The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a mobile app for use with the Freestyle Libre 10-day and 14-day CGM systems, allowing diabetics to monitor their glucose levels on their compatible iPhone devices, said a press release. The FDA clearance adds a long-awaited feature for users in the US that has been available for some time in Europe.

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With the FreeStyle LibreLink app on their smartphone, users can scan their sensors and see their latest reading in real-time rather than requiring a separate, proprietary handheld reader. Users can also assess their 8-hour glucose history, and see a directional arrow indicating how their glucose is changing.

The data can also be sent to Libre View via the app. Libre View is a cloud-based service that records glucose readings for patients and their physicians to reference later. The reports visualize trends and patterns to help patients understand how well they are controlling their glucose.

The app supports 26 languages. Its other features are text-to-speech glucose readings, a larger, high-resolution display, and the ability to log smaller insulin doses (0.1 U vs. 0.5 U).

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“We’re committed to liberating people from the many hassles of diabetes management through our life-changing technology and tools,” Jared Watkin, senior vice president of Diabetes Care at Abbott, said in the releasee. “The FreeStyle LibreLink app is a digital health tool that integrates glucose data directly on a compatible smartphone so all of the mobile apps that people use every day are in one convenient place. This is another step forward in making glucose monitoring seamlessly fit into a patient’s daily lifestyle – helping them live a fuller, healthier life.”

As Wearable Technologies reported last July, Abbott secured CE mark for Freestyle Libre 2 with optional real-time alarms.

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FreeStyle LibreLink app will be free to download through the Apple App Store in the coming weeks, according to Abbott. Once available, patients will be able to pair the FreeStyle Libre or FreeStyle Libre 14-day sensors with the app. The Android version of the app is currently under development.

“[We’re] creating a whole ecosystem around Freestyle Libre,” Joel Goldsmith, Abbott’s senior director of digital platforms, told MobiHealthNews. “It starts with the sensor, which clearly is still the hero of the story. But now we’re layering on a set of digital health tools, we’re augmenting and expanding the capabilities of the sensor itself. And I think it’s safe to say we’re at the early stages of that happening.”

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As wearables are becoming popular, their uses are also becoming diverse. Commercial use of wearables is on the rise. Wearable devices that were once used to measure your steps and heart rate can now act as a barcode scanner. Factories and construction sites are using wearables to improve safety and productivity of workers.

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Related Construction Safety: Wearables Could Monitor Stress, Risk and Physical Demands

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In 2013, MHI CEO George Prest and his team took a trip across the country to ask materials handling stakeholders a simple question, “Where do you see the industry in 2025?”

The answer was that the business community was changing rapidly. People in the supply started to talk about bringing up 3D printing to drones in the future.

According to MHI, 70% of facilities will adopt wearables in the next five years.

And while adoption rates seem to be high, it’s something that companies are doing in stages.

“It’s a journey, not a destination, especially for large companies," Bill McBeath, chief research officer at ChainLink Research, told Supply Chain Dive. “Companies that are further along, they’ve realized all kinds of benefits, adding that it’s not really an option anymore for companies that want to stay competitive.”

“If your competitors are doing all of that and you’re still sitting on your 20th century manual way of doing things, they’re going to have a big advantage,” he said.

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The return on investment (ROI) on a wearable-inclusive system is much higher for those higher frequency picks.

The new trend in wearable is using voice technology. Smartglasses with Augmented Reality (AR) will be the next big thing in manufacturing facilities.

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Related Wearables with IoT Connected Sensors Helping to Improve Worker Safety

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“It’s lots of delivery of text on your lens and laying over a picture of the product that you’re supposed to be picking,” Don White, vice president of solutions at Snapfulfil, told Supply Chain Dive. White sees this as being a growth area as the glasses are improving, and becoming cheaper.

MHI identified 11 technologies that will shape smart manufacturing:

• Cloud Computing & Storage
• Inventory & Network Optimization
• Sensors & Automatic Identification
• Predictive Analytics
• Internet of Things
• Robotics & Automation
• Wearables & Mobile Technology
• Blockchain
• Driverless Vehicles & Drones
• 3D Printing
• Artificial Intelligence

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Tencent, the Chinese social media giant, known for its messaging app WeChat, is launching video-recording sunglasses, called Weishi smart glasses that looks very much like the US-based social media Snap’s “face-camera” Spectacles gadget.

Produced by Shenzhen-based company called Tonot, Tencent’s Weishi glasses come with a camera in the front corner which enables users to film from a first-person perspective.

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Related Snapchat Launches New Spectacles 2 Camera Glasses that You Can Actually Wear

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In July, Tencent-backed company called Kuaishou launched its own video-taking sunglasses.

Snap’s Spectacles haven’t exactly done well in sales. The company lost nearly $40 million in unsold pairs of Its first generation spectacles. Unlike the first generation Spectacles, the Weishi glasses don’t highlight the camera with an odd yellow ring. Instead, they’re all black, with a subtle cat eye, more like the second generation of Spectacles.

