The pics jive with images released by the FCC a few days ago so should be the real thing. As you can see, the design represents a blend between the Forerunner 645 and 935. In fact, take away the metal bezel from the 645 and you pretty much get the 245.
The thing has five buttons altogether with markings (start/stop, back, down, up, last) etched on the screen rather than the bezel. The start/stop button now has an attractive coloured line around it. The line is red for the black case iteration, white for the white case iteration and cyan for the cyan version.
The size of the watch is expected to be identical to the Forerunner 645. This means its dimensions will be 42.5 mm x 42.5 mm x 13.5 mm.
A week after the Forerunner 245 was spotted over at the FCC, another of Garmin’s forthcoming sports watches appears to have leaked. This time it’s the Forerunner 945, the long awaited update to the 935 multi-sports watch. The leak has appeared on Garmin’s German site, where a picture was displayed of the watch – and promptly removed, with one Twitter user grabbing a snap of the broken link.
Arguably the most innovative piece of tech built into Apple’s Watch Series 4, the ECG feature, is now finally available to users in Europe and the UK.
The electrocardiogram, or ECG, sensor was first activated via a watchOS update to compatible Watches in the US back in December. This gave those wearing a Series 4 the ability, as the device was cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to take a reading of their heart rate, via electrodes on the rear of the wearable and the digital crown. The ECG app can then potentially reveal abnormal patterns, while a 30-second ECG recording can be presented to your doctor via a downloadable PDF.
Now, as a result of Apple gaining a CE mark for the ECG app and irregular rhythm notifications, a certificate applied to products intended for sale in the European Economic Area, UK users should be able to do the same.
Say you’re a ship captain and you want to know when one of your sailors is fatigued to the point he or she is at risk of getting injured.
Some University of Connecticut students have an idea.
The team of Devon Thompson, Julia Podsen, Yannis Halkiadakis, Prateek Rana and Kyle-Gabriel de Vera Tan, has developed a device, worn around the ankle, that detects normal and abnormal walking patterns. The goal is to develop an algorithm that can predict from someone’s walking patterns if they’re going to get injured and what the injury will be.
“The whole idea is, ‘Can we keep these people mission-ready? Can we keep them performing optimally on a boat?’ ” said Kristin Morgan, an assistant professor in UConn’s Biomedical Engineering Department.
Background: Increasingly, drug and device clinical trials are tracking activity levels and other quality of life indices as endpoints for therapeutic efficacy. Trials have traditionally required intermittent subject visits to the clinic that are artificial, activity-intensive, and infrequent, making trend and event detection between visits difficult. Thus, there is an unmet need for wearable sensors that produce clinical quality and medical grade physiological data from subjects in the home. The current study was designed to validate the BioStamp nPoint® system (MC10 Inc., Lexington, MA, USA), a new technology designed to meet this need. Objective: To evaluate the accuracy, performance, and ease of use of an end-to-end system called the BioStamp nPoint. The system consists of an investigator portal for design of trials and data review, conformal, low-profile, wearable biosensors that adhere to the skin, a companion technology for wireless data transfer to a proprietary cloud, and algorithms for analyzing physiological, biometric, and contextual data for clinical research. Methods: A prospective, nonrandomized clinical trial was conducted on 30 healthy adult volunteers over the course of two continuous days and nights. Supervised and unsupervised study activities enabled performance validation in clinical and remote (simulated “at home”) environments. System outputs for heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV) (including root mean square of successive differences [RMSSD] and low frequency/high frequency ratio), activity classification during prescribed activities (lying, sitting, standing, walking, stationary biking, and sleep), step count during walking, posture characterization, and sleep metrics including onset/wake times, sleep duration, and respiration rate (RR) during sleep were evaluated. Outputs were compared to FDA-cleared comparator devices for HR, HRV, and RR and to ground truth investigator observations for activity and posture classifications, step count, and sleep events. Results: Thirty participants (77% male, 23% female; mean age 35.9 ± 10.1 years; mean BMI 28.1 ± 3.6) were