

Monitoring your health with mobile devices - replicatorblog
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/23/technology/personaltech/monitoring-your-health-with-mobile-devices.html?_r=2

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jilebedev
Solution in search of a problem.

Steve Blank speaks about the technology lifecycle adoption curve [1], and I
think this entire "health + mobile" market is (optimistically) on the far left
end of the curve.

The problem isn't the problem - it's how people feel about the problem. I know
I can have a completely digital banking solution, with even phone support 24/7
if I need it, but I don't want that. Banking and my money is important to me,
and when I need advice or have problems, I want to walk into a branch and
speak with a real person. I'm not a dinosaur or a luddite - I'm 24, and I'm
well versed in emerging technology.

I feel even more strongly about my health: I don't care that I can take a
picture of my ear drum and send it to a doctor and have an antibiotic
prescription that I can forward to my pharmacy and pick up in 30 minutes:
there is something wrong with my body, I am concerned, this is important to
me, and I want to speak to someone who is trained, credible, and can offer
medical advice. The trouble with digital services that attempt to melt
themselves into the physical world is that important things need to be dealt
with by people. A doctor offers credibility and that is what I want. A 99c
iPhone app offers no credibility, and for important things, credibility is
important. If a doctor waves off my ear problem as "sleep on it for a few
days, here's a note", I trust his advice and I'm more than willing to go
through with it. If an iPhone app told me the same, I'd be probably reaching
for the uninstall button around the time I'm dialing a doctor to make an
appointment.

1\. [PDF] page 23/45 [http://www.stanford.edu/group/e145/cgi-
bin/winter/drupal/upl...](http://www.stanford.edu/group/e145/cgi-
bin/winter/drupal/upload/handouts/Four_Steps.pdf)

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jfoutz
I think speaking to a person is an expensive luxury. Far more of a luxury than
a smartphone. Smartphones aren't cheap, but if you could get the ear thing to
work, a few hundred random emergency room visits/year could be saved. average
cost for one of those visits is about a thousand dollars, so this would
literally save a million dollars.

I guess i'm arguing that very soon, everyone will have a smartphone. For a lot
of poeple going to the doctor means going to the emergency room. being able to
"ask the internet" and get some sort of quick treatment will ultimately help
more people and cost less than what we do now. Sure, there is quack medicine,
and that's clearly a bad thing. I'd wager there are more people who are sick
but do nothing because the cost in time or money or both is just to high.
Lowering the barrier to basic care is a good thing.

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wmeredith
This is one emerging technology area that gets me beyond excited. I can't wait
to strap on a wristband and then pull up the "Google Analytics" equivalent for
my body on my iPhone. I would love to geek out on that.

The Jawbone Up was the closest I've seen yet, but unfortunately the device had
some inherent flaws. (I wore one for 2 months) No blue tooth syncing, not
quite durable enough for 24/7 wear. Some ergonomic issues. But the price was
right, the software was good and the hardware looked good enough to wear all
the time.

Personal biometrics monitoring is coming in a big way, and I can't wait.

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AznHisoka
I think there's a difference between mobile health devices and mobile
"wellness" devices such as the Jawbone Up. The first are used for clinical
purposes and have much more potential to affect the health of people vs niche
gadgets like Jawbone/Fitbit that rely on people having the discipline to use
them.

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fhub
Recovery Record is doing some interesting stuff with bringing cognitive
behavioral therapy treatment to mobile. They're starting out with eating
disorders - bulimia, anorexia, binge eating and obsessive eating. Apparently 1
in 10 women will live with an eating disorder at some point in their life.

[http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/recovery-record-eating-
disord...](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/recovery-record-eating-
disorder/id457360959?mt=8)

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sschendel
Agreed this is exciting, emerging stuff. Related... Checkout my Android app
for monitoring and maintaining your caffeine level.

<https://market.android.com/details?id=com.cafapppro>

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desigooner
The one device I've been waiting eagerly for is the Basis band.

I tried fit bit but it was a glorified pedometer for the most part. For weight
training, etc. it was just "plug in how long you exercised and we estimate the
calories".

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robg
Check out Body Media. They've been doing this stuff for a long time. The worn
location (upper arm) is also closer to your center of mass to gauge workouts.

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graupel
Body Media is the real deal - my wife is a researcher and that's all they use
in her studies, great product.

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mmx
I've been noticing a lot of health related submissions lately on HN including
my own. The future is looking bright in this industry, hopefully we can get
more collaboration to bring some of these ideas together.

