For over 25 years ResMed has been providing medical equipment for sleep-disorder breathing. They are clearly not a johnny-come-lately, jumping on the latest hi-tech bandwagon. This fall ResMed introduced the S+, a no-contact sleep tracking device developed for the consumer.  This differs greatly from wearables such as the Basis Peak and the Jawbone UP systems that promise to track sleep as well as steps, calories, and activity.

The ResMed S+ uses a combination of respiratory and biomotion sensors that not only monitor your motion and breathing while you sleep, but the temperature, light and noise in your bedroom as well. In addition to the biomotion sensor device, ResMed S+ has a smartphone app for iOS or Android. The application connects to the ResMed proprietary cloud and your nightly data is compared to hundreds of thousands of recorded nights of sleep from their other medical prescription respiratory devices. The app makes suggestions for a better night’s sleep based on the data it collects.

Getting a good night’s sleep is something all of us need and want. According to the National Sleep Foundation, 60 percent of people report they have problems sleeping almost every night. Continual sleep problems can lead to next-day drowsiness and increases in health related issues like congestive heart failure, obesity, and diabetes. Many people suffer from sleep apnea which is when you stop breathing during the night. Such individuals, usually, wake up with a snort for air, which disrupts a good night’s sleep. As you might guess, sleep apnea can be fatal. Do you have sleep apnea? Take the quiz provided by ResMed.

Now that you understand the importance of the information provided by ResMed S+, let’s take a look at what you get in the ResMed box for $149.95.

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Pebble has released firmware 2.6 that enables continuous activity tracking on the smartwatches, also drops prices by $50.

Pebble just released firmware 2.6 update to the masses that enables continuous activity tracking and app  quick launch. The smartwatch company that was a huge hit on Kickstarter in 2012 and has enjoyed successful growth.  It is now celebrating that success by making its products more accessible by dropping the price by $50 on the Pebble  ($99.99) and Pebble Steel ($199.99).

Pebble took time to highlight some apps that will be making the most of the new functionality of continuous activity tracking.  Misfit app and Jawbone’s UP app are both two of the first apps to integrate the feature into them.  The novel addition to the group is an app from Swim.com that can measure distance, pace, times, strokes, and efficiency while swimming.  This is something that no doubt separates the Pebble from other smartwatches as there are none out that currently can do this, it helps that the Pebble is water resistant to 5 ATM (50m).

Pebble firmware 2.6 release notes

• NEW: Activity. Activity tracking apps (e.g. Jawbone, Misfit, Swim.com) for Pebble now work seamlessly in the background. View installed Activity apps and toggle preferences in the Pebble Settings menu. An Activity icon is visible within Pebble menus when a compatible app is installed and running.
• NEW: Quick Launch. Set shortcuts from a watch face to your favorite Pebble apps with a long press of the Up or Down buttons. Enable Quick Launch and set app shortcuts in the Pebble Settings menu.
• Battery icon is now persistent within Pebble menus.
• Select button once again dismisses notifications when paired with an Android device or iOS device on iOS 7 or lower. iOS 8 users get a notificaion dismissal for both Pebble and the paired device when pressing Select.
• Bug fixes and improvements.

In just 2 years the appstore now has more than 4,000 apps and over 18,000 developers.  This is a rather staggering amount and is being fueled by companies like Mercedes-Benz, Pandora, Yelp, FourSquare, and ESPN.   The Pebble is also selling at many retailers both online and big box stores, which is a big success for a product that got started on Kickstarter.  You can find a Pebble of your own at your local Best Buy, Fry’s, Sam’s Club, Sprint store, Target, and online at Amazon.com.

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