Engadget

Google Health's New Year's Resolution is to cease to exist, countdown begins to save your data

Zach Honig — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 14:56:00 EST

Back in June, Google announced that it would be 'retiring' Health effective January 1, 2012. Now, everything appears to be on-track for the shutdown, with Google sending out a final reminder to Health customers earlier today. You have until the stroke of midnight to access the service or port your data to a competitor -- after which point you'll no longer be able to view information saved to your account, though it'll remain available to download in .zip format for another year. Want to know more? Hit up the source link for the Google Health FAQ.

Google Health's New Year's Resolution is to cease to exist, countdown begins to save your data originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Dec 2011 14:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Google 'retires' Health and PowerMeter, lets you save your vitals through 2012

Zach Honig — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 19:00:00 EST

Remember that Withings blood pressure monitor for iOS that we went hands-on with last week? It integrated with Google Health. The search giant's health management portal also paired with dozens of other services (a heaping handful can be seen in the image above) to aggregate and track all of your data, and share it with family members, friends, and doctors. The service didn't have the widespread impact that Google expected, however, so it's taking Health offline after the clock strikes midnight on January 1, 2012. You'll have another year to download your info, or send it directly to competing services.

Also on the chopping block is PowerMeter, a free energy monitoring tool that pairs with smart power meters and other energy monitoring devices to help users better understand consumption habits and ultimately reduce costs. That project will get the boot from Mountain View on September 16th, but you'll be able to log in to your account to download a CSV file. We imagine Health and PowerMeter are already plotting their trip down south, to get in a few thousand rounds of golf with Video Store at Pebble Beach. Perhaps to be joined by Buzz and Wave, in the not-so-distant future?

Google 'retires' Health and PowerMeter, lets you save your vitals through 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Jun 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Withings Blood Pressure Monitor for iOS hands-on (video)

Zach Honig — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 09:00:00 EST

Withings users not satisfied with only being able to share their weight with the world can now add blood pressure and heart rate to the mix. This iPhone-connected blood pressure monitor made its first appearance at CES, but you'll finally be able to order one of your own today. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, the $129 accessory costs three to four times as much as off-the-shelf blood pressure monitors, but integrates well if you're looking to pair it with your Withings scale for a complete vitals management solution. Results can be sent to health sites like Google Health and Microsoft HealthVault, or directly to your doctor. Care to see how it works? Join us past the break for a hands-on look at the monitor, including a video comparison with the in-store vitals machine at our neighborhood Kmart.

Update: Withings wrote in to let us know that the blood pressure readings in the video below were likely inflated because we were talking, though we do appreciate the concern you've already expressed in the comments.

Gallery: Withings Smart Blood Pressure Monitor for iPhone Hands-On

Continue reading Withings Blood Pressure Monitor for iOS hands-on (video)

Withings Blood Pressure Monitor for iOS hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Jun 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Blood turbine to power your pacemaker, become legendary band name

Sean Buckley — Tue, 17 May 2011 08:37:00 EST

Why bother with risky battery-changing surgical operations when your own cardiovascular system can provide all the power your heart-shocking pacemaker will ever need? Engineers at Switzerland's University of Bern have been working on tiny turbines; turbines small enough, in fact, to fit inside a human artery. Working like a blood powered hydroelectric generator, a working prototype -- tested in a simulated artery -- has been able to produce 800 microwatts of electricity. That's roughly eighty times the power required to power the average pacemaker; such a device could provide independent, sustainable power to neurostimulators, blood-pressure sensors, and other implanted medical gizmos. Researchers are concerned, however, that a blood turbine's adding agitation of blood flow might lead to clotting, and are continuing to tweak and rework the design to minimize this risk. Similar, but unrelated cardiovascular power designs have attempted to alleviate the concern by doing away with the rotating, fluid powered components, opting to generate electricity by oscillating magnets by utilizing changes in blood pressure -- which sounds awesome, but still falls shy of "blood turbine," in the contest for most Metal medical device.

Blood turbine to power your pacemaker, become legendary band name originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 May 2011 08:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Withings fittingly debuts iPhone-connected blood pressure monitor at CES

Darren Murph — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 20:00:00 EST

Trust us -- no one on the Engadget staff wants to know what their blood pressure is right about now. For those trapped in the hurricane that is CES, there's probably no better product to have laying around than this... but only if you're looking to confirm your suspicions about being in a high-stress career. Withings, the company best known for its connected scales, has just revealed the planet's first iPhone-connected blood pressure monitor, with an aim to make measuring vitals as easy as pie for iOS users. The idea is fairly simple: just plug the arm band into your iPad, iPod touch or iPhone, dial up the gratis app and start the process. All of the data is logged on the user's secure online space, and there's even a secure sharing feature that'll beam your abnormally high rates right to your frightened physician. It'll go on sale tomorrow around the globe, with the asking price set at $129 / €129.

Update: Looks like iHealth beat these guys by a dozen hours or so. Splitting hairs, but there it is.

Continue reading Withings fittingly debuts iPhone-connected blood pressure monitor at CES

Withings fittingly debuts iPhone-connected blood pressure monitor at CES originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

iHealth blood pressure iPod dock: another sort of Apple to keep the doctor away

Ross Miller — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 08:00:00 EST

Back in March 2009 at the iPhone OS 3.0 debut event, Apple's Scott Forstall pointed out medical devices specifically as one of the more interesting class of peripherals that could leverage the new custom app interface capabilities. And while it's certainly an interesting concept -- keeping tabs on your general health from the comfort of your own home -- we haven't really seen it catch on (only a couple of products come to mind). That isn't stopping iHealth; the company's blood pressure dock, available today from its online store (we're told it should be filtering through Apple's own channels later this month) ties in with a specialized iPhone / iPod touch / iPad app to monitor and track blood pressure from the comfort of your home, where theoretically there shouldn't be a stranger in a white coat making you extra nervous. In our brief time with the device, the interface seemed fairly intuitive and the whole process simple and not at all intimidating. The cost of entry is $99.95 for the hardware; the free app should be hitting iTunes today. Press release after the break.

