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When you jump, VERT tells you how high
The majority of fitness wearables concern themselves with walking or running, but what happens if your exercise is more vertical in nature? Step forward VERT, a wearable jump-rate monitor that tells you how fast you can jump, how high you can jump and, er, additional jumping-related measurements. Clip the Fitbit-sized unit to your shirt and connect to the companion iOS app and you, or your coach, will be able to see how well you're leaping into the air and how best to improve. It may be a niche technology, but it's already being used by the US women's Volleyball team, so if you want to join in, you can grab a unit for $125.
Activity trackers to help decide personal injury cases
Don't look now, but the activity tracker on your wrist may be the key to victory in the courtroom -- in the right circumstances, at least. A Canadian woman embroiled in a personal injury claims case will soon use Fitbit data as evidence that an accident significantly limited her activity levels. She'll wear a smart band for several months to determine whether or not she's sufficiently active for someone in her age group and job. If she's clearly behind the curve, she may have strong proof that she deserves compensation.
Reebok-CCM partnering on impact-sensing flexible sports cap, hopes to improve real-time injury analysis
While the whack of two helmets might be an unavoidable part of some high intensity sports, knowing a little more about what's going on during those impacts can mean the difference between a time out, and time in hospital. Reebok-CCM Hockey and electronics firm MC10 have just announced that they are developing a wearable cap that will register the strength and severity of head impacts during games. The project is actually aimed at all sports and age-groups, and uses high-performance electronics reshaped into an ultra-thin, breathable, flexible system that technology partner, MC10, expects to also be much more affordable. The cap will allow quick analysis through the use of different colored readouts, illustrating the strength of impact. The product won't be commercially available until next year however, but we're already thinking of potential worthy collaborations.
Apple compensates customer injured at Beijing store
Apple reportedly compensated a customer injured in a melee outside the Sanlitun Apple Store in Beijing, China. The customer, identified as Ding Wencheng by the Global Times, was reportedly paid a 20,000-yuan ($3,000) settlement by the Apple store for injuries he received in the altercation. According to state reports, a scuffle erupted when a foreign Apple employee allegedly started to beat suspected line jumpers. In the aftermath, several customers were hospitalized, and the front glass door of the Apple store was smashed. Apple spokesperson Carolyn Wu acknowledged the brawl, but did not comment on the rumored settlement. "The Apple Store Sanlitun was closed for several hours on Saturday after a group outside the store became unruly." Wu added, "The store team acted to protect themselves and our customers by closing the doors and preventing the group from entering. The safety of our customers and employees is our top priority." Details on the status of the hospitalized customers are unknown, but presumably, Apple may compensate others injured in this unfortunate incident. [Via The Next Web]
Wintek workers still experience effects from n-hexane exposure, Apple issues a report
It's been a few months since we checked in on the workers at Wintek, where they manufacture touchscreens for the likes of Apple. As you might remember, the former company was facing a lawsuit for chemical poisoning that occurred between May 2008 to August 2009 when the company substituted alcohol for n-hexane in the manufacturing process. Both Apple and Wintek maintain that ultimately a total of 137 people had been hospitalized, and all have recovered -- but as Reuters points out, daily exposure to the chemical has been known to cause "long-term and possibly irreversible nerve damage," and Wintek employees have maintained that the company has left them holding the bag for symptoms that could very well flare up again in the future (or, in some cases, never really went away). "We are unable to cope with the medical costs of treatment in the future," said Guo Ruiqiang, a worker at the plant. "We can only stay in the factory and see what happens. We just feel very helpless now." For Apple's part, the company has mandated that Wintek "work with a consultant to improve their Environmental Health and Safety processes and management systems" in anticipation of a complete reaudit of the facility in 2011. [Warning: PDF More Coverage link]
Two universities adopt Wii Fit to monitor football concussions
As it turns out, there are quite a few uses for a $100 off-the-shelf computerized scale, above and beyond getting fit -- Nintendo's Wii Balance Board is now providing a mechanism by which college football teams at Ohio State University and the University of Maryland can cheaply determine whether players are suffering from concussions. Taking the place of force plate machines that can cost tens of thousands of dollars, the white plastic boards measure students' balance (using yoga poses) and coordination (in Table Tilt) before a game, to provide a frame of reference against which trainers can measure whether athletes are fit to keep playing. Though some scholars found Wii Fit didn't stack up favorably against the expensive force plates, the universities trialing the system called it "pretty decent," so the question is whether Nintendo's peripheral offers a reasonable enough benchmark for the price. We suppose the American Heart Association liked it well enough.
