Best in Healthcare For 2013

2013 was a great year for consumer healthcare technology. This year, 95 million Americans have used mobile phones as health tools or as search devices to find healthcare information, paving the way for a more connected and health conscious 2014.

To continue with my annual Year in Review, I present some of my favorite companies and posts in 2013.

A big thank you to my readers for your support, ideas and input.

-Alexis

Best New Entrants into Wearables:

• Misfit Wearables — Self-tracking wearable, incredibly elegant and striking
• Withings Pulse — Self-tracking wearable, Withings’ first entry into the physical activity tracker space
• Goji Play — Self-tracking indoor cardio wearable, transforms any cardio machine into an interactive gaming workout
• OnTheGo Platforms — Smart glass app development platform that focuses on exercise apps and more
• Updated versions of the Jawbone UP, Fitbit Force and Nike+ FuelBand SE

Best Smart Fabric Concepts:

• Athos — Athletic apparel made with smart fabric and sensors to measure every muscle exertion, heartbeat, and breath
• OMsignal  — Embedded sensors in the apparel monitor your heart rate, breathing, and activity

 Best Fitness Apps:

• RunKeeper — GPS app to track outdoor fitness activities
• Moves — GPS app to track daily activity continuously, shown on a timeline
• Charity Miles — GPS app that tracks and lets you earn money for charity when you walk, run, or bike

 Best Personalized Coaching:

• Sessions — Simple, individual, and thoughtful fitness program to help you get healthy
• Wello — Online workouts with a Certified Personal Trainer in real-time on your mobile device over live video

A New Twist to Common Items:

• HAPIfork — An electronic fork that monitors eating habits and alerts you when you eat too fast
• Beam Technologies — A smart toothbrush that monitors oral hygiene and reports habits to a smart app
• Withings Blood Pressure Monitor — Measures, calculates and tracks changes in blood pressure on graphs

Best Up and Coming:

• PUSH — Tracks and analyzes performance at the gym; measures power, force and balance
• Emotiv Insight — Multi-channel, wireless headset that monitors brain activity to optimize brain fitness and measures cognitive health and well-being
• Scanadu Scout — Medical tricorder to measure, analyze and track vitals
• MC10 — Stretchable electronics that conform to the shape of the body to measure and track vitals

Best for Healthcare Providers:

• Pristine — Develops Glass apps to help hospitals deliver safer, more coordinated, more cost effective care
• Informedika — Marketplace for electronic test ordering and results exchange between healthcare providers
• IntelligentM — Data-driven hand hygiene compliance solutions for hospitals to dramatically reduce healthcare-acquired infections

Athos: Smart Fabric Measures Every Breath, Heartbeat and Muscle Exertion

A smart fabric plus an accelerometer core creates the next level in quantified performance clothing. I spoke with Athos founding team members, Dhananja Jayalath, Chris Wiebe, and Joel Seligstein to learn more about the technology behind Athos.

What’s so special about Athos fabric?

DJ: “The cloth has sensors that are built directly into the fabric. With ECG sensors and muscle output sensors integrated into the clothing, you can very accurately measure heart rate and muscle effort. The Core is the analytics module of the sensors – it’s essentially the computer that collects and analyzes all the stats and sends the data to the mobile app.”

Why did you opt for clothing instead of a wrist / arm wearable?

DJ: “We wanted to capture data from multiple points. We wanted to capture info from your biceps, quads and triceps, which our fabric lets us do. By building the sensors into clothing we think it also makes it easy to use and remember, and helps create a routine.” Since all the sensors are built in, you’ll be able to measure heart rate without a chest strap and get real-time responsive input on how to best train for your goals.

“We believe that apparel is going to get smarter, it’s not just something you cover yourself up with anymore. Athletes will get an advantage in training with Athos unlike what a simple wicking shirt or compression shorts provide.”

Who is your target audience?

Chris: “People who are going on 6am rides or heading to the gym 3-5 times a week with the goal of getting better and stronger – that is our target market.” Athos apparel is focused on people who want to get better at their fitness goals and those who want to analyze their performance and continue to do better. The company’s differentiation factor is that they aren’t trying to motivate stationary people to move more – they want to help athletes be more efficient and train harder. Athos would be an ideal partner for sports teams, events like the Olympics, gyms, and trainers.

“We’ve talked internally about how our data is good enough for pros to use so that they can train for their events but still approachable enough for the average consumer to use.”

How is the app user experience?

