… The MARQ Athlete is a fitness tool with extra smartwatch features, not the other way around. The data that I get on a daily basis from the Athlete is useful, satisfying, and comprehensive in a way that Apple can’t give me.
Communications of the ACM, ACM News, Samuel Greengard from
… The impact of smart watches and wearables that monitor health is profound. These devices can spot potential medical problems, improve patient behavior, and boost compliance. The Apple Watch is perhaps the highest-profile smart wearable device—and it has already been credited with saving lives—but numerous other manufacturers and devices are now streaming into the market with wearables that address an array of health challenges.
For example, iSono Health has introduced a three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound system that uses a bra to transmit data to a smartphone or tablet about women’s breast health; it detects unusual lumps and masses without having to visit a doctor or clinic.
Medical device maker Omron has received FDA approval on a blood pressure monitor that looks like a smartwatch and connects to a smartphone. It provides clinically accurate readings and offers insights into how behavior and lifestyle can impact heart health.
Guillaume Hullin often heads into the outdoors to break out of his routine and be more self-reliant for a period of time before returning to his job in information technology. He likes to document his travels on his youtube channel, where he records all of his experiences. Last October, Guillaume set out on an extended backpacking expedition to see the beauty of the Swedish wilds. He didn’t realize, however, that he would be trapped by an early winter storm.
Stuck in the middle of a blizzard in the most remote region in Europe, Guillaume’s only hope was to trigger an SOS on his inReach Satellite Communicator. [audio, 18:50]
This research team is sweating the small stuff — in sweat! With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), device engineer Jason Heikenfeld of the University of Cincinnati and a multidisciplinary team are developing new technologies to take sweat biosensors to the next level. Their wearable patches allow tiny amounts of sweat to be captured and analyzed quickly and accurately with strong correlation to blood data. The researchers envision a day when data from continuous sweat monitoring will be an essential tool in health care, like blood tests. Heikenfeld is also part of a new start-up company called Eccrine Systems that’s working to bring sweat biosensing to the marketplace. [video, 3:30]
We’re seeing more fitness-related startups focused on customized and convenient training as work-outers seek alternatives to big box gyms.
This morning, one such startup, Tonal announced it has raised $45 million in a Series C round led by L Catterton’s growth fund. Evolution Media/CAA, Shasta Ventures, Mayfield, Sapphire Ventures, professional tennis player Serena Williams’ Serena Ventures and other investors also participated in the financing.
… GPS is a fantastic feat of science and engineering that is anything but simple in implementation, but that is fairly simply explained.
A number of orbiting satellites (31 are active at the moment) continuously broadcast both their position in space and the current time.
Radio receivers on earth listen out for these broadcasts, and as long as they can “hear” the signals from three different satellites at the same time, and have their own reliable way of measuring the time, they can solve a system of mathematical equations to compute their own position.
The calculations rely on the fact that the time it takes for the signal to travel from the satellite to the receiver determines its distance, and with three distances you can lock in your position uniquely in three dimensions.
… The unique and compelling thing about the Bivy Stick is that you no longer need to be tied to a monthly subscription. You can buy “credits” for your stick and they’re good for text messages and tracking hours all around the globe using the Iridium network. There is a $17.99 plan fee for 30 days, but there’s no commitment to continue with the plan, which includes 10 credits. If you just need the stick active for a trip in July and then one in December, for example, just activate it for those two months for $35.98. You can stick with the plan throughout the year, if you’re going to be using it on a regular basis. But I’m sticking with buying credits for texts so that I can contact my friends and family only while traveling off the grid.
I took my Bivy Stick on a recent trip to Banff, Alberta. Skiing in the mountains of Banff National Park, I was often without cell service. And while I didn’t need to contact anyone, it was nice knowing that I could.
According to ABI Research, factors driving an increase in shipments include increasing opportunities in smart home, beacons and asset tracking and in emerging IoT applications.
The emergence of audio over bluetooth low energy will enable the technology to achieve a CAGR of 27% between 2018 and 2023, tripling in size.
Market trends include continued research and development to provide further improvements in power consumption, further extending battery life and enabling support for battery-free devices via energy harvesting.
