Rumors and lighter stories from the week gone by
This week has been massively focused on the world of standalone VR headsets, but that hasn’t stopped other wearables from shining through with buckets of news. Fitbit had a pretty big week in all directions.
Sure, its fitness trackers took a dip in sales but it also teamed up with Google on health, and will help enable doctors to better receive patient data. Meanwhile Garmin is looking to get into sleep apnea and atrial fibrillation, and it looks like the Microsoft Band isn’t as dead as we once thought it was.
Speaking of things that aren’t dead, Nokia Health got sold back to one of the Withings co-founders. And hey, we’ve seen some more Wear OS movement this week prior to Google I/O, as Assistant on Wear OS is getting much smarter.
That’s not all that happened though. Here are a selection of some of the other stories of the week, and if you still need to satiate your appetite don’t forget to check out our dedicated news section.
Huawei gaming smartwatch on the cards
Smartwatches are a good at a lot of things, but one area they’re not so good at is gaming. Huawei seems to be taking a run up at the idea if a couple of patents are any indication.
You would have to take the smartwatch off your wrist and hold it out by the bands, which would be filled with mechanical sensors and touch areas. The straps can not only act as virtual keyboards, but can incorporate gestures like tap, slide, pull, sway, shake, press, twist and shout (okay, not that last one).
You could then use these gestures to move around you character or even selecting a character. In addition to gaming, the patent says these gestures can be used for things like taking selfies. It’s possible none of this will come to light – patents often stay in idea limbo – but it’s interesting nonetheless.
Lumos bike helmet gets Apple Watch gesture support
The Lumos smart biking helmet has automatic brake lights and wireless-controlled turn signals built in. Those turn signals work with a wireless remote control, but now the helmet has been updated with something a little simpler.
You can now use your Apple Watch to gesture control the turn signals. You simply point your arm left to activate the left turn signal, and then hold it up to activate the right turn signal – you know, the standard hand signals for biking. The signals will stay on until you shake your wrist. There’s also HealthKit support so you can track your ride.
Apple Watch saves another life
It’s always heartening to know that a wearable helped another person catch a fatal problem they otherwise wouldn’t have caught. This week, it’s Hillsborough, Oregon teen Deanna Recktenwald.
The Apple Watch notified the 18-year-old that her heart rate had hit 190 beats per minute out of the blue. She was rushed to the emergency room and it was discovered that she suffered from chronic kidney disease. Both of her kidneys were operating at 20% and she’ll like require a future transplant, but it’s possible none of this would have been noticed had it not been for the smartwatch on her wrist.
Wearables to become useful for cancer treatment trials
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center this week published a study showing that wearables can be useful for determining the effect of cancer treatments on patients via step count tracking.
Cancer patients tend to be older, so subtle breakdowns in human function can impart larger lessons about the efficiency of a treatment. This would help doctors better inform patients of the effects of treatments, which would in turn help them make better decisions.