Wearable clothing news : October 2019

Thursday, October 31, 2019

iExpand? Apple patents multiple bizarre, expandable smart ring designs

Apple patented a series of designs for expanding smart rings. While some ways off yet, Apple may see a future where your screen is on your finger.

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Best Cyber Week Deals 2019: Everything you need to know

Cyber Week continues the online shopping focus that kicks off on Cyber Monday and follows Black Friday's in-store madness. Online merchants and physical retailers extended Cyber Monday to Cyber Week because buyers kept shopping for deals.

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Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 4G/LTE review

Mobvoi has launched a 4G version of its TicWatch Pro, which has some slight changes from last year’s model. The LTE connectivity only works on Verizon but opens a world of possibilities.

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Best Cyber Monday Deals 2019: Everything you need to know

Cyber Monday continues the end-of-year holiday buying excitement that starts with Black Friday. Since the first Cyber Monday in 2005, online retailers promote the Monday after Thanksgiving as the best time of the year to find deals online.

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Leading Connected Healthcare Firm Withings Launches B2B Solutions for Healthcare Professionals

French healthcare company known for developing elegantly designed, medical-grade health devices, launched two platforms for healthcare professionals. The two platforms – Withings MED PRO DATA and Withings MED PRO CARE – are designed to meet the needs of medical professionals, institutions, payers, disease management programs, coaching platforms and researchers, allowing Withings devices and data analytics to be brought into third-party ecosystems.

Withings’ devices capture 20 vital health parameters such as blood pressure, ECG, weight, heart rate, activity levels and sleep patterns.

Withings Med Pro Data is a customizable solution that allows third-party companies such as behavior change programs, and researchers to use Withings products to collect, analyze and display data for their users within their own software and app environments. This platform is tailored to fit the needs of partners ranging from disease/wellness coaching programs, clinical and academic researchers, pharmaceutical companies, corporate wellness programs and medical institutions.

A mobile phone and a tab — Image: Withings

Withings Med Pro Care is a remote patient monitoring platform that allows health professionals, medical institutions and private organizations to easily access and manage physiological data of multiple patients. As well as saving time and money through reduced clinical visits, Withings Med Pro Care improves the efficiency of care teams while also streamlining communications with participating patients. Within tailored, partner-specific interactive dashboards, physicians are able to visualize aggregated and individual patient data in real-time and in one place. They are able to customize the health data parameters they wish to track as well as how and when they receive information and alerts. Health Mate, patients can receive direct messages from their caregivers, including reminders to take and share measurements, all within a secure, HIPAA compliant platform.

“Data is the key to improving nearly every aspect of our healthcare system, from better patient outcomes to improved efficiencies and reduced costs,” said Eric Carreel, founder of Withings. “With our decade of experience and work to create connected health devices that people can easily use daily to monitor and improve their health levels, we are in a unique position to be able to help the medical and health community better serve and understand their patients and customers. Withings MED PRO allows us to serve these individuals and organizations in a saleable, flexible way to bring the benefits of the health tech revolution to a broader spectrum of patients.”

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CE Compliance for Wearable Light Patches – Interview with CareWear Corp

CareWear Corp is a privately held firm based in Nevada that has successfully led through innovation in printed light to advance wearable care for athletes, prosumers and consumers. CareWear has been awarded 66 global patents in addition to receiving international recognition in Optical Engineering (2018 SPIE Startup Challenge Winner), IoT/Wearable Technology (2019 IOT/WT Innovation World Cup® Finalist), and Sports Wearables (2019 WT ISPO Sports Disruptor).

CareWear has developed the first wearable, wireless printed light patches for athletes, prosumers and consumers. CareWear’s light patches are designed to relieve pain, decrease inflammation, accelerate recovery, and improve performance while reducing the likelihood of injury from overuse and muscle fatigue as demonstrated in published research.

CareWear’s medical grade products are FDA registered and available without a prescription, offering a safe, affordable, drug-free therapy solution. Rather than restricting treatments to a clinic or training room, injury and pain relief is now mobile and can be completed during training, at home, or on-the-go in as little as 30 minutes per day. The products are used by professional, collegiate and USA teams, military academies and special forces soldiers.

In the course of this year´s WT | Wearable Technologies Show at MEDICA on Nov 18-21, we have asked CareWear a few questions about their current process of getting CE marking and future steps and goals of the company.

How was the process of getting CE marking for CareWear?

A CE mark certificate is required to legally market medical devices in the EU. This must comply with the European Medical Devices Regulation (MDR 2017/745).
Obtaining CE marking has been significantly more challenging as a result of changes to the regulations based on updated requirements in the areas of biocompatibility and clinical performance. This has created a significant backlog and has extended the timelines for approval of new products.
We have completed all of our audits with our notified body and expect a CE mark certificate by the end of 2019.

What does it mean for you to be CE compliant?

It means our products have undergone extensive safety testing to the appropriate IEC standards for our Class 2a over-the-counter (OTC) medical device under the MDR, and that the clinical, biocompatibility and safety data provided substantiates the indications for use and labeling and safety requirements.
It provides the opportunity to commercially market quality medical devices in the EU for safe and effective use by medical practitioners, sports professionals and medical consumers.

What are your next steps and goals for 2020?

Prosumer marketing in the USA
Export our products to Canada and Australia where we have established distribution relationships
Establish new distribution relationships in specific target markets that accept CE or FDA compliance in the professional and consumer OTC markets.

What do you expect from the WT | Wearable Technologies Show at MEDICA?

CareWear expects to begin sales in the EU and selected global markets in the first quarter of 2020. We plan to establish distribution relationships through contacts we make at WT MEDICA in the professional rehabilitation, sports and consumer markets.

Curious to learn more? Visit CareWear at the WT | Wearable Technologies Show at MEDICA on November 18-21 in Hall 13 Booth D46.

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John Hancock Collaborating with Verily and Onduo for Virtual Diabetes Management

John Hancock has unveiled a new wearable program called Aspire, the first of its kind life insurance designed specifically for Americans living with diabetes. The program is a unique collaboration between John Hancock and Verily, the healthcare division of Google parent company Alphabet, and will leverage the capabilities of Onduo, a virtual diabetes clinic.