44 Chinese workers sue Wintek over screen cleaner poisoning
If you've got an early Apple iPad, chances are its screen was cleaned with a banned substance called n-hexane, which releases a toxic nerve gas upon use. 2,000 workers at Wintek's East China LCD plant went on strike in January, claiming the substance was poisoning them, and now 44 of those reportedly affected are planning to sue. According to reports, the screen cleaner was originally used because it performed better than alcohol, but Wintek has since fired the factory manager who suggested n-hexane and discontinued its use. That didn't keep 62 workers from winding up in the hospital, however. The Guardian interviewed two hospitalized workers last week, and you'll find their stories at our more coverage link below. We're sure you'll agree these Chinese labor violations are getting out of hand -- let's hope this lawsuit spurs government and industry to do something concrete about worker abuse.
iBuyPower Battalion Touch laptop lid draws blood, prompts replacement
Sure, you might expect your laptop to overheat or explode at any moment -- but cut you with a seemingly harmless logo? That's the strange but true case of iBuyPower's Battalion Touch CZ-10, at least, which left one Laptop Magazine reviewer with a nasty gash (that may or may not have required Band-Aid attention) after he decided to inspect a sliver of the "W" that appeared to be peeling off. For its part, iBuyPower says that it has since stopped using the aluminum logo in favor of a plate-style label with rounded edges, and that less than 1% of shipped systems used the troublesome logo. Anyone stuck with one of those is advised to contact iBuyPower for a replacement before it's too late.
The Daily Grind: How realistic do you like your games?
In real life, if you've not noticed, we don't have hit points. Getting stabbed by a sword once is pretty much crippling if not outright fatal. Fall too far and you don't suffer some uniform amount of damage across your whole body -- you frequently wind up breaking your legs or your spine, and it can be a slow and painful recovery process if you ever recover. We can't wander through the world without ever bothering to eat, drink, or sleep, and when you get shot to death, there will not be a fresh clone waiting to get you back into the action. In the interests of being polite, we'll not even mention the usual lack of other important facilities. We accept that there's going to be some degree of unreal mechanics in a video game, of course, but that doesn't mean that some of us don't want the game to stick fairly close to the real world. By the same token, though, some of us take the Mystery Science Theater 3000 mantra to heart -- it's just a game, and it's not all that important if it makes real-world sense in sticky parts. Where do you fall on the scale? Do you like your games fairly realistic, fairly unrealistic, or do you not care so long as the game itself is still fun?
Madden curse strikes back, Polamalu suffers knee injury in season opener
Steelers fans witnessed a horrifying scene during last night's season-opening matchup against the Tennessee Titans -- while trying to recover a blocked field goal in the first half, Steelers safety Troy Polamalu sustained an injury to his left knee, preventing him from playing out the rest of the game. If that name sounds familiar, it's because Polamalu was featured on the cover of Madden 10 -- a promotion that has proven to be troubling for NFL players due to the titular "Madden curse." Polamalu is expected to be out for 3 - 6 weeks, making this one of the least severe examples of cosmic retribution dished out by the curse to date. However, that could just be because said retribution has to be shared between two players this year. For the sake of our fantasy football standings, we urge Larry Fitzgerald to take every safety precaution imaginable during these trying times.
