Plantronics Addresses the What, How and Why of Wireless Connectivity and Wearables at Wearables DevCon 2014
Hackathons focused on application development for wearable technologies
are an important testing ground for pushing the limits of these emerging
devices. To-date, Plantronics’
(NYSE: PLT) innovations team, PLT
Labs, has participated in 10 hackathons nationwide and shared its
Wearable Concept 1 device with scores of developers. On March 5-7,
developers will gather for additional face time with PLT Labs and other
industry experts during Wearables
DevCon 2014 – an inaugural show devoted to the wearable tech
developer community.
During the show, PLT Labs head of innovation, Cary Bran, will outline
the core pillars of wireless connectivity for wearable devices and share
practical guidance on how developers can choose the right technology and
development routes for particular use cases and platforms.
“Wearable tech gives today’s software developers an unprecedented
opportunity to create applications leveraging information that until now
has been out of reach,” said Cary Bran, head of PLT Labs and senior
director of Innovation and New Ventures, Plantronics. “Understanding
this opportunity and the associated technology challenges will be
critical for developers and businesses alike, as together they strive to
create applications that will enrich not only individual experiences but
also the much larger and growing wearable tech ecosystem as a whole.”
Developer Momentum and Wearable Concept 1
Wearable Concept 1, developed by the PLT Labs team, takes Plantronics’
flagship technology beyond audio into true wearables territory and
provides developers with a platform to create new applications and use
cases for this emerging tech.
PLT Labs has been working with developers across the country to help
make wearable tech-related applications a reality through its
participation at key hackathons throughout the country. Major events and
results include:
-
AT&T Internet
of Things Hackathon Series
-
This hackathon series comprised four events across the nation,
culminating in a final match between all of the top individual
hack winners during the AT&T Developer Summit on Jan. 5, 2014 in
Las Vegas.
-
During this “finale” hack, second place went to Leverage,
who created a virtual personal trainer using Wearable Concept 1’s
accelerometers to detect what workout a user is performing. Third
place went to Universal
Voice Remote, who used Wearable Concept 1’s tap detection to
wake up the app.
-
AT&T
| SIC (Seattle Interactive Conference) Mobile App Hackathon
-
Taking a cue from Seattle’s music scene, the winning team from
this event, Hackcouture.io,
built a gesture-detecting glove and accompanying air guitar game, Metalhead,
using Wearable Concept 1’s on board, nine-axis sensors to detect
“head bang” movement and incorporate it into the game experience.
-
Overall, four of the event’s five finalists chose to leverage the
capabilities in PLT Labs Wearable Concept 1 device to create
unique wearable solutions.
-
Sundance
HackDance
-
This star-studded event ran concurrently with the Sundance Film
Festival. SecondGov
won the Innovation grand prize for using Wearable Concept 1 to
detect head movement indicating either “yes” or “no” in their app
called voting.a – a virtual entity where new ideas, methods and
processes pertaining to government and governmental procedures can
be tested and evaluated.
About Wearable Concept 1
Wearable
Concept 1 is a headset form-factor concept device created by PLT
Labs. Packed with sensors, Concept 1, and its associated proprietary
APIs, give developers the opportunity to create applications leveraging
a wide-range of data, including a nine-axis sensor that can track head
orientation in three dimensions, tap detection, free-fall detection and
more.
About PLT Labs
PLT Labs is working on innovations that will help take wearable tech to
the next level. Through PLT Labs, developers can sign-up for a chance to
help shape the future of wearables and influence how people will
interact with the Internet of Things. Sample applications can be found
at http://pltlabs.com.
Developers interested in joining the Plantronics developer community can
find more information at http://developer.plantronics.com/welcome.
About Plantronics
Plantronics is a global leader in audio communications for businesses
and consumers. We have pioneered new trends in audio technology for 50
years, creating innovative products that allow people to simply
communicate. From unified communication solutions to Bluetooth®
headsets, we deliver uncompromising quality, an ideal experience, and
extraordinary service. Plantronics is used by every company in the
Fortune 100™, as well as 911 dispatch, air traffic control and the New
York Stock Exchange. For more information, please visit www.plantronics.com
or call (800) 544-4660.
Plantronics and Simply Smarter Communications are trademarks of
Plantronics, Inc. registered in the US and other countries. PLT Labs and
Wearable Concept 1 are trademarks of Plantronics, Inc. All other
trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Plantronics
Laurie Guarino, 831-458-7529
laurie.guarino@plantronics.com