An estimated 1.5 million Americans are diagnosed with diabetes every year. Of the more than 30 million Americans living with diabetes, half either don’t have enough life insurance or don’t have any life insurance coverage at all. Many worry they won’t qualify for a life insurance policy because they have diabetes, and if they can secure coverage they are worried it’s too expensive, said a press release.

With John Hancock Aspire people living with diabetes get the protection of life insurance paired with a technology-enabled program that provides coaching, clinical support, education, and rewards designed to help manage and improve their health. All John Hancock Aspire customers will also have access to an enhanced version of John Hancock Vitality, which is designed to reward steps customers take toward living longer, healthier lives, like exercise and buying healthy food, and now offers opportunities specific to the diabetes journey. Members have the potential to save up to 25% on their premiums, the company said.

Mobile phone displaying an app — Onduo app (Image: Onduo)

Qualifying John Hancock Aspire customers with type 2 diabetes will be eligible to access Onduo’s virtual clinic and receive a blood glucose monitoring device which, when used in conjunction with the Onduo app, provide insights into the user’s diabetes management.

“This dynamic partnership with John Hancock unlocks the full potential for the Onduo platform, empowering people living with Type 2 diabetes to co-produce their own health at home and in mobile environments and rewards them for doing so,” Verily CEO Andy Condrad said during an event in Manhattan to announce the new partnership. “Through this initiative, Verily and John Hancock are pushing the envelope on the role life insurance can play in both providing financial security and helping people live longer, healthier lives.”

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Best smartwatch deals for November 2019: Samsung, Fitbit, and Apple Watch sales

Smartwatches make life easier by sending alerts right on your wrist. Many also provide fitness-tracking features, so now is a great time to pick one up for cheap.

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Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Smartwatch

The latest smartwatch reviews, news, and buying guides, all in one place. Digital Trends offers in-depth coverage of the latest wearables, from the newest Apple Watch to the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active. If you're thinking about picking up a wearable to slap on your wrist, here's everything you need to know about smartwatches. Related Categories: […]

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Apple Watch

The latest Apple Watch reviews, news, and buying guides, all in one place. If you're an iOS user, Apple's flagship smartwatch is really the only wearable to buy. The newest Apple Watch Series 5 has already arrived, but if you're looking for an older model, the Series 4 and Series 3 are still good options […]

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The Moto 360, the original round smartwatch, is back, and it’s a stunner

The Moto 360 smartwatch is back, and it's the same stunner it always was. But its looks may not be enough to make it worth $350.

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Exclusive: Honor’s new smartwatch will launch at the end of November

Honor has started teasing the release of a new product, which appears to be a smartwatch. The company has exclusively confirmed to Digital Trends that it is a new smartwatch, and that it will launch globally at the end of November.

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ASE Develops State-of-the-Art Microchip Using ANSYS Customization Toolkit

Engineers at the ASE, a Chinese semiconductor company, have drastically improved their IC semiconductor packaging and development and create state-of-the-art microchips with the help of ANSYS Customization Toolkit (ACT) solution. ACT enables engineers to create more accurate models, enhance structural reliability and slash design time to enable customers to receive products faster than ever.

“ASE is committed to constructing a complete solution for developing IC packaging technology, strengthening design and high-yield manufacturing,” said C.P. Hung, vice president, corporate R&D, ASE Group. “We are very pleased to have a long-term collaboration with ANSYS. The automated analysis technology developed by ACT is the first step in developing future intelligent analysis and design, converting converse complex manual analysis into an automatic search process for potentially critical areas such as cracking, interface delamination and more. ACT will bring more opportunities for advanced packaging and system-level design to the market and accelerate customer product launches.”

With the process of IC manufacturing becoming more complex, companies have shifted focus to product design and dedicate less development time to simulation. To improve the IC packaging and development process, engineers must quickly create models that span countless scenarios to identify design problems and boost product performance, says a press release.

ANSYS 3D Modeling Software (Image credit: ANSYS)

ASE has developed ANSYS ACT workflow, a streamlined sub-modeling automation solution that enhances the IC packaging and development process. This workflow drastically reduces human error by converting complex manual analyses into an automatic search process to identify critical reliability issues such as cracking and interface delamination. This enables ASE engineers to swiftly create highly precise models, rapidly determine the optimal solution, identify problematic parts and reduce overall development time by 30%.

“ASE’s ACT solution provides a simple and highly intuitive development environment, enabling engineers to effectively use existing simulation tools to radically increase their productivity and take their IC packaging and development process to the next level,” said John Lee, vice president and general manager, ANSYS. “Spanning a product’s entire lifecycle, ASE’s ACT automated workflow creates game-changing breakthroughs in semiconductor packaging processes to deliver unparalleled customer support.”

Ansys Inc. is an American public company based in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. It develops and markets engineering simulation software. If you’ve ever seen a rocket launch, flown on an airplane, driven a car, used a computer, touched a mobile device, crossed a bridge or put on wearable technology, chances are you’ve used a product where ANSYS software played a critical role in its creation.

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Huawei’s answer to the AirPods Pro have both comfort and noise cancellation

Huawei has taken Apple's AirPods design, refined it, stuffed a special new chip inside, then added active noise cancelation to create the Freebuds 3.

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Hearing Aids Market to Grow Up to $14.45 Billion by 2026, According to Fortune Business Insights

According to the latest report by Fortune Business Insights, the hearing aids market was valued at USD 8.38 Billion in 2018 and is anticipated to reach USD 14.45 Billion by the end of 2026. The market is expected to rise at a CAGR of 7.2%.

In 2018, Starkey Hearing Technologies changed the way hearing aids are manufactured when it introduced Livio AI. The updated hearing aid uses artificial intelligence (AI) and integrated sensors, and it was the first device to trace cognitive health and physical activity as measured by hearing aid for utilizing in social situations. Innovations like helped boost the hearing aids market, according to the report.

The report is based on primary and secondary research methods and provides an in-depth global hearing aids market analysis. The report covers all important aspects of the market such as growth drivers, restraints, trends, and opportunities, says a press release.

