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Wearable Tech and ALS

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There are a couple of companies playing with brainwave wearable tech, mostly to do exploratory stuff like relaxation biofeedback or controlling cat ears for cosplay. But Philips and Accenture are taking on a bigger challenge: using brainwave technology to help patients with ALS. ALS, as you may know, is a degenerative disease that attacks neurons. It generally leaves its … [Read more...]

Bondara Touts SexFit Sexual Fitness Prototype

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We would never write about something like this as linkbait. Nope, never. Not us. Nuh-uh. On the other hand (so to speak)... The British sex toy company Bondara is showing a prototype of a connected penis ring. Other than the usual non-connected function, the SexFit will track your activity and calorie burn (less than you might expect, actually) and upload it to your cell … [Read more...]

Implantables at WearableTechLA

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Sensors that analyze your sweat and implanted devices that promise to help the brain regulate organs were the topic of conversation earlier today at a WearableTechLA panel moderated by Wearable Tech Insider. Dr. Victor Pikov, a senior scientist at the Huntington Medical Research Institute in Pasadena, CA, said that GSK and DARPA are putting a combined $100 million of dollars … [Read more...]

IEEE Starts Work on Updated Wearable Health Standards

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Technical standards are terribly important; without them, everything is proprietary. Everyday things like plugs and outlets? There's standards for that. And Ethernet  didn't take over the world until the IEEE 802 standards got set. You can't have an ecosystem without standards. That's why it's so important that the IEEE (the Institute for Electronic and Electrical Engineers) … [Read more...]

Alcon to Make Google Contact Lenses

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We wrote a few months ago about a Google-developed contact lens that could analyze tears to determine glucose levels in diabetes sufferers. Novartis's Alcon division says today that it's reached a deal to license the technology and build them. Under the agreement, Google will develop the electronics, which will do the chemistry and send the information to a smart phone. … [Read more...]

Apple Announces Healthkit iPhone App

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It's not the iWatch (although the keynote at Apple's developers' conference is still going on), but Apple just announced Healthkit, an iPhone app that consolidates health information from your fitness tracker(s) -- Nike Fuelband very much included -- and can share it with your doctor. The Mayo Clinic is signing on, as is a long list of other health institutions. More, we're … [Read more...]

Wireless Charging for Implantable Tech

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Contactless power charging is something that lots of tech types are working on; the benefits of being able to recharge a device without plugging it in are obvious. But for medical implantables, the challenges are greater. For one thing, the device that requires power may be some distance from a reasonable power source. Stanford University has produced research that promises … [Read more...]

Printed Cast With Ultrasound Can Speed Healing

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Here's a place where wearables, 3D printing, and medtech all intersect. The Turkish designer Denis Karasahin has created a lattice-work cast for broken arms and legs that incorporates ultrasound technology. The casts are unique to each patient; the specs are taken by 3D scanning of the affected limb, the cast is printed from the scan, and the ultrasound equipment is … [Read more...]

Our Cyborg Future? A Subcutaneous Compass Project

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In a longer (and quite interesting) article about implantable technology, CNN points out the Southpaw project: an implantable subdermal compass. This is really interesting reading and not for those easily weirded out. Southpaw is the idea of Lepht Anonym, a Scottish woman and biohacker, who does these things. The biohacker movement is not new, but the interest in wearables … [Read more...]