Tencent has been an investor in Snap for some time after backing it long before it went public. But, when others have criticized the company and its share price struggled, Tencent doubled down. It snapped up an additional 12 percent stake one year ago and it is said to have offered counsel to Snap CEO Evan Spiegel on product strategy.

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The purpose behind Tencent’s new gadget is understood in its name. Weishi, which means “micro videos” in Chinese, is also the name of the short-video sharing app that Tencent has been aggressively promoting in recent months to catch up with market giants TikTok and Kuaishou .

In November last year, it was disclosed by Snap that Tencent had raised its stake in the company. The additional investment came even as the Snapchat messaging platform operator had disappointed Wall Street with its quarterly results.

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Tencent president Martin Lau told Snap his company is excited to deepen its relationship with the US company, and that it looks forward to sharing ideas and experiences, according to a Snap regulatory filing.

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Alongside the smart sunglasses, Tencent has also rolled out a GoPro-like action camera that links to the Weishi app. Whether the gadgets will catch on and get more people to post on Weishi remains to be seen.

Tencent’s smart glasses will be released for sale on November 11, which is Alibaba’s Singles Day, a large shopping event in China. The price is yet to be announced.

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Interaxon, the company that developed brain sensing headband for meditation, has released the newest version of the device. Muse is a wearable brain sensing headband that measures your brains activity using EEG (Electroencephalography) sensor.

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The corresponding app converts the EEG signals into audio feedback to the wearer through the built-in headphones. You can reach a deep guided relaxation state while the headband plays different sounds to you while you meditate.

Muse 2, the company’s latest product, is designed to be worn across the forehead and a connected smartphone app provides meditation data. Like the previous version of the tool, it is able to measure brain signals reports MobiHealthNews.

The latest upgrade enables the system to track breathing patterns and heart rate during meditation, and then send those results to the user’s smartphone.

The Muse meditation headband is a biofeedback device, which means it captures the human body’s reaction and translates it into a visual stimuli we can easily understand.

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One of the subtler features of this system is a component that tracks your heartbeat, and then turns that beat into a “soothing drumbeat” of a range of sounds to promote meditation. The idea is to help the user get in touch with their inner state, and similarly the company claims that it translates the user's brain activity into the “guiding sounds of weather.”

The device is very well designed. It’s gentle and flexible. It can be used anywhere but since it’s obtrusive, you may prefer to use it at home. The device has built in speakers but it’s better to use your own bud style earphones. The battery will last about 5 hours. So, if you’re long sessions you will need to charge it frequently.

The built in LED lights let you know when the device is charged, charging, or pairing.

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Related Philips Releases New SmartSleep Headband That Uses Science to Help You Achieve Deep Sleep

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Muse was officially launched in 2014, two years after its initial kick starter raised $287,000. Besides being a consumer meditation device, Muse has been used in brain research at more than a hundred hospitals and universities for studies of pain, PTSD, fatigue and more – as well as mindfulness and meditation.

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Sleep apnea is a serious sleep disorder that occurs when an individual’s breathing is interrupted during sleep. People with untreated sleep apnea stop breathing repeatedly during their sleep, sometimes hundreds of times. This means the brain – and the rest of the body – may not get enough oxygen.

Snoring is a common condition which occurs when the flow of air through the mouth and nose gets obstructed. When the condition gets serious, it’s called Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS).

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Sleep disorder, especially sleep apnea is the latest trend in wearable devices. Detecting sleep apnea has become an area of great interest for many companies with numerous devices on the market. At the IFA 2018 in Berlin, sleep trackers took the center stage.

A new start-up called SleepOn has launched Go2Sleep, a unique wearable ring that promises to monitor a range of sleep data and detect sleep apnea with comparable accuracy to other sleep monitoring devices on the market.

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The Go2Sleep Home Sleep Test is a revolutionary device on monitoring and improving your sleep quality. It increases comfort while maintaining almost the same detecting accuracy of a pulse oximeter, but with a lot more key information. The precise data gathered would then help generate a comprehensive sleep report, just for you, reports MedGadget.

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The plentiful capillaries on your fingers helps Go2Sleep to provide significantly more accurate detection data compared to conventional wrist band devices.

When the device detects sleep apnea during your sleep, a vibration alerts you to increase the chance of you unconsciously changing your sleeping position, eliminating the probability of sleep apnea.

The device can monitor your heart rate, blood oxygen saturation levels, perfusion index, and the amount of movement during sleep, all just by monitoring the blood flow via the capillaries in the finger. The data is then interpreted via an artificial intelligence algorithm and provides the user with comprehensive sleep reports via an app or email.

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These measurements are especially useful for people with sleep apnea as drastic changes of blood oxygen saturation signals the condition.

The device is magnetically charged in its cradle, and it needs only two hours to charge to be able to work for three full consecutive nights. There device has enough storage onboard to hold up to seven nights worth of sleep data.

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The most popular remedy for minor aches and pains are electric heating pads. While these pads are cheap and easy to use, their rigidity and uneven distribution of heat, especially when the user is walking, make them very uncomfortable.