As per the report, the hearing devices segment is currently dominating the market because of its numerous advantages. These include flexibility for patients with both mild and moderate hearing loss, easily removable, cost-effective, and can be used during sports activities as well.

The rising prevalence of hearing disorders is a major factor behind the growth of hearing aids market. An estimated 900 million people worldwide are likely to suffer from hearing loss by the end of 2050, according to a study conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2019.

Another factor promoting the market growth is the rise in the geriatric population. Besides this, governments are taking initiatives such as health benefit programs, awareness programs, setting up more ENT clinics, and others and this is also anticipated to boost the global market in the coming years.

However, term use of hearing aids may cause moisture in the ears or ear wax, and feedback problems. Moreover, the wrong size hearing aid may also result in handling problems. Therefore, manufacturers are focusing on production of a cleaning kit in order to maintain the cleanliness of these hearing devices. This may create lucrative growth opportunities for the market in the forecast period.

The report states North America to emerge as one of the dominant regions in the global hearing aids market.

In Europe, the number of aging populations in countries like Germany, France, and UK are expected to promote the market in Europe and help this region grow significantly in the forecast period. On the other side, the surge in disposable incomes of people across Asia Pacific is estimated to boost the hearing aids market in China and India. The rise in awareness about hearing disorders and the availability of cures and devices for improving hearing ability will help the market in the region grow rapidly

Key Companies Covered in Hearing Aids Market Research Report are Sivantos Pte. Ltd., Cochlear Ltd., Sonova, Starkey, MED-EL, Medtronic, GN Store Nord A/S, Widex A/S, among others

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Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Digital Trends Live: AirPods Pro, Google moves on Fitbit, and more

On this episode of Digital Trends Live, we discuss the top stories trending in tech, including Apple’s AirPods Pro, Google's bid for Fitbit, Uber Money, team-building robots, smiling pets, and more.

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Best cheap Apple Watch deals for November 2019

The Apple Watch has surged to prominence in recent years. If you're in the market for an iOS wearable, we've sniffed out the best Apple Watch deals available right now.

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Common AirPods problems, and how to fix them

Apple’s AirPods are among the best fully wireless earbuds we’ve seen, but they’re not perfect. If you’re having trouble, take a look at our guide to the most common problems and what you can do to fix them.

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NASA-inspired smart glasses turn dark whenever you lose concentration

Struggle to concentrate? Wellness company Narbis has developed a pair of smart glasses intended to discourage distraction by darkening when your mind wanders from the task you should be focused on.

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Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2020, According to Gartner

Leading research and advisory firm Gartner highlighted the top strategic technology trends that organizations need to explore in 2020. Findings were presented during Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo, which took place last week.

According to Gartner, a strategic technology trend is one with substantial disruptive potential that is beginning to break out of an emerging state into broader impact and use, or which is rapidly growing with a high degree of volatility reaching tipping points over the next five years, reports Business Wire.

“People-centric smart spaces are the structure used to organize and evaluate the primary impact of the Gartner top strategic technology trends for 2020,” said David Cearley, vice president and Gartner Fellow.

The top 10 strategic technology trends as Gartner predicts for 2020 are:

Hyperautomation

Hyperautomation is the combination of multiple machine learning (ML), packaged software and automation tools to deliver work. Understanding the range of automation mechanisms, how they relate to one another and how they can be combined and coordinated is a major focus for hyperautomation.

Multiexperience

Through 2028, the user experience will undergo a significant shift in how users perceive the digital world and how they interact with it. Virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) are changing the way in which people perceive the digital world. This combined shift in both perception and interaction models leads to the future multisensory and multimodal experience.

Democratization of Expertise

Democratization is focused on providing people with access to technical expertise (e.g. ML, application development) or business domain expertise (e.g. sales process, economic analysis) via a radically simplified experience and without requiring extensive and costly training. Through 2023, Gartner expects four key aspects of the democratization trend to accelerate, including democratization of data and analytics, democratization of development, democratization of design and democratization of knowledge (non-IT professionals gaining access to tools and expert).

Human Augmentation

Human augmentation explores how technology can be used to deliver cognitive and physical improvements as an integral part of the human experience. Over the next 10 years increasing levels of physical and cognitive human augmentation will become prevalent as individuals seek personal enhancements.

Mobile — Image: Wikimedia commons (Augmented reality by OyundariZorigtbaatar)

Transparency and Traceability

Consumers are increasingly demanding control of their valuable information. Organizations recognize the increasing risk of securing and managing personal data, and governments are implementing strict legislation to ensure they do. Transparency and traceability are critical elements to support these digital ethics and privacy needs.

The Empowered Edge

Edge computing is a computing topology in which information processing and content collection and delivery are placed closer to the sources, repositories and consumers of this information. It tries to keep the traffic and processing local to reduce latency, exploit the capabilities of the edge and enable greater autonomy at the edge.

Distributed Cloud

A distributed cloud is the distribution of public cloud services to different locations while the originating public cloud provider assumes responsibility for the operation, governance, updates to and evolution of the services.

Autonomous Things

Autonomous things are physical devices that use AI to automate functions previously performed by humans. The most recognizable forms of autonomous things are robots, drones, autonomous vehicles/ships and appliances.

Practical Blockchain

Blockchain has the potential to reshape industries by enabling trust, providing transparency and enabling value exchange across business ecosystems, potentially lowering costs, reducing transaction settlement times and improving cash flow.

AI Security

AI and ML will continue to be applied to augment human decision making across a broad set of use cases. While this creates great opportunities to enable hyperautomation and leverage autonomous things to deliver business transformation, it creates significant new challenges for the security team and risk leaders with a massive increase in potential points of attack with IoT, cloud computing, microservices and highly connected systems in smart spaces. Security and risk leaders should focus on three key areas — protecting AI-powered systems, leveraging AI to enhance security defense, and anticipating nefarious use of AI by attackers.

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Why would Google want to buy Fitbit?

A report that Google may be trying to acquire Fitbit has emerged, but why would Google do that? There are good reasons for Fitbit to seek a sale, and Google could benefit, but there are a lot of unanswered questions.

