I first wrote about Google’s Project Jacquard which weaves conductive threads to create touch-responsive clothing in 2015. Since then COVID has changed the world. As a result of the pandemic, Gartner found that 88% of businesses mandated or encouraged all their employees to work from home as COVID-19 spread and 97% of the firms canceled all work-related travel.
Despite the growth in WFH, Google’s Project Jacquard has announced its latest innovation: two new smart backpacks developed with luggage maker Samsonite. Unlike the previous Jacquard backpack co-created with Yves Saint Lauren with a stupid $995 price tag, The Samsonite version has prices low enough for normal people to actually consider buying one.
The new Google Jacquard “Konnect-i Slim” smart backpack begins at $199.99. The slightly larger “Konnect-i Standard” will run you $219.99. Both available are through Samsonite’s webshop. Both are also water-repellent, and they have the same materials and feature list.
Besides smart backpacks, Google has partnered with Levi to make the Trucker jacket with Jacquard and Adidas to create the GMR insoles that use Jacquard.
Connect the smart backpacks
To connect the smartbackpack to your iOS or Android phone, you’ll have to stuff a thumb-sized dongle into the backpack’s strap. According to Engadget, the module syncs with your phone via Bluetooth. The functionality seems pretty limited. Through the Jacquard app, you can define what brushing up and down or double-tapping the strap does. You can skip or pause your music, ask Assistant a question or drop pins to remember places you’ve been, or take a selfie. An LED on the strap will light up to alert you to notifications.
Jacquard relies on a small Micro-USB-charged Bluetooth puck which contains most of the electronic components. Google reduced the physical footprint from a large USB drive to something roughly the size of an SD card. It’s charged using magnetic pins, and data transfer is possible with a microUSB connector. The removable Jacquard Tag lasts up to two weeks on a charge and is separately rechargeable. The Jacquard Tag module still needs to be removed before washing.
The Samsonite Jacquard backpacks require an internet connection, a compatible Android or iOS phone, the Jacquard app, and a Google account for access to Jacquard features. For Android, you need a supported phone running Android 6.0.1 or newer. For iOS, you need an iPhone 6 or newer running iOS 11 or newer. Data usage fees may apply.
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As a product still don’t get it – as wearable tech – it seems to me that the $200 iWatch can do more than the backpacks. But as another way to invade our lives and steal our data – it makes sense.
Google told CNet it could add gestures on top of voice into Google Assistant – “… as a new direction for Google’s AI … Bringing these nonverbal cues into the conversation with technology is a key opportunity …”
Combining AI with Google’s security and privacy problems makes me uneasy. In this uber-google world, will they give us the best result or the one that is paid for?
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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.