Background: Many footwear characteristics are argued as risk factors for running related injuries (RRI). Several footwear assessment tools are available; however, their use in studies of RRI is unknown. Objective: This systematic review evaluated the characteristics and methods of assessing footwear in studies of RRI. Design: Five online databases were searched for studies on adult runners, in running style footwear, who experienced running-related pain or injury. The methodological quality of included articles was independently assessed by two raters using a modified Downs and Black checklist. Study and participant characteristics, footwear assessment tools used, and footwear characteristics reported were extracted for qualitative synthesis. Results: Twenty-four articles were included in the review. Low risk of bias was determined for 11 (44%) of the included studies. Twenty-eight different footwear characteristics were grouped into four categories: nomenclature, measurements, qualitative features, and subjective features. Fifteen different methods for assessing the 28 footwear characteristics were reported among the included studies. Only three methods were described previously, as valid and reliable. Conclusion: Differences in assessing footwear may mask the link between footwear characteristics and injury risk. Systematic footwear assessments and nomenclature are needed to evaluate the effects of footwear characteristics on RRI.
In most cases, you don’t need waterproof trail-running shoes, even if you’re running on wet and muddy trails. Waterproof trail-running shoes can trap water inside and cause your feet to overheat and sweat, which is why many trail runners choose very breathable, non-waterproof shoes instead. To help you understand what’s right for you, let’s look at a couple of key traits of waterproof trail-running shoes: waterproofness and warmth.
A computer science research team at Dartmouth College has produced a smart fabric that can help athletes and physical therapy patients correct arm angles to optimize performance, reduce injury and accelerate recovery.
… Randy Lewis has been studying the properties of spider silk and developing methods for producing it synthetically for more than three decades. In the 1990s, his research team was behind cloning the first spider silk gene, as well as the first to identify and sequence the proteins that make up the six different silks that web slingers make. Each has different mechanical properties.
“So our thought process was that you could take that information and begin to to understand what made them strong and what makes them stretchy, and why some are are very stretchy and some are not stretchy at all, and some are stronger and some are weaker,” explained Lewis, a biology professor at Utah State University and director of the Synthetic Spider Silk Lab, in an interview with Singularity Hub. [audio, 8:50]
Sorry, Wall Street. The vest purveyor of choice for tech and finance bros now is prioritizing bulk orders of corporate swag to mission-driven companies.
When we recently did an overview of the evolution of bicycling technology, helmets were barely mentioned. They’ve been made out of the same materials for decades, and the only improvement they’ve seen in that time is a more efficient venting layout. But the timing of that article turned out to be propitious because, a few months later, Trek got in touch to let me know it was introducing the first major change in helmet technology in years.
Normally, emails like that are little more than marketing, or failing that, everything’s proprietary and can’t be talked about. But in this case, Trek promised that there was peer-reviewed science behind the announcement and I’d get the chance to talk to the scientists themselves. A few weeks later, I got the chance to check out the helmets and meet the scientists (though I narrowly missed my chance to shake hands with cycling legend Jens Voigt).
There’s been a strategic breakthrough on the front lines of the American bike wars: This week, the Boston suburb of Cambridge mandated that protected cycling lanes be installed on all streets that are slated for reconstruction under existing city plans.
Passed by the city council on April 8, the ordinance appears to be the first of its kind in the U.S., and allows Cambridge—a dense university town that already has an unusually high share of bike commuters—to ascend into the ranks of the most progressive bicycling cities in the country. Local law now requires the city to erect vertical barriers between cyclists and cars on any roadway that’s rebuilt, expanded, or reconfigured if it’s part of the proposed 20-mile network of separated lanes known as the Cambridge Bicycle Plan. Only in “rare circumstances” where the city manager must cite physical or financial restraints will there be exceptions.
… The plan, which contains not only superblocks but comprehensive programs for green space, bicycle and bus networks, and much more, will not eliminate cars in the city, or deny one to anyone who needs one. But it will radically reduce their prevalence, the amount of space they occupy, and demand for their services. If it is fully implemented (a task that could take multiple administrations, even multiple generations), it could make Barcelona the first plausibly “post-car” major city in the world — a place where most streets are not for cars and most people don’t have one.
Predictably, there remains a great deal of controversy over whether the full vision is possible, or even whether it will outlast the current administration, which will be challenged in elections in May. Implementing it will involve challenges ranging from short-term traffic problems to blowback generated by gentrification. It could be weakened or corrupted over time, like other utopian urban plans before it.
… John Cushman, distinguished professor of earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences and mechanical engineering professor Eric Nauman have co-founded IFBattery in hopes of commercializing the technology.
Cushman calls the battery a “very novel construct.” The company says the patented technology recharges electric and hybrid vehicle batteries by replacing their fluid every 300 miles in a process similar to filling up at a gas station. The anode material, or negative electrode in lithium-ion batteries, is replaced every 3,000 miles. IFBattery says that process takes about as much money and time as an average oil change.