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Xiaomi shows no self-restraint, teases Apple Watch-lookalike smartwatch

Xiaomi has often been accused of taking inspiration from Apple's products, and it has not shown very much restraint with its forthcoming smartwatch

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Integrated Device Technology Announces All-In-One Biosensor Module for Mobile and Wearables

Integrated Device Technology, a wholly owned subsidiary of Renesas Electronics Corporation, introduced a fully integrated all-in-one biosensor module for mobile and wearable devices. The smallest sensor of its kind, OB1203 Sensor module integrates a multi-channel light sensor (LS), a proximity sensor (PS) and a photoplethysmography sensor (PPG). This module comes in a tiny, optically-enhanced package at only 4.2 mm x 2 mm x 1.2 mm, and includes two LEDs, drivers, the sensors and a signal conditioning chip.

A key feature of the OB1203 is its antiallergenic glass cover, which allows it to be used in applications requiring direct skin contact. An additional advantage of the OB1203 is the ability to operate when covered with IR-inked glass, allowing product designers to almost entirely conceal the OB1203 for a cleaner, more aesthetically pleasing product design, says a press release.

A major application of the device is in smart phones or other mobile devices to enable brightness control of display panels. OB1203 can also determine proximity of nearby objects in order to support the deactivation of touch screen displays during phone calls.

The OB1203 comes with clinical-grade heart rate (HR) and SP02 algorithms, an easily customized Android app, and only requires power and three data lines to operate.

“Our OB1203 is the most advanced biosensor for front and upward facing applications, such as in mobile and wearable devices,” said Rudi Hechfellner, director of sensing technology at IDT. “Unlike other sensor technologies, the OB1203 can operate behind IR cover ink so that the sensor components are virtually invisible. This allows for a more pleasing industrial design and improved ergonomics for a better user experience. The tiny, fully integrated and calibrated all-in-one biosensor comes with a complete design toolkit and doesn’t require subject matter design expertise.”

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Monday, October 28, 2019

Amazfit GTS Review: Apple Watch looks, but not Apple software

Don't dismiss the Amazfit GTS as a cheap Apple Watch knockoff. It's well-made and comfortable to wear, making it a solid alternative. If only its software could keep up.

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Garmin Instinct review: A budget smartwatch for adventurers

Garmin encourages you to go outside with its Instinct GPS smartwatch. How does this affordable option compare to expensive adventure watches? We hit the trails to find out.

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Amazon slashes the prices of these Garmin GPS watches by as much as $201

Check these deals we found for the Garmin Fenix 5 Sapphire and Instinct models on Amazon in case you're looking for a wearable that you can take on your outdoor adventures.

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Google owner Alphabet has reportedly made a bid to buy Fitbit

Google may be looking to bolster its wearable tech, and has reportedly made a bid to buy fitness-tracking company Fitbit. The terms of the offer have yet to be revealed.

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Best smartwatch deals for October 2019: Samsung, Fitbit, and Apple Watch sales

Neurostimulation Device Company Spark Biomedical Receives $217K NIH Grant to Help Infants Born with Opioid Addiction

Spark Biomedical, a neurostimulation device company based in Dallas, received an SBIR grant totaling $217,690 from the National Institutes of Health HEAL initiative. Spark develop wearables to treat opioid withdrawal symptoms. The company said the money will be used to validate the use of transcutaneous auricular neurostimulation to relieve withdrawal symptoms in infants born with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS).

According to the latest statistics from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, an estimated 32,000 babies were born with NAS in the United States in 2014, a more than 5-fold increase since 2004. That equates to a baby born every 15 minutes in opioid withdrawal. NAS is a condition where a fetus is exposed to opioids or other substances in the womb and experiences withdrawal symptoms hours after birth.

“These are the most innocent and often overlooked victims of the opioid epidemic, whose first days on earth include experiencing the painful process of withdrawal,” said Daniel Powell, CEO of Spark Biomedical. “The current NAS treatment is to administer either morphine or methadone every few hours to titrate these infants down over a couple of weeks, simply because there are no other options. That, to us, is just not acceptable. If our technology can reduce or prevent the pain as well as the need to use opioids on a newborn, we believe it could give these infants a significantly better start in life and set them on a better path from the beginning.”

A man with raised hands — Image: Spark Biomedical

Spark Biomedical’s battery-powered wearable device delivers mild electrical stimulation through the skin around the ear, targeting cranial nerve branches. The battery lasts the entire 10-day treatment period, said the company in a press release.

A clinical study, hosted by the Medical University of South Carolina, is set to start in November. The study will be overseen by Principal Investigator Dr. Navid Khodaparast, Spark Biomedical’s Chief Science Officer.

“The incidence of neonatal abstinence syndrome continues to reach new highs and is too debilitating for us to accept current treatment,” said Dr. Khodaparast. “We have designed a study that will test a safe, therapeutic option to restore quality of life for infants and ultimately, families. In addition to our adult clinical trial beginning in October, we look to quickly follow with this study and extend the indication into the neonatal segment.”

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Best Cyber Week Deals 2019: Everything you need to know

Best Cyber Monday Deals 2019: Everything you need to know

mioPOD: Advanced Heart Rate Monitor for Elite Performance Training

Portland, OR-based performance wearables maker MIO has launched mioPOD, an advanced heart rate monitor that provides accurate heart rate tracking for performance training. mioPOD uses optical sensors by Valencell, a company that is an exhibitor of the WT | Wearable Technologies Conference Series.

Aimed at elite athletes, trainers and fitness enthusiasts, the wristband-type wearable device is meant to be worn on the upper arm or forearm. It delivers reliable heart rate monitoring, haptic alerts and glanceable color zones for real-time heart rate intensity.

mioPOD was designed to capture accurate heart rate during intense exercises, such as cycling, high intensity interval training, gym and personal trainer workouts, body resistance, weight training, TRX, resistance training and for any athlete serious about performance training, said the company in a press release.

Since it is worn on your arm rather than your wrist, mioPOD is more resilient to blood flow, generating a more consistent signal with less noise and allows for reliable heart rate tracking. While wrist-based devices perform well on flat roads or during even-paced exercises, they are often susceptible to inaccuracies during irregular exercises and training.