Joel: “We are using the app to give tailored insight to what your body is doing. For weightlifters counting reps is important, but if you are riding a bike, cadence and balance and pushing vs. pulling on the pedal is important. Long term, we’ll continue to iterate and make things customized.“

What is the key takeaway here?

DJ: “We are not just about collecting data – we are about giving the user a great experience. We are not just about the hardware – we want to deliver performance and comfort in something that is unique and useful.”
 

RunKeeper: Now I Know Just How Great You Are

I’ve been using RunKeeper this past month to track my running. I initially didn’t think I needed a tracking/training system, but RunKeeper has been exceptional.

I first downloaded the app in August 2012, but after using it once, hated the idea of carrying my phone with me on neighborhood runs. I had a small iPod for music and a watch.

How times have changed. Moving to San Francisco meant running through neighborhoods I wasn’t familiar with, and running longer distances made me want to carry my phone, really for peace of mind. I found an arm band I could use without taking my phone case off and reengaged with RunKeeper. I’m glad I did.

Looks clean and modern on iOS 7, great on iOS 6, below.

RunKeeper is easy to use, collects lots of stats in the Elite version (which is wonderful for data lovers like me), and comes with several free training programs for varying goals. RunKeeper makes me feel good about running, encourages me to plan ahead to fit sessions in and best of all, integrates with many wearable devices including the Jawbone UP, Withings and Fitbit platforms. The maps of my running routes get sent to my Jawbone UP app as well. Goals help turn every longer and longer weekend run an accomplishment.

The training page lets me look ahead and also nudges me to run, even on days I find it hard to get out of bed. Ranking pace and comparing workouts distill which running routes worked best for me and helps me improve my pace consistency. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced runner, having a go-to training and tracking system is important. If you don’t have one, I would suggest trying RunKeeper.

Melissa Thompson, CEO and Founder of TalkSession: 30 Devices in 30 Days

Melissa Thompson left her Wall Street career as a trader with Goldman Sachs to follow her passion for entrepreneurship and social impact, founding TalkSession, an online counseling platform that uses cutting-edge technology to connect users with highly credible professionals for on-demand, mobile therapy and counseling sessions. She is a leader in the world of healthcare technology but remains humble and curious. Among her many community involvements and initiatives, she is a member of 37Angels, a community of women angel investors, a Board Advisor to the Flawless Foundation, a Technology Advisor to Newport Academy, and is on the Board of Directors of the Center for Health Innovation, leading the Women in Healthcare & Life Sciences initiative. Melissa is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post,

I caught up with Melissa to hear about her latest project, Quantified30, where she tried 30 healthcare devices in 30 days. You can read about her adventures at www.q30blog.com.

You tried 30 devices in 30 days, what was the inspiration behind this?

I created the Quantified 30 project for three reasons. The first? I was waking up exhausted every morning even though I was sleeping. I wanted to find the underlying cause, or at least something I could do to improve how I felt. I had exhausted the obvious reasons. The second relates to my startup. TalkSession is a telemedicine platform for remote therapy sessions. As the platform grows, I want to integrate biometric and contextual data around a person’s needs related to mental health and increase the healthcare provider’s knowledge of non-verbalized elements related to his or her patient. Lastly, I was frustrated that there were so many devices flooding the market and in comparing even just two of them, I noticed highly varied results. Since wearable devices are not subject to the same acuity trials as are diagnostic applications, I wanted to perform a small experiment (sample size = 1) to determine which metrics were most reliable.

Of all the apps and devices, which surprised you the most?

As a device, Lumoback was the most pleasantly surprising. The notion of wearing a buckled strap around one’s torso sounds awkward, but it was surprisingly comfortable, accurate and I would forget I was wearing it (until I slouched).

I had a surprise “moment” that led to my inappropriate laughter in a meeting. The FitBit One, randomly lit up with the scrolling words, “SMOOCHES MELISSA.” I am a big fan of positive reinforcement, but that unprompted love note was a bit out of context.

After 30 days, are there devices or apps you still use every day?

Yes! As for devices, I still wear Shine (best looking, most seamless) and Pebble (I like the ability to quickly screen if a phone call or message requires immediate attention). As for apps, I still use Sleep Cycle, and just started using Human, which is a great “starter tracker” and has also integrated transportation metrics into the timeline as well (maybe I can reduce the amount I spend on taxis!)

If you could create a sensor or device that could provide any piece of information, what would it be?

