Although it seems straight out of a futuristic novel, already connected clothes do exist. Data exchange between these clothes and mobile devices makes them able to take calls, regulate body temperature, and show the feelings or mood of the wearer. Technology applied to fashion is a reality that advances at a vertiginous speed, but it is a bit too expensive. The athletic, labor and health fields are those who have embraced by the advances in connectivity applied to clothing and, although it is still early, it will spread to the general public and become a common sight in the streets as the fabrication becomes cheaper.

For example, in 2017 Levi’s and Google they conducted a large textile-technological bet with their model denim jacket Levi’s Commuter Trucker Jacket. The novelty is its compatibility and connectivity with the mobile phone. With its buttons and sensors, a simple tap on the jacket sleeve can activate the music player, take a call or get directions from Google Maps.

We have a closer example as it comes from a brand created by two Spanish engineers. The brand Wendumanufactures shirts with the ability to regulate the temperature between 20 and 40 degrees. The t-shirt, connected to a mobile device, is cooled or heated according to the data set by the user from their mobile device. It is specially designed for military use, law enforcement or other professionals who spend long hours outdoors.

Data exchange between clothes and mobile devices makes them able to take calls, regulate body temperature, and show the mood

There are even supplements that help prevent allergies, such as the scarves from Caroline Van Rentergherm, a young entrepreneur who realized that the masks used while riding her bike around Paris did not prevent his eyes didn’t prevent her eyes to weep or an itchy throat, she would always end up using her scarf to protect herself. She has launched the Be AWAIR application that reports on the air quality and users can customize it to receive notifications about how to prevent allergies. The next step is the launch of WAIR scarves, that filter the air and it also includes a sensor that analyzes air quality and changes its color when pollution is too high.

For those who love the sea there are two models that can be adapted to the needs of each user. The first is of the firm Spinali, Who brought Neviano2, the advanced version of his first connected swimsuit that directly integrates UV sensors and reports a “Cream Alert” that warns users that they need to renew their protection with a message to the mobile and even recognizes the location and recommended places to visit.

The second model is geared more adventurous surfers, it’s the intelligent neoprene “Wetsuit” Emerid enterprise that incorporates an emergency identification system that works with NFC technology enabling the suit to be located from the mobile phone.

Another company that has made interesting contributions to connected fashion is cute Circuit. It’s renowned in the market for digital wearables. Its products have been seen on stage with artists like U2 or Katy Perry. Their garments are made mostly with intelligent microelectronics fibers and avant-garde design. In addition, they monitor the social networks of those who wear them and they can control the illumination of the fabric from the mobile phone.

From the technological Korean giant Samsung arrives Samsung NFC smart suit. They have made it with Rogatis that allows the user to unlock their phone, exchange business cards digitally and configure the devices in the office and driving modes.

Finally, one cannot speak of intelligent clothing in Spain without mentioning the Madrid catwalk Samsung EGO that although started in 2006 as a parallel initiative to the Mercedes Fashion Week in Madrid, since 2013 it has gradually positioned itself as a referent in the connected fashion field, giving visibility to new talent.

Technology applied to fashion is a reality that advances at a vertiginous speed

The best example of this trend is the Spanish Constanza More, winner of the latest edition of Samsung EGO Innovation Project, with its Quantum project. The head of the firm has developed a form of emotional communication by light thanks to an application installed on the mobile phone. Thus, connected clothing can express feelings previously selected with patterns for positive emotions.

The Quantum collection consists of shirts, jackets, vests, pants, short dresses, silk and satin. To turn them into smart materials like methacrylate, plastic and anodized aluminum that is easy to connect with the mobile phone of the owner and configure them.

There are many possibilities that we currently have to be connected with what surrounds us; it stands to reason that clothes can’t be left behind. The technology allows us to connect our daily lives, improving our experiences of the day and gathering the best information about our routines to improve or modify them according to our needs.