“We set out to create a performance training tracker for those serious about personal training, delivering EKG-accurate heart rate data at performance-level speeds without the need for an uncomfortable chest strap,” said MIO Vice President of Sales, Marcelo Aller. “Our mission for the last two decades has been to empower everyone to reach his or her goals using our innovative technology, to achieve personal records, better themselves, and – most importantly – to train with heart.”

Some of the features include:

Cardio Pilot. A glanceable technology with color zones that delivers real-time heart rate intensity, helping to keep the user in their cardio zone, according to their personal training goals.

Haptic Alerts. Warns the user if the signal is on, low battery status or when they simply traversed into a new selected cardio training zone.

Recovery Time Advisor. Predicts the amount of time required to be in a ready state for the next challenging effort

Training Load. Delivers report on how hard the athlete has been working over the past week, calculating the accumulated impact of all heart rate recorded training.

Valencell Optical Sensor. mioPOD uses Valencell Optical technology, an ultra-low-power tech that provides more accurate signal process of heart beat.

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Sunday, October 27, 2019

Fossil Gen 5 review: Style overcomes the flaws of Wear OS

Google’s Wear OS watches have a hard time distinguishing themselves. That's a disadvantage Fossil's Gen 5 struggles, and ultimately succeeds, in overcoming.

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Friday, October 25, 2019

Lifestyles of Baby Boomers are Transforming the Way Tech Companies Upgrade Hearing Aids

Baby boomers make up the largest portion of healthcare service consumer group. Their expectations and lifestyles are therefore making an impact on how technology companies upgrade their devices, including hearing aids.

“They are the largest consumer of healthcare services, and they are very avid consumers of healthcare information and seek out information themselves,” Daniel Shen, founder of hearing aid company Eargo, said at the Connected Health Conference last week in Boston. “They approach the healthcare providers with greater initiative than older generations. What that means is from a medical device or solution standpoint, they are a very important generation and they may be able to seek out their own sources of information and not just from their doctors.”

Approximately 30 million Americans are affected by hearing loss, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, and older people are most affected by hearing loss. But many seniors still find it difficult to get hearing aids, reports MobiHealthNews. A single hearing aid costs around $2,300. Since these devices are not covered by Medicare, many senior citizens find it very hard to buy one.

The baby boomer population is mostly tech savvy. Around 68% of this population uses smartphone, according to the Pew Research Center. Their familiarity with technology and their particular needs is driving tech companies to develop hearing aids that fit their needs.

“Designing for the baby boomer population isn’t about designing for millennials with grey hair. There are certain things designers have to keep in mind,” Charlotte Yeh, chief medical officer at AARP, told MobiHealthNews. “First of all, the common trends of consumer electronics which use small text or unlabeled or nearly invisible buttons or unintuitive interfaces may not cut it. Designers have to keep in mind there may be limitations in terms of the hearing, vision and dexterity of this population.”

Tech companies like Apple, Eargo and Google are getting involved in the hearing aid space. While Eargo team narrowed in on comfort, affordability, natural sound and a discrete look, Apple partnered with several hearing aid companies to stream the technology. Google teamed up with Cochlear and GN Hearing to launch a new service that uses Bluetooth Low Energy to stream content from Android devices directly to hearing aids.

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AliveCor Raises $5.8 Million in New Funds, SEC Filing Reveals

Mobile ECG maker AliveCor has raised $5.78 million in new funds, according to an SEC filing. First spotted by Exits & Outcomes’ Brian Dolan, the filing lists the company’s total offerings at $9.1 million, leaving roughly $3.4 million left on the table to be sold to potential investors. This investment grows on the Mayo Clinic and Omron Healthcare-led $30 million funding the company raised in 2017, reports MobiHealthNews. The company hasn’t yet said how it will use the new funds.

AliveCor focuses on single- and six-lead smartphone ECGs and AI-based reading interpretations. The company’s latest product, KardiaMobile 6L, delivers six times more data. KardiaMobile 6L has two electrodes on the top for your fingers, and one on the bottom to contact the skin of your left leg. KardiaMobile 6L delivers EKG leads I, II, III, aVL, aVR, and aVF. All without messy gels and wires. When the user places his or her thumb on the device’s front electrodes, a third node on the back is pressed against the user’s knee or ankle. This enables the technology to give cardiologist six perspectives on the heart’s electrical activity.

KardiaMobile 6L detects AFib, Bradycardia, Tachycardia & Normal heart rhythm. It provides doctors more detailed heart information and visibility into certain arrhythmias that are leading indicators of cardiovascular disease, the company says.

The company’s KardiaAI, a dual-update to its existing KardiaMobile and KardiaStation platforms for consumer and point-of-care-use recently received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

In April, Complete™, a blood pressure monitor with EKG capability, which Omron developed in collaboration with AliveCor, received FDA clearance. The device is an upper arm blood pressure monitor that allows users to simultaneously monitor EKG and blood pressure readings at home. EKG readings can be measured by touching electrodes conveniently located on the top face and both sides of the monitor for easy access and comfort.

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Thursday, October 24, 2019

Patent suggest Apple may have solved major issue with augmented reality glasses

According to a new patent filed by Apple, the company's upcoming augmented reality headset may come with tech that enables them to adjust the opacity of their lenses.

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Quick thinking and an Apple Watch helped save a woman from sexual assault

A woman in Calgary, Alberta used an Apple Watch to call for help after a man broke into her apartment and attempted to sexually assault her, authorities said.

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Ada Health-Sutter Health Collaboration Improved Patient Care by Providing On-Demand Healthcare Guidance

For a partnership between a startup and a hospital to function properly, various components must work in sync. For example, the startup must be willing to listen to the hospital’s problems and provide help that addresses the issues and for the hospital, it needs enthusiastic executive buy-in and a strong champion, according to MobiHealthNews.

