Tech media has been awash with Apple Watch release date, features, and news this week. For those wanting hands-on practical workshops on the Apple Watch, look no further than the upcoming Wearables TechCon 2015, the largest technical conference and expo for software developers, engineers, and designers of wearable devices. The premiere West Coast wearables conference will be held March 9-11 in Santa Clara, CA.
Exhibitors include UICO, IBM, Sony, Intel, Applause, Epson, Freescale, and UL. Qaizar Hassonjee, Senior Director of Business Development and Partnerships, Adidas will present the keynote address.
Wearables TechCon is expected to draw over 2,500 engineers, designers, developers, and entrepreneurs. The wearables conference will offer nearly 60 classes under the Hardware and Design track, Software and App Development track, and Wearables Business Opportunities track. Every session features a substantive line up of case studies, analyses, workshops, practitioner speakers, and networking opportunities to provide the deepest industry insights and to facilitate professional connections.
Three In-Depth Tracks
The Hardware and Design track will cover product design, electronic engineering for wearable devices and embedded development, prototype to production, drones, robots, wireless charging, biometric wearable sensors, sensor hubs, and manufacturing, to name a few.
The Software and App Development track will offer classes on Apple WatchKit, Android Wear, Google Fit, Apple Health Kit, Bluetooth smart app, designer’s guide to UI for wearables, POV live video-streaming application, voice and chat-enabled wearables, and device notification etiquette.
Demand for Apple Watch design and development sessions has opened up the following new classes this week:
- Apple Watch Tells the Industry What Time It Is: A discussion of how much of a game-changer the Apple Watch will be in 2015
- Hello, WatchKit: A deep dive into the software development kit for the Apple Watch
- Architecting Your App for WatchKit: What you need to know
- Apple Watch: Designing an Interface with Storyboards: A walkthrough of graphical and design considerations when designing an app for the Apple Watch
- Getting Started with Fitness Data for App Developers in the App Store and Play Store: What will the Apple Watch mean for fitness apps?
- Android Wear vs. the Apple Watch for Developers: Finally, get down and dirty in this feature-by-feature comparison for developers
The Wearables Business Opportunities track will offer practical presentations and workshops on how to successfully fund a wearable startup through crowdfunding, developing wearable apps that win user loyalty, medical wearables, leveraging ecosystems and cooperation to win in the wearables market, wearables and the connected consumer experience, and more.
Scott Amyx, the founder and CEO of Amyx+, a wearables strategy agency specializing in smart wearables strategy and development will be speaking on affective computing and sentiment analysis in wearables. His presentation will explore new dimensions of context, geolocation, behavioral pattern, and biometrics. The human-computer interaction academic field has been researching emotion recognition through the use of physiological parameters measured by wearable sensors, such as ECG, accelerometers, EMG, body impedance, skin conductivity, heart rate variability, blood volume pulse, breathing rate and volume to determine mental conditions such as emotions, mood, depression, attention level, stress, and anxiety. Amyx will describe how the dimensions of affective computing, when layered with artificial intelligence, can determine a person’s emotional reaction to user engagement.
Four Panels with Industry Leaders
In addition to the three featured tracks, Wearables TechCon 2015 will also showcase four business critical panels:
- Ethics: Wearables, Data Collection, and Privacy
- Visions: The Future of Augmented Reality Devices
- The Quantified Self: Fitness Devices and Apps
- What’s Up Doc? The Wearable Healthcare Revolution
Wearables TechCon is produced by BZ Media LLC, which publishes SD Times, the leading magazine for the software development industry. BZ Media also produces AnDevCon, the world’s largest Android Developer Conference; Big Data TechCon, the how-to technical conference for IT professionals implementing Big Data; InterDrone, the International Drone Conference and Exposition; and SPTechCon: The SharePoint Technology Conference.
For pricing and registration information, visit the Wearables TechCon 2105 website.
Originally published on the Examiner on February 19, 2015. Author Scott Amyx.
