News

Body Monitors Help Drive Healthy Behavior Change

2013-06-01

Body tracking systems are demonstrating their value in successful interventions for weight management and other potential health applications, according to many studies being presented at the American University of Sports Medicine’s 60th Yearly Meeting and Fourth World Congress on Exercise and Medicine, opening today in Indianapolis. The studies, using the BodyMedia armband body monitoring system. recommend that technology can be utilized to help urge healthy and balanced habits and achieve successful health outcomes while also reducing the necessity for in-person consultations for therapy support.

One study, Effect of a Lifestyle Intervention Prior to Bariatric Surgery on Objectively Measured Physical Activity in Severely Obese Adults, demonstrated a six-month weight-loss amongst people in the intervention team participating in enhanced light and moderate-to-vigorous strength exercising verses those in common treatment. The research featured a pre-surgery diet plan and exercising program accompanied by a mix of in-person sessions, phone consults and using physical body monitors to gauge the changes in levels of activity.

In another study, The Comparison of a Technology-based System and In-person Behavioral Weight Loss Intervention in the Severely Obese, researchers looked at methods of weight-loss interventions that can be provided either by face-to-face meetings or through tech-based procedures, including Bluetooth-enabled activity monitors. The research team enlisted Class II and Class III obese people, and found that a three-month program utilizing the BodyMedia armbands and its web-based system to track dietary consumption and physical body weight, both with or without using a smartphone, in addition to one 10-minute intervention phone conversation each month resulted in weight loss similar to typical in-person behavioral interventions. The findings suggest that considerable short-term weight-loss in the significantly obese can be attained with less in-person interaction than today’s traditional support programs.

BodyMedia spearheaded the development of wearable body monitors that gather physical information for use in enhancing fitness, health and wellness. The data captured by BodyMedia’s tools is used by customers as well as health and wellness experts to lead behavior modifications to aid in regulating weight and promote an energetic lifestyle, two aspects that are consistently mentioned as tricks to combat and manage severe health care problems. The BodyMedia innovation has been made use of in hundreds of medical research studies covering health and wellness issues such as weight problems, diabetes, COPD, cancer, cystic fibrosis, bariatrics, intensive care, and sleep.

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Nest Thermostat: The Heating and Cooling System That Just Keeps Getting Smarter.

2013-05-30

Nest - The Learning Themostat A longstanding questions has ben whether technology can eliminate the planned obsolescence that seems built in to so many electronic devices. Many people have tried to change this situation with devices that can expand and add to their original functionality by updating software and firmware. so far that goal has proved very elusive to the point of seeming impossible. However, here’s a hopeful story about the Nest Thermostat that is making a bold attempt at just that.

The Nest thermostat has made recent improvement that suggests that the story of built in obsolescence may be very different for home devices. As thermostats, refrigerators, stoves, washing machines, coffee machines, dishwashers, sprinkler systems, and just about every other traditional system in the house starts to communicate with the web, something odd might start to happen: Instead than getting older and becoming less capable every year, these devices will keep getting better.

There are some technical explanations for this. “One of the reasons that Apple doesn’t do releases on old devices is that they’re bound by the CPU, the horsepower, or memory, or the battery—but we’re not constrained by that,” Nest’s Rogers says. (Like many others at Nest, Rogers is a former employee of Apple.) Nest has its own onboard processor, but if it ever gets outdated or overwhelmed, it can offload processing tasks to the cloud. At its core a thermostat is “just a switch,” Rogers observes, and “we’re applying intelligence to how we use that switch.”

Beyond the fact that a Nest you install today won’t necessarily become obsolete, it is important to note that the proliferation of new Nests works to keep improving current Nests. Now that these thermostats have been operating in homes across the country for a year, their sensors have recorded large amounts of information about how people adjust temperatures. After stripping any identifying details from the data recorded by your Nest, the company compiles it with information recorded by other Nests. Then it analyzes the data to look for ways to improve the device’s algorithms. “We can see temperature history, away history, and then we test to see how well our algorithm performed,” says Rogers.

For example: Auto Away is a built-in system for turning off your heating or cooling by noticing when you’re gone. In the original version the algorithm was very set. “We’d always wait two hours without seeing people in the house and then turn it down, and if they came home we’d turn it back up,” Rogers says. But by analyzing the user data, Nest detected some important subtleties. “We found that morning patterns are very regular—when people leave in the morning, they’re gone,” Rogers says. So now, after an update, the Nest turns off your heating or cooling much sooner in the morning than it would at any other time of the day. Rogers points out that, “The morning is the coldest time of the day, and electricity is also expensive then, so turning on Auto Away sooner can make a big difference—now the Nest won’t waste energy heating your home when nobody’s there.”

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Plantronics – Legendary Dad Sweepstakes on Facebook

2013-05-29

Plantronics is holding a sweepstakes on Facebook honoring Legendary Dads. Sign up is easy, no purchase necessary, and the giveaway is for 2 of their Voyager 2 Legend headsets. You know we here at QTOOTH are all about it! Click below for more info.

Plantronics – Sweepstakes | Facebook.

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BRCK – Your Backup Generator for the Internet.

2013-05-26

Found this story through GOOD Magazine and their excellent daily email newsletter.

BRCK – the easiest, most reliable way to connect to the internet, anywhere in the world, even when you don’t have electricity.

Here is Their Story

Anyone who has worked in the field — or anyplace far from the world’s most wired urban areas — knows how hard it can be to get connected and stay online. And yet the equipment used to connect in Kenya, or India, or the rest of the developing world is the same as that used in New York and London, even though the conditions are completely different.

