I love the idea for the device itself. But I absolutely do not want this data to be social, or transmitted anywhere besides a secure, encrypted repository under my own control that I can optionally grant selective access to. Here's why.
My mother has something called idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. My aunt also had it. Their mother also had it. It kills as many people as breast cancer every year, by progressively scarring the lungs until it's impossible to breathe. There's no cure except for new lungs. (My mother is waiting for a double lung transplant right now.) As you might expect, measuring blood oxygen efficiency is a good way to track the progress of the condition.
As a result, carrying a smart blood oxygen meter that also measures number of breaths and general health / stress levels really appeals to me. But the health situation here in the States, and in many countries, is fucked (albeit a little better than it was, thanks to our friends at the Obama Administration). Let's say I contracted the condition (although there's no proof that there's a genetic link), or it looked like I might be beginning to succumb, going by my vital signs. The consequences of this information falling into the wrong hands could range from an impact on my career to my insurance standing. It could potentially ruin my life.
Photos of my last Blue Bottle coffee, checkins at Bourbon & Branch, or Lift goal ticks are one thing. This kind of data should not be on a centralized service, in a database I can't directly access. Not ever. And the rise of this kind of product makes me think that there needs to be a sort of WordPress for encrypted personal data, sooner rather than later.
Google Health failed because there was very feel health SaaS companies and EHR systems in place when it launched. Second, it didn't really provide much value to them if they did use the APIs. And third the UI and marketing page were very mediocre.
I run a health app and very few people (far less than I expected) over the last 3 years showed concern about privacy.
We've actually had more emails about people wanting us to add social features so they could connect with others like themselves.
I really want this. But I'm not going to buy it, because of the form factor, iOS-only connector, closed-source hardware, firmware and application.
You might be familiar with sleep apnea, which is a condition in which (one way or another) you stop breathing while asleep, for ten seconds to a few minutes. The cause could be something in your nervous system (we still don't really understand what), or an obstruction in your airways. The result is that you wake up, sometimes with a fight-or-flight (i.e. adrenaline) response. Sleep apnea sufferers wake up several times per night, sometimes not remembering every episode. The net result is that even though, on waking up 'finally', you think you've had a solid 8 hours, you actually had a large number of disrupted sleeps. It's annoying and harmful, and the worst thing is that you might not even know you're a sleep apnea sufferer—when you wake up due to an apnea event, you're typically unaware that it was because you stopped breathing.
This is relevant because, during an apnea episode (and before waking) blood oxygen saturation will drop noticeably. So an easy and accurate way of self-diagnosing is to monitor blood oxygen saturation over the course of the night. Cross-reference those data with a Zeo, say, and you have a cheap, accurate method of self-diagnosis.
I've suspected that I have sleep apnea for a while now. But I don't have an iPhone any more (I sold it and got a Nexus 4), the Tinké doesn't support taking a continuous passive log (since you need to actively press your thumb to it), and I want to do more interesting things with the data than this company's app developers and designers will ever think of, or allow me to. So I guess I'll have to wait until someone else builds something that addresses this need, or build one myself.
You should be very cautious with this kind of self diagnostics.
- What if you get a negative result (i.e. you're ok)? Are you just gonna live happily ever after, ignoring any symptoms of sleep deprivation since you have already ruled out apnea?
- What if you get a positive result? You'll still have to go through the same kind of studies again, no doctor would give you much credit for your home study.
So, if you suspect you have sleep apnea you should go talk to your doctor. Your notes on sleep apnea are good though... it's a serious and a very commonly undiagnosed/untreated condition... even thought the cure is in most cases relatively noninvasive and cheap(CPAP). People above average weight should be particularly alert to typical symptoms (sleepyness, lack of energy).
Also, maybe check out your diet and do all you can to improve it! I have strong sinus reactions to dairy that prevents me from breathing through my nose when I ingest too much of it. So I would look into reducing meat and cheese (even though I know you're a meat lover! meat.io). Worth a look: http://fanaticcook.blogspot.com/2010/07/sleep-apnea-meat-and...
Don't wait; go to a doctor about this. Unless you don't have insurance.. then you might as well wait til 2014 when you won't have an excuse not to have insurance.
