67% of 50+ users found activity trackers beneficial: AARP study

July 23, 2015 | by

The just-published AARP study of 50+ consumers and design of sleep and activity trackers has found that a near-or majority surveyed found activity and sleep trackers useful in maintaining health. 71 percent found they increased awareness of habits; 67 percent found them useful and beneficial. Four user personas emerged: sticklers, achievers, enthusiasts and the ‘why not’-ers. Yet these mostly enthusiastic users experienced difficulties. During the six-week trial, many discontinued use of the trackers due to data inaccuracy, finding and using instructions, perceived device malfunctions, difficulty in syncing, difficulty in putting on the device and comfort in wearing. The seven trackers used by the 92 participants were from Misfit, Spire, Jawbone, Lumo and Withings. Conducted by Georgia Tech Research Institute’s HomeLab with AARP’s Project Catalyst: The Power of We initiative which encourages good product and service design for the 50+ demographic. Coming up: med management tools. iHealthBeat. AARP release. AARP’s Building a Better Tracker research paper

Breathing monitoring, Google Glassing, AngelListing at Rock Health’s Demo Day

October 1, 2013 | by

The Rock Health accelerator premiered its fifth class of startup/early stage companies last week. The most interesting are the assistive technologies developed by Lift Labs in devices for everyday use–a spoon that counteracts the effect of active tremors; the Spire clip-on breathing monitoring device that takes an additional step into biofeedback and stress management (the similar BreathResearch was in TTA 24 Sept); the Google Glass-powered Augmedix service for doctors that serves up patient information during exams; ThriveOn which creates an on-demand 8-12 week custom-built programs for mental health issues. Rock Health also announced its alliance with AngelList  (more…)