Gallery: iHealth Blood Pressure Dock hands-on

Gallery: iHealth Blood Pressure Dock press photos

Continue reading iHealth blood pressure iPod dock: another sort of Apple to keep the doctor away

iHealth blood pressure iPod dock: another sort of Apple to keep the doctor away originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Wearable blood pressure monitor: portable and fashionable

Laura June — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 14:43:00 EST

We've seen some wild ideas when it comes to blood pressure -- including, yes, underpants -- but this newest device, a small monitor attached to the hand, which can be worn 24 hours a day for continuous monitoring, strikes us as having the potential for extreme usefulness. The monitor works differently than regular old blood pressure cuff, using a method called pulse wave velocity, which measures the pulse at two points along an artery. Built by a team of engineers at MIT, this prototype could boast a lot of advantages over monitors, including its portability, its ability to see long-term patterns of rises and falls in pressure, and of course -- you wouldn't have to be at the doctor's office to use it -- which is bound to take a little stress out of the equation. The device is moving toward commercial production and Harry Asada, leader of the MIT team, sees the possibility for monitoring conditions such as sleep apnea in the future as well.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Wearable blood pressure monitor: portable and fashionable originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Apr 2009 14:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

No Cuff automated blood pressure monitor proves that you can go home again

Joseph L. Flatley — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 03:50:00 EST

What if you could relive all the magical moments of your childhood, like playing with the blood pressure machine at your local supermarket? Now, thanks to the personal, portable No Cuff Blood Pressure Monitor, you can. Just slide your hand in and press the button to inflate -- it's that simple. In addition to the hours of fun you're sure to have as you feel the device lightly squeeze your arm, the blood pressure reader comes with a detachable LCD display that stores as many as ninety readings, offers AM/PM systolic averaging, an irregular pulse indicator, an alarm, and an arm-movement indicator to keep you from lousing up the reading. Not bad for $200, eh? And if you're feeling generous, maybe you could share this with a sick relative, an elderly neighbor, or anyone who might need to need to check their blood pressure regularly. That is, unless their underwear already does it for them.

[Via Engadget German]

Filed under: Household

No Cuff automated blood pressure monitor proves that you can go home again originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Dec 2008 03:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Philips dreams up underwear-infused blood pressure monitoring system

Darren Murph — Mon, 19 May 2008 17:57:00 EST

Before long, hardware-laden undergarments will be a necessity in life. After all, we've already seen underwear that fends off cellphone radiation, and now Philips is looking to create a pair that actually monitors one's blood pressure continually. A recent patent application from the firm details a "wearable" system, but it does point out that "it is particularly suitable for implementation in a continuously wearable undergarment with integrated measuring sensors or electrodes, so as to be directly in contact with the subject's skin." We can only assume that if these actually make it beyond the drawing board that they'll have an integrated wireless module in order to beam out vitals at all hours of the day, but we're personally a little wary about having all this hardware so close to, um, our hardware.

[Via NewScientistTech]

Filed under: Wearables

Philips dreams up underwear-infused blood pressure monitoring system originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 May 2008 17:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Georgia Tech researchers design nanowires to monitor blood pressure

Darren Murph — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 07:33:00 EST

If you see yourself taking an unwanted trip to the ER anytime in the next decade or so, there's a fairly decent chance you'll end up with at least one or two creepy creatures perusing some aspect of your innards. As if mechanical beings cruising through your intestines wasn't eerie enough, a team of Georgia Tech researchers have proposed a new way to constantly monitor one's blood pressure. The aptly-dubbed nanowires take advantage of the "piezoelectric effect in semiconducting zinc oxide" in order to detect minute forces as tiny "as a few piconewtones," or about the same amount needed to unzip a strand of DNA. The specially designed sensors will purportedly enable robotic nurses to continually monitor your blood pressure to take action before things get too out of hand, and of course, the "biocompatible "system would beam results wirelessly to devices in hospitals or even wrist-mounted readers so you'd know when to pop a proverbial chill pill. This should definitely suffice as a "second opinion," eh?

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Georgia Tech researchers design nanowires to monitor blood pressure originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Mar 2007 07:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Wrist-worn biomonitor tracks blood pressure wirelessly

Cyrus Farivar — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 03:39:00 EST

We've seen a handful of wireless bio-monitors taking shape in various forms over the last few months. But from we can tell, the BPGuardian from SunTech Medical and Empirical Technologies is the first small-scale wrist-worn monitor that keeps track of blood pressure, one heartbeat at a time. The data collected from the device is then sent via Bluetooth to a PDA or computer -- so if your blood pressure needs constant monitoring, you should probably consider checking this out. Even the military is interested in using the 'Guardian to learn about how soldiers can better overcome combat stress. We've got no idea how much this gadget will set you back, but if it ends up saving your life or helping your doctor improve your health, it's probably worth every penny.

[Via medGadget]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Wearables, Wireless

Wrist-worn biomonitor tracks blood pressure wirelessly originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Dec 2006 03:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments