses the screen of the watch Suddenly it flashes to life It displays the time Then it tells her she’s taken more than 8,000 steps since she woke up Mirah has started a new fitness routine She is halfway to her daily goal Mirah looks at the device again She swipes left The smart watch shows that her heart rate is in the normal range Then the The Apple Watch has many different apps It can help people check messages and see incoming calls as well as tell the time
SMART GLASSES Designers and engineers are working on smart glasses that feel like regular glasses Previous types of smart glasses have been too heavy They have been hard to use The technology company Intel has developed a new type of smart glasses called Vaunt These glasses look like regular glasses But they project a display onto the wearer’s eyes This display can show text messages map directions and incoming phone calls The battery life is expected to be 18 hours for the smart elements But the glasses will still help correct vision even when the battery runs out smart watch beeps A text message appears Mirah’s friend Kayla wants to join her on her walk Mirah smiles and sends a reply Mirah’s smart watch is a piece of wearable technology These devices are also known as wearables Wearables are computers worn on the body They are different from other electronics people could wear in the past such as pagers or CD players Each wearable has sensors that collect data about the person wearing it This helps people reach their goals for exercise diets and other activities
Olympic gold medalist tennis player Bethanie Mattek-Sands wore Google Glass wearables to a party in 2013 Google Glass was discontinued for consumers in 2015 GROWING RANGE OF PRODUCTS In the 1960s computers were very large They took up entire rooms In the 1980s desktop computers became
