Misfit Shine debut delayed, minus Android

May 30, 2013 | by | 2 Comments
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/leather-band21-1024×682.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]Announced to Misfit Shiners on the Saturday of the Memorial Day holiday weekend, of all times, was the further delay of their wearable tracker-sensor to mid-July from early June. The five to six week delay due to waterproofing was less aggravating to many pledgers than the dropping of Android compatibility for iOS only.  To those early birds who enthusiastically pledged their money to buy 10,000 units as part of the $846,000 incredibly oversubscribed placement on Indiegogo, the squishily worded justification on their blog from founder Sonny Vu, ” iOS allows us to roll out the features we want and give you the best user experience out of the box” did not satisfy–and the date of Android’s debut was not addressed. Comments on Indiegogo are not complimentary. With not only the kickstarter funding but a healthy jolt of Series A funds ($7.6 million), it is a mystery to most why Android is not supported from the start. Refund requests are a-go-go. So Misfit is sleek, waterproof….and has to overcome bad word-of-mouth from its funders just before its official debut. And directly competitive Fitbit and Jawbone UP support Android.  Crowdfund Insider, Mobihealthnews

Robots go squishy, exoskeletons do not, and here’s your drink

May 30, 2013 | by

Gizmag profiles another soft robot, this out of University of California Berkeley with a hydrogel/graphene layer that causes it to flex when exposed to light. A natural to combine with the Harvard/Wyss/DARPA chameleon [TTA 23 Aug 12] or, according to the article, drug delivery and tissue engineering. 0:36 video demos the gel in a ‘hand’ flipping its ‘fingers’ by laser light. Soft robots could benefit from new light-controlled hydrogel

Honda, one of the many companies developing exoskeletons to assist movement, is the first to lease 100 of them to 50 hospitals in Japan for testing. After 14 years of development, it’s about time. The current model is 2.6 kg (5.7 lbs.) and according to Honda, will “improve the symmetry of the timing of each leg lifting from the ground and extending forward, and to promote a longer stride for an easier walk.” Exoskeletons have been developed on three purposes. The first is assistance to the elderly and those in rehabilitation (Honda’s, Cyberdyne’s HAL, EKSO Bionics, Argo ReWalk TTA 29 June 11). The second is industrial (Honda as well.) The third is military, to support soldiers’ strength in the field and in combat conditions (RB3D, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin; also DARPA/Harvard/Wyss TTA 27 July 12) Honda begins leasing Walking Assist Exoskeleton (Gizmag)

And after all this, wouldn’t you like a drink? Coming right up…. Cornell University’s Personal Robotics Lab adapted a Willow Garage PR-2 to serve you a beer or your favorite beverage. For a robot, anticipating human actions is a real challenge. That simple top-up of a drink can, if actions are not correctly interpreted, mean a big spill. So the Cornellians programmed the robot with 120 3D videos of people in everyday tasks, broken down into subtasks that the robot then recompiles into models of different activities, and then equipped the PR-2 with a Microsoft Kinect scanner to build up a 3D map of the objects present, so that the robot can then ‘observe’ how they might be used. It gives you pause to realize that simple everyday activities are made up of a myriad of subactions. Robby, pour me a tall one….Cornell develops beer-pouring robot that anticipates people’s actions (Gizmag again)

Med ePad patient-centred care for prostate cancer patients (Wales)

May 28, 2013 | by

We said that Med ePad was ‘one to watch’ for forthcoming developments back in February. Here’s the first: the Med ePad Prostate Clinic App is being tried at the prostate clinic of Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Local Health Board. The app is designed to inform, support and involve patients throughout the diagnosis and treatment for their prostate problems. By providing better information from the point of referral onwards, it is expected that patients will be better informed about their condition and about the treatment options available during their consultations. Other integral functions of the app include appointment and medications reminders; clinically driven and patient-specific visual representation of the care pathway; full graphical audio/visual animations; clinician/patient video interaction and configurable real time surveys. Med ePad website.

