Tag Archives: Health

Editorial, Health, Lifestyle, Mobile, News

It’s Official; Fitbit is now Google’s. What Does This mean?

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CES 2021 is well under way. But we are not talking about CES at this point. No, we are talking about the merging of giants.

Google is undoubtedly one of the most successful tech companies you will ever see in your lifetime, beside Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple. They started out in the Search Engine industry in the midst of the MSN and Yahoo! boom. They bloomed and grew to surpass two of their biggest competition at the time and now they are in everything. They are in applied sciences, corporate backend solutions, automotive, smartphones, computing, and even your homes.

They are also on your wrists with the guise of Android Wear. They do not make any watch hardware on their own though. They have always relied on their partners like Fossil, Motorola, OPPO, and even Vivo to design and create their own iteration of what an Android Wear watch should look like. This situation might change soon though.

As per Google’s Blog post alongside Fitbit’s one in their own blogs too, Fitbit is now a part of Google. As of the 14th of January 2021, Google and Fitbit finally concludes their deal. Google has officially acquired Fitbit.

As we mentioned also, Fitbit is also a giant. They are a giant in their field, the fitness tracker and smart wear field. They have revolutionised the smart wearable devices market in more ways than one.

They are, technically, the largest standalone smartwatch making company in the world currently. They have a more complete product range than any other smartwatch maker in the world right now too. They have simple fitness trackers that look like wristbands and can be easily hidden. They also have full on smartwatches now in their Fitbit Versa line-up. The Versa and Sense watches are clearly also a side effect of them acquiring Pebble a while ago.

Now though, they are a part of Google. What does this mean for you Fitbit users?

On the surface, Google says that this acquisition has always been more about hardware instead of software. They want Fitbit watches and wrist bands. They basically wanted to experiment making their own smart wearable in the future, like how they experimented with smartphone manufacturing when they acquired HTC years ago. They are still making their own hardware today with the Pixel line-up. They have an amazing line-up of Chromebooks too.

The only thing they have not been making on their own then, are smart watches and smart wearables. With Fitbit as part of Google, now they can. So, according to Google, it is not about software and data.

In terms of software though, Google has a thing or two to learn from Fitbit and vice versa. We at techENT love our Fitbit Versa devices because they are so simple to work with. Their interface is easy to understand and navigate it becomes second nature when you acclimatise with them.

We also think that the Fitbit line-up could use a little bit of Google’s magic touch. In that case, they will be easier to pair with Android smartphones, faster too, and probably even more intuitive to connect. We find that these are our biggest pain points using the Fitbit devices. Of course, there is the subject of software integration too. Currently Fitbit’s collected data does not sync to Google’s own fitness app. Maybe we might see a merging of the two apps. At the same time, we doubt we will see that integration happening too soon because Fitbit also has the premium subscription segment.

Source: TechPP

Google has ensured that they will not touch Fitbit’s data pool at this time. They also confirmed that Fitbit’s user data will not be used for Google Ads purposes at this time. From the blog posts from both sides too, it seems that Fitbit will continue business as usual at this time. Which also means that Fitbit devices will remain Fitbit devices for a little longer.

In Google’s blog post, Rick Osterloh’s statement also reads, “the combination of Fitbit’s leading technology, product expertise and health and wellness innovation with the best of Google’s AI, software and hardware will drive more competition in wearables and make the next generation of devices better and more affordable”. We are more excited about this than anything. It means that you can start expecting Google smartwatches soon. You might want to expect some changes in Fitbit’s software approach now too. We hope that it is for the better on both parties. You might even get an Android Wear update for your Fitbit Sense.

Still, we see this as a win-win situation. At this time anyway, the acquisition and merging of the two giants in their space may prove to be just what both companies needed for the uncertain times ahead. For us consumers, we only care about their upcoming devices, and we are expecting them to be miles better than what we have now. Google Watch anyone?

Source: Google Blog, Fitbit Blog

Editorial, Lifestyle

In Front of Your Screen for Long Hours? You May Be Suffering from Eye Fatigue & Strain

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Screen time, eye fatigue and eye strain are phrases that are becoming increasingly common nowadays; more-so since the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many of us to work remotely. The increased screen time has cause many of us to feel the effects of eye fatigue and eye strain more intensely as we try to stay afloat during the pandemic.

