Geek News: Latest Technology, Product Reviews, Gadgets and Tech Podcast News for Geeks

Lose It! – Now with Premium Features

Posted by JenThorpe at 11:34 PM on November 17, 2012

You might be looking forward to the holiday season, and all the food that goes along with it. It’s difficult to say no to a slice of pumpkin pie, or a Christmas cookie, or a Peppermint Mocha Frappuccino, especially when you know that these treats are only going to be around for a limited time. Those of you who have concerns about weight gain should check out an app called Lose It!

I’ve used Lose It! myself. It helped me to drop a few pounds before my sister’s wedding and the weight has not returned. You start by setting a weight goal and a deadline by which you hope to have lost that amount of weight. Lose It! automatically calculates the amount of calories that you should stay under per day in order to achieve your goal.

Instead of counting calories, you tell Lose It! the foods that you ate on a given day, and it will figure out the calories for you. You can tell, at a glance, how many calories you have left for a particular day. Lose It! also takes into account the type and amount of exercise that you have done. It charts everything for you. This makes it easy to see the progress you are making, or to see where you can make improvements.

Lose It! just added some Premium features. For $39.99 a year (on sale at the time I am writing this blog for $29.99 a year), you can have Lose It! keep track of more health related goals, such as blood pressure, blood glucose, or the amount of sleep that you are getting. You can connect Lose It! to wireless scales, exercise apps, a blood pressure monitor or a sleep monitor.

Those who have purchased the Premium account will be able to connect to other Lose It! users. You can create a challenge for everyone you choose to connect with to compete in. Or, you can help to keep each other motivated in their weight loss goals. If you end up gaining more weight than you like during this holiday season, I would recommend using Lose It! to help you lose the unwanted pounds.

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Posted in Android, application, health, iOS

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Implant Uses Brain Waves to Move Robotic Arm

Posted by JenThorpe at 11:26 PM on May 18, 2012

A team of scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and computer scientists at Brown University and Harvard Medical School have created a specialized brain-computer interface. It is called the BrainGate Neural Interface System. The project has been going on for more than a decade. It was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The scientists have created an implant that is designed to enable people who are paralyzed to move a robotic arm and hand by using their mind. It is quite remarkable! The implant consists of a sensor chip that is about the size of a baby aspirin. It is implanted directly onto the motor cortex of a person’s brain. This is the part of the brain that controls movement.

The sensor picks up signals that are generated by a person’s brain cells while the person is thinking about moving his or her own arm and hand. Those signals are sent through a wire to a device that connects with a computer. The computer has been taught to read the signal it receives and to translate that signal in order to tell a robotic arm what to do. Together, this allows a paralyzed person to move a robotic arm and hand on their own, just by using their brainwaves.

Here is a video created by the BrainGate Corporation that shows a woman who is paralyzed using the BrainGate Neural Interface System to move a robotic arm and hand. The video also explains more of the science behind the system.

Image: Brain by BigStock

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Posted in health, Robotics, Science

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Surviving Allergy Season – With Technology

Posted by JenThorpe at 7:58 PM on May 3, 2012

Right now, we are going through what has been called the worst allergy season ever. I live in California, and have been suffering from allergies for weeks. Your experience may vary depending on where you live and exactly how severe your allergies happen to be. Personally, my allergies are so extreme that I’ve been told more than once that I should live in a “bubble”. If only I knew how to make that happen!

Fortunately, there are some online tools that can help me, and my fellow allergy sufferers, to survive this horrible season. Now seems like a good time to share them.

Pollen Forecasts

Benadryl.com has a simple pollen forecast. Look for the part that says “See Today’s Pollen Forecast”. Click the link that says “change location” and put in your zip code. It gives you a number, from zero through 12, that indicates how high the pollen count is. It also shows the three most predominant forms of pollen.

Allegra.com also has a pollen forecast. To use it, you have to type in your zip code. You get a bar graph that shows how high the pollen count is today, tomorrow, and for the next two days. It also tells you the two most predominant pollens.

Claritin.com has a pollen forecast that isn’t quite so informative. As always, you need to type in your zip code. Today, it says that the pollen where I am at is “medium”, (but it doesn’t assign it a numeric value). It tells me the two most predominant pollens. It shows tonight’s pollen count, tomorrows, and the next two days.

The Weather Channel also has a pollen forecast. The advantage of using this pollen forecast is that it isn’t hosted by a company that makes an allergy medication. The disadvantage, at least for me, is that it won’t give me information about what the pollen is like where I am at. Punch in your zip code and see if it works for you.

