Ah, the first few weeks of January. It's that magical time when the gyms are still packed and you haven't gotten completely sick of wearing that fitness tracker you got over the holidays. But some day soon, when it is cold and wet and rainy, and you don't want to go to the gym, you might find yourself devising ways to game the system, ways that you can run past those infernal digital goalposts without actually breaking a sweat.
If you were waiting to hear the U.S. Food & Drug Administration weigh in before you strap on a device with a fitness tracker, like a Fitbit, Pebble, or Apple Watch, well, good news: the government agency has released a draft set of guidance for the industry about how it plans on treating the burgeoning market of wearable health devices.
Maybe you have a fitness tracker. Maybe you've gotten your genome sequenced before. Probably your medical records are kept in electronic, instead of paper, form. Now some companies are seeking to combine all those things and more into a talking, personalized, health-advice app. Not sure when to give yourself your next insulin shot after having a croissant for breakfast? You can ask the app. How much exercise should someone with your genetic makeup be getting? The app will give you suggestions.
Fitness trackers use suites of sensors and algorithms to turn data from your training regimen into (hopefully) meaningful information about how race-ready you are. But for the rest of the time—when you’re sitting at a desk—there’s not much for devices to do. Spire, a clip-on tracker that looks like a small, silvery stone, monitors a more subtle aspect of your physiology: your breath. By measuring the small vibrations and abdominal movements caused by inhaling and exhaling, Spire’s analytics software can determine how stressed or focused you are, the company says. If you haven’t taken a deep breath in a while, Spire’s smartphone app will kindly remind you. It will even guide you through a calming exercise.
The Basis Band is our favorite fitness tracker, the only device that elevates the category beyond simply "here's a graph of what you did." It actually works with your life to suggest new ways to stay fit - actually analyzing data, not just presenting it. And this morning, Basis released the first smartphone app for the device.
The Basis Band is the best fitness tracker on the market. It's the best because it works with your life rather than requiring that a whole bunch of extra new steps be added to your life. It encourages you to get in shape, get a better night's sleep, and live more healthfully. Previous fitness trackers were content to merely measure and present you with raw data of your current state of fitness, like a cat dropping a dead vole at the foot of your bed. The Basis Band is like a cat that digs up voles that were eating your plants and deposits said voles in the garbage can. It's the first truly next-generation fitness tracker.