Our eyes are something we commonly take for granted. However, they are one of our more important organs; particularly when it comes to navigating and contributing in the world we live in. You may be thinking, why is a tech website talking about our eye health? Well, the truth is, we should be talking about it more as we are, inevitably, interacting with technology on a daily basis.

So, let’s get down to it. Growing up, many of our parents and grandparents used to tell us to not sit too close to the TV. Back then, this was because the resolution of the idiot boxes were so low that going too close would cause eye strain. Nowadays, we’re interacting with screens at every corner from smartphones to laptops, to desktops, to televisions, and even billboards. These high-resolution screens aren’t as bad as the old televisions, but they pose an even challenge for our eyes; they are sharp, highly contrasted and bright. This combination produces an even more strenuous environment for our eyes. What’s more, we subject our eyes to these conditions for prolonged hours on a daily basis.

Dealing with Blue Light and Protecting Your Circadian Rhythm

Our eyes perceive light on a wide spectrum of light. That said, some portions of these spectra can influence other bodily functions; for example, the “blue light” spectrum which ranges from 410 – 430nm. This portion of the spectrum not only allows screens to be brighter but it also affects our circadian rhythm or sleep-wake cycle.

You may have read or heard a lot of people talking about the “harmful” affects of blue light; this is what they’re talking about. However, as Dr. Mike Varshavski points out in his YouTube video, the amount of blue light needed to adversely affect our circadian rhythm is huge. That said, we have to take into consideration the prolonged duration of exposure, especially if you’re working a desk job. So, what exactly happens? Well, as Dr Mike, aptly points out, blue light affects the production of melatonin, a hormone needed for sleep regulation. In fact, blue light down regulates or suppresses the production of melatonin which will make us feel more awake. To deal with this, a Harvard Medical study actually recommends reducing blue light exposure particularly before bed.

One way we can reduce blue light exposure is through the use of screens that are certified to have reduced emission of this spectrum – more commonly known as “eye comfort”. You can identify these screens by keeping a look out for certification by TÜV Rheinland. However, you give your eyes even more protection by using protective eye wear. You may think, “But… I don’t need spectacles.” . However, lenses like Essilor’s Crizal® line-up of lenses provide blue light protection for your eyes reducing eye strain. Essilor goes a step further to ensure that while they filter out harmful ultraviolet and blue light, their lenses with Crizal® technology still allow beneficial blue light to pass through. This helps minimise the effect on your sleep-wake cycle and also helps elevate mood.

That said, the best practice, in addition to using protective eye wear, would still be to reduce the time you expose yourself to screens all together. The Canadian Association of Optometrists recommends the 20/20/20 rule. The rule is pretty simple, for every 20 minutes you spend in front of a screen, you should look at something about 20 feet away for 20 seconds. This should not only reduce eye strain but help reduce your blue light exposure.

Reducing Eye Fatigue & Eye Strain

While it may seem like blue light is the one and only demon when it comes to protecting your eyes, the truth is that it’s not. We subject our eyes to a lot of strain over the course of our day. Think about it, your eyes are essentially muscles that are constantly contracting and relaxing on a constant basis to adapt to the ocular conditions so you can see. Even when you go to the gym, the repetitive movement of lifting weights causes fatigue, that is essentially what’s happening in your eyes.

This contraction and relaxation of your irises and ocular muscles is not something you can control. So, how can you be causing the strain? Well, for one, we’re constantly looking at things that are relatively close to our faces; monitors, smartphones and televisions are within 20 feet of our faces at any given time. In addition to proximity, these screens can have videos or pictures that have varying focal lengths or have items in them that require your eyes to refocus over and over and over again. This causes eye strain and fatigue. What’s more, when you go from looking at pictures or videos to reading, your eyes will need to readjust again. The same holds true when you’re driving.

Once again, the 20/20/20 rule is helpful here too. However, despite using these techniques, our eyes are still subject to quite a lot of strain. The best way to reduce the strain is to actually minimise our time doing activities that cause eye strain. However, in our modern world, we would be hard pressed to do so.

The question remains, how do we take better care? One way we can do it is to use eye wear with optimised lenses. While not all of us need to do so medically, wearing purpose-built eye wear is becoming increasingly common. Brands like MVMT and GUNNAR are some examples of these. Most of them use lenses like Essilor’s Eyezen™ or Crizal® which help reduce glare from bright screens and sources of light as well as reduce the need for your eyes to constantly correct its focus. The former is especially effective as it helps correct farsightedness and nearsightedness in a single lens. Transitions lenses help with glare particularly when moving between indoor and outdoor environments.

