Category: Apps
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Gamified fitness with Atari classics
Atari is entering the digital health space, using classic games like Pong, Breakout & Centipede to incentivize users to participate in fitness challenges. The gamified app is called Atari Fit and includes circuit workouts and running programs. Users exercise individually or with friends while earning points to unlock Atari games. The app includes ranked leaderboards where…
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Hormone sensor + cloud platform for women
Open Source Health, a cloud based women’s healthcare platform, has unveiled a device for self-measuring hormones using a drop of blood from one’s finger. Each single use bio-sensor chip performs up to 5 tests at home. Estrogens, progestogens and androgens can be measured. Future plans include the ability to measure thyroid hormones (TSH, T3 and T4)…
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Light tracking wearable to prevent seasonal depression
As the shortest day of the year approaches, we all risk the impact of a lack of sun on our personal wellness. Bright light exposure has myriad mental health benefits, including improved mood, and enhanced digestion, energy and sleep. Studies show that light therapy is as effective as antidepressant medication, with additional benefits and no…
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Speech app detects bipolar mood swings early
PRIORI is an android app that monitors subtle voice changes to detect bipolar mood swings. It was developed by Zahi Karam, Emily Mower Provost and Melvin McInnis at the University of Michigan. The hope is to anticipate swings before they happen, and intervene. PRIORI was inspired by the families of bipolar patients, who often were first…
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Smartphone sensors power mental health app
Dartmouth professor Andrew Campbell has developed a mental health monitoring app based on automatic smartphone sensing. StudentLife compares students’ happiness, stress, depression and loneliness to their academic performance In a recent study, passive sensors continuously collected data on location, conversations, mobility, and sleep patterns of 48 participants over 10 weeks. The students were also prompted with questions about their…
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Mental health app analyzes data for early intervention
Ginger.io is a mental health app used to collect data and prompt early intervention of symptomatic patients to prevent relapses. By passively analyzing mobile data, the app can detect if a patient with mental illness is acting symptomatic. Symptoms may include lethargy (decreased movement captured by motion sensors) or infrequent texts (captured by the message…
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Apple focuses on digital health
This week, Apple announced its Health app and Healthkit framework in an attempt to standardize and the collection, display, and interpretation of of personal health data. In a new ad, aired yesterday, the company highlights fitness hardware, including Misfit Shine, Zepp Golf Sensor, Adidas miCoach Smart Ball, Wahoo Fitness Blue and Withings Healthmate, and health apps including Nike+…
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Chemical sensor app for lung cancer detection
Vantage Health/ STSI Press Release Vantage Health and Scripps Translational Science Institute are developing point-of-care chemical sensor apps. STSI will help validate the sensors, which can detect basic volatile organic compounds by using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. They intend to use the sensor to detect VOCs commonly associated with lung cancer. Last month Vantage…
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Streamlined, simplified, cloud based consumer health data
http://www.wellnessfx.com/ WellnessFX provides consumers with lab test results, real time heart rate data, and long feedback data from sleep sensors in a simple and well designed format. They seek to empower individuals to control their health and fitness by monitoring themselves, making it “easy to view changes that occur between blood tests, allowing you to…
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Smartphones and tablets assist the visually impaired
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/29/disruptions-guided-by-touch-screens-blind-turn-to-smartphones-for-sight/?partner=socialflow&smid=tw-nytimesbusiness&_r=0 The New York Times Bits blog reports that “advocates for the blind say that smartphones and tablets could be the biggest assistive aid to come along since Braille was invented in the 1820s.” Writer Nick Bilton explores some of the many ways–from voice commands to gesture readers–that mobile devices are helping the visually impaired.
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Crowdfunded breast exam sensor and software
http://eclipsebreasthealth.com Eclipse Breast Health Technologies has launched a crowdfunding campaign to test and eventually bring to market a wireless sensor meant to aid in the early detection of breast cancer and the tracking of patients being treated for the disease. The campaign is meant to support the company as it goes through the FDA approval process.…
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Personalized robot companion for seniors
http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=OFFR_TM_EN&ACTION=D&RCN=11525 A European consortium of research institutes, universities and technology companies has developed a highly customizable robot companion to help seniors to maintain their quality of life, stay healthy and avoid social exclusion. The robot, a mobile wheeled semi-humanoid figure equipped with cameras, sensors, audio, and a touch screen interface, can remind users to take their…