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Read more RS Medical Helping Patients with Patented Wearable Pads

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Now, researchers at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea have developed a wearable heater by modifying woven Kevlar fabric with nanowires that conduct and retain heat. They report their results in ACS' journal Nano Letters.

Our body produces a lot of heat, even when we’re resting. However, most of this heat evaporates in the air and is wasted. Cold-weather clothing offers thermal insulation because they’re made from materials that keep heat close to the body.

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However, scientists are still searching for a material that provides good thermal conductivity and insulation, and at the same time, is also safe, inexpensive, durable and flexible. The Ulsan researchers wondered if they could make a wearable heating device by incorporating metallic nanowires into Kevlar, the famous bullet-proof fiber used in many types of body armor, reports Phys.org.

They modified Kevlar with copper-nickel nanowires placed within its layers. They used resin with reduced graphene oxide to fill in the space between the nanowires so when they get hot, the heat is distributed evenly. Using only 1.5 volts of electricity, the material quickly heats up to 158 degrees Fahrenheit evenly along its surface.

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The fabric they developed, turned out to be strong, flexible, breathable and washable, while still absorbing impacts similar to regular Kevlar. The researchers believe, besides using it as heat therapy, the new material could be used to manufacture heated body armor for police and military personnel in cold climates.

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HealthWatch, a global leading medical device company dedicated to securing personal health through comfortable, smart digital textile garments, has signed a strategic partnership with Nuveos Tech, an Indian technology innovation driven medical device distributor.

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Read more UbiHealth Launches Remote Patient Monitoring Solution

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This is one of many partnerships HealthWatch has in development after its ongoing joint activity with Canadian company CardioComm. The agreement grants Nuveos commencement of a large-scale clinical trial at the H. N. Reliance Foundation Hospital, one of the leading hospital chains in India, with world-class healthcare services and cutting-edge technology. This clinical trial, run by Dr. Manoj Mashru, will lead to a future exclusive distribution agreement between HealthWatch and Nuveos.

Founded in 2010 in Kfar Saba, Israel, HealthWatch is known for its CE/FDA-approved Master Caution®, the first and only 3-12 lead ECG smart digital garment. It advocates a full management solution for the purpose of transforming healthcare, offering a digital health platform and virtual medical care intertwined with the Medical Internet-of-Things, said a press release.

“We will continue to invest in strategic alliances with well-positioned business partners to maintain our position as a front-runner in the smart clothes wearables industry globally,” said Dr. Gary Sagiv, CCO & EVP of HealthWatch. “This partnership with Nuveos demonstrates HealthWatch’s commitment and ability to be a global player in the rapidly expanding wearables global ecosystem. During the past decade, the Indian medical device market has proven to be the first to adopt innovative technologies, becoming a true global opinion leader. As HealthWatch’s main goal is to regain quality of life of cardiac patients, we believe that this step will contribute to the progress of the national healthcare system in India and to the well-being of patients. The current Indian economy is set to rapidly expand, which sets the HealthWatch-Nuvoos strategic partnership in an industry leading position to supply local demand.”

HealthWatch CEO Israel Schreiber expressed his enthusiasm about the joint venture. “Focusing on Israel as a source of innovative digital health tech products and solutions, Nuveos’ trust in HealthWatch is highly appreciated, being just the first step of a long-lasting relationship with Nuveos in particular and the Indian market, in general. The past few years’ tightening political and economic ties between Israel and India have made this collaboration possible. Nuveos were chosen out of many other distributors due to their professionalism, experience and enthusiasm to improve the medical system in India,” he said.

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Read more Kopin-Endopodium Partnership to Develop High Resolution Wearable Displays for Medical and Surgical Applications

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Recognized by the government of India, Nuveos Tech is a technology and innovation driven medical device startup providing affordable, accessible and quality healthcare service throughout India. Nuveos is a distribution, importing and marketing startup, forming strategic partnerships with medical devices company globally. The company’s goal is to bridge the gap between innovators and consumers – whether healthcare providers or patients.

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TempTraq® Bluetooth wearable temperature monitor, developed by Blue Spark Technologies, has received CE Mark approval. With the CE Mark approval, this continuous temperature monitoring solution in the form of a soft, comfortable, disposable patch will soon be available to European consumers and hospital systems.

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Related LifeSignals Gets FDA Clearance For Its Wireless LP1100 Life Signal Patch

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TempTraq system makes it easier for those caring for their loved ones by wirelessly providing temperature readings even when the patient is sleeping. The patch allows caregivers to securely monitor temperature data from anywhere, enabling them to make health care decisions sooner. The wearable patch also sends alerts to mobile devices when the patient reaches a pre-determined, user-set temperature level, said a press release.

Through TempTraq Connect, a HIPAA-compliant service, the device can be integrated directly into hospital central monitoring system and electronic health records (EHR) to safely and securely store patient data. Healthcare providers can then view the temperature in their system as frequently as needed and can receive real-time audible or visual temperature change alerts at the patient bedside and/or through the central nursing station. The single-use, disposable design eliminates the hassle, time and cost of sterilizing the device between uses.

