Comments on: Digital Health Becoming a Reality

By: Edward Miller

Edward Miller — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 03:08:28 +0000

Great post! I love my Withings scale and I also first heard about it on Twitter. I've had it a few months now and it's really motivating to use. Preordered a WakeMate and signed up for Daily Burn! I'm also a new Nike+ user so that helps as well. Trying to figure out how to integrate Withings/Nike+ with DailyBurn.

By: Edward Miller

Edward Miller — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 03:08:28 +0000

By: Edward Miller

Edward Miller — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:08:28 +0000

By: Tereza

Tereza — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 18:03:31 +0000

I just got my FitBit last week so will keep you posted. First reaction is I really like the unobtrusiveness of the devive. And the sleep monitor is terrific. The website has bad UI, it's not frictionless to get up and running and that's a problem for me….however I think this will improve now that the product is out and the user forum is up.

i'm not really trying to lose weight but need to be sustainably healthy….

By: Tereza

Tereza — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:03:31 +0000

i'm not really trying to lose weight but need to be sustainably healthy….

By: Rob Greene

Rob Greene — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 02:03:34 +0000

A really amazing-looking product in this space is the Adidas miCoach system:

http://www.adidas.com/us/micoach/

They had an earlier product with this name that was probably before its time.

What I like about it is that it incorporates a heart rate monitor with the pedometer function that the other systems use. To me, this is crucially important, since it measures your actual fitness changes and level-of-effort, rather than just how many steps you've taken.

The website looks very well done, and has a number of workout plans for various goals, such as losing weight, running faster, etc.

There are two different variations to the system. One is a watch-like device that tells you whether to run faster or slower, dependent on your heart rate. The more expensive option lets you plug in a set of headphones, which passes through to whatever MP3 player you use. It provides voice feedback and encouragement based on your heart rate and pedometer stats.

Both models integrate with the web.

By: Mark Musolino

Mark Musolino — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 00:13:51 +0000

Mark, discovered your blog today – just awesome – thanks. I'm running a startup in Pittsburgh, which happens to be home to BodyMedia, maker of the BodyBugg, and I did a little bit of data mining consulting for them a couple years back. No connection to them now, but I have used the BodyBugg — a great product, based on years of solid R&D (http://www.bodymedia.com/Learn-More/Scientific-...) that has created a strong AI engine which allows just a few simple sensors to produce a wealth of data on body behavior. While I haven't personally used the FitBit, based on the backstory to that product I just can't imagine that it's results are anywhere near as accurate as those from the BodyBugg. Granted, the FitBit is cheaper and probably a more unobtrusive wearable device, but my guess is that the BodyBugg will give you much better data, and ultimately be more useful.

-Mark

By: Rob Greene

Rob Greene — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 20:03:34 +0000

By: Mark Musolino

Mark Musolino — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 18:13:51 +0000

-Mark

By: cindyalvarez

cindyalvarez — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 10:48:48 +0000

The FitBit is a glorified pedometer. Granted, it has an AWESOME tiny form factor – but it really only does a good job tracking running/walking (it doesn't register my Wii Fit movements, biking, or weightlifting). Also, my first one died after less than a week; the replacement lasted a couple months and is now dead. I'd rather have my money back than get a third one.