Ambivalence over end of life decisions (Europe)

May 28, 2013 | by

Not telehealth or telecare directly, but relevant to many TTA readers, a new Europe-wide research findings from the King’s College London’s Cicely Saunders Institute and Project BuildCARE explores people’s preferences when it comes to decision-making at the end of life. Dr Daveson, lead author of the paper, said that when thinking about scenarios of lost capacity, for example, most people in Europe do not want to make decisions about their healthcare in advance. Some people decide not to make end of life decisions about their care before they absolutely have to because:

  1. They believe that they will not know what they will want to choose until they are in the situation
  2. It is easier not to think about it
  3. They think that avoiding making decisions beforehand will avoid burdening family members

However, 53% of survey respondents wanted their partner or spouse to be involved in helping them make their decision and 40% also wanted other relatives to be involved. This means that for many people these will be family decisions. Preferences for self-involvement in decision-making – new research findings from across Europe: What would you choose? KCL main site. Infographic (PDF download)

Thai mHealth program to transform the health system

May 28, 2013 | by

The application, Saraphi Health, and the mhealth project of which it is a critical element, receives funding from the Thai Health Promotion Foundation. The purpose is to be able to build a digital archive to be used by the managers and developers of public healthcare policy. The aim is to improve the efficiency of dealing with urgent health situations. Mhealth program in Thailand uses app to collect medical data. MobileCommerceNews.

Specialist housing does not reflect what most older people want (UK)

May 28, 2013 | by

A thoughtful article in The Guardian by Aleks Collingwood of The Joseph Rowntree Foundation highlights the disincentives that exist at present in the widely-assumed-to-be-desirable downsizing of accommodation by older people to meet their own needs better and to make more efficient use of their larger houses by other families. Among the points made, “There’s a negative framing of the debate – downsizing emphasises loss of status and reduced importance. To interest more people in moving there not only has to be a wider and more attractive choice of housing options, but we need to think carefully how these options are labelled.” Read the comments too: It’s time for a new model of specialist housing for older people.

At least it is several centuries since older people in the UK, unlike their counterparts in Ghana, faced being ostracised as witches. Older people are wrongly accused of witchcraft (GhanaWeb) although one wonders if the underlying impulse to isolate older people from the mainstream of society is not actually the same.

UPDATE 11 June: It seems appropriate to add here an article about housing for older people by Malcolm Fisk, published a few weeks ago: Old age debate (in Inside Housing. See the comments, too “…the disservice we have ‘done to’ many older people by shrinking their lives … to a flat, to a room, to a chair, to a purse / wallet, to a photo.”)

‘Nudging’ chronic condition-ers to QSing

May 23, 2013 | by

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/gimlet-eye.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]TripleTree, a VC that funds many iHealthy companies, casts a hopeful eye (certainly not a Gimlet Eye) at the consumer-driven growth of health tech and finds the steam generated by the Quantified Selfers and Fitness Addicts, stoked by the Healthcare Digerati who are not Going Surfing USA, is cooling fast and flatly. The Big Bucks are betting on ‘nudging’ (or as Aunt Lillian put it, ‘nooodging’) those diabetics, overweight couch potatoes, smokers and consumers of 72-ounce sodas, those naughty 20 percenters who spend an estimated 80 percent of US healthcare money, towards the New Jerusalem of Healthy Lifestyles and Big Savings. Of course, as the writer points out, payers and pharmas are still gathering data and documenting that increasing physical activity or sensoring med reminders, despite their Quantum of Cool, actually gets everyone to this destination and not another. One increasingly popular Road to Perdition is to introduce the refractory to the Carrot und Stick Gauntlet located at the corner of Tech, Privacy and Cost [TTA 21 March.] But the intensely blinking Big Yellow Light is that the Diabetic Experience [TTA 5 April] points out that ‘nooodging’ people to do something they don’t wanna and has uncertain, variable outcomes is not necessarily Their Road to Damascus. Personal Fitness, Chronic Condition Management and Connected Health

While The Eye takes The Road to the Beach in a 1946 Buick Super woody, Editor Donna notes the listing at the end of the article of the dozen finalists for the iAward to be announced 30 May, including AliveCor, Healthsense (a telecare system!) and Qualcomm Life.

Now a virtual therapist

May 23, 2013 | by

“Ellie” the Virtual Analyst has it right down to the  ‘uh-huhs’  in responding to her patients, but she really excels at taking the measure of body language. According to the NPR interview with University of Southern California’s (USC) Institute for Creative Technologies’ lead developers, psychologist Albert “Skip” Rizzo and computer scientist Louis-Philippe Morency, “Ellie tracks and analyzes around 60 different features — various body and facial movements, and different aspects of the voice. The theory of all this is that a detailed analysis of those movements and vocal features can give us new insights into people who are struggling with emotional issues. The body, face and voice express things that words sometimes obscure.” Movement is tracked by Microsoft Kinect, voice by a microphone. This is the flip side of their original telementalhealth research from last year with simulations of virtual patients for training psychiatric residents [TTA 14 Aug] and PTSD assessment [TTA 28 Oct 11]. Like both of these, this was originally commissioned by the US Department of Defense for PTSD diagnosis, so Ellie provides a report at the end of each session. Your Editor also thinks there’s commercialization potential in the growing category of ‘couch apps’. [TTA 11 May] If Your Shrink Is A Bot, How Do You Respond?

