Hasta La Gadget!

Don’t you just love modern day gizmos? If someone were to come up to you a couple of decades ago, telling you that there is this particular device which is capable of keeping track of your health, vital signs and sleep, you would have dismissed them as having escaped from the local nuthouse. Not so in this day and age, especially with the likes of the Withings Pulse O2 tracker.

This 119.95 Euro device will be able to capture details such as number of steps taken, distance walked, elevation climbed and calories burned throughout the day, and even when you go to bed at night, it will not stop working. No sir, as you make your way about dreamland, the Pulse O2 will be able to monitor your sleeping cycles, measuring your heart rate and blood oxygen level when asked.

Having the Pulse O2 can be equated to an empowering experience, since you can then make more informed choices, as the Pulse O2 adapts to your style instead of having it the other way around. Wearing the Pulse O2 can be done in 3 different ways – around your wrist with the adjustable wristband, hooking it up to your belt or apparel using the clip, or simply drop it into your pocket or bag, and you’re good to go. The wristband method is the only way for it to be worn if you want the Pulse O2 to monitor your sleep though.

Withings Pulse O2 Tracks Your Activities To Help Improve Overall Health , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Gadgets, Medical, withings,

Not all scales are created equal, although it would be safe to assume that in most of the homes out there, you would find a regular scale sitting in the bathroom or in a bedroom, tucked nicely underneath the bed. Well, an ordinary scale just provides you with a reading on how heavy you are exactly, and that’s that. The rest of it – exercise routines, fitness regimes, they depend on you. Not so with the £129.99 Withings Smart Body Analyzer Wi-Fi Scale (or Amazon for $149.95), as it does a whole lot more than just show off how heavy you are.

In fact, with the Withings Smart Body Analyzer Wi-Fi Scale, I guess you can more or less associate it with having your very own team of full-time fitness coaches, and there is no need to pay them overtime or any of that sort, and neither do you need to deal with politics. Plain, simple and straight to the point, the Withings Smart Body Analyzer Wi-Fi Scale will be able to measure the likes of your weight, body fat, heart-rate and air quality. Apart from that, it will also sync your smartphone to set goals and track your progress, and has the ability to recognize up to 8 users, where every single one of them would have their own profile, now how about that?
[ Withings Smart Body Analyzer Wi-Fi Scale does more than just show how heavy you are copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

It goes without saying that every single home would need its fair share of electrical devices, and some of these are indispensable – such as a refrigerator, a computer, and perhaps even a TV set. As for a blood pressure monitor, I hardly see manual versions any more, but technology has moved at such a pace that the blood pressure monitor has now taken a twist where it is not only electronic, but runs sans wires as well. We are referring to Withings’ Wireless Blood Pressure Monitor, of course, which was unveiled at the recently concluded CES 2014.

The Wireless Blood Pressure Monitor happens to be a revamped version of its award-winning Smart Blood Pressure Monitor. What has the folks at Withings done to improve this particular blood pressure monitor? They have decided to throw in wireless ability, in addition to making it play nice with Android-powered devices. Not only that, Withings intends to take its vision of user-friendly connected health another step further.

Sporting a medically-approved blood pressure cuff, it makes it a whole lot easier to use, which would also drastically expand its reach. Withings makes life easier when it comes to taking measurements, where all that you need would be to wrap the cuff around their arm and turn it on. Once done, it will automatically hook up to your smartphone via Bluetooth, opening up the Withings Health Mate application. Tapping the start button, the cuff will inflate and starts to take down the wearer’s systolic, diastolic blood pressure in addition to heart rate. All results would be shown on the screen automatically, saved and compared to standards for better comprehension later on.

The Withings Wireless Blood Pressure Monitor will offer a 360° well-being experience, where it will retail for $129.95 a pop. Would you be interested in picking this puppy up when available?

Press Release
[ Withings Wireless Blood Pressure Monitor unveiled copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

At CES 2014, Withings was showing off the latest product in its lineup of home health tracking connected gadgets, the Aura. The Aura looks vaguely like a submarine’s periscope, but it lives on your nightstand, connects to a sensor pad that goes under your mattress, and provides super sophisticated sleep tracking along with intelligent wake up and sleep sequences to give you your best possible rest.

The Aura is a wake-up like, not unlike other products on the market from companies including Philips, but it uses light combined with sound to help trigger melatonin release, which the company says happens via scientifically sound processes. These are triggered variously to relax you at night, or wake you up in the morning, using different tones from the LED light in the nightstand component, which also doubles as an alarm clock and speaker.

The Aura connects to a pad of sensors via cable, providing power and collecting data from said attachment. This pad picks up “micromovements” according to Withings, which are far more subtle than the kind of tossing and turning detectable by most wrist- and pocket-borne activity trackers, including Withings’ own Pulse. The sensor can detect small movements from under a pillow-top or even a tempurpedic mattress (which are designed to minimize the effect of movement), and up to two can be used to monitor sleep patterns for two people in the same bed. It can detect not only movements, but also breathing cycles and heart rate to arrive at much more sophisticated conclusions about that nature and quality of your sleep. Using this data, it can help the Aura alarm unit start to wake you up more gently when it makes sense, rather than abruptly right at a specific time.

These can be used in combination with Withings’ existing suite of health products to provide a more complete picture through their smartphone app, the company says. It’s aiming to ship the Aura starting in spring, 2014 and the whole kit, including one sensor pad and one nightstand alarm/light will cost $299. That’s steep compared to the Philips wake-up light at $99, but Withings is essentially the first to combine that product with highly sophisticated sleep tracking. Still, you have to be very committed to the self-monitored health movement to make that leap, I’d imagine.

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

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