One of the biggest trend in the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2013) in Las Vegas is 'connected health' and fitness gadgets or in general, the broad digital health arena. Advancements in sensors and component miniaturization coupled with system integration of next generation mobile devices and software apps have driven the market for wearable devices. And 2013 is looking more and more like the year of 'Quantified Self'.
Quantified Self is a concept that has been around since the 70′s and is the practice of monitoring your body to gather data. Detailed data acquisition on the aspects of a person's daily life in terms of inputs (e.g. food consumed), states (e.g. blood oxygen levels), and performance (e.g. running) provides a 'quantifiable' picture of yourself.
If you are a fitness buff, do you want to monitor all your physical activities? Or you're just curious about how much REM sleep you got last night? Or do you only care about just your heart rate or blood pressure if you are a senior citizen? There is an explosion of gadgets and devices that can measure all or focused on only one or two activity or medical condition. Innovative software or smart phone apps display these big data in easy-to-understand graphics, transmitted to your physician, or uploaded to the cloud for further analysis. Complex algorithms are employed to make suggestions to improve the quality of your sleep or small changes you should make to feel better. The more you wear these devices, the more the system will know about you, allowing it to better map your activities to your performances. The device is your personal physician or personal trainer or nutritionist or sleep coach.
Previous incarnations of such fitness devices fall short because it was complicated to use, non intuitive, and results needed interpretation by technical personnel. For 2013, the fitness devices are a breeze to use - all data is recorded automatically with built-in sensors embedded at the right locations, and results interpreted for the user graphically. The device should ultimately become part of your life just like an everyday watch which it should replace eventually. Your life recording starts now!
What follows is a list of the most anticipated wearable fitness devices for 2013 that we will be following and hopefully reviewing soon as soon as working prototypes or production devices are available to us.
Withings Smart Activity Tracker - TBD BodyMedia CORE2 - TBD LG Smart Activity Tracker - TBD MIO ALPHA Watch - $199 Moves App - FREE Fitbit Flex - $99 Basis Watch - $199 LARK life - $150 Amiigo Bracelet - $119 Misfit Shine - $79
For more articles and reviews of fitness devices , please visit our web site at cebuys.com .
via Examiner National Edition Gadgets & Tech Channel Articles http://www.examiner.com/article/is-2013-the-year-of-quantified-self?cid=roadrunner