Any one piece of information? That is a very tough question. If it could be anything at all it would be a sensor to detect danger. Danger could be environmental danger, like on-coming traffic, or it could be early diseases detection. (You did say, anything, so I think super-powers are a fair dream!)

Google Glass. What is the most exciting potential application you have heard thus far?

I may be biased, but Glass’ potential lies in healthcare, and also in education. I believe healthcare is the most critical issue of our generation and technology is at a place where we can make significant inroads into increasing quality and lowering costs.

As for education, how many times have you told yourself that you would “look that up later,” and subsequently forgotten. For example, Glass wearers could say, “Glass, what am I looking at?” And it will have the ability to dictate the histories represented by monuments.

While not world-changing, there is one app I would love to see someone develop for Glass. I am fairly clumsy and more-often than not, guilty of texting-and-walking. It would great to literally have a second set of eyes so I can look away and not risk walking into traffic or other people.

Overall, Glass’ applications will have the most impact when its ability to provide immediacy and relevance to a users’ physical environment, like Google search has done for our Internet browsing environment.

You are the CEO and Founder of TalkSession. Tell us more about the company and what your long-term vision is for TalkSession.

Recently, we were fortunate enough to present TalkSession at the White House and prepared this video short to explain our mission.

TalkSession is a telemedicine company focused on improving mental healthcare access. With 1 in 4 people diagnosed with mental illness, I, like many have witnessed family members and friends not have the ability to get the help they needed.

I hope TalkSession can break down those barriers over time and make mental health treatment more accessible and acceptable.  For the long-term I want to prove through TalkSession that mental healthcare is a preventative tool. If we integrate behavioral healthcare into our primary healthcare, realizing the mind-body connection, people will have lower rates of chronic illnesses, obesity, and be happier and more productive.

I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to address this problem, armed with the knowledge and technology we have to offer.

Melissa, on a self-therapy test session with TalkSession.

What are a few goals you want to achieve in your lifetime?

As soon as I am able to invest, I want to be an angel investor and support others, while continuing my entrepreneurial pursuits. Raising the first check is always the hardest. The first angel investors who believed in me made such a difference in my business, confidence and trajectory. I would love to help entrepreneurs in the earlier stages of their development get the chance to pursue their dreams.

I strongly believe that innovation will come from the individuals with the most determination and passion to solve a problem. When asked, “Couldn’t Google replicate your technology?” Maybe they could, but my very specific niche is not their focus. Through focus, we will see a proliferation of thoughtful innovation.

My goal is to participate in and foster the movement towards using our collective ideas and skills to create products and business that are useful, and not just cool.

And as for 5, 10, 20 years from now? I hope you’ll check back with me then. I could not have predicted 5 years ago that I would be where I am today.  As long as I am making a difference in the world in some way, then I will set my goals as the world’s challenges evolved and try to apply myself in the most useful way possible to address those challenges.

Sessions: Personalized Mobile Coaching Helps You Stay Active

Sometimes you get busy. For most people, the first thing that gets pushed off is regular exercise. For me, this generally happens when my schedule becomes travel heavy or I don’t have a running event I’m training for. In the past six months, I traveled to Asia for a month, moved not once but twice, and spent approximately 85% of my weekends away from San Francisco. And so my regular exercise became my commute, which didn’t amount to very much.

I needed someone to encourage and gently remind me to set aside 30-40 minutes a few times a week to hit the pavement. Sessions, did just that.

The 16 week program is targeted towards steady lifestyle improvements. My coach, Glennis, who is also the Director of Coaching at Sessions, has worked with hundreds of people in my position. She essentially became my online and mobile personal trainer. Every Sunday I would plan out my workouts for the week through an online user portal we shared. Before each run, Glennis would text and email me reminders and tips. She helped me create a plan for running on weekdays, and after I moved she gave me route ideas for my new neighborhood. By syncing RunKeeper to Sessions, she knew when I exercised and encouraged my progress.

There were definitely days I did not want to run, especially on Sunday afternoons. But then I would get a text from Glennis asking if I was ready, which always kept me honest. Along with Sunday check-in’s, there are quick weekly assignments that ask introspective questions about my habits and find potential improvements to them.

All messages and exercise sessions are recorded on one dashboard in Sessions, where you can track your progress.

Here are some stats on how the program really does change behaviors:

• 90% of people complete the entire program which is 10-20x higher than most health and fitness products
• 94% of people are very likely or extremely likely to recommend the program to friends and family
• On average, people send a message to their coach daily
• There is 80% compliance with Sessions plans
• People visit the site an average of nearly 10x/week
• Sessions is currently enrolling in a Randomized Clinical Trial with Mayo Clinic

Sessions is a great way, for a fraction of the price, to work with a personal trainer and health consultant. The best part is that after only a month of Sessions, I’ve still kept up with my new fitness goals.

