Benjamin Franklin once said an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. The wisdom of that axiom still holds today at a time when new technologies have brought us to the brink of fundamental changes in how we lead our daily lives, which can be combined with lasting truths to improve our lives.

The real estate and facility management industry is now implementing Industry 4.0 principles that can improve the health and wellbeing of workers in various facilities. Using elements that utilise the...

It’s 5pm, and it’s time to call it a day. You turn your computer off, but remember that you still need to send a couple of emails. You fold your new laptop a few times, much like you’d fold a piece of paper, and put in your bag. As you do, you don’t even notice the flexible, clear patch on your hand that locks and unlocks office doors and ensures that the lights are off when you’re not there. And it takes care that the AC is off, saving you the trouble of remembering these...

The FDA has put out a recall for almost half a million pacemakers over fears they are vulnerable to being hacked.

In an episode of TV show Homeland, terrorists plotted to hack the vice president’s pacemaker. At the time some may have found the idea ludicrous, but now it’s a very real possibility faced by nearly half a million people.

The pacemakers affected are manufactured by health company Abbott (formerly St. Jude...

When I was growing up, there was a popular commercial on TV. It was an ad for financial services, and the tagline went, “When EF Hutton talks… people listen.”

I guess today, and especially given that the original EF Hutton is long gone, we’d say: “When Apple talks… people listen.”

From PCs to MP3s, smartphones to tablets, Apple has not necessarily been the first to introduce new technologies. They were neither first nor...

Analyst firm Tractica believes that the healthcare applications for smart watches, fitness trackers, and body sensors will be a major driver in the next phase of wearables market growth.

In its recently released report, titled “Wearable Device Market Forecasts”, the market intelligence firm has predicted that the annual wearable device shipments will increase from 118 million units in 2016 to 430 million units by 2022, representing a CAGR of 24.1%.

The report states that the wearables market...

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is set to transform manufacturing – and according to a new report from Zebra Technologies, the number of organisations achieving a fully connected factory will rise ‘dramatically’ in the coming five years.

According to the company’s 2017 Manufacturing Vision Study, almost two thirds (64%) of manufacturers say they expect to be fully connected, using a combination of technologies including RFID, wearables and automated systems, by 2022. Half of...

Xiaomi secured top spot as the largest wearables vendor for the first time in the second quarter of 2017, according to new figures from Strategy Analytics.

The Chinese firm shipped 3.7 million units, capturing 17% of the marketshare, overtaking Fitbit (3.4m) and Apple (2.8m) into second and third place respectively. Overall sales grew 8% to 21.6 million in Q217, from 20 million this time last year.

The figures make for an interesting comparison with long-time wearable watchers IDC, whose

Xiaomi and Apple cannot be separated as the top wearables vendors in the first quarter of 2017, pushing long-time leader Fitbit back, according to the latest figures from IDC.

The analyst firm, posting its latest Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker, found Apple was the biggest growth in branded device shipments – excluding OEM sales – year over year, going from 2.2 million to 3.6 million. Xiaomi technically finished above Apple, with a 14.7% market share compared to 14.6%, but with both on...

Global shipments of wearable devices hit 22 million units in the first quarter of 2017 with Apple overtaking Fitbit to become the world’s largest wearables vendor, according to Strategy Analytics.

In the company’s latest report, Strategy Analytics states that the global wearables shipments figure saw an increase of 21% on an annual basis from 18.2 million in Q1 2016, owing to a stronger demand for new smartwatch models in North America, Western Europe and Asia.

Neil Mawston, executive director at...

After a slowdown in 2016, the overall wearables market is expected to return to strong growth, according to new data from IDC’s worldwide quarterly wearable device tracker.

New vendors, emerging form factors, and an expanded number of retail outlets will drive worldwide wearable device shipments from 102.4 million in 2016 to 237.5 million in 2021, a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.3%.

Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst for IDC mobile device trackers, said: “With the shift...