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TempTraq was found to be effective during clinical trials at the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center and Cincinnati Children's Hospital, as well as several other leading hospitals in the United States.

The system is scalable and can support a single hospital or a multi-hospital/physician group healthcare system.

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Related VivaLNK’s Vital Scout is a Wearable Patch that Continuously Monitors Stress and Recovery

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About Blue Spark Technologies

Headquartered in Westlake, Ohio, Blue Spark Technologies, Inc. is the leader in developing thin, flexible, printed power solutions for printed electronic systems, including solutions developed utilizing their thin, flexible proprietary battery technology. Blue Spark Technologies' latest patented innovation, TempTraq, is the only Bluetooth, wearable temperature monitor in the form of a soft, comfortable patch that continuously, safely and comfortably, monitors body temperature for up to 24 or 48 hours and sends alerts to Apple® or Android™ compatible mobile devices.

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ODG, maker of extended reality smartglasses, has announced a prototype called SAVED™, which is the first-of-its-kind heads-up display (HUD) oxygen mask that incorporates ODG’s award-winning smartglasses technology to help pilots in emergency landings if the cockpit gets filled with smoke.

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SAVED (Smoke Assured Vision Enhanced Display) was developed with FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp. Now, ODG wants to market the same technology used for building SAVED to civil and commercial aircraft manufacturers and military organizations around the world, opening up a market opportunity comprised of 39,000 planes and improving the safety of up to four billion air passengers who fly each year. The SAVED HUD oxygen mask will provide line of sight to pilots in cockpit emergencies.

In-flight fires, smoke or fumes are among the most significant causes of unscheduled or emergency landings, accounting for an average of one precautionary landing per day, according to FAA Service Difficulty Reports. In-flight smoke is also the number four cause of airplane fatalities and loss of aircraft.

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During an emergency, when the pilot cannot clearly see the flight-control instruments, terrain or upcoming runways, smoke evacuation procedures aren’t sufficient. In such a situation, SAVED can quickly provide emergency backup by connecting the aircraft’s HUD computer and cameras outside the plane and displaying the image using ODG’s proprietary technology.

“While in flight, clear vision is everything, and ODG’s award-winning headworn technology is able to create an aircraft display system that will be a lifesaving tool for FedEx and, ultimately, the entire aviation industry,” said Ralph Osterhout, ODG CEO. “SAVED is an excellent example of the power and potential for smartglasses to make real impact to our lives and continues ODG’s unparalleled pace of innovation in the space.”

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Read more ResMed Unveils AirFit F30, the Company’s First Minimal-Contact Full Face CPAP Mask

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Jim Bowman, Senior Vice President of Flight Operations for FedEx Express, said his company is pleased to work with ODG on this innovative pilot safety technology. “We look forward to continued development of this product and believe it has the potential to enhance pilot safety in emergency situations,” he said.

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iMorph, a company that integrates wearable self-help smart technology announced its flagship smoking cessation product, CigFree SmartBand, is being readied as a prototype for its clinical trial to demonstrate efficacy for quitting smoking. “CigFree SmartBand” is the first all-natural healthy non-invasive low-cost solution for quitting smoking, says a press release.

“The smoking cessation market in the US is reaching $7 billion annually. There are 38 million cigarette smokers in America. 40% will attempt to stop each year. 7% succeed of which, half relapse. Current solutions include: expensive drugs that block neuroreceptors to wean smokers off cigarettes; Ingesting nicotine as a replacement therapy that is costly and generally ongoing; and Vaping e-cigarettes to replace cigarette smoking, said Adrian Vargas, CEO, iMorph. “Reports show vaping is causing other health problems, and are a costly undertaking. Smoking is one of the biggest killers. Approximately $170 billion and $150 million is spent annually on related health problems and lost productivity respectively.”

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Read more Wearables May Improve Smoking Cessation Treatment Efficiency

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According to a 2017 report by CDC:

• Cigarette smoking damages nearly every organ of the body, causes many diseases, and reduces the health of smokers in general.
• In the United States, more than 480,000 people die due to cigarette smoking each year.
• More than 10 times as many Americans have died prematurely from cigarette smoking than have died in all the wars fought by the United States.
• Smoking causes about 90% of all lung cancer deaths. More women die from lung cancer each year than from breast cancer.
• Smoking causes about 80% of all deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
• Quitting smoking lowers your risk for smoking-related diseases and can add years to your life.

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iMorph COO Younis Zubchevich said they have configured CigFree prototype to detect the act of smoking in real time. “We’ve paired our smartBand with our Phone App, and enable smokers to record, in their own voice, a series of affirmations regarding personal health choices. When CigFree detects the act of smoking, it signals the App to notify smokers to listen to their prerecorded messages while smoking, ensuring CigFree's self-help solution is delivered exactly the time it is needed. Other solutions and Apps require full attention to implement. CigFree is seamless, automated for ease of use and never forgets to remind smokers. Affirmations have been successfully used by people for centuries to achieve specific personal goals,” he said.