Apple's glossy screens will 'mess you up,' University report warns
Attention, ergonomics buffs: an advisory recently published by Queensland University of Technology is predicting a rash of injuries as a result of users straining to get a clear look at Apple's "high gloss" screens, and the ergonomically unsound postures and positions that result. If you should find yourself in possession of one of these "torture displays" (as we think Apple should refer to them in their advertising from now on), Queensland Tech offers many suggestions for staying healthy, including: Placing the monitor so that screen is at a 90 degree angle to overhead lighting, closing the curtains or blinds to minimize glare, and adjusting the contrast / turning down the brightness. Of course, we're sure you've already tried all those things if you're one of the parties effected -- what, then is a strained MacBook user to do? We don't know, but maybe the Grippity guy will come up with something.[Via Apple Insider]
Fitness guru prepares to launch Wii Fit class-action suit, radio show
Well, this was probably bound to happen. A fitness "expert" named Michael Torchia says he's now preparing a class-action suit against NIntendo which will apparently seek to remove its Wii Fit from the shelves unless they add warnings to the product. The offense? Torchia claims that the Wii Fit actually contributes to obesity, essentially because it claims to be something that it's really not -- namely, a fitness tool -- and discourages people from doing more traditional exercise. He also, however, seems to be concerned that the Wii Fit is dangerous -- mostly because it doesn't stress warming up enough, and users can do the exercises wrong, straining or injuring themselves. Now, we're not going to delve into the validity of his claims (though, how do you explain this dude? Just saying), but we should note that Torchia is apparently getting ready to launch his airwave-rocking AM radio show, "Shape Up, America," and we figure he's looking to drum up some buzz for himself, so we'll be watching to see if he ever actually brings his suit against old Mario and Sons. Step on.[Via Joystiq]
Wii blamed for ridiculous increase in British hospital visits
Nintendo's Wii has been maiming careless gamers since the day it was launched, but an inexplicable uptick in Britain has professionals scratching their heads. According to Dr. Dev Mukerjee of Broomfield Hospital: "There has been a 100 percent increase in patients complaining of Wii-itis." Turns out, Wii-itis is their word for playing so much Wii that you injure yourself. Astonishingly, up to ten people per week are being "hospitalized with injuries caused by playing Nintendo Wii games," which has forced medical personnel to "issue warnings of the dangers associated with the video game system." Some of the most common injuries are Wii-knee (seriously) and tendon stretching / tearing, both of which could likely be avoided if gamers would bother to stretch before breaking a sweat. Sheesh -- what do folks even learn in Physical Education these days?
Nintendo faces class-action lawsuit, hotter-than-ever sales for Wii
Nintendo's fended off class-action lawsuits over "defective" Wiimote straps in the past, and if you remember, they also replaced about 3.2 million of the straps (a/k/a "all of them") around the same time too -- way back in December of 2006. Well, the same lawyer's back for round two with a new, nearly identical suit, but this one also alleges that Nintendo knew that the defect existed and was negligent in their failure to report the problem to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Nintendo's probably not stoked about the news -- but we've got a feeling that the company's record-breaking sales will balm the wounds a little. According to NPD data just released, the company sold 2 million Wiis and 1.56 million DS units in November, an all-time hardware sales record for a month other than December. Yeah, who cares about a few busted up TVs and black eyes in the face of those numbers?[Via Gamecyte]Read - Nintendo Slapped with Strap Lawsuit Once AgainRead - Wii and Nintendo DS Set Historic New US Sales Records
Survey: Game systems causing cat-astrophic pet injuries
We're already well acquainted with the idea of Wiis (and their remotes) injuring humans and TV sets. Now the UK's Telegraph is reporting that game systems are also causing a veritable epidemic of injuries to pets. A survey of 3,000 British pet owners shows that a full 10% of pets were injured by a Wii , while 8.3% sustained PlayStation-related injuries and 5.8% got injured by a DS.Even accounting for some overlap between systems, those numbers would seem to suggest that British veterinarians are being overrun by little critters who chewed through component cables, swallowed portable systems, tripped on controller cords and the like. The numbers are much less worrying, though, when you consider the source for the survey: pet insurance provider PetPlan. Reminds us of that used car dealer who told us rust-proofing would increase the resale value of our car by 50% -- just not that credible. We still got the rust-proofing, though. When it comes to our Fiat, our motto is: better safe than sorry.