In February, Ada Health formed a partnership with Sutter Health, a leading U.S.-based not-for-profit healthcare network to offer personalized, on-demand health guidance to help patients make informed decisions about next steps for care. As part of the collaboration, Ada’s AI-powered symptom assessment and care navigation platform was integrated into Sutter Health’s website and My Health Online patient portal, giving more than 3 million current Sutter patients, as well as new website visitors, a personalized care experience.

While having a conversation with patients, Ada Health’s chatbot uses AI and asks them about symptoms. It then generates different questions based on their symptoms and eventually produces a list of possible causes with associated probabilities.

Working with Sutter Health, Ada built a version of its technology that users could access from Sutter’s website or patient portal that would ultimately send them to the appropriate place for care.

“What we’ve done is we’ve mapped our triage options to Sutter Health’s healthcare options, and we then geolocate a patient, show them the closest facilities, we map it for them, and then we allow them to go into MyChart and book that appointment,” Cutler told MobiHealthNews.

Since the start of deployment five months ago, the partnership has completed 20,000 assessments, averaging 100 per day. They did two-thirds of those between 6 p.m. and 9 a.m., and half of them ended up directing users to non-emergency care.

“We want to get the roadmap right, we want to get the integration with the industry tools right, and we want to prove the ROI,” Cutler said. “So, we’re literally defining the value of moving someone from a high-priced or potentially unnecessary venue of care like an emergency room to a lower-cost more relevant service, and once we define that value we’re going to define some metrics around it and make sure we move the relationship in that direction.”

Ada and Sutter are planning to continue their partnership and keep making improvements. A Spanish language version of the platform and integration with telemedicine are on the cards, reports MobiHealthNews.

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Beddr Launches Sleep Coaching, Data Analytics for Employers

Beddr, the maker of SleepTuner, an FDA-registered consumer wearable that can measure your sleep, launched a new program that provides employees with a sleep tracking device, weekly coaching and referrals to experts, reports MobiHealthNews.

“Sleep is the foundation to every employee’s mental and physical health. High-quality sleep has been shown to both reduce healthcare costs, as well as improve productivity, but most employers haven’t found a comprehensive program that addresses the primary root causes of sleep issues and that benefits their entire workforce,” Michael Kisch, CEO and cofounder of Beddr, said in a statement. “Beddr’s program helps people who have a combination of physiological, psychological, and lifestyle causes of their chronic sleep issues. By enabling people to understand the root causes of their sleep problems and providing easier access to coaching and physicians, we have seen a dramatic increase among our users relative to the overall population in their understanding of their sleep health and how their choices impact their overall sleep quality.”

Beddr’s SleepTuner is an FDA-registered sensor that the company launched late last year. The device sticks to the user’s forehead, where it measures blood oxygenation, heart rate, sleep position and stopped breathing events. These data are then transmitted to the connected mobile app for the users to view trends describing their sleep quality and potential approaches to addressing them.

A mobile phone displaying app — Image: Beddr

The Beddr program costs $349 per person and includes the SleepTuner, mobile app. A four-week sleep coaching is also included in the program. At the end of the four-week program, participants can choose a monthly subscription service and continue working with a coach and further enhance their sleep. While Beddr’s solution is first being offered to employers, it will be available directly to consumers in the near future.

“Beddr is making sleep health more affordable and accessible by bringing the power of a sleep lab into the comfort of your home, combining clinical data and sleep science with guided behavioral change. Whether a person has insomnia, sleep apnea or poor sleep hygiene, Beddr can help people understand, improve and achieve their true sleep,” said Kisch.

Beddr was founded in 2016 and is based in Mountain View, California. The company also has offices in Seattle.

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Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Apple Watch Series 5 review: A smartwatch close to perfection

The Apple Watch Series 5 is close to perfection, as good as smartwatches can get today, especially with the new always-on display Here's our review.

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Best smartwatch deals for October 2019: Samsung, Fitbit, and Apple Watch sales

Huawei and Honor’s latest wearables push is a key part of a much bigger plan

Huawei and Honor are releasing a range of new wearables over the coming months, and it's part of the firm's masterplan that revolves around HarmonyOS.

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AI Health Tech Firm Healx Raises $56 Million in Series B as It Looks to Accelerate Rare Disease Treatments

Healx, an UK-based health tech firm that specializes in treatments for rare diseases, has raised $56 million in a Series B financing round, led by one of Europe’s largest VC firms Atomico and joined by Intel Capital, Global Brain and btov Partners. All previous investors, including Balderton Capital, Amadeus Capital Partners, and Jonathan Milner also participated in the round. Healx said it will use the money to develop the company’s therapeutic pipeline and to launch its global Rare Treatment Accelerator program.

“The size of this Series B financing, especially this quickly after our Series A round last year, is an endorsement of the value of our platform and the pace at which we have developed. It allows us to scale our impact with the launch of our Rare Treatment Accelerator program and to progress into clinical trials,” said Healx Co-Founder and CEO, Dr Tim Guilliams.

“The trials for our fragile X treatments are just the start of the impact we believe our technology is capable of having on drug discovery. Rare diseases affect over 400 million patients world-wide. Of the 7,000 rare diseases known today, 95% are still without an approved treatment.”

Traditional method of drug discovery and clinical development of new medicines is very expensive in terms of costs, timelines and efficacy. “To bring a new drug to market typically costs $2-3 billion, takes 12-14 years to develop and has a 95% failure rate,” Guilliams told TechCrunch.

Healx’s AI-driven approach makes the process faster, more efficient and more cost-effective, the company said. With the launch of the Rare Treatment Accelerator, Healx and partnering patient groups will be able to scale the impact of this approach by leveraging the power of AI and combining their knowledge, information and expertise so that, together, they can discover new treatments and move them towards the clinic within 24 months.

The company said its mission is to advance 100 rare disease treatments towards the clinic by 2025. Healnet, Healx’s AI platform, delivers data-driven treatment predictions, which shortens the discovery-to-clinic timeline to as little as 24 months. It is the world’s leading AI platform on rare diseases and integrates scientific literature, clinical trial results and proprietary data in the form of a biomedical knowledge graph, pinpointing the potential therapeutic relationships between drugs and diseases.

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OCTOBER 2019

Pocket Sky: Activate yourself with light. Anytime, anywhere.