I absolutely agree. The two most important features to me would be the accurate and measurability of the inputs (heart rate, o2 saturation, etc) and the ability to get that data (API). I don't want my friends to know I just reached 120BPM in my exercise routine, but I may want to set up an app myself to do something based on my heart rate going to a certain level, or better yet, if my parents heart rate meets some threshold it shouldn't be at
The real reason I bristle when I hear the term 'social' being tossed around by companies in the way is, well, it isn't social. Social is my close friend, whom I trust coming up to me after we;ve hung out and saying 'hey man, I feel like you are really dragging lately, everything ok?' That's personal wellness in a social context. Posting my heart rate to Facebook is not.
Excellent presentation, but leaves me with two questions.
1. Why the iPhone-only connector?
2. My stepfather, back in ye olden days, tried to create a similar product (albeit, this was before ubiquitous mobile computing devices) and ran into all sorts of regulatory FDA issues because they classified it as a medical device, and required the construction of a hoop factory before you were allowed to even start jumping through them.
WARNING
Tinké is NOT a medical device. Tinké and its associated
applications should not be used to diagnose, treat, or
prevent any disease or medical condition. Always seek
the advice of a qualified medical professional.
It seems like the same type of logic applied to over-the-counter drugs that call themselves supplements -- it's not a "drug" if the marketers don't make certain claims. In the case of Tinké, they are providing a means for collecting data and do not make any claims that the product will directly affect your health.
The FDA's definition of what is or is not a medical device has nothing at all to do with nutritional supplements; those are covered by entirely separate rules. In reality this product probably is a Class 1 medical device, which is subject to only very light regulation. The FDA might decide to ignore it for a while until it becomes a larger issue. If you talk to actual FDA staffers they're trying to encourage innovation in this space by not being too heavy handed, while still protecting patients.
Why does this cost $80 more than other similar devices[1]? The website is doesn't show any useful added features other than iPhone support and all the screenshots are at an angle so it's difficult to see what the readout and graphs look like compared to the normal devices that are out there on the market. I guess having it automatically record each session is easier than having to manually open up a spreadsheet on your phone/PC and record the data, but that doesn't seem like $80 worth of features and some of the other higher end devices have various levels of history and exporting of data.
And the website causes my slick-marketing-plus-low-useful-information-implies-crappy-product sense to tingle due to the lack of upfront pricing, the avoidance of useful screenshots of the app, and phrases like "Zen index" and "social platform"
Which is why it seems to make more sense to use a standard USB connector. (I forget the legalities of shipping things with an iPhone connector included, but I remember there being a hubbub about it.)
Beyond heart rate, I guess the bigger question is how valuable is all of this data for the average, relatively healthy, individual? There is probably some fluctuation in our daily heart rate and O2 sats, etc. that we are not even aware of, and are in all likelihood irrelevant, but this could potentially make one a little paranoid.
I could see this as coming in handy in a healthcare setting, such as a nursing facility where patients are recovering while receiving physical therapy, and need to be more carefully monitored. But functionality is going to be more important in that setting than design is, and you're probably paying a bit of a premium here for design.
I pre-ordered one. Not impressed and agree with dr_7. Instead of a abstract health metrics, if you really have a health need - any standard personal electronics blood pressure monitor is much better choice.
Not very thrilled: "Currently your data can only be viewed on your smartphone. Future capabilities for PC compatibility will be announced when available."
I don't like the closed sound of that. All those armbands - and to some degree my Withings weight makes it so hard to share and utilize my data in more interesting ways, especially for those of us who want to plot our data with d3.js.
I want to use this data to show to my doctor, not myself. And free, exportable access to all my data would allow me to create a simple static webpage displaying all my biometrics.
As others have mentioned, simple pulse oximeters are much cheaper ($20-50).
But pulse oximeters w/ connectivity are generally more expensive. The Nonin 9560 Onyx 2 is probably the best known (BT 2.0) - the best price I could find online for that was $340. The MedChoice MD300C318T (BT) I found online for €199 (~$267). These are the two models that are compatible w/ apps like <a href="http://simpleeye.com/platforms/android/bluetooth-pulse-oxime... Android app</a>.
