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Comment by plg | Hacker News Reader

prediction 1: we will soon see smartwatches incorporate biometric measurement full force. After all unlike a mobile phone, a smartwatch is (typically) always attached to your body, right up against the skin.

prediction 2: once prediction 1 starts to happen, and people realize that (1) there is a device measuring physiological signals from their body, (2) it also has a gps tracker, (3) it is also connected to "the cloud" and (4) if it is android based, it is potentially sending all this info to the google-borg, there will be (I hope) a new imperative to have an honest discussion about privacy

or not

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> there will be (I hope) a new imperative to have an honest discussion about privacy

No, people will be excited that they can have a Fitbit, camera, and phone all in one.

> prediction 1: we will soon see smartwatches incorporate biometric measurement full force. After all unlike a mobile phone, a smartwatch is (typically) always attached to your body, right up against the skin.

That's why I think Basis B1 [1] is the most interesting of all "smartwatches". It's a pity they are basically out of stock since several months.

[1] http://www.mybasis.com/

> once prediction 1 starts to happen, (...) there will be...

...people that will want to use it to track their kids

I agree with both, but the discussion will probably be similar to the ones being had today. We're all upset, but "we" are the minority.

Even if smartwatches become a trend, they will still be worn by some limited percentage of the population. Out of that limited percentage, an even further limited percentage will understand the privacy issues. And a smaller yet percentage of those folk will actually care about the privacy issues enough to do something about it.

At Neumitra:

1) We build more medical watches than gadgets. Right up against the skin means great data quality if you take biometric data seriously in terms of the problems that can be solved. But comfort and fit are extremely important to get right.

2) We build around a data co-op model. If you share your data we show how your health data relates to everyone else. You get more info by giving. If you choose not to share, we can't share the crowd with you. You become an island unto yourself.

P.s. We're hiring: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6311608

I would love prediction 1 to come true and already have a Pebble. To be honest though, I couldn't care less about the privacy "problem" of having a cloud-connected wearable on you.

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