By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

We’re going to be hearing a lot about wearable computing. Products extending features of smartphones, tracking health and movement,  and the perfect cocktail from the billion dollar industries of technology and fashion.

Wearable computing is this year’s big story. We’re apparently so over-teched that our smartphones, tablets and ultrabooks aren’t enough  to satisfy our data consumption needs. Our desire to track, measure, capture, share, like, Tweet and check-in needs to extend to peripherals that we now have to wear.

Some of them are cool and actually useful when applied in certain situations.

A smart watch can alert you of sudden weather changes, an important phone call or message and even help control cameras remotely.

Google Glass may look silly or even creepy on some people, specially when worn in public. But when used as a connected heads up display (HUD) can be applied to medicine, surgery, space exploration, manufacturing, adventure travel and even sports like Formula 1 racing.

But there’s still a long way to go for wearables because being new, they are generally expensive, limited to very specific devices since there are no standards across devices and they still look unwieldy.

Some smart watches can’t seem to move away from the wristwatch analogy and as a result their products looks freakish, cheap and rather ugly.

I understand wearing devices in the name of science but to have all this technology strapped on to your head, wrist and wherever else doesn’t only look funny, it feels unnatural. Also, there’s no telling what the long-term  effect of constant transmission of cellular, bluetooth and WiFi signals so close to one’s body everyday, all-day.

Wearable computing, as well as Internet of Things, are all part of the latest trend in technology where everything is connected and everything is smart. But is it, really? Manufacturers will continue to explore these areas and create products, early adopters and users will be the beta testers but there’s no real proposed benefit to these devices as they stand today.

There’s also the fashion aspect of wearable computing and so far we’ve seen brands like Nike, Adidas and a few other field their own products but we have yet to see a true merger between a technology company and a fashion brand to create something that people will actually want to wear.

So, it is too early to tell if wearable computing is overhyped. It may very well be the next best thing in technology but so many things need to be in concert for this to work. Hardware, software, ecosystem and fashion all need to play a big part to make this enticing to the masses.