Intel's new Quark chips target wearable computing

Intel has made its move to target the emerging market for wearable computers with a new family of low-power chips called Quark. Intel said its new Quark X1000 chips are about one-fifth the size and consume one-tenth the power of its Atom processors, its current most-power-efficient line of chips.

But while Atom processors are aimed at tablets and smartphones, Quark will be for devices with even lower-power requirements, such as smartwatches, glasses, and medical devices that can be worn about the body.

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Quark is also aimed at the Internet of things, where compute power and connectivity are embedded into everyday objects, said Intel president Renee James, at the Intel Developer Forum om Tuesday.

The market for wearables is gaining steam, with products such as Google Glass and Samsung's Galaxy Gear smartwatch, and Intel has been in danger of getting left out. As part of its wearables effort, Intel has hired the designer of the Nike FuelBand, Steve Holmes, and a developers of Oakley's Airwave heads-up display and other eyewear, Hans Moritz. It also recently moved a former top mobile executive to head a "new devices" group.

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich showed rough prototypes of wearable devices, including a watch that appeared to be little more than a computer chip strapped to a wrist band. Another device resembled a chunky plastic bracelet. Intel won't make the devices, but it will create reference designs for partners to work with, as it does with laptops and other products.

The Quark chips could also be used in car headlights, James said, for a technology Intel has shown before that makes it easier for drivers to see when driving in rain or snow at night. The technology detects falling raindrops or snowflakes and deflects the headlights around them, reducing reflection and making it easier to see.

James also showed a prototype wearable medical patch that she said can monitor a patient's EKG, blood pressure, and other vitals, and send the information directly to the doctor.

Intel's challenge has been reducing power consumption of its chips sufficiently to enter such markets, and its top executives apparently have high hopes for Quark. It will do battle with microcontrollers based on ARM, MIPS, and IBM Power designs, which are strong in those markets today. Microcontrollers are used in all modern cars to run airbags and antilock braking systems, for example.

Customers who need it will be able to use customized versions of Quark, and the chips will run standard x86 software, Krzanich said. Intel has been pushing developers to write new applications for the architecture. It will be easy for customers to add their own intellectual property to the Quark designs, Krzanich said.

Big changes like DRAM integration may be difficult may be difficult at first but will get easier as the chips develop. Third parties will also be able to attach sensors and accelerators to the chips.

Other chip makers are also building devices to show what their embedded chips are capable of. Qualcomm, which makes ARM-based chips, recently introduced the Toq smartwatch to show its hardware and software technologies.

Intel's experimental chip designs are essentially an evolution of its early Pentium designs, but they have come a long way. It has demonstrated a PC that uses a "near-theshold voltage" chip, which was powered by light generated from a bulb.

Agam Shah covers PCs, tablets, servers, chips and semiconductors for IDG News Service. Follow Agam on Twitter at @agamsh. Agam's e-mail address is agam_shah@idg.com

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What wearable computing is really all about

Computerworld - Most of the criticism about wearable computing technology is about social acceptability. "Nobody wears a watch anymore." "I wouldn't be caught dead wearing Google Glass."

The rest is about utility. "Smartwatches and Google Glass can't do anything that a smartphone can't do."

These arguments are based on a misunderstanding of what the wearable computing revolution is all about.

It's not about devices. And it's not about the convenience of leaving your phone in your pocket.

Wearable computing is nothing less than a fundamental shift in our relationship to computers and the Internet.

A "personal area network," or PAN, is a network centered around an individual person. And, of course, a wireless PAN, or "WPAN" is such a network that uses Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or NFC (near-field communication).

In the past, the PAN concept involved a central connected laptop. It was portable (movable from place to place) as opposed to mobile (usable while moving). The wireless computing revolution will give every user his or her own mobile WPAN.

The WPAN model is comparable to a LAN, or local area network, which emerged as a normal way to connect in the '80s and '90s. Under the simplest version of that model, devices were connected to a nearby server via Ethernet, mostly -- PCs, printers -- and that server was connected to the Internet.

The future of personal computing, if you will, can be compared to the LAN. The smartphone is the Internet-connected server. Wearable devices are the primary user devices where most input and output occurs.

Just as the adoption of LAN was driven in part by the evolution and standards formation around Ethernet technologies, the wearable movement's WPAN adoption will be driven by the new Bluetooth Low Energy standard (the wireless specification formerly known as Bluetooth 4.0). The new Bluetooth, first adopted by iOS and recently integrated into Android, will enable power-sipping devices with very small batteries to function, wake each other up and exchange rich data.

That means wearable devices will be able to receive not only words, pictures and sound, but video.

Prognosticating pundits say the wearables market will get huge fast. The UK research company Visiongain says wearables are a $4.6 billion market this year with "explosive growth and high adoption rates" over the next five years.

Juniper Research predicts that nearly 70 million wearable devices will ship in the year 2017 (up from 15 million this year).

ABI Research disagrees, and projects that the sports and health wearables market alone will see 170 million devices in 2017.

The wearable movement will be dominated in early days by health, fitness and "quantified self" applications. The reason is simple: It's less complicated.

Health monitoring involves measuring things like heart rate and activity level from a wristwatch or chest strap and uploading that data to a central place where changes can be tracked over time. Fitness fans, doctors and patients are all highly motivated to embrace this kind of self-monitoring, and are therefore already willing to spend big for new devices.

Over time, however, fitness and health will take a backseat to personal information management and interaction with everything on the Internet through a voice-based virtual assistant.

Right now, people associate wearable computing with smartwatches, fitness bands and Google Glass. But wearable devices will be worn all over.

We'll see a wide variety of wearable devices that clip onto clothing. Sony, as an early example, will soon ship its Sony Smart Bluetooth Handset SBH52, a clip-on device that relays audio to and from any Bluetooth device. You can use it like a phone (as in hold it up to your ear and talk). It also has an FM radio. Think of this device as a halfway technology between a Bluetooth headset and a clip-on wearable device.

Some wearable devices will be built into clothing, including shirts, shoes, socks and hats. Under Armour even has a vision video showing what it looks like when clothes are wearable touch computers.

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