Jun 21
health, input, research
MIT Technology Review - Do you know how much REM sleep you got last night? New types of devices that monitor activity, sleep, diet, and even mood could make us healthier and more productive.
On a quiet Wednesday night in April, an unusual group has assembled in a garage turned hacker studio nestled in a student-dominated neighborhood outside Boston. Those gathered here—mostly in their 20s or 30s and mostly male—are united by a deep interest in themselves. They have come to share the results of their latest self-experiments: monthlong tests of the Zeo, a consumer device designed to analyze sleep.
The group is part of a rapidly growing movement of fitness buffs, techno-geeks, and patients with chronic conditions who obsessively monitor various personal metrics. At the center of the movement is a loosely organized group known as the Quantified Self, whose members are driven by the idea that collecting detailed data can help them make better choices about their health and behavior. In meetings held all over the world, self-trackers discuss how they use a combination of traditional spreadsheets, an expanding selection of smart-phone apps, and various consumer and custom-built devices to monitor patterns of food intake, sleep, fatigue, mood, and heart rate. [...]
Apr 13
gadget, health
TechEye — We don’t know about the rest of everyone in Internet Land but if there was a way to make phone calls from a dog we’d be all over it. Laura Boffi, of the Copenhagen Institute of Interactive Design [and her colleagues: Mary Huang and Li Bian], has come up with a wearable vest for messenger dogs with built-in GPS.
The idea is that the dog is trained to trek around disaster areas, and when they find a stranded straggler, they’ll sit in front of them. When he’s walking around, his jacket will play sounds to make nearby survivors aware of their doggy internet saviour. A hammy sounding American guy will then tell you, from the vest, that this dog is a messenger dog, and guide the rescued through recording a voice or picture message
Mar 04
health
gizmodo – Adidas miCoach is a fitness activity tracking system similar to Nike+, except it gives you more data—including heart rate information—and has a sexy voice to guide you through workouts. Yes, it costs more, but it also does more.
The heart rate monitor strap is quick and comfortable to put on, the stride sensor clips to your shoelaces securely, and the pacer recognizes both almost instantly. Unlike Nike+ which integrates into specific music players, miCoach can work with any device-including my ol’ Sony MD Walkman. You simply use the included male-to-male cable to connect your music player to the pacer unit and plug your headphones into that. That’s it. You can hit the track now.
While running, you can use the miCoach in one of two modes: free or coaching. In the free mode, the device will simply monitor your activity and save it for later syncing. In the coaching mode it’ll do that and chime in to guide you. This might sound like it’d be annoying, but there’s actually a variety of almost-sexy sounding voices to choose from and they only butt in to provide the stats you need or to tell you that you’re running too fast.
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