Wear it with pride

THERE CAN BE NO OTHER NUMBER ONE IN T3’ S HOT 100. WEARABLE TECH HAS COME OF AGE. an d we lo ve it .

Take a look through this year’s Hot 100 list, and you’ll undoubtedly notice a theme or set of gadgets that dominate proceedings: wearable tech.

The last 12 months have seen a huge influx of wearables – and not just those that you strap to your wrist. Of course, wrist-based devices have dominated the market, with an abundance of Android Wear releases (including the excellent Huawei Watch and Tag Heuer’s Connected), and fitness-specific watches and bands from the likes of Fitbit, Moov and Withings.

But where will wearable tech go next? Well, we’ve seen a glimpse of it and it’s truly exciting. Google Glass 2.0 still hasn’t raised its head, but a number of head-based werables have hit the market – including the Muse brain-sensing headband, a device that promises to help you meditate and calm down using your smartphone. And Thync (see entry 16), the wearable that stimulates nerve endings to change your mood. Literally mind-bending stuff.

We’ve also seen the likes of Myo, a wearable that straps onto your forearm and enables you to control external devices (such as your computer) by simply using muscle movement. And then there’s smart clothing. Take Athos, for example – apparel that measures your body’s biosignals and translates them through an app to tell you what in your workout routine you should be focusing on.

Wearable tech is so huge and so widespread, yet so futuristic. It’s hard to imagine our lives without it – and for that reason, it’s number one in this year’s Hot 100.