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iMorph will conduct an IRB approved open-label design study for 30 days to assess the extent to which CigFree use leads to a significantly greater cessation or reduction of smoking, according to Zubchevich. “Efficacy will be based on daily reports of cigarette usage and researchers' findings of baseline-ending changes in blood pressure, oxygen saturation and pulmonary functioning typically found among people who have stopped smoking,” Zubchevich concluded.

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CarePredict, an Artificial Intelligence-driven digital health company that’s focused on developing technologies to provide high-quality senior care, announced that SRI Management, a leading senior living company, is installing the CarePredict AI platform at their Superior Residences of Cala Hills assisted living community in Ocala, Florida. This assisted living community will be the first SRI assisted living community to install CarePredict's AI platform that allows for the detection of serious elderly health concerns such as UTIs, depression and fall risk in seniors.

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Read more Wearable Accelerometers Can Predict Seniors’ Risk of Falling, Says Study

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SRI is one of the fastest growing privately held companies in the Southeast. Since its inception in 2000, SRI's leadership has consistently sought to be in the forefront of changes in the industry and forging strong relationships with owners. By the end of 2018, the company’s portfolio will consist of over 2,550 beds at 25 independent living, assisting living, and memory care communities, said a press release.

“We are excited to partner with SRI Management. For several decades SRI has consistently stayed ahead of the curve, anticipating changes in the industry, and identifying and deploying innovative technologies that empower their staff with tools to achieve optimal results in all areas of the business,” said Satish Movva, CEO and founder of CarePredict. “SRI's high-touch staff is dedicated to using CarePredict's platform to ensure that the seniors they care for receive the best care possible.”

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CarePredict develops proprietary connected remote sensing technologies, smart wearables, and deep learning platforms for predictive, person-centered senior care. The company’s lightweight sensors and smart wearables for seniors, unobtrusively and autonomously collect rich data sets on the senior's activity and behaviors. The system employs machine learning and unique kinematics algorithms to quantify daily activities performed by older adults, including walking, eating, grooming, and sleeping. These unique data sets are used by CarePredict to train its deep learning neural nets to provide early warning of a wide range of health conditions including the possible onset of depression, urinary tract infection and increased fall risk. All of these insights are generated without any self-reporting by the senior and without the need for in-person observation.

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Read more Wearables to Help the Elderly Stay Healthy and Safe at Home or Outside

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“SRI Management is looking forward to unveiling CarePredict technology at two of our senior living communities beginning in 2019,” said Don Bishop, CEO of SRI Management. “This best-in-class digital device system provides our staff with enhanced activity insights and behavior monitoring to anticipate risks, giving our residents more comfort and greater care.  We look forward to the start of a long relationship with CarePredict.”

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Gartner, in its 2018 Magic Quadrant for Mobile App Development Platforms (MADP), has for the first time listed Resco, the global provider of mobile solutions for Microsoft Dynamics 365/CRM and Salesforce.

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Read more Google’s Android OS Turns 10 Powers 88 Percent of the Smartphones Today

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According to an August, 2018 report evaluating 19 vendors in the MADP market, “The MADP was first defined by Gartner in 2012 as a platform for addressing and consolidating enterprise mobile app development projects across business-to-employee (B2E), business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) app use cases. Today, MADPs are still primarily used to address those diverse mobile app requirements, but they also increasingly support responsive web app development, conversational channels, wearables and immersive devices,” says a press release.

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Resco CEO, Radomir Vozar said they’re proud to be included for the first time in Magic Quadrant research report. “We believe that being recognized by a global authority like Gartner reflects that we are moving in the right direction with our ambition to provide a truly comprehensive platform for business mobility. From our perspective, as a technology vendor with more than 19 years of experience, we still strive to further improve our products and ensure success of our customers and partners,” he said.

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Read more Philips’ IntelliVue GuardianSoftware App Enhances Caregiver Mobility with Real-Time Access to Patient Deterioration Information

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About Resco

Founded in 1999, Resco is one of the global leaders in developing cross-platform mobile software solutions. The team of Resco professionals utilizes its long-time expertise to design products for corporate customers, developers, and system integrators. Resco Cloud technology enables companies to create business applications that enhance the productivity of professionals on-the-go and can be integrated with Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Salesforce. Currently, Resco products are utilized by more than 2000 customers and 500 partners around the world.

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Solbright Group, soon to be renamed Iota Communications Inc., launched cue-Rx™, a new medication adherence system that it believes will revolutionize at-home medication dispensing for patients and caregivers by delivering prescriptions in their original containers.

Launched earlier this month at the National Association for Home Care & Hospice Expo in Dallas, Texas, cue-Rx made news for being the first medication adherence system that operates with its own dedicated radio communications system.

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There are more than a dozen active trials currently underway for cue-Rx. The system begins with an automated device that alerts patients and delivers their prescription at the exact time they should be taking their medication, in their actual prescription container, said a press release.