The largest technological show on the planet was just held in Las Vegas. Huge expectations are hanging on the ingenuity and the products and services of the big companies in the sector. So what did we see at the most recent CES 2018? Below are just five examples of the great advances that will mark a turning point in our way of seeing technology. Assistants, artificial intelligence, autonomous cars and improvements in quality are in the spotlight in a scene where the Internet of the Things was omnipresent.

Smart headphones

It is clear that Sony does not want to be left behind in headphone development. For this reason, at CES 2018 we were able to see up to four different models. While until now, the quality of wired headphones has been the main factor, wireless headphones are showing an interesting improvement: the native incorporation of Google Assistant.

This will be accompanied by the general update of some of their older models, so the Japanese company is turning their headphones into veritable smart listening systems capable of offering not only better sound but also a range of services thanks to the IoT.

Television is now smart and in 8K

We are still getting used to resolution of 4096 x 2160 pixels, better known as 4K. But that is no reason why technology should not continue to advance, as we have seen at CES 2018, where the first uses of 8K, or 7680 x 4320 pixels, were unveiled. But this resolution would not be worth anything in itself were it not for artificial intelligence.

Samsung’s new model, the 88-inch QLED Q9, will be able to convert video to 8K thanks to the real-time use of artificial intelligence, which processes and rescales the images. All this power is joined by the conversion of simple televisions into smart TVs, which is already a natural integration, just as being connected to the Internet is a fact.

The race for smart assistants

Although virtual assistants have been filling the show for years, in 2018 they were especially the talk of the show. Voice assistants are probably one of the best examples of an IoT application at the service of the user. They provide information, allow you to manage events and make purchases, and much more.

Probably the most striking and interesting assistant at the fair was the Lenovo Smart Display, a speaker to which Lenovo and Google have added a small touch screen and the presence of Google Assistant. With this launch, Amazon Echo Show has gained a strong opponent, while users have gained more features.

The speaker will allow users to make and receive video calls, listen to music and get information about the traffic and weather, as well as having the functions needed to control a smart home. The Lenovo Smart Display will also have access to Google Maps and YouTube, in addition to Google, making this assistant probably the most advanced to date.

The first autonomous cars are here

One of the most striking initiatives we saw at this year’s CES was the testing of several BMW 5 Series cars equipped with Aptiv autonomous driving technology. Aptiv is the parent company of nuTonomy, both of which are allied with Lyft to carry out a plan for autonomous taxis.

For many years, Aptiv has been working on mapping the streets of Las Vegas, where CES 2018 was held, so they were very familiar with the service they were offering. In addition, at CES we saw several other proposals, such as the Toyota e-Palette, which aims to combine two technologies: electric motors and autonomous cars.

With these demonstrations, the fair became yet another showcase of what the future holds for us, as visitors were finally able to see an autonomous car, probably one of the best examples of what the IoT is capable of, circulating around the city with real “clients”.

The heart of autonomy

In addition to the launch of autonomous cars, the CES was also the scene where two surprising technologies closely related to the Internet of Things and autonomous cars were unveiled. The first one comes from Nvidia. The company unveiled the finishing touches on Xavier, a chip to manage everything related to its Drive XI platform, designed to govern autonomous cars.

The joint efforts of Drive IX and Xavier will allow vehicles to have functions that until now seemed difficult to apply massively in vehicles, such as gesture control and facial recognition, as well as the installation of a native virtual assistant and the recognition of natural language, without which IoT could not be implemented in cars.

On the other hand, Mobileye REM (Road Experiment Management) technology, which was purchased by Intel, will put two million autonomous vehicles in circulation on roads around the world in order to acquire data, make more detailed maps and, ultimately, improve the autonomous driving systems that will begin to be integrated in the future, as announced at CES 2018.

With REM, Intel aims to take the lead in the expansion of autonomous cars, as it controls a huge amount of unique information for the development of these cars. Could this be the starting signal we all expected? Of course, CES has always marked the beginning of a new technological stage, a stage in which IoT has been growing in prominence for years.