enrolled in the study. The BioStamp nPoint system accurately measured HR and HRV (correlations: HR = 0.957, HRV RMSSD = 0.965, HRV ratio = 0.861) when compared to ActiheartTM. The system accurately monitored RR (mean absolute error [MAE] = 1.3 breaths/min) during sleep when compared to a Capnostream35TM end-tidal CO2 monitor. When compared with investigator observations, the system correctly classified activities and posture (agreement = 98.7 and 92.9%, respectively), step count (MAE = 14.7, < 3% of actual steps during a 6-min walk), and sleep events (MAE: sleep onset = 6.8 min, wake = 11.5 min, sleep duration = 13.7 min) with high accuracy. Participants indicated “good” to “excellent” usability (average System Usability Scale score of 81.3) and preferred the BioStamp nPoint system over both the Actiheart (86%) and Capnostream (97%) devices. Conclusions: The present study validated the BioStamp nPoint system’s performance and ease of use compared to FDA-cleared comparator devices in both the clinic and remote (home) environments. [full text]
Researchers have known for a long time that eumelanin—the pigment that colors human skin, hair, and eyes—can conduct electricity. But eumelanin in its natural form isn’t conductive enough to be very useful, and nobody could figure out how to give it a boost. This week, that changed. In a paper published this week in the journal Frontiers in Chemistry, an interdisciplinary team of Italian scientists describe a breakthrough process that dramatically enhances eumelanin’s conductivity.
It has been revealed that ‘Strava Scramblers’ are being deployed by local authorities in an attempt to reduce conflict around popular ride spots. On both road and trail segments, it is understood that by interrupting the GPS signal, phones and cycle computers are unable to record a rider’s progress, rendering the ‘racing’ of segments pointless.
Getting in shape and remaining so is hard work. It takes dedication, discipline, and an interest in tracking progress. Dedication and discipline require a certain kind of person. Tracking progress, however, can be done by a bevy of available devices and apps, from calories and steps to miles and reps. Even better, we can now track how much fitness-tracking apps are used throughout the year via Facebook login token data.
But there are different kinds of fitness apps. Some allow you to simply begin tracking your fitness and health, like MyFitnessPal, owned by Under Armour ($NYSE:UA). We call those casual fitness trackers, for the sake of comparison. Those ones, including MyFitnessPal and Fitbit ($NYSE:FIT), spike in popularity in the new year, when people resolve to get in shape.
But other tracking apps, the more outdoor-dependent trackers like cycling app Strava ($STRAVA) and running app Nike ($NYSE:NKE) Plus, rise in popularity along with the friendliness of the weather, as fitness junkies can finally get outdoors for a run or a ride.
Not surprised? Neither were we. But there’s a lot of hunch confirmation in the data. Here it is.
… unlike running apps that are native to a watch brand Strava can be used with a bunch of auto-syncing GPS devices or direct through your phone.
But isn’t it a men’s app? We hear you cry. Not exactly. It’s true that a higher proportion of users are men, but there were still over 150 million activity uploads from women last year.
So, with a number of lesser known integrations and features that are especially useful for fit females, we’re breaking down how you should be using it.
… Athletic gear has always been a niche market, tailored towards those who spend their evenings hitting the weights after work or training for various sporting events, professional or otherwise. The marketing for this area of clothing has featured fit models with visible abs and defined muscle. Until recently, there has been little call-out on this trend; society has collectively accepted that activewear represents fit people, and therefore marketing should follow suit. There is groupthink around the idea that all people want a six-pack and low body fat percentage.
The slim figures, oftentimes professional athletes themselves, reflect the sizing of the clothing offered by these brands. Until recently, Lululemon sold up to only a size 12 (they now sell up to a size 14) for women’s gear, limiting its audience. GymShark, an online brand, does offer sizes up to an XL, but the XL measurements are consistent with a US size 12. The statistics reflect this trend as well, showing that 67% of brands ignore women above a size 14.
The new Mindbender freeride collection from K2 Skis is a return to the company’s roots and what’s important to them – building skis you dream you already had. Here, we introduce the new Mindbender collection and reveal why professional freeriders like Felix Wiemers are so psyched about it.