The best thing about all of these pollen forecasts is that I can look at them and, at a glance, know how dangerous it would be for me to go outside today. I can see how bad my allergies would be without having to leave my house.

Image: She Suffers A Cold by BigStock

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Posted in health, Useful sites

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Why Chin Implants are On the Rise

Posted by JenThorpe at 11:42 PM on April 18, 2012

The fastest growing trend in plastic surgery right now is chin implants. That’s right, there is an increasing number of people who decide to undergo plastic surgery in order to have their chins done.

Data from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons shows that the number of chin implants grew 71% in the past year. It seems that the people who want to have their chins augmented are evenly split between men and women, and that the largest increase is in patients who are age 40 or older.

The question is: Why? I don’t know about you, but I cannot think of a single instance where I looked at a person and thought to myself: “He would be so much more attractive if he had his chin augmented”. Most people, when listing the physical characteristics that they hope to find in a potential date neglect to mention anything about the person’s chin. In our culture, there are many body parts that are considered to be especially attractive or sexy, but the chin is not among them.

So, what is it, exactly, that is causing a growing interest in having plastic surgery to alter the appearance of one’s chin? It seems the answer has to do with technology. The president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, Malcolm. Z. Roth, answered this question.

He suggests that the biggest reason why there is this sudden rush to get a chin job is because of video. People are using various forms of video-chat technology. Malcolm Z. Roth says: “They may notice that their jaw line is not as sharp as they want it to be”.

What is happening is that people, especially those who are 40 or older, have started using Skype, or FaceTime, or a variety of other communication tools that enable them to see other people while talking to them over the internet. It also allows a person to see how he or she looks on camera. Turn your head, your image on the video screen turns, and suddenly, you get a whole new perception of what your chin looks like to other people.

This story makes me giggle. Maybe it is because I think that elective plastic surgery is largely unnecessary under most circumstances. It also makes me wonder if there will be a trend of people who wear scarves when they are on Skype or FaceTime, in order to conceal their less than perfect chins.

Image: Patient’s chin with marks before operation by BigStock

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Posted in health, skype, Technology, video, webcam

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Fitbit Ultra Counts Those Steps at The Gadget Show

Posted by Andrew at 3:39 PM on April 12, 2012

Fitbit UltraMost of us could do with being a little bit fitter and shedding a few pounds. Fitbit wants to help us achieve that goal by combining technology with peer pressure and our natural competitiveness.

The Fitbit Ultra wireless tracker is the 21st century equivalent of a pedometer, recording the steps taken during the day for later upload to your home PC. It’s tiny and can easily be clipped to a waist band or left in a pocket. In addition to recording physical activity, it can also record your sleep – how long were you in bed, were you restless, did you have to get up?

The second gadget is the Fitbit Aria, smart scales that measure weight, BMI and % body, and wirelessly transmits the information on to your PC.

Fitbit Aria

The Fitbit combines all this information with smartphone apps (iOS & Android) and dietary information to create a personal portfolio of your lifestyle. Of course, you can also tweet your successes to friends and family, though you might want to keep it quiet when you pile on the pounds.

You can find out more from their website or you can listen to this interview with Peter Groom, Fitbit’s UK Country Manager.

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Posted in health, Interview, smartphone, Special Media, tablet

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The iBrain Can Read Brain Waves

Posted by JenThorpe at 2:35 AM on April 3, 2012

NeuroVigil has created a device called the iBrain. It is a single-channel EEG recording tool. It can be used to record the waves of electrical brain signals of whomever is using the device. Once recorded, the SPEARS Algorithm is used to read the data. This provides an insight into a person’s brain activity that is not readily available through other types of technology.

The device reads a person’s brain waves, but, that doesn’t mean it can read someone’s mind, or record his or her actual thoughts. The iBrain was designed to be used while a person is sleeping, but it cannot make a copy of your dreams. Technology is not quite there, yet.

The original purpose of the device is to be used for at-home sleep monitoring. Instead of sending someone to a sleep lab to have testing done, the person can have it done from the comfort of his or her own bed. I believe this means that the iBrain could be used to determine if a person has sleep apnea, or other types of obstructive breathing disorders.

The iBrain device is a little box of electronics that is fitted inside a flexible and light harness that a person can wear like a combination hat and headband. The harness contains electrodes that can be easily applied to a person’s head while he or she is asleep.