Founder Interview: Matt Mattox, Co-Founder and VP of Products at Axial Exchange

I spoke with Matt Mattox, Co-Founder and VP of Products at Axial Exchange last week to learn more about Axial’s patient engagement software. They are currently working with 13 health systems, encompassing 70 hospitals – I downloaded the University of Colorado Health app as an example.

The app makes it easy to search for physicians in your vicinity under your health system, track and manage medications, as well as monitor changes in your body – anything from migraines to glucose readings. All of this information (plus more, like syncing your Fitbit), is consolidated into one place.

Matt believes that medication management is the most important feature of the app. “Not adhering to medication is a $100BN+ problem. We believe that if there is an adjustment to meds, the patient should know at once, and be reminded to change his intake.”

So how is this app different from other ones on the market? Matt gives an example, “If a patient has congestive heart failure and is using a weight tracker – his physician should know when there is a spike in weight. When that patient visits his care provider, we make it easy to create and share a formatted report of his health data so his physician can see what’s going on.” On the provider side, hospitals also have access to an analytics dashboard where they can monitor engagement.

As a patient, you might be using an app by Axial Exchange already and not even know it. The company doesn’t promote itself; instead Axial works with health systems to market the app to patients.

I asked Matt if giving a doctor too much patient data could be a bad thing. “We try to make the information count. For example, if a patient has diabetes, there are really only a few important things he needs to remember – don’t drink carbs, don’t eat foods you can buy in a convenience store or gas station – we try to boil down health information into actionable advice. On the tracker front, we don’t anticipate that all our patients will pour over their kidney function data and every lab value, but our providers do want to know if they are sleeping well and if they are taking medications on time and following a diet. Our goal is to focus on sustainable engagement, where clients know that the app is part of the prescription and they use it daily to manage their health.”

Axial is working on designing a disease management application as well, which will offer a clear set of learning and tracking objectives for self-managed care. I’m very excited for Axial Exchange’s growth, and hope the app comes to my health system soon. They truly offer the analytics and services needed to create successful patient engagement and promote healthy living.

Founder Interview: Nirinjan Yee, President and Founder of BreathResearch

Nirinjan Yee, President and Founder of BreathResearch started her company after a series of experiences dating back to 25 years ago. An active outdoor enthusiast, Nirinjan was diagnosed with late stage lime disease. For a couple of years, she became partially paralyzed and her joints were swollen to the point where she couldn’t walk. A blood test showed that she had one of the worst cases of lime disease in Northern California. While being treated with IV antibiotics, unable to move and being told by the medical community that it was too late for her to fully recover, she discovered the art and science of breathing. After practicing for 3-4 hours a day, Nirinjan started to get better, feel less pain and finally was able to fully move again.

Now Nirinjan is back to being super active, hiking, dancing and cycling. She wants to show other people that while breathing is very personal and subjective, it is undeniably linked to your physiology and anatomy. She began a 10 year study on respiratory health, using audio to record and study breathing. Nirinjan found the right engineers to work with and they mapped out a way to turn the quiet sound of breathing into data and metrics, turning their work into the downloadable MyBreath app.

She is now creating a BreathAcoustics All-in-One Headset that combines her current research and development with a new, more exact breath training headset. I asked Nirinjan a few questions about her newest venture.

How does barometric pressure and altitude help form a picture of health?

“Our breath changes with altitude and it is important to measure our environment. People with chronic illnesses will say it is a ‘low pressure day,’ or they’re depressed or achy based on the weather. Breathing and heart rate is connected to our physical and emotional health as well.”

Who do you see using this? Do you have a target audience in mind?

“The goal of the headset is to bring breathing, stress reduction, and the ability to optimize our fitness all in one place. The headset is targeted to consumers who want to incrementally improve their health and fitness, de-stress, and get the most out of their exercise. The headset is also targeted towards athletes who are taking their health and fitness to the next level in their training. The headset can track breathing and heart rate to determine training zones and create customized exercise plans. The headset will be first available for consumer use, while we conduct further studies to take it to the FDA.”

When will the first roll out be?

While it could be sooner, Nirinjan is focused on making the best product possible. The release is targeted for the end of 2014.

What would you like people to know about your vision and the product?

