Monitoring

Here at Gizmag we've featured a variety of home energy management devices, and the latest solution is an offering from Spanish startup, Wattio. The SmartHome 360º is a home energy monitoring and control system that can be managed through a smartphone, tablet or PC using the Wattio Gateway software. The system's four components are capable of communicating with each other and subsequently with the Wattio software applications and cloud service, to provide comprehensive energy management capability throughout the home.  Read More

Fujitsu Laboratories has developed a technology to measure a person’s pulse from a facial image taken by scans from the built-in camera in a PC, smartphone or tablet. Fujitsu’s goal is to help people to track their health data in real-time and store it in the cloud for later analysis.  Read More

Not so long ago, a smoke detector and possibly a wall-mounted thermometer and/or barometer were generally the extent of indoor monitoring devices for the home. But a number of devices are appearing designed to increase our knowledge about the environment in which we spend most of our time. Joining the likes of Netatmo’s Urban Weather Station and the Lapka personal environment monitor are CubeSensors, small sensor-packed wireless cubes designed to “measure everything that can be measured about indoors.”  Read More

We’ve recently been seeing a lot of wearable fitness devices aimed at monitoring our activity levels and diet – devices such as the Jawbone UP and eButton, for example. According to some new studies, however, Microsoft’s “life-logging” SenseCam might be better-suited to the job.  Read More

Researchers at Scandinavia’s largest research organization, SINTEFF, have been trialling a prototype GPS application to track dementia sufferers living at home, in institutions, and in other forms of shared accommodation facilities. The project has seen more than 50 dementia sufferers using the system for periods of up to a year and according to the researchers, people equipped with it felt safer, had more freedom to move around and enjoyed better quality of life.  Read More

Generally speaking, people tend to dislike doing the exercises that are part of physiotherapy. Not helping matters is the fact that in many cases, patients must travel to a clinic to perform those exercises under the supervision of a trained professional. Now, researchers from Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems FOKUS are developing a “telerehabilitation” system that allows patients to perform exercises at home or when out and about, while still receiving feedback from a physiotherapist.  Read More

Dr. McCoy’s tricoder isn't looking too futuristic these days. Not only are real life versions of the Star Trek device under development, but some new medical devices are making it look a bit old fashioned. Take, for example, the ViSi Mobile vital signs monitor built by Sotera Wireless of San Diego, California. This wearable sensor pack uses Wi-Fi technology and is claimed to allow doctors using a tablet or smartphone to remotely monitor patient vital signs with the accuracy of an intensive care unit.  Read More

When kidney stones can’t be dissolved using medication, the next step is usually a procedure known as shock wave lithotripsy. This involves focusing a series of high-intensity acoustic pulses onto the stones, until they break apart to the point that they can be passed in urine or dissolved by drugs. Using current monitoring techniques, however, it can be difficult to tell when and if that point has been reached. A new device known as the Smart stethoscope lets clinicians know, by listening.  Read More

AliveCor’s smartphone Heart Monitor has received FDA approval and will go on sale to healthcare professionals in the United States in January 2013. The AliveCor Heart Monitor allows the recording, display, storing, transferring, and evaluation of single-channel electrocardiogram (ECG) rhythms using an iPhone 4 or 4S.  Read More