(Image Credit: iStockPhoto/lzf)
Wearables are creating an exciting new era for the health industry, with more data about its users available to ensure our bodies remain in peak condition. The problem is that - aside from telling us to get off our rears or letting us know how far we've run - current devices are creating a whole bunch of data but without much context.
Addapp wants to change this...
(c)iStock.com/buttershug569
More than 75 million wearable devices will be deployed in enterprise and industrial environments between 2014 and 2020.
That’s the take from research and consulting firm Tractica, who argues smartwatches will beat fitness trackers and smart glasses to be the most popular workplace wearable.
Among the runners and riders examined in the report, entitled ‘Wearable Devices for Enterprise and Industrial Markets’, are Fitbit, Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, SAP, and of...
(c)iStock.com/KyKyPy3HuK
Kaspersky lab security researcher Roman Unuchek has written on how the authentication method in popular smart wristbands allows a third party to connect to the device, execute commands and even extract data.
The worrying findings came after a multiple month investigation, after Unuchek had initially attempted to connect his personal wristband – which remains nameless – and found he could easily connect to his colleague’s Nike+ FuelBand SE.
Using some code already...
(c)iStock.com/RyanKing999
The analysts at Juniper Research have gotten the tea leaves and crystal ball out again, and predicted annual revenues from connected healthcare and fitness services will approach $2bn by 2019, almost six times the value estimated for this year.
The findings, which appear in the report “Smart Wireless Devices: CE, Enterprise, Fitness, Healthcare, Payments 2015-2019”, examine the prevalence and market value of ‘smart wearable devices’, which Juniper defines as...
(Image Credit: iStockPhoto/AleksandarNakic)
Numerous studies have proven that the right kind of music can have significant benefits to our mental health, concentration, and our energy levels. Of course, music tastes are an individual thing and you'll probably find it difficult to get someone into grunge to admit enjoying some Katy Perry...
This is where wearables...
Wearables are taking off thanks to how they help to keep a track on our health and can offer small tips and prompts which can make a huge difference to our personal wellbeing. In fact, just yesterday we posted an article about how they are expected to help us predict major disease outbreaks.
Mango Health, which has executives from both the mobile and...
(Image Credit: iStockPhoto/Prykhodov)
Long-term readers of my articles will know I'm a fierce critic of Apple, but something happened during their last event and recent discussions at SXSW seem to confirm they’ve changed an industry in a way I don't think the Cupertino-based giant has since the debut of the original iPhone…
When ResearchKit was announced, I was...
(Image Credit: iStockPhoto/audioundwerbung)
Everyone was either showing off hardware, or discussing the future of wearable devices at Mobile World Congress this year. Smartwatches took most of the attention, but was stalked by some impressive VR headsets from a range of manufacturers...
Huawei somewhat stole the show with their smartwatch unveil. The manufacturer is often known for great smartphones which often undercut the...
The fitness industry is driving wearable adoption, as the success of devices such as Fitbit proves. In fact, on-stage at MWC we heard from Fitbit's Vice President, Gareth Jones, about how their range are breaking into a market which has been reserved to early-adopters through partnerships such as that with WeightWatchers.
So far, these trackers have focused on things like heart rate and perspiration. The most important part of a person's wellbeing, however, is their mental state. No-one wants to...
(c)iStock.com/SergeyNivens
Does your workout routine and calorie intake impact your purchasing decisions? Under Armour and many other athletic and lifestyle brands are betting that it does. That’s why they recently invested heavily in a number of fitness apps, like Endomondo and MyFitnessPal. It’s just another example of how every company is adopting technical aspects in order stay relevant.
Ultimately, Under...
(c)iStock.com/mkurtbas
Over the past 18 months we have witnessed a sharp rise in the popularity of wearable technology, particularly in fitness and activity trackers. Medical Director of the NHS, Sir Bruce Keogh, recently told The Guardian how such wearables could eventually revolutionise the healthcare industry. With the public fitness habit intensifying and the technology growing more...
(c)iStock.com/alexey_boldin
If you’ve got a smartphone and are looking to get fit, looking at the wearable devices on offer, then you might want to hold back on that purchase for now. A new research letter from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) argues smartphones apps are just as effective as wearable devices in tracking step counts.
JAMA’s paper, entitled ‘Accuracy of Smartphone Applications and Wearable...
Picture credit: HIRIS/YouTube
Meet HIRIS. HIRIS stands for Human Interactive Reliable Integrated System, and boldly claims to be the “first wearable computer for everyone.” It’s a big claim – but does it stack up?
The main reasoning behind this claim is because HIRIS can withstand any environment and be placed anywhere, from different body parts to on tennis rackets. This isn’t an entirely new idea; Misfit Wearables,
(c)iStock.com/kycstudio
Wearable tech and the quantified self clearly provides a huge opportunity for the hardware vendors and digital brands involved; giving them greater insight into the lives, behaviours and tastes of consumers than ever before. But as we learnt in Spiderman, "with great power comes great responsibility" - although a responsibility that I feel many organisations are not taking seriously enough.
Google is currently in the British high court accused of bypassing security settings...
(c)iStock.com/plusphoto
Our data science intern, Heng Li, obliged our begging and wrote a blog post about what he’s been working on for us this winter. Here is what he told us:
This winter I have the pleasure of working on a data science internship project for Strap along with Qiyao Wang. Simply speaking, the goal of our...
(Image Credit: iStockPhoto/svetikd)
Health insurance provider, AXA PPP, is hosting their first ever "Health Tech & You" awards at the Design Museum in London and will announce an overall winner during a ceremony on the 18th March 2015. Perhaps predictably, the shortlist is laden with wearable and connected devices which monitor health and performance to usher in a new-generation of patient-led...
(Image Credit: iStockPhoto/BsWei)
Stop kidding yourself. Simply wearing a fitness tracker for a couple of months was never going to make you reach your health goals. In order for your new gadget to have any meaningful impact on your health, you need to know how to use it as effectively as possible.
1. Establish a Baseline
You might be raring to try out your new toy, but if you want to track your fitness level accurately you’ll need to establish a...
(c)iStock.com/venimo
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has said it will only monitor wearable devices that claim to help diagnose and treat major illnesses.
The majority of devices on the market, however, will be classified in the ‘general wellness’ category, which as the name suggests relates more to general wellbeing and can be associated with weight management, physical fitness, improving self-esteem, sleep management or sexual function.
The FDA notes it’s more the classification...
(c)iStock.com/stokkete
A report published by A&D Medical of more than 2000 US adults has found more than half (56%) of respondents want to monitor their health with connected health devices that automatically send information to their doctors.
The potential of wearable technology, connected devices all powered by the Internet of Things (IoT) is here to stay – and according to A&D, consumers are increasingly looking for buy-in. Blood pressure (37%) was the most popular test respondents wanted to...
(c)iStock.com/bekisha
We’ve got some bad news for you. That Fitbit, or Jawbone you got for Christmas isn’t going to magically make you a healthier person, or even really influence you to become healthier, just because of the technology involved.
That’s the key takeaway from a study recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), which argues that mobile health apps need to do better in utilising theories of health behaviour, rather than focus on the...