Update on Health+Care 2013 pre-event

May 23, 2013 | by

As reported previously, on Tuesday 14 May, the organisers of Health+Care 2013 held a pre-event telecare/telehealth exhibition called The Home Care House of the Future hosted by Circle Housing Group at one of its newest Circle Living shared ownership flats in London. Thanks to the organisers and exhibitors, we can now post the following 3½ minute video and additional information provided by the exhibitors. (more…)

Scanadu Scout emerging for crowdfunding

May 23, 2013 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/scout1.png” thumb_width=”150″ /]The Scanadu Scout [TTA 30 Nov 12], so widely touted as a ‘medical tricorder’ going for the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE, listed on Indiegogo’s crowdfunding platform yesterday, and is already 3x oversubscribed at $311,000 with 29 days to go. Scanadu connects to your smartphone via Bluetooth LE and from a forehead readng calculates temperature, respiratory rate, blood oxygen, heartrate, blood pressure and stress. However it has no FDA nor CE approval, thus is being ‘quantified’ as a research tool not a vital signs monitor, so you too can be a Scout.  $199 now is the entry price but multiple package deals are still available, but you’ll have to wait till March 2014 at the earliest. Complete with glowing videos. Indiegogo, Wired UK.

News Flash: The Gimlet Eye just texted Editor Donna with a better name; the Scanadu Nirvana, for the altered state the hordes of Quantified Selfers (QSers) are undoubtedly in.

(Holiday) Weekend reading: McKinsey’s guide to 12 disruptive technologies

May 23, 2013 | by

The McKinsey & Company consultants have compiled two lengthy PDFs (one long executive summary and a very long full study), plus a podcast by one of their researchers, on what they see are 12 core disruptors which will be familiar to most of our readers. None are labeled ‘healthcare’ but seven of the 12 fit right into any tech in the field: mobile internet, the ‘internet of things’, advanced robotics, automation of knowledge work, cloud computing, next-gen genomics and 3D printing. Disruptive technologies: Advances that will transform life, business, and the global economy (downloads in article)

A model for health tech accelerators, made in NY

May 23, 2013 | by

‘Digital health accelerators’ are popping up like spring flowers, but what is the ‘secret sauce’? New York Digital Health Accelerator’s (NYDHA) program may have found the recipe. Dave Chase, CEO of Avado, takes a go at it from what a program like this means to an early-stage (or startup) company. Key points:

  • 23 leading providers were the selection committee–customers, a/k/a ‘who pays’–and they mentored and met extensively with their assigned company
  • Funding and the equity ‘take’ were the most attractive of any accelerator:  according to Chase, “providing the most funding per company of any accelerator ($300,000 or more[Ed.note: versus a more typical $20,000]) — roughly 5-15x more than other accelerators while taking significantly less equity.”
  • It was actively co-managed by The Partnership Fund for NY and NYeC (NY eHealth Collaborative) whose senior staff sourced conference/exposure opportunities and connections with Federal and state healthcare leaders
  • NY is clearly backing this with a goal of reinventing healthcare

NY Digital Health Accelerator Is a Model to Emulate: Startup’s Perspective (Forbes)

Previously in TTA: Healthcare IT–New York’s Next Big Thing [14 May] highlighting the Partnership Fund for NY and the NYDHA program.

UK housing providers’ telecare alarms funding crisis

May 23, 2013 | by

For years, many providers of specialist accommodation for older people, social housing or people with other needs have been offering panic alarm/telecare services funded wholly or in part from the public purse, particularly through Supporting People funding, which has now been cut off. This has left the housing providers with practical, financial and ethical dilemmas as highlighted a month ago in the comments on this TTA item: Supporting People funding reductions – telecare panic. Now specialist housing consultancy Support Solutions reframes the question and re-imagines the solution: Funding Alarms & Proactive Communication Systems for Vulnerable People.

text4baby: positive study results (US)

May 22, 2013 | by

Results from a year-long evaluation provide evidence that text4baby benefits users. text4baby is a free mobile health information service of the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB) that provides pregnant women and new mothers with health and safety information via text message. The content includes messages about immunization, nutrition, birth defect prevention, safe sleep, etc. A survey developed by researchers from the National Latino Research Center (NLRC) at California State University San Marcos and the University of California San Diego, with support from the Alliance Healthcare Foundation, was administered to 631 text4baby users in San Diego. Findings indicate that text4baby is increasing users’ health knowledge, facilitating interaction with health providers, reminding them of their appointments and immunizations, and improving access to health services. More information and link to the study results. Heads-up thanks to Bob Pyke.