Enthusiastic Wii Sports session lands actor in ER
The wrist strap can't save you from everything that could possibly go wrong while playing Wii games -- especially if a pesky light fixture just happens to jump in the way while you're getting your tennis on. That's what happened to actor Zachary Levi, star of NBC's upcoming Chuck. He served a little too enthusiastically in Wii Sports tennis, and put his hand through the light with so much force "there were shards of glass in the wall." We can only hope it ended in an ace.Levi's mishap resulted in a trip to the emergency room and fourteen (!) stitches. But hey, at least he didn't sue, like some folks. After all, it's not like Nintendo put the light there. But take it from Levi, and look up before you serve.[Via GoNintendo]
ARANZ Medical works up handheld wound monitor
While the sheer thought of gauging the depth of a flesh wound may make some folks queasy, ARANZ Medical is making the entire process a whole lot easier for nurses and patients alike. Thanks to the Silhouette Mobile, medical personnel are now able to receive data about a wound's width and depth without using any sort of physical probe, as the $6,000 handheld is able to extract the aforementioned information via lasers. Additionally, the measurements can be stored and charted, which enables a patient and his / her caregivers to easily track the progress of an injury. Interestingly enough, the Silhouette camera was previously used to "help digitize and animate Gollum from The Lord of the Rings, which easily makes this one of the most bizarre industry leaps that our feeble minds can recall.[Via MedGadget]Read - Film technology applied to woundsRead - Video of the Silhouette Mobile in action
Wii Warm Up: Mario Party Hard
Call us old-school, but it just doesn't seem like Mario Party without damage to controllers or players. Our college dorm was a mausoleum of N64 controllers, their lifeless joysticks rattling limply around in the casing, dooming us to a fate of smaller Smash Bros. matches. However, with the substitution of waggle for rotation, those days of joystick fatigue and court-mandated free thumb gloves may be over. Being dedicated Wii players, have you managed to find a way to hurt yourself or your Wiimote playing Mario Party 8? Has the combination of Mario Party and projectile Wiimotes caused a deadly nexus of TV destruction and personal injury? Or is your thumb happy now that you've found a new way to Party?[Thanks for the topic suggestion, Zack!]
Chinese welder killed by exploding cellphone battery
It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt, and unfortunately, the latest case of exploding battery syndrome led to something far worse than a minor injury. Reportedly, a 22-year old Chinese welder actually perished after a cellphone battery residing in his pocket exploded. The eruption was so violent, in fact, that it "broke a rib and drove the remnants of the pack into his heart," and while rescue crews were able to get him to a hospital, he passed away shortly thereafter. Currently, the manufacturer of the phone and battery are being withheld, but expects in Jinta were dispatched in order to conduct an investigation.[Via Inquirer, image courtesy of ABC]
PSA: excessive Wii use could lead to 'Wiiitis'
Wii injuries, often dubbed "wiinjuries," have been noted since the console's launch, but now one doctor has decided to give the tennis elbow-like symptoms caused by excessive Wii play an official medical diagnosis: Acute Wiiitis.The condition, pronounced "wee-i-tis," was named by Dr. Julio Bonis, who suffered from the ailment from playing hours of Wii Sports. Bonis' findings were published (subscription required) in the New England Journal of Medicine and later reported by CNN.Acute Wiiitis can reportedly (and thankfully) be treated by taking ibuprofen for a week and also a week-long break from using the Wii remote, but warning: it's best advised to treat it soon or the long-term ramifications could be dire.[Via Engadget; thanks, Dave Jurcevic and Zoot Suit Jedi]