The year 2017 has been prolifically successful and productive. With its memory still fresh in our minds, now seems a good time to  survey the best articles published during the past year. This selection includes interviews with global benchmarks in the sector, analyses of IoT ecosystem, presentations of interesting initiatives and forecasts of the trends that will emerge in 2018.

• Programming languages in the era of the Internet of Things: What are the most common programming languages ​​ in the development of IoT? The choice of language determines the final product or service, as well as the technical possibilities and the user experience. In the era of the Internet of Things, choosing the programming language properly is vital to the success of the project. In this text, we explain the details on how to choose them properly.
• GeoGestion, the Mobile Workers’ Internet: This solution provides fundamental assistance to all traditional companies that need help carrying out a digital transformation of processes that until now were solved by manual paperwork. GeoGestion allows the administrator to find out where their employees are, to lower their manual tasks intuitively, to help security teams improve their efficiency and to improve the work of sales teams. All this is thanks to the optimization of processes that until now were manual and costly for the company in terms of both time and resources. In this article, we explain how GeoGestion works.
• Ronald van Loon: “The information that belongs to the IoT exists within the concept of Big Data and the vast amount of data it represents”: As an expert in Big Data, Data Management and IoT, Ronald van Loon helps hundreds of companies direct and generate value from the data they generate. His experience offering data analysis to consumers has catapulted him to become one of the biggest influencers in the world in Big Data. Therefore, we asked him about his view on the important role played by Big Data in the IoT, as well as the main challenges he faces and the future of companies in relation to the Internet of Things.
• José Ignacio Guerra: “We are the protagonists in the IoT scene in Latin America”: The Telefónica R+D centre in Chile, also known as TRD Chile, is a benchmark for IoT technologies since it is the only research complex in Latin America that brings together all the disciplines that make up Internet of Things. José Ignacio Guerra is a Communications Architect at the centre and is leading several projects and initiatives aimed at improving the adoption, penetration and consolidation of technologies. In this interview, he tells us about his experiences.
• Chuck Martin: “The industry can anticipate consumers’ needs even before they have these needs. This is the future that awaits us with Internet of Things”:Martin is a best-selling writer and former Vice President at IBM. His experience in the sector allowed him to predict the arrival of the network that supports IoT back in 1998. In this interview, Martin gives us his expert vision of the current situation and the future that we will see in the Internet of Things.
• Interview with Sandra Fernández Curias: “Beyond the technological ecosystem, the IoT is an enabler of the digital transformation of business”: As one of the most prominent experts in IoT-based business at Telefónica, Sandra Fernández Curias, the company’s Strategy Manager, gives us a unique opportunity to understand the main trends in the development of the IoT and the secrets behind mass adoption by users and businesses.
• Interview with José Rodríguez: “Security is a reason for confidence when deploying IoT solutions”: In this post, José Rodríguez, IoT security manager at Telefónica, shares his experience to help us to better understand what security challenges and solutions the experts deal with every day. This text answers the question of what we have learned so far when talking about cybersecurity in the IoT. 
• Why physical stores should be connected and digitalized: The evolution in the retail sector irremediably connects online sales with in-store service. Today, businesses must connect to the world if they want to make the most of the opportunities offered by the Internet. If not, they are condemned to become obsolete and inefficient. In this post, we explain what role the IoT plays in this process and discuss the possibilities offered by technology.
• Things Matter – Connecting things with people and what really matters: 800 surveys and 60 user experiences are the basis of the last report, “Things Matter”, which tries to give users a voice. In conjunction with the consultancies Accenture and Ipsos, Telefónica sheds light on the spread of IoT, the way it is used, use profiles and related topics. We summarize and analyze the conclusions in this article.
• IoT trends in 2018, connectivity in the limelight: In 2017, we witnessed the rise of technologies associated with Big Data, the spread of VR and the emergence of autonomous cars, among other new developments. Now, the big picture seems to be coalescing around certain applications and technological solutions such as eSIM, Blockchain-based IoT, Edge solutions and many more. In this article, we reveal the trends that will determine the direction of the development of connectivity in 2018.