...Lee and Mary Beth Chalk–and enjoyed abundant, rapid startup funding–$12.5 million in two rounds, the last exactly one year ago, from equally impressive investors, reportedly $15 million total. No raiding the credit cards here. It occupied what everyone for the past few years thought of as a sweet spot–personal health management targeted to employers/benefit managers along with health plans to lower costs that combined sensor-based telehealth data with individualized coaching and feedback–and data from a broad base of 10,000 users. The delivery evolved over time. Their first iteration, h!Go, flopped. But they went beyond the then iMetrikus, now Numera home... Continue Reading
Search Results for sensor patches
Don’t worry, there’s a wristband for that…
Not one for my Christmas list, but check out this TechCrunch review if you want to find out more about the Tikker wristwatch (which is currently doing well on Kickstarter). Tikker will calculate when you’re likely to bite the dust, based on factors like age, activity level, BMI and location. If you’re hesitating as to how you might feel about wearing such a thing, just place a mood wristband on your other arm. The W/Me mood wristband sensor which is featured on PSFK, monitors your feelings via the autonomic nervous system to provide feedback on body activity that you may... Continue Reading
Dogs and monkeys to monitor your health!
In the on-going quest to support people to live independently without the use of cameras, scientists at Newcastle University have developed a sensor to monitor a dog’s movements (no, not those sort of movements!). The premise is that changes in behaviour patterns of pet dogs, such as the amount of food they eat, or the length and regularity of their walks, could quickly signal variations in the well-being of their owners. Readings are taken from a waterproof collar-based sensor featuring an accelerometer and micro-controller. You can read more about it at Gizmag. Meanwhile, over at the Hougang branch of St... Continue Reading
Body computing, sensors and all that data
This past week’s Body Computing Conference at University of Southern California (USC) had three sessions focusing on wearable sensors and the big names such as the well-financed Fitbit, Jawbone, BodyMedia, the ingestible sensor Proteus and Zephyr. The panels were split between the medical-grade and the consumer oriented with this report indicating some friction between the two. The notion of the Quantified Self died hard, even with Basis Science’s Marco Della Torre noting that 80% of health app users abandon them within two weeks, so the discussion moved to form factor and the ‘holy grail’ of getting the 90% of never-ever... Continue Reading
Relax, it’s (not) just a breathing monitor headset
A headset which monitors the quality of your breathing is being developed by BreathResearch, a San Francisco Bay area start-up. Combined with a mobile app, the ‘Breath Acoustics’ headset listens to your breathing and analyzes the patterns. Sensor-based breath monitoring may be a less commonly monitored biometric pattern but recent studies suggest it could be used to detect stress levels, bacterial infections and other conditions. The headset also presents other biometric data, including heart rate, pulse oximetry, and respiration. The idea is that we can begin to de-stress a little more when presented with what is hopefully actionable data. Or... Continue Reading
Quantified selfing: elitist and privacy invading
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/gimlet-eye.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]The last place you’d expect to see a populist view of Quantified Selfing, outside of the retrograde publications perused by The Gimlet Eye, is Wired. All these Fitbits, Jawbone UPs, Misfit Shines, baby monitors and of course Google Glass cost, cost, cost–upfront and especially for the ongoing subscription services. Even wearables, at this point, are nowhere near cheap and cheerful nor will be for some time. Is QS a luxury of the residents of Elysium? Wired’s Quantified Man, Chris Dancy, toting up his five-sensor/system cost, pays $400-$1,000 per month. The Eye tears up at the effect on... Continue Reading
Owlet baby monitor sock moving to market
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/product_sock-Owlet.png” thumb_width=”150″ /]About nine months ago [TTA 6 Dec 12], the Owlet baby monitor in prototype won a student competition at Brigham Young University. It definitely ‘socked it” to this Editor at the time as an elegant way to monitor baby vital signs or signs of distress; it is a sensor-rich sock transmitting to a smartphone. While it still had pending patents, needed further prototyping and of course no FDA approval, I recommended “if you’re an angel looking for a highly marketable telehealth item–and with adult uses in hospitals and nursing homes–a trip to Utah may be in order.”... Continue Reading
Addicted to mobile health? Telepsychiatry to the rescue!
...obsessively, like budgies with bells and mirrors….along with a study that indicates that patients with a passive sensor to upload blood glucose measurement, rather than pushing a button, were “significantly more adherent to their plan and had better health outcomes.” Not having to do something in the Diabetic’s Perpetual Battle of Stalingrad is addictive? Well, this is edging towards a nomination for ‘What in the Blue Blazes?” Could mobile health become addictive? (CHealth Blog) Hat tip to reader Bob Pyke via Twitter Well, we can send Dr. K to a connected psychiatrist for a session of e-therapy. Cheap and secure,... Continue Reading
The convergence of health systems with technology (US)
...lead hospital in Murray, Utah. Some of the prototypes already being readied are the ‘patient room of the future’, 3D printing of medical devices for testing purposes, a watch-form handwashing sensor, a ‘life detector’ for patient vital signs (an outgrowth of ViSi Mobile TTA 23 Aug 12?), a mobile vital signs monitor/data collector for use by helicopter rescue teams, an alert system for at-risk for suicide patients based on increased heart rate, and more. What seems to be missing are innovations related to the specific needs of older, frailer patients. Release. The extensive coverage is indicative of Intermountain’s influence in... Continue Reading
Falling in Torbay – a mine of useful information (UK)
Tim Netherwood Hi Charles, if, as you say, they had released figures related to the amount of time spent in a "fallen state" it would give a bigger incentive to push for every social alarm to be deliver with the Auto Call wrist worn trigger and fall sensor from Telecom Design, with a proven track record of 3 years in production. "Your first fall could be your last, don't wait to be assessed for your risk of falling" If the Kings Fund could prove that the deterioration of health (in a fallen state) can be reduced and does have a... Continue Reading
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