When someone shows me a piece of wearable technology, I’m generally underwhelmed by the experience. Google Glass…well, let’s be honest, I’m not going to talk to you with one of those toys on your head. You can take it off or leave me alone. Let’s have a conversation – something proving evermore impossible these days, when our attention is routinely pulled away from conversation partners towards miniature mobile screens or gargantuan television sets. How can I expect a better attempt at civility when you’re mentally googling everything I say?
I must also confess a similar element of cynicism when I recently attended a Liverpool Girl Geeks event in The Studio School situated in Liverpool’s upcoming Baltic Triangle, although for rather different reasons.
The keynote speaker at this meeting was Fiona from Kiroco Jewellery, who was promoting Kiroco Touch, her company’s latest innovation. Kiroco Touch uses NFC chip technology within an actual item of jewellery for recording a message or video.
Okay, so what? I mused. Why would you want to mix up jewellery and technology? You’ve got email and text for communicating, whereas jewellery is something you put on to look good, albeit with a sweet thought attached. The distant, fuzzy memory of being given the item is surely enough.
But hang on one moment, I questioned while remembering moments passed: moments when I have been separated from loved ones and experienced the rush of excitement on hearing that beautiful beep heralding the arrival of an SMS back when mobile phones first became attainable for Joe Average. That all seems passée today, when messages tend to relay football scores or shopping item requests, or even the commonplace let-downs and excuses from friends and not-to-be dates.
Imagine receiving a message alert and knowing that this really is something special waiting for you, a heartfelt sentiment rather than a tiresome “OK” or an ironic emoticon, because this is not a device that can be hijacked and intermingled with the hum drum utterances of daily life.
Furthermore, within this beautiful item of jewellery, a tangible memory is captured, one you can revisit and keep safe. In essence, Kiroco Jewellery has discovered how to bring jewellery to life and make it interactive.
The message on the NFC chip can be read by scanning the trinket with your mobile device, through which you watch your message unfold. No-one else can access this data without your mobile phone and accessory. What’s more, messages can be updated by your loved one periodically, creating fresh memories. A cache of all these updates can be accessed through an app which displays the entire history chronologically. Given Kiroco’s expertise in the field of aesthetics, the jewellery looks truly wearable, not crude and functional, setting it apart from other products that come under the “wearable tech” umbrella. For this reason, Kiroco Jewellery was recently honoured with the accolade of Best Innovation of the Year.
Naturally, I had some questions, and Kiroco were very prompt in getting back to me:
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My main concern is that technology has never been made to last. Jewellery, however, is something that should endure forever if you pay good money for it. What happens as technology advances and the chip becomes obsolete? Will we feel our product is somehow broken and unusable just as I felt about my mobile phone when the camera refused to work?
Do you see yourself wearing or purchasing an item such as Kiroco Touch and do you see potential in this kind of technology?
ordinaryDoesDigital 