As the cue-Rx carousel turns and opens to the correct pill bottle compartment, the patient is then able to take their medication as prescribed – right from the original pill bottle. The system provides clinicians, caregivers, and families with timely phone, text, and email alerts in order to quickly identify non-adherent patients. The system is designed so that patients at any location, such as hospitals, in home-care, assisted living facilities, senior living facilities, and continued care retirement communities can take their medications. The device is also designed for home use – to improve medication adherence long-term, allowing more patients to stay home longer living comfortably and safely.

Non-adherence to medication is a costly problem for the US healthcare system. According to a 2014 NIH study, between $100 and $300 billion of avoidable health care costs have been attributed to nonadherence in the US annually, representing 3% to 10% of total US health care costs.

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“As health systems, providers, and families work to better manage high-risk, and high-cost chronic patient populations in order to reduce costs, cue-Rx™ is positioned to play a pivotal role by minimizing non-compliance,” said Kevin Casey, President of Solbright/Iota Healthcare. “cue-Rx is a plug and play device and connects via its own dedicated radio system directly to the cloud, thus eliminating reliance on either the patient's or the facilities' networks. This flexibility not only offers critical reliability of access to end users, but it also reduces overall costs. Clinicians are enthusiastic about the positive impact cue-Rx™ will have on compliance.”

Dr. Daniel Kullukian, M.D. of Surgical Healthcare, LLC in Phoenix, AZ, who recently reviewed cue-Rx for use in a post-acute medication reconciliation trial said “cue-Rx's simple design and powerful software will help our patients stay on track with their medications, improve their quality of life, and give families the peace of mind that their loved ones are taking their meds as prescribed.”

“When you consider the positive effects of cue-Rx™ across our entire patient population, the savings to our health system from improved compliance will be enormous; largely in our geriatric population.”

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Ms. Erleen Lane, one of the patients in that trial, said cue-Rx made her more consistent with her medication dosages and has helped improve her quality of life. “I began my cue-Rx trail one week ago, immediately following my discharge from the hospital.  It has already made improvements in my life. cue-Rx's simple and sleek design, easy-to-use software, and improved alerts will help me stay on track with my medications,” she said.

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Kinetic, a NY-based company focused on developing wearables to reduce workplace injury, raised $4.5 seed fund for its wearable device called REFLEX. REFLEX is a smart wearable that aims to reduce workplace injuries for industrial workers. The seed funding was mainly backed by experienced group of global technology investors including Crosslink Capital and Primary Venture Partners. Kinetic will use the money to expand its manufacturing capabilities and scale operations.

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“What excites us about Kinetic is the ability to simultaneously impact both safety and operational efficiency for deskless workers. Over the past few years, I've watched the Kinetic team work tirelessly to find the right way to address these challenges. The company is showing impressive results with a wide range of leading employers, and we are thrilled to partner with them as they change the nature of work for this often-overlooked category,” said Brad Svrluga, General Partner at Primary Venture Partners.

The wearable device attaches to a worker's belt and monitor activities that put them at risk of injury, such as unsafe postures, jumping off vehicles or slips and falls, said a press release.

Blue collar workers comprise over 80% of the global workforce and in spite of being such a large part of the economy, they have generally been left behind in the larger trend of building technology for the enterprise, said the press release.

The cost of serious workplace injuries is on the rise, and in 2015 they cost US companies $58 billion. Lifting related injuries were the leading cause, mostly driven by the growth of e-commerce and the last mile delivery of goods, industries which are poised to grow aggressively.

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“Every time you order an item through e-commerce, that product is manipulated at least 25 times before it reaches your home, and that's true whether you order a ballpoint pen or a 75-pound piece of furniture,” says Kinetic cofounder and CEO Haytham Elhawary. “With increasing volume of goods shipped and faster delivery times, it's no surprise that workplace injuries are on the rise.”

Kinetic's wearable technology reduces unsafe postures in the workplace by up to 84%. To reduce injury during lifting, the device detects unsafe postures and alerts the worker with a real-time vibration. Workers can gamify the process by competing with their colleagues to stay under a certain goal of unsafe motions per day. Managers can then view insights and analytics on the company's dashboard.

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Related Wearables with IoT Connected Sensors Helping to Improve Worker Safety

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“Industrial safety hasn't seen much innovation in years. I go to trade shows, and people are still talking about safety vests, steel cap shoes and protective eye glasses. If we're going to eliminate injuries, we need a new approach, different technology that can prevent injuries and predict when workers are most likely to get hurt. A similar shift happened in healthcare, when we transitioned from treating disease to a focus on preventive medicine. We want to do the same for worker safety,” said co-founder and CTO Aditya Bansal.

Kinetic’s Reflex has already shown to reduce injuries at several sites. Customers include Iron Mountain and Crane Worldwide Logistics as well as large manufacturers and logistics/transportation providers.

“Workers are responding positively to REFLEX, and it is proven to reduce workplace injuries across multiple industries,” said Omar El-Ayat, partner at Crosslink Capital and lead investor. “We believe Kinetic can lead to healthier, happier, and more productive workers and reduce healthcare costs for employers.”

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Finding the right fitness tracker might be tricky. It all boils down to how much you expect from your fitness tracker. If you’re a less is more type of guy, then Motiv is for you.