Put it on, go to sleep, and the iBrain will automatically start recording. It can record for hours at a time. The data will be stored on the device, which has its own USB port to make data transfer easy. From there, the person’s doctor can evaluate the data, and use it in his or her diagnostic evaluation.

Right now, the device is used mostly for at-home sleep monitoring. However, the iBrain will function just as well if the person is awake and watching television, or doing other activities. Researchers could use the iBrain to assess if experimental neurological drugs, that are being used as part of a clinical trial, are working. There is the potential that the device can be used to monitor the brain waves of people who have autism, in the hopes of learning more about the disorder.

There is one thing about the iBrain that has me puzzled. Whenever I see a product name that begins with a small letter i, followed by a capital letter, I automatically assume that it is a device that was made by Apple. Yet, as far as I can tell, Apple is not involved with NeuroVigil.

Image: The Brain by BigStock

Posted in Gadgets, health

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The Aging Technology Alliance

Posted by Andrew at 9:08 AM on February 22, 2012

Presto email-to-print serviceThe Aging Technology Alliance (AgeTek) trade association is a group of companies that have products and services to help older people maintain their quality of life and stay in their homes longer. The website is aimed at carers who need stuff to help them look after their Mom or Dad.

On show at the website are a wide range of gadgets, from easy-to-use TV remotes to big button mobile phones. One gadget I hadn’t seen before is the Presto, which prints out emails without a computer. Friends and relatives send an email to the Presto service and instead of the email arriving in an inbox, a printer-like device prints out the email in the person’s home. It only uses an ordinary analogue phone line, so there’s no need for broadband. That’s a good solution for older people in today’s world. I like it.

Interview by Jeffrey Powers of Geekazine and and Andy Smith of Geocaching World.

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Posted in ces, Gadgets, health, Information, Interview, mobile, Special Media, TV

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Kidz Gear Volume Limiting Headphones

Posted by Andrew at 5:06 PM on January 28, 2012

Volume Limiting Headphones

CES regular Jack Peterson talks with Todd and Don on the latest headphones for children from Kidz Gear.

Kidz Gear produces headphones with smaller headbands and ear cups to fit the smaller heads of children. This year they’ve brought to the market new wired headphones that have a built-in volume limiter that prevents children’s hearing becoming damaged through excessive sound levels. The headphones reduce the maximum sound level by about 20% into the 80-95 decibel range.

The new headphones are compatible with the iPad, iPhone and iPod ranges and include an inline remote  and mic control. They’re available from the Apple Store or direct from Kidz Gear for $29.99.

An additional new product in the same vein is a volume limit cable which can be added to already-purchased headphones to make them safer for children. Priced at only $9.99, there’s currently a special price of $5.99 showing on-line.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central and Don Baine, the Gadget Professor for the TechPodcast Network.

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Posted in Apple, ces, health, IPAD, iPhone, ipod, MP3, Music, smartphone, Speakers, Special Media, tablet

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Careverge Takes A Social Approach To Health

Posted by Andrew at 11:04 PM on January 25, 2012

Careverge logoThe fast pace of modern Western life doesn’t lend itself to a healthy lifestyle and many of us struggle to keep on top of the weight and exercise regularly, including myself. Careverge can help as a one-stop health and well-being site that brings together fitness, health and support in one place. Careverge’s Henry de Phillips talks to Jamie Davies of the MedicCast and the Nursing Show about what the site can offer.

Careverge’s approach is to create a social networking environment to encourage good health behaviours rather than to simply sell a product or a plan. The site brings networking, gaming and recommendations together so that within only a few moments of starting to use the site, the individual is given personalised suggestions on reading and possible activities. The focus of Careverge is to encourage people to health through fun while providing quality health information and support to reach their goals.

Careverge is free to use for consumers.

Interview by Jamie Davies of the MedicCast and the Nursing Show.

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Posted in ces, health, Information, medical, Social Media, Special Media

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LifeStation Web managed Pill box

Posted by Mike Dell at 11:01 PM on January 25, 2012

From the CES 2012 floor, Jamie Davis from Promed Network talks with David from LifeStation about their new web enabled pill box for people on daily medications. The pill box had compartments for up to 4 doses a day and once full holds a week’s worth of pills. The pillbox doors flash when it’s time for that dose and if after a time, the door isn’t opened it starts beeping. If the person still doesn’t take their meds, it sends and email, text and automated phone call to the patient and their care giver. In tests, the pill box got a medication compliance of up to 92% (which is very good)

For more information go to medicationstation.com or lifestation.com

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