health

Sometimes my CNET handlers like to challenge me. Or perhaps they're sending me a discreet message.

Today, for example, one of my knowing leash-pullers sent me details of an app he thought might interest me.

I took one look and wondered what he might have meant, for this was not something I would ever Pinterest.

You see, I now have set indelibly in my mind that there exists an app called STD Triage.… Read more

Intel's perceptual computing isn't just fun and games.

In the past year or so, Intel's demoes of perceptual computing have focused on interacting with the computer in the 3D space in front of the device. It's not unlike the motion-sensing Kinect gaming technology from Microsoft, which allows interaction via gestures.

Well, that same sensing technology does more than just games. Using "sophisticated computer vision algorithms" Intel showed a tablet monitoring a person's heart rate (see image at top).

"When oxygenated blood comes to my face, we can't see it with our … Read more

Note to all you slightly obsessed folks out there who are into tracking your quantified self: isn't it about time you started keeping track of not just all the calories you inhale, but the air pollution as well?

The prototype for just such a device, dubbed Conscious Clothing, and the trio of designers who created it, were awarded $100,000 this week as part of an innovation challenge sponsored by (deep breath) the National Institutes of Health, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The system is described as a "wearable breathing analysis tool" made up of sensors and strips of material wrapped around the chest to measure breathing volume. It calculates the particulate matter inhaled and transmits real-time data via Bluetooth, making it a perfect addition to any self data-tracking regime. … Read more

Beautiful, active people with overflowing pocketbooks make La Jolla, Calif., a San Diego beach town, the perfect place for an upscale fitness craze to take hold.

At least that's the gamble Josh Weinstein and his three business partners are making with Fitwall, a branded fitness studio where members strap on heart rate monitors, find their assigned Fitwall, and monitor their workout exertion with an attached iPad.

The Fitwall studio in La Jolla, which opened to the public this week, is the first of 100 technology-driven fitness studios that founders Weinstein, Doug Brendle, Ethan Penner, and Anthony Westreich plan to … Read more

UCLA Health isn't the first hospital to live-tweet a brain surgery, but it may be the first to employ 6-second video medium Vine as part of the proceedings. Surgeons on Thursday implanted a brain pacemaker to counteract the effects of Parkinson's disease in a patient and sent out Twitter updates using both Instagram and Vine.

The procedure has generated such memorable tweets as "Removing the skin and drilling through the skull for electrode placement." and "Electrode is prepared for implantation. Patient is being woken up at this time."

… Read more

Our lives tend to be defined by the decisions we make. And the ones we don't.

Please place yourself, therefore, into the hands and mind of someone whose 14-year-old son has just been shot. He has been shot by a friend playing with a gun.

What might be your first decision?

I fancy that, for many, the choice might be to take the boy to the nearest hospital. However, this was not the decision allegedly taken by Deborah Tagle of Santa Fe, Texas.

As KHOU-TV reports, she allegedly felt the most appropriate course of action was to go to … Read more

A new study out of Stanford University and the University of Michigan suggests that some people appear more motivated by money than their own health.

Researchers followed a group of people insured by Blue Care Network, which -- rather controversially -- developed an incentives program that allowed its obese members to choose between paying as much as 20 percent more for health insurance or exercising. In real dollars, that added up to as much as $2,000 extra a year. (Those unable to walk due to medical reasons were exempt with a doc's note.)

Those who wanted to pay … Read more

When HapiFork first debuted at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, the brightly-colored, vibrating fork caused a stir, landing press coverage from all over the world, including a mention on The Colbert Report.

Basically, the fork vibrates if you eat too fast. Some folks thought the fork served a useful purpose -- getting users to eat more slowly -- while others thought it was just a novelty. It is a vibrating utensil, after all.

The folks at Hapilabs, the company behind HapiFork, say they're just glad people are talking about the fork at all because that means there's … Read more

I think most people who have tried yoga would agree: it's a great way to improve flexibility and blood flow, increase stamina and strength, and even reduce back and muscle pain.

OK, but how can you find nearby classes, especially if you're traveling or you've just moved to a new town?

Yep: there's an app for that. Om Finder for iOS locates nearby classes, studios, and instructors wherever you happen to be in the world. It needs a few tweaks, but it's definitely a handy tool for the om-minded.… Read more