Motiv Ring is a basic tracker that tells you how many calories you’ve burned, how many steps you’ve taken and how your overall sleep quality is. For a basic tracker, Motiv is a great option. On top of that this stylish tracker comes in the form of a ring and its so light and comfortable that you’d forget you’re wearing it. The band fits like a wedding ring, but despite its tiny size, it packs an optical heart-rate monitor, Bluetooth, three-axis accelerometer, and LED.

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Related Oura Ring Ships First Pre-Orders to US, Canada

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The ring features WalkID – a new biometric authentication system based on gait analysis. WalkID can run as long as the user is wearing it and walking, which allows for continuous, passive authentication. The company said fingerprint and facial recognition through a paired smartphone will further extend the biometric authentication security of the ring.

Last week, Motiv said it has added new security features to the Motiv Ring wearable fitness tracker.

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The Motiv Ring now does two-factor authentication (2FA), which acts as an extra layer of security when logging in to your online accounts.

While wearing the device on your finger, a simple gesture would make sure that you're really you when logging in.

Motiv is also working on bringing password-free logins to the Motiv Ring, so you can use the ring to bypass passwords altogether.

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Related ORII Smart Ring Turns Your Finger into Earbuds

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The LED on the device is off most of the time. This LED shows you when the device is charging and when it is syncing.

Here are more specs

• Water resistant up to 50m
• Bluetooth
• Three-day battery life
• Supports a host of Android devices like Samsung Galaxy S7, S7 Edge, S8, S8 Plus, S9, S9 Plus, Note 5, and Note 8, and Google Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL
• Syncing can be prompted manually on the device by rotating it three times

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All these features and the unobtrusiveness of a ring makes Motiv Ring one of the first wearable authentication devices that’s really becoming popular among fitness buffs.

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The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has developed a robotic arm to facilitate self-help and upper-limb mobile rehabilitation for stroke patients. Using the lightweight device, stroke patients can engage in intensive and effective self-help rehabilitation exercise even after they’re discharged from the hospital.

Dubbed “mobile exo-neuro-musculo-skeleton,” it’s the first-of-its-kind integration of exo-skeleton, soft robot and exo-nerve stimulation technologies. The novel device, developed by Dr. Hu Xiaoling and her research team in the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) of PolyU, was inspired by the feedback of many stroke patients who were discharged from hospital.

This compact, lightweight device is fast in response and requires minimal power supply, making it suitable for use in both indoor and outdoor environment, says a press release.

Approximately 15 million people worldwide suffer a stroke each year. Stroke is also the third leading cause of disability worldwide. In Hong Kong alone, there are about 25,000 new incidences of stroke annually in recent years. Research studies have proven that intensive, repeated and long-term rehabilitation training are crucial for enhancing the physical mobility of stroke patients, thus help alleviating post-stroke symptoms such as disability.

Related These Amazing Exoskeletons Are Changing the Lives of Many

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The "mobile exo-neuro-musculo-skeleton" features lightweight design (up to 300g for wearable upper limb components, which are fit for different functional training needs), low power demand (12V rechargeable battery supply for 4-hour continuous use), and sportswear features. The robotic arm thus provides a flexible, self-help, easy-to-use, mobile tool for patients to supplement their rehabilitation sessions at the clinic. The innovative training option can effectively enhance the rehabilitation progress.

“We are confident that with our mobile exo-neuro-musculo-skeleton, stroke patients can conduct rehabilitation training anytime and anywhere, turning the training into part of their daily activities. We hope such flexible self-help training can well supplement traditional outpatient rehabilitation services, helping stroke patients achieve a much better rehabilitation progress,” says Dr. Xiaoling. Her team anticipates that the robotic arm can be commercialized in two years.

Mobile Exo-Neuro-Musculo-Skeleton Vs. Exo-Skeleton and Soft Robots

Conventional exo-skeleton structure is primarily made from orthotic materials such as metal and plastic, simulating external bones of the wearer. Although it is compact in size, it is heavy and uncomfortable to wear. Soft robots, on the other hand are made of air-filled or liquid-filled pipes to simulate one's external muscles; while it is light in weight, it’s very bulky in size. Both types of structures demand high electrical power for driving motors or pumps, thus it is not convenient for patients to use them outside hospitals or rehabilitation centers. Combining the advantages of both structural designs, the BME innovative robotic arm is light in weight, compact in size, fast in response and demands minimal power supply, therefore it is suitable for use in both indoor and outdoor environment.

‍Related Designing Exoskeletons to Interact with Humans

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Study

An initial trial of the robotic arm on 10 stroke patients showed better muscle coordination, wrist and finger functions, and lower muscle spasticity in all patients after they completed 20 two-hour training sessions. Further clinical trials will be carried out in collaboration with hospitals and clinics.

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With increasing pressure faced by the mining companies, the mining industry is turning to digital solutions, especially wearable technology to improve the productivity and safety for mine employees.

For mine operators, mining safety is a huge concern. More and more mining companies are adopting tools that can help to improve the safety of their staff.

