Would you buy the new Microsoft Band?

[RogerThat]

This is coming in the post to me hopefully later next week. Priced at £130, it measures calories burned, heart rate, skin temperature and has a cycling specific settings. It's also multi platform so will be able to share the captured data across a wide variety of machines and platforms. Apple OS/ Windows, iOS and Android as well as Linux.

So would you!?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-31920947

[mercalia]

nope

[Tangled Metal]

Not that one. The optical HRM is the core of a fitness smart watch and there are two brands worth looking at Mio and Valencell. These two make optical HRM for other makes but I suspect MS went off on their own. The actual hardware is simple a light and sensor but the algorithms that make it work well or not is complex. First off optical HRM has been around in a static role in hospitals for a long time. Add in motion such as jogging and the sensor picks up all sorts of noise and errors. These are what the algoritms need to filter out through the use of a 3 axis accelerometer feeding in motion data. Add to that the shielding around the light/detector area to prevent stray light getting to the sensor you have potential for high inaccuracies. A lot of optical HRMs suffer with this.

I have not heard or read much about this band but suggest before anyone buys one to check out any reviews at DCRaimaker.com website. It is basically this techie guy who is into running, cycling, swimming and triathlon who reviews kit that helps him do these activities. His site is a must visit site for anyone buying serious fitness tech IMHO. I think the accuracy of the MS band is questioned in the review but could be wrong.

I would rather have the Mio ones myself (link, velo, etc.).

[Cunobelin]

The accuracy is questionable as a cycling mode.

I used a FitBit for some time, and would regularly track 3000 to 4000 steps on my cycle commute

The new Garmin Vivosmart doesn't record any and even sounds the "Move" alarm

[RogerThat]

I believe there's something like 50 'fit bands' coming into the market in the next six months. As with all things electronic, algorithms and accuracy will improve with every iteration. I'm interested in the Microsoft version because it's multi platform meaning I'm not tied to a particular type of phone to use it with, and can use it at home and work on two different computer OS

I'm personally quite excited about blood sugar monitoring apps and hardware. This could really save a lot of lives and a lot of time and testing in GP surgeries.

[Tangled Metal]

Sounds like you are really interested in the whole biosensor sector of tech. Me too. I see it as a fad right now but in the future they will be creating novel uses for the hardware through apps and connectivity I reckon. I mean the range of sensors packed into the Basis Peak is amazing but there just isn;t a market for them all, plus the device is not actually a good, working package. A missed opportunity I think.

With fitness market the Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is one thing that could be utilized quite easily with app upgrades and firmware upgrades on the device. This HRV measures the variation in the time between peaks in the pulse. This should be variable but IIRC the degree of variability is a measure of things like recovery. I do not even pretend to understand or know the half of what is potentially coming out with these sorts of tech but I think it is fascinating.

If you have any doubts about how serious the big tech players consider biosensors and medical tech just look at purchases made. In typical tech style if they don't have the tech in house they go out and pay shed loads for an established independent. IIRC FItbit are owned by a biggies, Basis are owned by Intel and you can go on. Intel I know are spraying money at universities and institutions to get research done on bio sensors from relatively simple commercial products for home use right through to high tech medical products. From the likes of the glucose monitoring contact lense to genetic biosensors. It is is a truly amazing time to be in, kind of a techie version of the industrial revolution. Who knows where it will end up!!

BTW I am still looking at taking the plunge with a HRM/tracker. I like the Withins Pulse O2 but prefer it with continuous HR monitoring suitable for active pursuits and in a watch format. Considering the Socche bluetooth/ANT+ wrist HRM too. That is supposed to be a really accurate HR strap on yoru wrist or forearm. Connect it to a smart phone or even something like the garmin 500+ or the better wired/wireless bike computers with connectivity. Or perhaps there are data loggers available too I am not sure. OPne day we might just have a data logger on you bars and all manner of sensors on your and the bike (like we can do now but that work better together (i.e. one communication standard based around bluetooth low energy protocols). As said above I am still holding off for the one device to actually nail this tech. Thought the Intel backed Basis guys would have it nailed with the Peak but unfortunately not.

[RogerThat]

I think in this second iteration of bio sensors we're seeing where it might go as a technology. Certainly sub dermal implants are being trialled now for medical use to measure all sorts of sophisticated data relayed to a watch type device. For people with long term or chronic illness this could be invaluable resource for saving lives. Probably the most interesting kit will be cancer 'sniffers ' which can monitor and analyse bloods and breath composition at source and provide a continuous feedback to medical teams. This stuff isn't years away, I expect it'll be in daily usage in only a few years and will seem as common place and common sense as a blood pressure cuff or a cardiogram.