Generally, there is not much we can do to take better care of our eyes. But in the long run, small steps help preserve our ocular function and eyesight. Don’t wait until you need a pair of prescription glasses to take care of your eyes, take small steps including turning off screens 2 hours before sleep and following the 20/20/20 rule to help with ocular health. It’s something we need to start looking at everyday.

Accessories, Editorial, Health

A Week with the Fitbit Charge 4 -Making Sense of Fitness

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Fitness is a journey of a thousand steps and it usually begins with the first one. If you’re like me, that journey usually gets started and then quickly falls by the sidelines when visible results begin to plateau. I was pretty adamant in losing weight this round and then came a little angel who told me to try using the new Fitbit Charge 4 and passed me one for review.

The Fitbit Charge 4 was released not too long ago and comes with a very minor, but significant update to the Charge 3 – GPS tracking. This isn’t the first time I was using fitness bands or smartwatches; in fact, I use a Galaxy Watch daily and was using the Charge 3 before. But after a while, they became watches more than fitness trackers; a problem I’m pretty sure many others face. That brings up the question – why not buy a regular analogue watch? So, this time, I decided to pay closer attention to the features that the Fitbit Charge 4 offers and figure out how to effectively use them to help achieve my goals.

Setting up the Fitbit Charge 4 & Making Sense of Metrics

As always, the first thing you do with a new fitness tracker is to pair it with your phone. Like all other Fitbit devices, I plugged in the Charge 4 to get things powered up and started. I was pleasantly greeted by a smile and a prompt to continue the setup process on my smartphone – a Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G. The setup process was pretty straight forward but I was more impressed with the ease of setup. In the past, with the Charge 3 and even the Versa before, the setup process was rather painful with the devices not being detected and even disconnecting midway. The Charge 4 was a breeze, no issues at all.

Once it was setup, I glanced through the app looking at the many features which come in the Charge 4. You’ve got everything from the basic tracking of steps to sleep tracking and even GPS tracking. Fitbit has put a lot into making sure that you have everything you need to quantify your fitness journey in the Charge 4. However, it was quite daunting to be facing metric after metric after metric after metric. It wouldn’t be too farfetched to say that many people wouldn’t be able to make heads or tail of the many metrics that the Charge 4 can track. After some research and looking into the metrics, I realised that the biggest challenge any fitness newbie would face is the eventual plateau which I mentioned in the beginning. So, looking at the metrics that the Charge 4 could give me, I decided that the best thing to do is work towards overcoming that plateau.

The Charge 4 is able to track sleep, steps taken, distance travelled while walking, heart rate, calories burnt and a new metric called the Active Zone minutes. Other metrics such as weight, calories consumed, and hydration can also be measured but involve manually inputting the data into the app. With all of these available, I looked into creating a baseline for myself before I decide to make changes. After monitoring my metrics for about three days, I realised that I may not need to use all the metrics available – at least not initially. I looked at which areas I need to improve and realised that, for me at least, I needed to start looking into getting better sleep, being less sedentary and getting enough hydration.

The Fitbit App’s heart rate monitor screen helps you monitor your fitness level with you resting heart rate
Fitbit’s new Active Zone minutes feature allows you to set how many active minutes you want to cover a day
The Fitbit App also gives you weekly summaries and suggestions which can help you do better

This narrowed down my focus to three main metrics: sleep, steps taken or active zone and hydration. With my main focus set, I had the trusty Charge 4 to help me make small changes that can help me with my fitness.

Using the Charge 4 to Make Small, Meaningful Changes for Better Health

Using the Fitbit Charge 4 to track your steps, sleep and active zone is pretty straight forward – just wear the Fitbit. So, wear the Charge 4 I did. Keeping up with the metrics is a lot of work. You have to open the app to check up on yourself on a daily basis. However, the array of widgets that the Fitbit app helps ever so much in helping you keep track and making changes.

Setting Goals within the app will help with making meaningful changes to help you achieve your fitness goals
The multiple widgets on my home screen for Fitbit’s app. There isn’t a compact, integrated one. You have to place each toggle on its own.