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Read more Construction Safety: Wearables Could Monitor Stress, Risk and Physical Demands

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Modern, smart helmets represent a hands-free way for miners to improve the way in which they work.

The mining team can be benefited by utilizing sensors that alert managers to the early warning signs of heat exhaustion, rising gas levels or even seismic activity, which may altogether prevent a catastrophe, reports African Petrochemicals.

There are other exciting innovations that goes beyond safety helmets. A mine workers body suit may employ haptic technology, connected locally through beacons to other equipment in the mine. This can give miners a very tangible warning of potential collisions or accidents as early as possible.

The global mineral exploration company Boart Longyear uses wearable technology to improve miners’ safety and productivity.

With a remote control feature that provides 100 per cent hands-free rod handling, an innovative system from Boart Longyear offers a hands-on approach to driller safety.

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To meet the increased safety requirements, Boart Longyear has engineered a fully hands-free drilling solution with its most popular surface coring rig the LF90D. The rig is currently being used in the mining markets in North America, Africa and Asia.

With help from other teams, the company has retrofitted a number of rigs with this hands-free solution.

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Read more Wearables with IoT Connected Sensors Helping to Improve Worker Safety

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The LF90D utilizes a hollow-spindle drill head, making it challenging for rod handling. The rig was retrofitted with a tilting head mechanism and a customized FL262 Freedom Loader. The company stated that it now offers a completely hands-free rod-handling solution for the fleet of LF90D rigs.

“This is a significant safety enhancement for our clients and our drillers, as it removes the driller from multiple hazards associated with suspended loads and manually handling drilling rods,” said James Chalmers, vice-president of environment, health, safety and training at Bort Longyear.

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“The new hands-free solution prevents back injuries, strains, pulls and hand injuries. This is another example of our commitment to provide healthier and safer work sites for both our clients and our employees.”

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The WT | Wearable Technologies Conference ASIA in Bangalore was a great success. With many senior decision makers from big industry players like TATA, software giants like Wipro and multinational cloud analytics providers like IBM, the whole WT value chain was present. We prepared a short recap of our first-ever event in India to keep you posted on what took place at the WT | Wearable Technologies Conference, Bangalore.

Christian Stammel, CEO of WT | Wearable Technologies, kicked off the proceedings with great insights into the WT Ecosystem and the application of wearables in different domains and verticals. This was well-received by the audience who also got a flavor of the ‘Smart Patch’ roadmap that is about to grow well in the near future.

Sridhar Sudarshan (CTO, IBM Watson Partnership) had a great presentation on the applicability of deep learning techniques on the data that is received from wearables. The talk featured IBM Watson and Watson IoT Platform offerings that extend the power of cognitive computing to connected devices — such as wearables, hearables, implantables and injectables. Several industries like healthcare, transportation, safety, factories etc are likely to benefit from this IoT transformation.

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This Keynote was followed by healthcare themed presentations : the experiences of WIPRO in developing the AssureHealth and Assurecare platforms was well complemented by two start-ups, RetiSense and Terrablue. Not only could the start-ups look at plugging into platforms of IBM & WIPRO but they could also share the critical skills of ‘Design Thinking’ and ‘Stakeholder buy-ins’ that they had to overcome.

Soon after lunch (the spicy Indian variety ;-)), it was the turn of Ganesh S – Innovation Manager at TATA, one of India’s biggest companies – to talk about their innovative approach in introducing a factory safety wearable. This talk expounded the design thinking principles of ‘Empathy-Define-Ideate-Prototype-Test’ with a discussion on the deployment using LORA in the TATA steel factory. This was probably the first time that TATA presented the new wearable product in touchable form to the world through the WT platform after presenting the concept at the WT | Wearable Technologies Conference in San Francisco in July.

Following these product presentations, the key ecosystem players came together to talk about their offerings. Uday Dodla from Qualcomm presented the new Snapdragon Wear 2100 Platform and the NB-IoT designs that can help designers to quickly go from idea to product. Anandan (TÜV SÜD India) gave insights into how good design principles (GDP) need to be followed to enable easy certification of wearable products.

Jeff Katz (GEENY) illustrated the importance of having an open IoT platform for the WT ecosystem. Start-ups and corporates were quite curious about the applicability of GEENY’s platform especially since it was an offshoot of one of the popular mobile networks from Spain, Telefónica.

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The evening was rounded up well with one of the most important topics: Cybersecurity. Shashank (Sumeru Solutions), an “ethical hacker”, walked the informed audience as to what can go wrong with even a simple Bluetooth connectivity. Various techniques to guard against any attack through a wearable was discussed along with a lingering warning that no gadget can be 100% “fool-proof” – there can only be several barriers to overcome vulnerabilities that can creep into wearables.

The WT Conference was preceded by an IEEE Tutorial on IoT/WT using IBM WATSON, the previous day (7th September). WT | Wearable Technologies supported and curated the content and provided support for excellent speakers. This event saw some bubbling college grads and start-ups learning about the basics of the WT/IoT Technology from experts in these domains.

A big thank you goes to all contributors of #WTINDIA17!

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