Among the changes in ski equipment for 2020, for Wasatch skiers the most significant is combining alpine and touring equipment into one kit, said Mike Thorpe, general manager of Sports Den in Salt Lake City.
“The whole industry is putting all their research and design into having a crossover alpine and touring combo,” Thorpe said. “You get a walk mode for the boot and the ski is lighter for alpine. You won’t need to buy two setups anymore.”
Efforts to create a single high-performance equipment setup that maintains comfort are taking several forms. In skis, Thorpe said manufacturers are trying to make lighter skis that are still stable.
Take a 360-degree look inside Modern Meadow’s lab, where the company is engineering yeast cells to create a material that can be customized for a host of useful applications.
Jenax, inventor of flexible, fast-charging lithium-ion rechargeable batteries, has been invited to be a featured speaker at IDTechEx, taking place April 10-11, 2019 in Berlin, Germany. The company’s managing director, EJ Shin, will discuss how the unmatched flexibility, power and safety of the J.Flex battery can unlock the next generation of high-performance wearables, tech fashion, user-friendly medical devices and other IoT-connected products.
… I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but in fact a running pill of sorts exists already. Scientists working at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, have developed a compound known as GW 1516 that mimics the metabolic shift from glucose oxidation to fat burning that occurs during exercise. In sedentary mice, its administration has yielded effects similar to those of wheel running on body composition. … Contrary to popular assumption, a number of running’s major benefits derive from the thing we runners relish most about it—the conscious experience—and simply cannot be replicated by any substitute. For starters, consider the improvements in movement efficiency that occur as a normal part of training and are a major contributor to better running performance. These improvements come about through a learning process that depends on active two-way communication between the brain and the proprioceptive system—a network of nerves located in the muscles and connective tissues—during running.
… We know at our core what it means to be healthy. It doesn’t mean fad diets and it doesn’t mean quick fixes ― it means eating nutrient-filled foods and taking care of our bodies mentally and physically while maintaining balance and allowing ourselves things we love in moderation.
Sounds like a real piece of cake, eh?
But it’s more than that. When you take a look at the many elements fighting against us at all times, you might just find it’s time to give yourself a break. Of a Kit Kat Bar. Or an apple ― whatever. So, why is it so difficult to eat well?
There needs to be serious, urgent research into better saddles for female cyclists, says Hannah Dines, who has endured years of pain and swelling caused by friction as she rides
Researchers hope participants stay in the longitudinal study for a decade or more. “It’s easy and interesting for them to do,” Cotler said. “We hope they feel they are making a contribution to something bigger than themselves.”
Later this year, All of Us expects to launch Project Fitbit, a pilot effort to provide free activity trackers to 10,000 randomly selected participants who are already enrolled in the research project. This will provide information about how people use – or don’t use – digital health monitors, Cotler said.
The All of Us Research Program is a key element of the Precision Medicine Initiative, which launched in 2016 when $130 million was allocated to NIH to build a national, large-scale research participant group.
The Federal Trade Commission, in what could be considered a prelude to new regulatory action, has issued an order to several major internet service providers requiring them to share every detail of their data collection practices. The information could expose patterns of abuse or otherwise troubling data use against which the FTC — or states — may want to take action.
The letters requesting info (detailed below) went to Comcast, Google, T-Mobile and both the fixed and wireless sub-companies of Verizon and AT&T. These “represent a range of large and small ISPs, as well as fixed and mobile Internet providers,” an FTC spokesperson said. I’m not sure which is meant to be the small one, but welcome any information the agency can extract from any of them.
The New York Times, California Today, Jill Cowan from
Earlier this year, when Gov. Gavin Newsom gave his wide-ranging State of the State address, he floated an idea that built upon last year’s passage of a sweeping new consumer privacy act.
“I applaud this Legislature for passing the first-in-the-nation digital privacy law,” he said in the speech. “But California’s consumers should also be able to share in the wealth that is created from their data. And so, I’ve asked my team to develop a proposal for a new Data Dividend for Californians.”
It’s not a totally new concept, and the particulars have yet to be decided.