For me, because one of my goals was to get enough sleep, the daily reminders and nudges to prepare for bed were a godsend. It has allowed me to get into a wind-down routine and put away my tech when the nudges come. This has actually translated into better sleep overall. However, – and this is a BIG one – the sleep tracking has been hit or miss for me. So, I’ve been using my smartwatch to get a more accurate picture of how I’ve been sleeping on a daily basis.

The Fitbit Charge 4 has also been breaking up my daily 10,000 steps into smaller, more achievable goals throughout the day. To help me achieve this goal, it nudges me every hour to get up and get some steps in. Believe it or not? This small adjustment also helps me get more productive throughout the day. I’ve been able to get more done in a day than before without feeling drained midway.

Fitbit’s sleep monitoring screen gives you a lot of useful information when it works. Otherwise it’s just a missed opportunity
Monitoring is easy with the overview the app gives you but you have to open the app to get it.

The hardest adjustment for me is the monitoring of my water intake. Since it’s done manually, I have to remember to turn on the phone and record the amount of water I’m consuming. As you can tell, this also means that I might miss recording a few glasses of water here and there. But, more hydration is a good thing.

Fitness Isn’t Just about the Aesthetics

Overall, my first week with the Charge 4 has thought me one big lesson – fitness isn’t just about looking good. It’s about the small changes that eventually lead to being more “fit” overall; aesthetics is just a result of you feeling better about yourself and overall, your body coping better with the stresses you face on a day to day basis. As the Malay saying goes, “sikit-sikit, lama-lama menjadi bukit” ; roughly translated: bit by bit, over time it will become a hill.

While the Charge 4 isn’t a magically genie that grants wishes, it’s given a health-science degree holding, obese person a new, quantifiable approach to dealing with the extra kilos. If you’re looking at the scale continuously, you’ll get demotivated over time especially when the reading starts to nag the same digits over and over again. Start with small changes like getting enough sleep and drinking enough water – the rest will come naturally. Getting the Charge 4 or something similar that fits your needs and budget will also help you get there.

Health, News

Fitbit Introduces Fitbit Flow to Help With COVID-19 Pandemic

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Not too long ago, we covered a call to arms by a few governments across the world to develop and produce ventilator devices to help with the current shortage across many countries due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Health and wearables company, Fitbit, was one of the companies that rose to the task and are announcing the fruits of their labour – the Fitbit Flow.

The Fitbit Flow builds upon the automatic resuscitator design of the MIT E-Vent Design Toolbox and complies with the specifications for Rapidly Manufactured Ventilation Systems put forth by the government of the United Kingdom. The Flow was developed in close consultation with Oregon Health & Scince University (OHSU) emergency medicine clinicians who were caring for COVID-19 patients at OHSU Hospital and the MassGeneralBrigham Center for COVID Innovation workgroup to meet the needs of medical practitioners.

The design of the Fitbit Flow builds on the standard resuscitator bags similar to the ones used by paramedics. However, the company has equipped the Flow with an array of sensors, sophisticated instruments and alarms that work together to automate compressions and regulate the flow of air into the patients lungs to help with respiration and blood oxygenation. It is also touted to be designed to be user friendly to reduce the strain on specialised staff typically needed to perform and operate other ventilators. Fitbit is also touting that the Flow is priced lower than other ventilators on the market.

“Fitbit Flow is a great example of the incredible innovation that emerges when academia and industry employ problem-based innovation to respond quickly to an important need. COVID-19 is a new illness and we still have much to learn about the progression, treatment, and potential recurrence of this disease. It’s critical that we develop solutions that can help ensure our health systems have the equipment they need now, and in the future if we do see a resurgence of COVID-19.”

David Sheridan, MD, MCR, Assistant Professor of Pediatric Emergency Medicine and Co-Director of Emergency Clinical Innovation Oregon Health & Science University

The Flow is the latest in a series of efforts and collaborations by Fitbit with academia to help advance the health industry. With the announcement of the Charge 4, the company also announced a collaboration to help increase the accuracy of sleep data to help make wearables more impactful. The company is aiming to use its facilities to help mass produce the Flow to be supplied to hospitals in dire need of ventilators.

