What We’re Clicking On
September 26th, 2018
In our new weekly News Filter, we share our thoughts on the most interesting news articles, blogs, videos and events relating to the future of cities, buildings and interiors.
The emergence of smart city platforms
Cities are expected to invest more than $4 billion in smart city platforms over the next decade. On Euractiv.com, a media network specialized in EU policie.; Eric Woods – research director with Navigant Research – gives a brief explanation about the evolution of the global smart city platform market. Woods explains that for many cities, the development of their smart city platform will be an evolutionary approach, developing from initial projects for data sharing, IoT deployments, and sector-specific solutions.
Read the full article on euractiv.com.
(Image: Seung-Hyeon Kim)
A new way to monitor vital signs
Dina Katabi, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, built a box in her lab that uses wireless signals to track the movement of human bodies through spaces, even through walls, and without the use of any wearables, tracks their health state. Technologyreview explains that the box transmits a low-power wireless signal throughout a space the size of a one- or two-bedroom apartment (even through walls), and the signal reflects off the people’s bodies. The device then uses machine learning to analyze those reflected signals and extract physiological data, such as heartbeat, breathing, brain-activity. Through the startup Emerald Innovations the box is commercialized, furthermore it is available to biotech and pharmaceutical companies for studies. Katabi said her research found that the device can accurately monitor sleep, including individual sleep stages, in a person’s own bed, with no changes to the way they sleep or what they wear—a big difference from sleep studies today, which typically call for snoozing in a lab setting with a lot of electrodes and wires connected to your body. Because the device would be installed in a home, it could track the resident over time, too, which could be useful for watching sleep-disrupting conditions like Alzheimer’s or depression, she said. While Katabi is currently focused on health-care applications for the data, she’s also considering how it could be used for other things, like fine-tuning your smart home so when you sit on the couch, your smart TV could play your favorite show.
Read more on technologyreview.com or check the website of Emerald.
Fitbit’s moves in the health care market
We know Fitbit from its activity trackers, but last week, the company announced a new service called Fitbit Care. This new service will coach you on staying well, whether that means sticking to their fitness plans or managing diseases. It’s a premium product designed for health care customers or employers and health systems that use Fitbit to keep tabs on employees’ health efforts and keep costs low. The big goal is for users to connect with their doctors on this platform. Doctors could check in on a user’s daily metrics and ensure that treatment is working for specific issues. Tech magazine The Verge explains that Fitbit Care is a direct result of the acquisition of Twine Health, last year, a collaborative software platform designed for workplace health.” Furthermore, The Verge explains that Fitbit Care follows Apple’s push into the health care market with its Apple Watch Series 4 that includes a built-in electrocardiogram.
The full article about Fitbit is available on theverge.com
(Image: Vjeran Pavic/The Verge)