Amazon

By  Jonah Comstock 12:21 pm March 17, 2016
Amazon Echo, the company's Bluetooth speaker that doubles as a voice control hub for connected home devices and services, can now tell Fitbit users about their sleep, activity and weight, the companies announced today. Amazon Echo's personal assistant component goes by the name, Alexa. “Our integration with Alexa gives you hands-free access to your data, so you can find out when you walk in the...
By  Jonah Comstock 11:02 am March 19, 2015
Japanese medical device company Omron Healthcare, which has been marketing digital thermometers and blood pressure monitors for over 50 years, just launched its first smartphone-connected activity tracker, along with a new app that tracks fitness data and integrates with Apple Health. The Alvita Wireless Activity Tracker, a Bluetooth-enabled clip-on activity tracker, records steps, distance, and...
By  Jonah Comstock 12:56 pm December 18, 2014
AliveCor launched its new third generation smartphone-connected EKG device, a model that is both slimmed down and considerably cheaper than its predecessors. The device will sell for $74.99, compared to the previous model's $199 price tag, and is 50 percent thinner and 40 percent lighter. "The new AliveCor third generation device is a lower-profile consumer design," Cindy Donohoe, vice president...
By  Jonah Comstock 10:33 am November 10, 2014
Google's genomics browser, from a video the company released last year. Between contact lenses for diabetes, big data baseline health studies, and a tiny pill that scans for cancer (not to mention curing death and setting up telemedicine visits based on search results), Google is casting a wide net in the health care field. But the company's biggest contributions might come in an area where...
By  Jonah Comstock 08:46 am August 25, 2014
Joining the ranks of Google and Apple, online retail giant Amazon has met with the FDA, according to the agency's public calendar, according to a report in Modern Healthcare. Just why Amazon met with the FDA is still a matter for speculation. Of the three companies, Google has been the most transparent about its meeting with the FDA. It announced on its blog in January that it had met with the...
By  Aditi Pai 08:38 am January 27, 2014
Palo Alto, California-based SleepRate has launched a sleep app, based on sleep analysis algorithms and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBTI) protocols, which were licensed from Stanford University's School of Medicine, Psychiatry, and Behavioral Sciences. The system is available for $99.99 in SleepRate's online store or on Amazon.com, although only to those in the United States....
By  Jonah Comstock 12:15 pm December 18, 2013
Helsinki, Finland-based sleep sensor company Beddit is on track to fulfill its promise to ship its product to its Indiegogo backers by the end of the year, the company says, and is opening the door for additional pre-orders via Amazon, its own online store and a number of resellers. The company, which makes a sensor that straps to the user's bed, raised $503,000 this year in an Indiegogo campaign...
By  Jonah Comstock 09:46 am November 6, 2013
Amazon's 2010 acquisition of Diapers.com doesn't seem like it would be a conversation topic at a Digital Health Innovation Summit. But Girish Navani, CEO of eClinicalWorks, sees Amazon's move into consumer products like diapers as a model for how EHRs can get into the patient engagement business. "I am fascinated by Amazon," he said at the event in Boston. "They started out with a great user...
By  Brian Dolan 08:45 pm May 13, 2009
"We took a run at this five years ago and it fizzled out pretty quickly," explained Rob Mesirow, Vice President of CTIA, the international association for the wireless industry. "Quite frankly, it just wasn't the time, the stars weren't aligned, wireless data networks weren't robust enough and medical data wasn't there." "Now, the next generation of doctors, who are more comfortable with health...