Hasta La Gadget!

Planning on getting one of those fitness bands like the Fitbit Force? Well if you are, here’s something you might want to consider. According to a smattering of reports, it seems that Fitbit Force owners are suffering from a series of rashes on their wrist where the device is worn. Other ailments include blisters and peeling skin. Of course one cannot place the blame solely on Fitbit since there are a variety of reasons that might cause this, which is exactly what the company has stated when they released a statement to The Huffington Post where they claim that sensitivity to materials like stainless steel, nickel, or the band’s elastomer are all valid reasons as to why some users are experiencing skin irritations.

However it seems that for the most part, most of the people who have written in to complain follow a particular pattern in which they are able to enjoy the fitness band for a couple of weeks, and after a few charges, they start to notice redness on their skin which is under the main part of the device sits, such as its sensors, battery, display, and charging port. Some tried to rectify the problem themselves by wiping the band down with alcohol to kill any bacteria, but it seems to either make matters worse or completely not help at all. According to a statement released by the company, they claim they are looking into the matter and are more than happy to issue a refund or replace the device for another. Any of our readers out there own a Fitbit Force device and are suffering from the same ailments?

Fitbit Force Users Complain Of Skin Irritation original content from Ubergizmo.

I just returned from the most exciting Consumer Electronics Show I’ve ever covered. Thanks to extraordinary demand for gadgets that make us healthier, stronger, and smarter, the technology industry is putting some serious brain power behind the next generation of wearable health devices. Over the next year, a torrent of new devices is hitting the market to provide automated elite coaching, a pocket-sized clinical lab, and your own personal assistant.

Labs In Your Pocket

It seems that nearly every time I rush head-first into a new diet or exercise program, I find months later there’s some crucial oversight that’s holding back my progress or actively destroying my body. Exasperated in frustration, I drag myself to a clinic for expert diagnostics, only to discover simple advice I should have been following from the beginning.

Now, nearly every expensive lab test I’ve gotten over the past year is coming to the delightful convenience of my smartphone. The Sensoria smart sock correctly diagnosed that I make the runner’s rookie mistake of heel striking, leading to a workout-stopping knee pain (available this spring).

Valencell’s PerformTech in-ear heart-rate monitor calibrated my V02Max (a common measure of endurance) in a nearly painless five minutes of light stair-stepper work on the CES show floor (available now). The results were within 5 percent of lab-test results I received months earlier and helped me know that two months of running San Francisco’s hills are probably paying off.

Quality rest is just as important as hitting the gym. The Basis B1 wristwatch, Sleeprate app, and Withing’s Aura bed pad will diagnose the quality of the major stages of sleep, including crucial REM cycles.* I got a preview of Sleeprate’s heart-rate-monitor-powered app, and apparently I’ve got a nasty restless sleep cycle (Basis update coming January 21, Sleeprate January 23rd, and Aura in the spring).

Unlike a lab test, these devices can follow you wherever you go, ensuring you actually follow through with the advice. Many of us work so hard at self-improvement; it’s nice to know that our time isn’t going to waste.

Automated Elite Coaching

The defining feature of the world’s sharpest coaching minds is a broad novel strategy that is meticulously applied to each student. The delicious replicability of elite coaching makes it ripe for automation.

While last year was all about fitness gadgets that monitor activity, “what’s going to happen next is teaching technique,” said Ruth Thomason of Cambridge Consultants. Cambridge was showing off the ArcAid basketball free-throw technique video analyzer. Normally available to college sports teams with budgets larger than the entire Humanities Department, this kind of video technology could bring elite coaching to the masses.

The marathon-enthusiast fitness company, Polar, is releasing what claims to be the most advanced training watch on the market. The Polar V800 meticulously tracks heart rate to advise athletes when they’re overtraining, analyzed through a free online web app, Polar Flow (available in April).

There’s also hope for my fellow ADHD brethren: Interaxon’s Muse headband is like a mind-reading meditation coach. Using classic techniques from the field of neurofeedback, the behind-the-ear mounted EEG device measures brainwaves to coach users into a state of meditative peace. Unlike its competitor, Neurosky, which is mostly used for brain-controlled computing (and women who love to wear rotating cat ears in San Francisco), the muse will track improved mindfulness over time.

In the same way online education is bringing the teachings of world-class professors to anyone with an Internet connection, the future of health tech will be to essentially roboticize elite coaches in the devices we wear on our bodies.