At Ushahidi, we face this problem all the time. We realized that what we really needed was a smart, rugged device that could connect to the internet any way it could, hop from one network to another, create a hotspot for multiple devices, while plugged in or running on battery power.

The idea behind BRCK is that all kinds of jobs require steady connectivity, even when infrastructure is spotty due to wireless connections that come and go, intermittent power, or devices that can’t share connections. Seeing this, we set out to redesign connectivity for the world we live in – Africa. As we laid out what such a device would look like — physically robust, able to connect to multiple networks, a hub for all local devices, enough backup power to survive a blackout — We realized that the way the entire world is connecting to the web is changing. We no longer only get online via desktops in our office, we have multiple devices, and we are all constantly on the move. So we designed the BRCK for the changing way we connect to the web around the world, from cafe-hoppers in San Francisco to struggling coders in Nairobi .

The BRCK is like a backup generator for the internet.

It works when the electricity goes out and it works when the internet goes down.

Portable and easy to set up,
It supports up to 20 devices,
WiFi powerful enough to cover multiple rooms,
8 Hour battery backup,
16 GB harddrive,
8 GPIO pins to connect sensors,
Software infused allows for apps, remote management, and data collection,
Documented API.

Our motto has always been “if it works in Africa, it will work anywhere.” Our aim is to move the BRCK from its current prototype phase into a field-ready product. We need your help to achieve this goal of taking the prototype to production.

Check them out on Kick Starter:

via BRCK – your backup generator for the internet by Ushahidi — Kickstarter.

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What is the Difference Between Bluetooth Technology & Wi-Fi?

2013-05-06

What is the difference between Bluetooth technology and Wi-Fi?

What is Wi-Fi®? Is it the same as Bluetooth technology?

Wi-Fi is short for “Wireless Fidelity” – a user-friendly nickname for devices that have been certified by an industry group called the Wi-Fi Alliance.

Bluetooth technology is built into electronic gadgets and allows them to connect directly with each other wirelessly.

Bluetooth technology and Wi-Fi share some pieces of technology, but are used for very different things.

Wi-Fi is often referred to as “wireless internet”, because that’s what it is most often used for, accessing the internet. When you see people surfing the web in a cafe, they’re probably using Wi-Fi.

Bluetooth technology is in lots of the devices that you already have and can be used for all sorts of things. It works for both voice–like talking hands-free on a headset or speakerphone–and data like pictures, music and documents.

How can you use Bluetooth technology?

Setting up Bluetooth products is easy. Bluetooth devices do most of the work for you–they can find and identify one another and all you need to do is push a button to give them permission to communicate. Also, because the devices work directly with each other, you can use Bluetooth technology almost anywhere.

Music – with Bluetooth wireless technology you can listen to music from your music player, mobile phone or computer using speakers, headphones, home stereos and many other devices.

Printing – with Bluetooth wireless technology you can also print your favorite pictures wirelessly directly from your Bluetooth enabled phone or PC.

Input – Bluetooth technology allows you to control your PC, laptop and more without the hassle of cords.

Transfer – Easily transfer photos, music and other information between your mobile phone and your PC or laptop using Bluetooth wireless technology.

Wi-Fi is great for the internet

You can use Wi-Fi to connect to the internet through a stationary access point. An “access point” is an extra piece of equipment that Wi-Fi generally requires to allow devices to connect and work together. While possible, it’s hard to make Wi-Fi products, like a laptop, PC and a printer, connect and work together directly. This also means Wi-Fi works primarily in fixed locations, sometimes known as “hot spots.”

Bluetooth technology goes with you

When you’re in the car, you can use Bluetooth technology to talk hands-free on your phone or computer using a headset, speakerphone or car kit.When you’re away from home and want to use your laptop, but can’t find a hot spot, no problem. You can use Bluetooth enabled 3G and 4G cell phones to tether your laptop and use the 3G and 4G speeds as an internet connection.

Speed

The speed of your Wi-Fi connection depends on how many other people are connected to the same “access point.” If the coffee shop or airport terminal is crowded, your Wi-Fi internet connection may slow down a bit.Because Bluetooth products talk directly with each other, it’s very rare that having many products connected at one time will slow down the speed of your connection.

via Bluetooth Technology | Wi-Fi | Bluetooth Technology Website.

How to Pair a Cell Phone to a Bluetooth Headset: 6 Steps

2013-05-06

Pairing your new Bluetooth Headset with your Cell Phone is easy, if you can follow these simple steps.

Gather and charge your cell phone and Bluetooth headset.
Put your Bluetooth headset in “pairing mode”. For almost all headsets this is done by starting with the headset power off, then pressing and holding the multi-function button (the button you press to answer a call) for a few seconds. First, a light will blink showing you that the unit is on (keep holding the button) and a few seconds later, the LED on the headset will blink in alternating colors (often red-blue, but this can be anything really). The blinking lights indicate that the headset is in pairing mode.
Use the cell phone to “find” the headset. Usually this is a setting in the menus of the phone, and it’s different for each phone. Most newer phones will have some kind of “Bluetooth setup” menu. Older phones may have this menu buried in the general phone settings.
Provide a PIN code. When the phone “finds” the headset, it will ask for a PIN code. For 99% of headsets, this code is “0000”. Enter 0000 into the cell phone when prompted.
Wait for a message. The phone and headset should connect and you should get a connection message on the phone. It should say something like “Hands Free Connection Established” or something along those lines.
Finish up. That’s it! The headset and phone are now paired. The functionality on the headset will depend on the software and operation of the cell phone.

via How to Pair a Cell Phone to a Bluetooth Headset: 6 Steps.