Nirinjan is a designer at heart. She has a strong aesthetic desire to create a company that makes devices that are truly wearable. Her goal is to make products that not only look and feel good, but are high tech and performance driven. As Nirinjan states, “We take breathing for granted, you are either okay or you are not okay. I want to bring all the information that can be mined from regular, daily breathing and make it accessible and easy to understand for people. Breathing is at the very center of our physical and mental health.”

Jawbone UP: Issues, Bugs and Imperfections That Surprise Me

I received my first Jawbone UP in March 2013, and have used it (and its replacements) for about 65-70% of the time since. I like the UP, but here are some issues I would love to see resolved:

Bluetooth. Jawbone is known for its bluetooth technology, saying their Jawbone Era Headset is ‘simply the best on the planet.’ It might take a day’s juice out of the 10 days the UP lasts for, but adding bluetooth would make it easier to use and more competitive with other wearable devices. Space a limit? The UP has more cumulative volume than the Fitbit One and the Withings Pulse.

Manufacturing. I’m on my 3rd Jawbone UP. It’s been less than eight months since I received my first one, and I haven’t even been using it daily. Customer support tells me that since I’m past my first month, my only option is to trade in my broken UP for a new one, which I can do up to one year. After that, a dud is my own problem. Given my current track record, I’ll probably need a new one in less than three months – oh, and money back after the first month is not an option.

Apps Sync. The UP app doesn’t give you credit for runs/walks/activities done with other apps, if you aren’t wearing your UP band. RunKeeper doesn’t calibrate my steps (says zero) but it does say I walked 3.44 miles at a pace of 11.4 miles / minute. Based on my height and weight, which UP knows, it should be able to provide an estimate on how many steps I took during that walk. Instead of moving 9,635 steps, I should have roughly double that for Oct. 6th

Sensor sensitivity. Jawbone doesn’t always know when you get up for good (you have to push the button when you go to bed and when you wake up to track sleep). Surprisingly, my brisk walk this morning was interrupted with my UP vibrating at 7:00AM. I had set my Smart Sleep Alarm to vibrate at 7AM, but I had been continuously moving around since  6:26AM, and seriously pounding the pavement before the sleep alarm went off.

The Jawbone UP is in a burgeoning space, with new wearable trackers entering the market. I hope the next version produces a more thought out device, and addresses some of my concerns – concerns that an actual user would have.

Founder Interview: Akhila Satish, Founder and CEO of CyberDoctor

Akhila Satish, founder and CEO of CyberDoctor, believes in behavioral change through reflection. CyberDoctor just released their newest product, an app called PatientPartner. Fascinated by the connection between communication and science, Akhila wanted to bridge the communication gap between consumers and doctors. In her words, “We are all patients and we are all continuously patients. PatientPartner is not just an application you use when you are unhealthy, in fact we urge you to use it when you are healthy, so that you can strengthen your health awareness skill set.”

PatientPartner is composed of a series of short narrative games that take a user through another person’s life and asks them how that character would handle certain tasks and situations. Then the app asks the user to answer those same questions regarding their own actions. The app takes all these answers and analyzes the users’ selections to give personalized feedback on how the user can improve his/her health.

In recent clinical trials, patients with diabetes who used PatientPartner improved their medication management, exercise habits and eating habits. The app is not disease specific, as Akhila states, “Everything in the app is universal – we are teaching people how to think about general habits. Questions in the app can also be linked to topics beyond health, such as money and spending habits.” I asked Akhila why they decided to do clinical tests – an intensive approach that many app makers skip. She responded, “There are 40,000 apps in the app store, so to differentiate, we have to show that we are an app that is not just fun to play with, but also clinically proven to change behavior – clinically proven to work. We are measuring biological responses and running a trial makes it easier to see if users adhere to medication intake and diet changes, becoming healthier overall.”

What does Akhila hope for? “We want to get PatientPartner out to millions of people. When we looked at the clinical trial data, we actually thought it would be ethically wrong if we did not release it to the public because we want everyone to have access to it.” PatientPartner gives you two scenarios for free. Then, for the price of a latte, you can unlock additional scenarios and features, including access to a prescription drug coupon (up to 45% off on medications), and earn points redeemable for gift cards and other prizes.

Emotiv Insight: Track and Use Your Cognitive Strength

The Emotiv Insight is a multi-channel, wireless headset that monitors brain activity, tracking your brain’s fitness and performance in real time. While many fitness apps and devices focus on physical health, the Emotiv Insight focuses on cognitive health and wellbeing.