The Digital Mother

“Sit up straight and brush your teeth!” Sometimes, we know exactly what we’re supposed to do, but just aren’t very good at following through. The latest health tech is here to gently nag you into better health.

The Lumo Lift is a vibrating shirt pin that buzzes whenever it detects slouched shoulders. It’s pretty much impossible to answer 5,000 emails a minute and remember to sit up straight for eight hours. This little guy helps you remember (available in the spring).

For objects around the house, the aptly named “Mother” device imbues everyday objects with the nagging power of our lovely moms. Sen.se’s Mother interacts with satellite “cookies” that know when and how an object is being used; for instance, whether a bottle of pills is being picked up and poured upside down. The same goes for a jar to water the plants (available in the spring).

2014 is going to be an exciting year for digital health. For years, technology has conspired to transform our upright bodies into hunched-back zombies. Now, it can make us all ubermen. Bring on the gadgets!

Rest Devices has been showing off the Mimo baby monitor here at CES 2014. While the baby monitor portion of the name may bring thoughts of a camera and screen … Continue reading

Bluetooth and sport headset company JayBird is venturing a little outside of its comfort zone with the new JayBird Reign fitness tracking wristband, a device unveiled earlier this week at CES 2014. The JayBird Reign goes beyond most existing devices like those from Fitbit, Withings, and Jawbone, tracking different types of fitness differently instead of just lumping them all in together.

There’s also a little bit of intuitive prognostication built into the Reign; JayBird says that it can actually recognize when your body is ready to get active, even if you can’t. It can then prompt you to get up and get moving even when you might not feel like it, to help you make the most of those times your body is ready to go for the most possible return on your workout investment.

Conversely, it also tells you when you need more rest thanks to built-in sleep tracking. The sleep tracking not only tells you when you’re sleeping heavily and when you’re sleeping light, like many other trackers, but also provides advice about how much sleep you should get the next night in order to feel as rested as is possible.

The Reign uses Bluetooth to communicate data with a companion app for iOS and Android, and should be available sometime this spring for $199. That’s pricier than many entry-level fitness trackers on the market, but Jaybird is hoping people are willing to pay more for a device that automatically recognizes what kind of sport or activity you’re doing and switches its tracking rhythm accordingly. It’s also light and comfortable with a highly flexible band, an a simple LED notification light for communicating basic info.

Few device categories are growing faster than the health and fitness tracking gizmo market, and an increasingly crowded space means more companies competing for the same pool of potential buyers. At least JayBird hasn’t just thrown its brand on something that simply matches what’s already out there, but we’ll still have to wait and see what kind of tolerance consumer demand has for a growing number of suppliers.

Qardio was one of the startups competing in our battlefield competition at Disrupt Europe 2013, last October. On stage in Berlin it showed off a forthcoming consumer ECG monitor, the QardioCore, along with a wireless blood pressure monitoring device, QardioArm. The startup has now kicked off a crowdfunding campaign to help get the less expensive of the two, the QardioArm, to market — using the Indiegogo platform as its springboard.

Qardio’s devices are designed to undercut the high cost of current-gen medical kit, while also offering a simpler and more passive way for people to monitor their health that leverages the power of smartphones/tablets — with data from Qardio’s hardware streamed or synced to the user’s mobile device where it can be tracked and reviewed.

Qardio is looking for $100,000 in crowdfunding via Indiegogo to help it get the smart blood pressure monitor to market. It previously said it expects this device to retail for $99 but is offering it to early backers for $75.

This campaign is a flexible funding one, meaning Qardio does not need to meet that target in order to get the pledged funds. Indeed, it largely looks to be using Indiegogo to boost visibility — i.e., mostly as an additional marketing channel — and to get feedback and ideas to help further development, rather than because it needs the cash for manufacturing.

The QardioArm syncs blood pressure readings to Qardio’s secure cloud, where data can then be shared with others, such as your doctor. Users can also view their blood pressure data in Qardio’s companion iOS app.

As to when the QardioArm will be in the hands of users, the startup says it’s currently awaiting “final clearance” from the US Food and Drug Administration (for shipping to the US) and certification under EU Product Directives (for Europe).

It’s currently expecting to get clearance in time to ship the QardioArm to backers in March 2014 — which fits with its previously discussed timetable. At Disrupt Berlin, Qardio said it was planning to retail both the QardioCore and QardioArm online and through brick-and-mortar partnerships early this year.

At the time of writing, a few days into its Indiegogo campaign and with 27 days left to run, Qardio has raised more than $30,500.