Natural light runs our body clock. Working late at night, getting up while it is still dark, feeling jet-lagged after a long flight or suffering from winter blues:

All too often we are out of synch with our environment. Fatigue, low spirits, performance- and health issues and are the result.

Pocket Sky’s blue light frequency found in daylight biochemically signals to our body that it’s a bright and sunny morning. By transmitting this biologically active light, this elegant and lightweight wearable boosts your energy and mood in just 20 minutes, whenever you need it.

Our body reacts to Pocket Sky’s gentle blue glow by suppressing melatonin, the sleep hormone. Since the wearable is 100% UV-free and eye-safe, it is the healthiest and most natural way to stay awake, cheerful and active during dark winters, long working hours and flights.

Without Bluetooth, apps or cables, you can use Pocket Sky anytime, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing.

Curious? Learn more about Pocket Sky at the WT | Wearable Technologies Show MEDICA on November 18-21 in Düsseldorf, Germany.

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Best cheap Apple Watch deals for October 2019

The best smartwatches for 2019

Tempted to buy a smartwatch? If so, then the growing number of great models available means you've got plenty to choose from. But which one should you pick?

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Garmin Swim 2 GPS Smartwatch Can Track Your Heart Rate Underwater

Garmin announced its latest swimming smartwatch, the Garmin Swim 2, promising hardened swimmers a new way to monitor their fitness, progress and health. The watch can be used in the pool or in open water to monitor heart rate at the wrist while also tracking distance, pace, SWOLF score, stroke count and distance per stroke. It can also track rests, timed sets, and log drills. If you like to exercise out of the pool, you can also log running and cycling.

“No matter where you decide to swim, the new Garmin Swim 2 will track your workout,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin vice president of global consumer sales. “Designed for all types of swimming enthusiasts, from frequent fitness swimmers to competitive, Masters or open water swimmers, this GPS smartwatch will not only help you train better in the water, but also monitor other key health metrics throughout the day.”

The open-water swim mode uses built-in GPS for swims in lakes, oceans or rivers while additionally recording stroke distance, reports Business Wire.

Garmin Swim 2 is designed to be worn all day. It can also track steps, monitor sleep quality and more. With an array of connected features, the Garmin Swim 2 lets users stay in touch with the rest of the world, even while on the move. When paired with a compatible smartphone, it automatically uploads to Garmin Connect™, an online fitness community where users can analyze their activity, track their progress and create custom workouts. Directly from the wrist, users will be able to receive text messages and view social media updates, emails and more.

The Garmin Swim 2 features up to 7 days of battery life in smartwatch mode, up to 13 hours in GPS and optical heart rate (OHR) mode and up to 72 hours in pool and OHR mode. It is available now for sale via Garmin’s website and Amazon. The watch comes in 2 colors: Slate and Whitestone. The suggested retail price is $249.99.

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Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Common AirPods problems, and how to fix them

Samsung patent shows the design of an unreleased augmented reality headset

Plenty of rumors have emerged about a potential Apple augmented reality headset, including as recently as Monday, but now a new patent is hinting at a Samsung AR headset too.

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Mobvoi brings sleep tracking to the TicWatch Pro and TicWatch Pro 4G/LTE

Mobvoi has beaten Apple to the punch and is bringing A.I.-powered sleep tracking to the TicWatch Pro and TicWatch Pro 4G/LTE through the new TicSleep app.

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Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 review: A bite out of Apple

The Galaxy Watch Active 2 matures Samsung’s smartwatch line. For $280 you get a digital rotating bezel and LTE connectivity, not to mention an ECG.

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Apple Wins Patent for Smart Ring that Would Work as a Smartwatch

Tech giant Apple has won a patent for a smart ring that could let you control your other devices without touching them.

Based on the patent application filed by Apple, the electronic ring computing device will feature a touchscreen, wireless transceiver, processor, sensors, and a rechargeable power source.

The patent was originally filed in 2015 and it is unclear if this will become a commercial Apple product.

In the patent Apple explains that touchscreen devices can be seen as “cumbersome, inconvenient, or inefficient for certain tasks and applications,” reports The Sun. The company says the Apple Ring could be a more efficient way to control iPhone or iPad from a distance because holding these devices for too long could fatigue some users.

Apple also underlines the potential safety features of the ring. It says that the light emitted from some touchscreen devices such as a smartphone, could be “inappropriate in certain social environments or even dangerous if it gives away the position of a threatened user.” Therefore, the company says that in a dangerous situation the smart ring could be a safer and more discreet way for people to get help.

sketch of a ring — Image credit: Apple (Via The Sun)

Apple also suggests that the ring might contain a telephone module for making phone calls and that the touch surface could be either a pad or a small screen.

The Apple ring can communicate to the device it’s paired with in various ways, like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular, and NFC. The patent draws a scenario where the user is able to transfer money to someone else with a handshake, and authorize the transaction with a voice command. This could also be used to transfer messages or share files with another ring user. The ring also has biometric sensors and can monitor the wearer’s heart rate.

According to The Sun report, if this smart ring is meant to be a supplementary device for other wearables like the rumored Apple Glasses then the Apple ring could be launching around 2020.

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Microsoft and Nuance Announce Collaboration to Transform the Doctor-Patient Experience

Back in the day a visit to the doctor’s office was a more fulfilling experience for the patient. The doctor would ask them questions about their health condition and their medications. The entire time the doctor’s focus would be on the patient and not on a computer screen and the doctor wouldn’t be pecking on the keyboard or search for the patient’s medical record on the computer. However, this scenario is far from the norm today.

But all these might change because of artificial intelligence (AI). According to experts, in an exam room of the future, the doctor would be able to call up a lab result or prescribe a new medicine with a simple voice command. The doctor wouldn’t be distracted by entering symptoms into your electronic health record (EHR).

Now, software provider Nuance Communications and Microsoft have partnered to transform the clinical experience for doctors and patients. The companies said their partnership will accelerate the delivery of ambient clinical intelligence (ACI) technologies that will power the exam room of the future where clinical documentation writes itself, reports Microsoft.