[Cunobelin]

I believe there's something like 50 'fit bands' coming into the market in the next six months. As with all things electronic, algorithms and accuracy will improve with every iteration. I'm interested in the Microsoft version because it's multi platform meaning I'm not tied to a particular type of phone to use it with, and can use it at home and work on two different computer OS

I'm personally quite excited about blood sugar monitoring apps and hardware. This could really save a lot of lives and a lot of time and testing in GP surgeries.

Many have the multi platform feature, in fact it would be more difficult to find one that doesn't work across all the main systems

As for Blood Glucose, I use the iBGStar as it links with the iPhone, but there are lots out there that will link to whichever system you have. The one my GP issues is unfortunately Windows only and would not sync with Apple

[Tangled Metal]

Main systems if you're thinking android or iOS. Windows is a rare system to be supported.

It was in the news today about stomach cancer breath sniffers are being trialled. Something to do with measuring particulates in the breath. It doesn't surprise me one bit. This might sound a bit out there but a very honest mate had two litter brother collies. One got cancer which was.treated. then one of the dogs kept sniffing a certain part of the other dog, kind of took an unusual interest in a certain area. A few weeks later the dog got sick suddenly. The vet ran tests and it turned out to be cancer at the location that healthy dog had been a sniffing a lot weeks before. My mate was convinced the dog detected the cancer at a very early stage. It had to be scent that it used to detect the cancer.

[Psamathe]

...This might sound a bit out there but a very honest mate had two litter brother collies. One got cancer which was.treated. then one of the dogs kept sniffing a certain part of the other dog, kind of took an unusual interest in a certain area. A few weeks later the dog got sick suddenly. The vet ran tests and it turned out to be cancer at the location that healthy dog had been a sniffing a lot weeks before. My mate was convinced the dog detected the cancer at a very early stage. It had to be scent that it used to detect the cancer.

Not out there atall. Dogs have a bit of a reputation for this, though a bit anechdotal. However, recent reports (http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/apr/11/dogs-trained-detect-prostate-cancer-accuracy) that trained dogs are 90% accurate on prostrate cancer. Dogs are used to predict epileptic seizures i.e. to warn an epilepsy sufferer they are going to have a seizure. Clever animals.

Ian

[Tangled Metal]

A bit ghoulish but cadaver dogs are amazing in what they can detect. There's some trained to detect bodies underwater by several metres. Imagine a body of water as big as Windermere and given enough time they'll find a body provided it's not too far down just by carrying out a search pattern.

[Psamathe]

A bit ghoulish but cadaver dogs are amazing in what they can detect. There's some trained to detect bodies underwater by several metres. Imagine a body of water as big as Windermere and given enough time they'll find a body provided it's not too far down just by carrying out a search pattern.

There was an amazing demonstration on one of the Chris Packham programs where they went out to a deep lake and threw in lure (weighted so it sank to the bottom. Next day went out with a trained dog (where people did not know the location of the lure sunk the day before) and the dog "found it" - in that it indicated when they were over the position of the lure. They then checked the GPS recorded from the day before and the dog had got it right. Whilst it's a one-off, it was still an impressive demonstration.

I suspect we could make more use of trained dogs in society.

Ian

[Tangled Metal]

I saw that too. IIRC they used these dogs last year in the McCann investigation and originally too I believe. They're in use probably more times than we'd think they would be I expect.

[RogerThat]

We cycled part of the west highland way last year and met a woman running with a Setter dog. An odd sight so we stopped to chat, turned out she was with mountain rescue and the dog was famous for its nose! It was capable of finding bodies in deep avalanche conditions but curiously it had also found a man who had been dead 4+ years in deep woodland! Not an uncommon experience in the Highlands as there are a fair few number of hermits who just take off into the hills to get away from it all and are never seen again.

[FarOeuf]

Apple have just teamed up with IBM and a bunch of healthcare companies, to suck in all the data from these fitness apps/devices. The plan is that IBM will create some output (per person) for corporate consumption, so healthcare, insurance, private employers, etc will presumably be able to buy/know the health of individuals.

Obviously the pre-req of these devices is that you consent to share data, but it seems Apple and IBM are taking that to mean you consent to the full transfer of that data back to your government/employer. I don't really have an opinion on whether that's good or not. It might be used to put real numbers behind the health benefits of cycling, or it might be used to withdraw services for poor lifestyles (if you can't cycle because of injury, stressing your heart by training too much, etc).