All the other news from the week
The week after CES is supposed to be a time for recovery and contemplation, or so the old adage goes. Instead, we got a whole bunch more wearable news. Like hey, did you know Apple was meeting with AR suppliers at CES?
The parade continued. Tag launched its most expensive smartwatch ever, while Frederique Constant teased a full-on smartwatch. Let’s not forget the ever-present Fitbit, which both continues to move in on diabetes and is bringing Fitbit Coach to your living room.
But that’s not all that happened this week. Below, we offer you only the finest cut news stories. And please, if your appetite isn’t satiated, do take a look at our dedicated news section.
LG ‘Iconic’ on the way
The LG Watch Sport is still one of the most complete, best Android Wear smartwatches you can buy, but there’s one problem: It’s getting long in the tooth. It looks like LG may be bringing out a new smartwatch pretty soon though.
The company has filed a trademark for “Iconic”, associating it with smartwatches in the filing. Interestingly, it also filed a trademark for “Icon”, associated with a smartphone. This makes us think LG is planning some kind of unified new strategy (and rebrand) in an attempt to gain more attention.
Vikings-Saints game triggered Apple Watch heart rate alerts
The Apple Watch has this feature where, if your heart rate is elevated in situations it shouldn’t be elevated, like sitting down, it’ll let you know so that you can go get a doctor. It’s a great feature that can save lives by getting people the help they need quicker, but it turns out it can also be triggered by exciting TV.
In this case, it was the NFL playoff game between the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints. The game was so exciting that fans were getting alerts that their heart rates were abnormally elevated. Siri, don’t worry, I’m just watching sports.
Amazon’s looking to become HIPAA compliant
This week Amazon posted a job listing for HIPAA Compliance Lead, a position that would “own and operate the security and compliance elements of a new initiative.” And that’s not all, this new position would have to be familiar with cloud data and Internet of Things.
Amazon is definitely looking to jump into health, but it’s unclear in what way. Could they be building some kind of wearable? Is Amazon’s rumored telemedicine initiative getting off the ground? Is Alexa about to tackle health? We’ll have to wait and see.
Lameness-detecting wearable for sheep
Footrot in sheep can cause lameness in sheep, which costs the UK’s farm sector around £80 million a year, with 90% of farmers saying their flocks have signs of lameness. The problem is that sheep mask when they have lameness, because they don’t want to appear weak and make themselves more appealing to predators.
So Intel, agricultural software developer Farm Wizard and Jasmeet Kaler, associate professor at Nottingham University Vet School, have teamed up to create a wearable that monitors sheep. It clips up near the ear tag and collects data from its accelerometer and gyroscope to measure the sheep’s gait. Then it uses algorithms to predict whether sheep have lameness.