The Nuance-Microsoft partnership will bring together leading technologies from both companies:

Nuance’s healthcare-optimized speech recognition and processing solutions such as its Dragon Medical platform already used by more than 500,000 physicians worldwide; advanced conversational AI for ambient clinical documentation and decision support; voice biometrics; and specialized ambient sensing hardware
Microsoft Azure, Azure AI and Project EmpowerMD Intelligent Scribe Service backed with advanced conversational AI and natural language understanding

An office building — Image: Pexels (Immortal Shots)

“The Microsoft partnership will accelerate our ability to solve for healthcare’s most pressing challenges — together,” said Mark Benjamin, Nuance CEO. “The ambient technologies we will jointly deliver can improve productivity and professional satisfaction, while empowering doctors to focus on what they do best: take care of patients.”

Physician burnout is at epidemic levels. A recent study shows that primary care doctors now spend two hours on administrative tasks for every hour they’re involved in direct patient care. Physicians reported one to two hours of after-hours work each night, mostly related to administrative tasks.

Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, said, “We have an incredible opportunity to use advances in cloud and AI technology to transform healthcare delivery. Together with Nuance, we will apply the power of Azure and Azure AI to this challenge, with the aim of improving the day-to-day life of firstline healthcare workers everywhere — so they can provide better care.”

The companies will expand upon Nuance’s early success with ACI and expect to introduce the technology to an initial set of physician specialties in early 2020. Built on Microsoft Azure, this new technology will marry the two companies’ strengths in developing ambient sensing and conversational AI solutions, including ambient listening, wake-up word, voice biometrics, signal enhancement, document summarization, natural language understanding, clinical intelligence and text-to-speech.

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Monday, October 21, 2019

Best Cyber Monday Deals 2019: Everything you need to know

The Vatican Launches Wearable eRosary to Help Get Young Catholics to Pray

The Vatican announced that it launched a wearable smart device that connects with a smartphone app for guided prayer.

Launched by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, the “Click to Prayer eRosary” is a device targeted to young people as a tool to educate about praying the rosary, according to the Vatican News, the church’s official communication channel, reports NBC News.

“Click to Prayer eRosary” is a project under the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, a network focused on “mobilizing Catholics through prayer and action,” said the Vatican.

The device is activated by making the sign of the cross and will keep track of a user’s rosary progress. It consists of 10 black beads and a “smart cross” that stores data linked to the app.

“Physically, the device consists of ten consecutive black agate and hematite rosary beads, and of a smart cross which stores all the technological data connected to the app. When activated, the user has the possibility to choose either to pray the standard rosary, a contemplative Rosary and different kinds of thematic rosaries that will be updated every year. Once the prayer begins, the smart rosary shows the user’s progress throughout the different mysteries and keeps track of each rosary completed,” said Vatican News.

A man wearing rosary on his wrist — Image: ClickToPray eRosary

The smart rosary also has health features to encourage the faithful to pursue a healthy lifestyle. For example, it tracks the number of steps the user makes during the day and calories burned.

“Aimed at the peripheral frontiers of the digital world where the young people dwell, the Click To Pray eRosary serves as a technology-based pedagogy to teach the young how to pray for peace, how to contemplate the Gospel,” said the Holy See’s press office.

The eRosary is on sale now for 99 euros or $110 on Amazon and from Acer. The Business Insider reports that as of now, it’s not available in Italy and soon it’ll be available in the United States.

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New Kate Spade smartwatch is ideal for when you’re feeling sporty — or glamorous

Kate Spade's smartwatches have been all about a glitzy, classy style so far, but things are changing with the KSNY Sport Smartwatch, which takes a glam look and gives it a sporty edge.

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Bristol-Myers Squibb-Pfizer Alliance and Fitbit Collaborate on AFib Diagnosis

Wearable device maker Fitbit and pharmaceutical giants Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer have signed a multiyear partnership to speed up the detection and diagnosis of atrial fibrillation (AFib) to reduce the risk of life-threatening events such as stroke.

The alliance plan to collaborate on the development of educational content and guidance to support people at increased risk for AFib. Upon submission and FDA clearance of the AFib detection software on Fitbit devices, the parties will aim to provide users with appropriate information to help encourage and inform discussions with their physicians.

“We’re in a new era of healthcare, where we’re not only focused on developing treatments but also looking at the potential of technology and data to help patients learn more about their health,” said Angela Hwang, Group President, Pfizer Biopharmaceuticals Group. “We are excited about wearables and how our work with BMS and Fitbit may potentially help patients and physicians detect and understand heart rhythm irregularities.”

Atrial fibrillation is the most common type of irregular heartbeat and is a significant risk factor for stroke. During AFib, the heart’s two upper chambers (the atria) beat chaotically and irregularly – out of coordination with the two lower chambers (the ventricles) of the heart. Approximately eight million people in the United States are projected to be affected by AFib in 2019. As the U.S. population ages, this number is expected to rise, as adults aged 65 and older are at an increased risk of developing the condition. Because AFib can be asymptomatic, it can often go undetected, and some studies suggest that more than 25 percent of people who have the condition find out after they have a stroke, says a press release.

Diagram of a heart — During AFib heart can’t pump out blood effectively, the blood can sometimes pool in your heart and form a blood clot (Image: British Heart Foundation, YouTube screenshot)

Wearable technology has continued to become more integrated in the healthcare landscape5 as people have recognized the value that 24/7 health tracking can have for them. Fitbit’s user-generated data, in combination with its analytics talent, gives the company an advantage when it comes to determining how cost-effective certain health-related behavioral changes are.

“At Fitbit, we’re focused on making health more accessible and, through our efforts with the BMS-Pfizer Alliance, we have the potential to support earlier detection of atrial fibrillation, a potentially asymptomatic condition that affects millions of Americans,” said James Park, Co-founder and CEO of Fitbit. “With our continuous, 24/7 on-wrist health tracking capabilities, and our experience delivering personalized, engaging software and services, we believe we can develop content to help bridge the gaps that exist in atrial fibrillation detection, encouraging people to visit their doctor for a prompt diagnosis and potentially reduce their risk of stroke.”

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