However, there is a cheaper alternative - the Contec CMS-50E (USB) and apparently a new CMS50EW that also has Bluetooth, can be bought for around $85. I haven't tried the wireless version, but the USB version works well, w/ good community support (<a href="http://ian.ahands.org/progs/pulseox/>reverse engineered protocol</a>) and can be run continuously.
For those interested in actually having/using this type of data, I'd really recommend this over the Tinke, since it doesn't give you access to your data at all (and of course, is limited to connecting to older iOS devices) and generally looks to be just gimmicky.
Lastly, I recommend taking a look at the Wikipedia article to learn more about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse_oximetry>pulse oximetry</a>. While Tinke is using it as some sort of overall health diagnosis, it's really most useful for diagnosis of things like sleep disorders (like OSA) or other types of hypoxia (or monitoring for that). I'm pretty doubtful about it's usefulness for monitoring overall health, although it's fun to play with (watch your SpO2 drop as you hold you're breath, wee!)
No, this is useless. A heart rate/blood oxygen level sensor should attach to your finger or wrist so you can keep it on while you're doing things. Most sensors do that, but this one doesn't, and the form factor means it can't. Making it plug into an iPhone docking port adds some novelty features, but they compromised core functionality to enable it.
I am not a doctor. The body is quite good at keeping high ox levels. If your ox level is too low cell damage can occur, organ damage, etc. If your ox level gets way to low your die.
Lower than normal ox levels can help diagnose that something is "wrong" with your body (or your environment) - lung damage, heart issues, etc. It can't tell you what is wrong, just something is up.
This seems relatively easier to do with BTLE (aka "Bluetooth Smart") heart rate monitor and pluse oximeter. Former is for sale already, and I saw a bunch of the later at CES.
I don't think blood oxygen level can be measured using the phone's camera. Also, I read an article lately regarding the low level of accuracy regarding heart rate measured using an iPhone camera. I'll try to find it and post it.
Depending on the spectrum of the phone camera's flash LED, you might be able to get away with just putting a diffraction grating in front of the camera. I recall, from reading a TI app note about pulse oximeters a while back, that these work by comparing the relative intensity of IR and a visible-red light transmitted through the finger (and that there was also some way to do it with reflected light). I wonder if there is a clever way to calibrate the grating without any extra hardware?
Heart rate variability requires more accurate measurement than a simple pulse measurement. I believe that some of the (older?) consumer heart rate monitors can't do HRV, so it'd be surprising if the iPhone camera hack could measure it reliably.
HRV is a pretty good measure of how stressed your body is, looks pretty useful for fitness training and illness/injury prevention.
Why do I need an 80$ device to check my heart rate? What ever happened to a watch and checking your pulse with a finger? Breath rate? A watch and monitor your breathing. Blood oxygen level? A $20 device on Amazon.com. This is overpriced and not that useful. Am I the only one that does not want to update my friends facebook feed with my personal health metrics?
My mother has something called idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. My aunt also had it. Their mother also had it. It kills as many people as breast cancer every year, by progressively scarring the lungs until it's impossible to breathe. There's no cure except for new lungs. (My mother is waiting for a double lung transplant right now.) As you might expect, measuring blood oxygen efficiency is a good way to track the progress of the condition.
As a result, carrying a smart blood oxygen meter that also measures number of breaths and general health / stress levels really appeals to me. But the health situation here in the States, and in many countries, is fucked (albeit a little better than it was, thanks to our friends at the Obama Administration). Let's say I contracted the condition (although there's no proof that there's a genetic link), or it looked like I might be beginning to succumb, going by my vital signs. The consequences of this information falling into the wrong hands could range from an impact on my career to my insurance standing. It could potentially ruin my life.
Photos of my last Blue Bottle coffee, checkins at Bourbon & Branch, or Lift goal ticks are one thing. This kind of data should not be on a centralized service, in a database I can't directly access. Not ever. And the rise of this kind of product makes me think that there needs to be a sort of WordPress for encrypted personal data, sooner rather than later.