The Emotiv Insight can interpret basic commands such as push, pull, and rotate, as well as measure attention, focus, excitement and more. Just think (no pun intended), now you can command a helicopter to levitate, and the Emotiv Insight will interpret your mental command and raise the helicopter.

The Company exceeded its $100,000 Kickstarter goal by raising a record $1.6 million through over four thousand backers. I asked Emotiv Insight to tell us a little more about their product. Special thanks to Kim Du and the Emotiv Insight team.

What does the Emotiv Insight improve upon in the human mind and how long does it take to see results?

The brain is made up of approximately 100 billion nerve cells, which are called neurons. These active neurons cause electrical activity, which can be observed using non-invasive electroencephalography (EEG).

Emotiv Insight brainwear™ technology measures electrical activity from 5 regions of the brain. The location and distribution of particular kinds of activity are characteristic of specific functional activities or response patterns. For example, we measure the amount of activity in different frequency bands which have long been known to be characteristic of different kinds of functions – Beta and Gamma waves are very high frequency activities which indicate a high degree of intellectual processing, Alpha waves indicate a level of relaxed alertness, Theta waves indicate a dreamy state or paradoxically a high degree of memory recall and focus when occurring in conjunction with Beta and Gamma waves, and so on. The relative amounts of activity in these different bands across different functional locations provides a measure of the different states of the brain, including emotional states, functional processing and so on. Our system uses algorithms based on a combination of accepted measures (for example, frontal asymmetry is linked to feelings of attraction or repulsion, positive or negative feelings) and learned patterns based on data collected from volunteers in controlled experiments who are experiencing the specific emotional states we classify.

Who is your target audience for the Emotiv Insight?

Citizen Scientists, Quantified Selfers, and basically everyone interested in their own brain and improving their performance.

What should customers expect to do or change with the Emotiv Insight?

Emotiv Insight provides metrics for desirable and undesirable characteristics which are familiar to the users, and the recorded levels of these metrics during different sessions of similar activity can be used to reveal details about how the user can improve their performance or mental attitudes based on the differences between specific sessions. For example, does playing classical music allow you to focus more or less when you are studying? Do you study better late at night or early in the morning? With the feedback provided by Emotiv Insight detections you will be able to assess and improve your performance.

The Emotiv Insight brainwear™ can also understand and decipher basic mental commands. It can detect commands such as push, pull, levitate, rotate and even commands that are harder to visualize such as disappear. It also detects facial expressions such as blinks, winks, frown, surprise, clench and smile.

The Insight seems to be targeted for consumer use – will it also be sold to researchers? What other applications does the device have?

At launch, consumers can download a free mobile app (Android/iOS) that measures, tracks and helps them improve their Attention, Focus, Engagement, Interest, Excitement, Affinity, Relaxation and reduce Stress levels. You will get a much better idea of your productivity profile. When you’re paying attention, the time of day and how long you can pay attention for, your interest levels, your bursts of focus. How well you can relax, your stress levels.

The app will allow you to specify the kinds of activities you are undertaking and the surrounding context. After a brief calibration where you relax and provide the system with your background mental state, the application will collect information about your chosen activities and combine it with other contextual information. Your mental activities are monitored and the many different metrics are calculated and may be displayed in real time.

The data is uploaded to our cloud server where it can be analyzed further and compared with your other sessions, and also with those of your friends, the population norms for your own demographic group and the entire population, depending on the kinds of reports you wish to generate. This allows you to put your performance in context, strive to score better or improve faster than your social group, or simply improve your own performance against your own prior sessions. The level of interaction with your social group and the general population can be selected and changed at any time and your data is always kept private until you choose to share it.

Research has shown that when you are made aware of all of these indicators, people are better informed and empowered to make decisions to optimize and improve their cognitive fitness and performance.

Emotiv offers a platform to conduct research and/or develop applications for the EMOTIV INSIGHT. This includes the necessary drivers, a fully specified API for application development and analysis tools for EEG research applications.

Will the Emotiv Insight be partnering with other companies in terms of collaborating in gaming/software, white labeling or product compatibility?

Yes, We’ve already made announcements partnering with fellow Kickstarter projects for Wig Wag and Burnstar.  We’re looking forward to partnering with other companies to build out more integrations and apply Emotiv Insight in many uses.

When is the expected launch of the product? Will there be any changes to the product not described on the original Kickstarter campaign?

We’re looking forward to producing Insight to hit general release next April 2014.