Contributed, Health

Bringing Intelligence to Medical Devices and Machines

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Artificial intelligence (AI) is the science and engineering of creating machines or computer programs that can sense, reason, act, and adapt to come up with solutions for problems. As this definition shows, AI in itself is not a solution but rather a set of methods from which solutions can be developed.

Amongst the benefits of AI is its ability to imitate human cognitive behavior by analyzing data and its surroundings, solving or anticipating problems and self-learning to adapt to a variety of tasks.

Globally, healthcare systems are facing various challenges. This includes an ever-increasing aging population[1], escalating healthcare costs, operational inefficiencies, staff shortage, value-based reimbursements, higher percentage of deaths accounting to chronic illness, as well as an annual wastage of up to $750 billion on healthcare as seen in the United States alone. Against the background of these challenges, healthcare is also undergoing rapid digitalization.

For example, over the past decade, there has been an increase in growth of computational power, while the cost of data storage has dropped dramatically. As a result, the amount and quality of stored digital medical data has increased tremendously. However, there is a growing concern in healthcare that only a fraction of this data is being used to improve the quality and efficiency of care. The growth rate and diversity of medical data has far outpaced our ability to analyze it.

Recognizing this, Philips has developed intelligent solutions using these data and information on hand to help healthcare providers achieve improved health outcomes at a lower cost, while providing better staff and patient experience.

Philips Redesigning Medical Technology for Better

Philips offers a broad spectrum of solutions that spans the health continuum, from healthy living and prevention to diagnosis, treatment and home care; especially supported by its deep understanding in clinical needs, workflows, and regulations, as well as departmental and hospital workflows.

Spending approximately EUR 1.8 billion annually on R&D, innovation[2] is core to Philips’ growth strategy in health technology. In recent years, Philips has significantly improved its research in software and data science and today, almost one in every two of Philips’ R&D professionals focuses on the field of health technology.

On top of working closely with clinical partners across the globe – healthcare providers, academia, and hospital networks, Philips is among the top 5 healthcare IT companies with approximately EUR 3 billion in healthcare IT-related sales and has successfully developed the Philips HealthSuite Platforms, a digital framework that connects consumers, patients and healthcare providers in a cloud-based health ecosystem of devices, apps and tools.

Philips IntelliSpace Discovery offers an integrated AI solution that enables the entire process of generating new AI applications, providing data integration, training and deployment in the research setting.

Recognizing that public trust is paramount and understanding that health data is among the most sensitive types of personal data, Philips takes the growing risk of cybersecurity threats to its products very seriously. Security plans encompass people, processes and technology, with the goal of ensuring the confidentiality, integrity and availability of critical data and the systems that house that data.

How AI Can Help

Over the next decade, smart systems will be able to aggregate information from multiple sources that currently remain trapped in silos. For example, each individual patient’s data will be pulled together from the systems that are used in his/her GP surgery, hospital or specialist center, such as different Electronic Medical Records, diagnostic and monitoring solutions.

Today, slowly but surely, ASEAN countries are adopting AI and its elements to ensure systematic and efficient workflow within the healthcare industries.

Here is a quick look on how Philips is applying AI to address the challenges within healthcare industry:

  • Clinical informatics & decision support – Philips IntelliSpace Portal offers an advanced visual analysis and quantification platform that uses machine learning to learn about the clinician’s workflow. It then automatically configures the system to apply the appropriate processing to specific types of studies to speed up their analysis.
  • Acute care – Philips IntelliVue Guardian System with Early Warning Scoring (EWS) aids in identifying subtle signs of deterioration in a general floor patient’s condition at the point of care. IntelliVue Guardian automated EWS helps to reduce ICU transfers and readmissions, and adverse events.
  • Home care – Philips CareSage, a predictive analytics technology that helps prevent avoidable hospital admissions and emergency room visits among the frail and elderly and DreamMapper, a mobile app that allows people with sleep apnea to track their therapy progress so they can take an active role in their therapy. It is designed to quickly correlate data on therapy usage, mask fit and apnea hypopnea index (AHI) readings to help improve treatment success.

[1] www.nia.nih.gov/research/publication/global-health-and-aging/preface. Published October 2011. Updated January 22, 2015. Accessed August 1, 2015.

[2]https://www.philips.com/a-w/about/news/archive/standard/news/press/2018/20181108-philips-provides-update-on-performance-and-value-creation-journey-at-capital-markets-day-in-amsterdam.html