This is a guest post by Jiff CEO Derek Newell

Digital health may be garnering all the glory for its promise to transform health care, but take a closer look and you’ll find a promising next wave of health care investments.

With a proliferation of mobile apps and data being generated at a dizzying pace, few investments have yet to fulfill their financial promise. The real money will be made when companies build services around these applications, make the data actionable, and connect all this inbound patient data to the physical health care system.

Expect companies that find new, creative ways of connecting data to patients, determine what to do with the data when it’s generated, and figure out ways to creatively (and profitably) engage the health care system, to attract the attention of VCs and entrepreneurs alike. Here are three areas worth watching.

Smart sensors

What if a device could predict whether you were going to catch a cold, succumb to diabetes or even your risk for getting cancer? Sounds a little far-fetched, but a new generation of sensors holds the promise to do just that.

Companies developing smart sensors that can be placed on the body or in the home that can accurately, non-invasively predict your chances of becoming ill stand to attract investors’ attention. Component and connection costs are dramatically dropping, while at the same time the value of connecting to the Internet has dramatically increased. Just think of Tesla’s ability to collect data from its cars. Look for value in companies that develop sensors that collect, connect and predict high-cost events that can be prevented by timely intervention.

Software systems for data analysis

Data generated from new smart sensors holds little value if it can’t be analyzed and acted upon. New investment opportunities in the companies that develop software systems to analyze data and determine what to do with it will ultimately be very profitable for some investors. Single-use systems, where a single sensor talks to a single server designed to analyze its data (which is the way most are architected today), will be much less valuable than servers that can import and analyze data from dozens, hundreds or even thousands of sensors.

Businesses across the spectrum are developing algorithms to analyze, for example, whether a person’s blood pressure and weight require a fitness program or whether other symptoms merit immediate provider attention. The smarter the software, the better. Just imagine patient alerts being delivered to warn of an increased risk of illness before the illness is even detectable through symptoms. Watch for large companies, such as IBM, to jump into the fray while new companies emerge to help connect all the dots. It’s also worth keeping a close eye on artificial intelligence companies.

New service models for patients

Smart sensors and smart software, however, will only go so far. At some point, we’ll need good old-fashioned people power. A new crop of services companies will arise to give virtual care a healthy dose of checks and balances. Take, for instance, the smart sensor that detects a racing heartbeat or chest pain.

Software algorithms will take in the information, analyze it and determine, for example, that a person needs immediate attention. But what if the racing heartbeat was just a false positive because the person had just climbed stairs? Activating an expensive health care system will be a waste of money, so services companies that provide the human intelligence to validate and verify the information will be required. A second type of services company will also emerge to manage the care.

Everything that can be done digitally and virtually will be done digitally and virtually. This will dramatically improve access to and efficiency of the traditional health care system. Call centers will be staffed not just by the traditional nurse, but also by physicians, pharmacists and other professionals who can provide a higher level of care.

Derek Newell brings more than 20 years of experience growing and leading innovative health care technology and services companies to his role as CEO of Jiff Inc. He is passionate about exploring the intersection of health care and emerging technologies, and believes that health outcomes and wellness improve when mobile and digital health technologies connect consumers with the traditional health ecosystems. 

Prior to joining Jiff, Newell was president and CEO of Robert Bosch Healthcare. While at Bosch, Newell worked to build Bosch into the world’s largest remote patient monitoring company. Previously, he was the CEO of Health Hero Networks, a US-based remote-patient monitoring company, and the chief marketing officer of a leading disease management company. 

Derek is a leading voice in the areas of health care technology and finance. He has co-developed and taught health care finance classes at the Haas School of Business from his alma mater at the University of California, Berkeley, where he holds graduate degrees in business and public health.

Jawbone is putting the pieces in place to become a wearable health technology leader.

The company announced today that it’s acquiring BodyMedia, creator of sophisticated health tracking devices used on the TV show The Biggest Loser. Additionally, Jawbone is launching an app platform for its Up health wristband today, allowing third-party companies to integrate their services with Jawbone’s data.

Acquiring BodyMedia, a bet on the future

“BodyMedia has created one of the world’s largest libraries of raw and real-world human sensor data, with 500 trillion data points,” noted Jawbone’s Travis Bogard, VP of product management and strategy, in an interview with VentureBeat (emphasis ours). That figure alone should tell you why Jawbone was eager to snap up BodyMedia.

Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but AllThingsD is hearing that it was worth more than $100 million.

BodyMedia has been around for 14 years, and it’s been pursuing wearable health devices long before the category was popularized by the likes of Jawbone’s Up, Fitbit, and Nike’s Fuelband. The company recently launched an updated version of its Core health tracker armband. Perhaps most significantly, BodyMedia is also the only health tracking company to get its technology registered with the FDA as a Class II medical device (which means it’s been proven to help you lose weight).

According to Bogard, the two companies have 200 to 300 issued or pending patents between them. That gives Jawbone plenty of leverage in the nascent health tech and wearable computing industries.

It’s not hard to imagine how BodyMedia’s technology could be applied to Jawbone’s Up down the line. While the Up does a great job of tracking your steps and sleep habits, BodyMedia’s recent Core 2 armband can also track your heart rate, temperature, heat flux, galvanic skin response (sweat), and motion (with a wider array of sensors).

Ultimately, BodyMedia could help Jawbone get better at offering health tracking services, and Jawbone could help BodyMedia target a more mainstream audience.

For now, the two companies’ product lines will remain separate, Bogard told me. BodyMedia will stay headquartered in Pittsburgh, and it’s entire team will be joining Jawbone.

The acquisition comes on top of Jawbone’s recent purchases of health app maker Massive Health and design firm Visere.

Up opens to apps

Almost as significant as the BodyMedia acquisition, Jawbone is launching the Up app platform today with 10 partners, including RunKeeper, MapMyFitness, WiThings, and IFTTT (If this then that).

It seemed inevitable that Jawbone would eventually make its Up platform interoperable with other apps. It’s the perfect way to attract users of other fitness services, and it’s also a fun way to keep existing Up users interested in continuing to track their health.

“It’s really about the user perspective here … I think a lot of API projects in the past have been very read-only focused,” said Jawbone’s Brad Kittredge, director of product management for Up, in an interview with VentureBeat. “We know there are a lot of things that are complementary with the Up experience.”

For the most part, the apps make it easier to bring their data into your Up activity charts — for example, a RunKeeper session can be automatically plugged into your Up data once it’s completed. The integration is a win for both Jawbone and the third-party service, since it will likely encourage you to use both.

Jawbone also lets you make your data available to the partner services. So, for example, your Up sleep data could be used to inform your Sleepio profile (a service that helps you deal with sleeplessness).

For now, the apps are only accessible on Up’s iOS app (Android support is coming). You can add and configure them from within the Up app, as well as select exactly what data specific apps have access to.

Jawbone has been thinking about how to open up its platform ever since it launched the health wristband, Kittredge told me. For now, partners will have to contact Jawbone to be included in the app platform. But the company plans to offer a more open API down the line.

San Francisco-based Jawbone has raised $202 million in funding so far from Kleiner Perkins, Andreessen Horowitz, and others.

We’re only four months into 2013, and yet it already seems clear that this is going to be the year of rampant smartwatch speculation.

Following rumors that Apple and Google are developing touch-enabled smartwatches, there’s reason to believe Microsoft is developing a smartwatch of its own, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Executives from Asian component suppliers told the WSJ that Microsoft asked for shipments of potential watch components earlier this year. Additionally, one executive admitted to meeting with Microsoft’s research and development team around a smartwatch project.

Rumors that Apple has been working on a smartwatch, dubbed iWatch by gadget geeks, have been swirling since December. Judging from the timing of these rumors, it could be that Microsoft is exploring the smartwatch concept because of the Apple smartwatch talk. The most recent report points to Apple using new flexible glass technology from Corning for the device, which would be a pretty significant step forward from the current generation of smartwatches, like the Kickstarter-darling Pebble.

With the rise of wearable computing, thanks to devices like Jawbone’s Up and Nike’s Fuelband, it makes sense for the next major wave of mobile computing to focus on your wrist. We’re used to receiving information there thanks to the wristwatch, and it would be far simpler for the public to accept (and afford) a wrist-based computer than something like Google’s $1,500 futuristic Project Glass.

Photo: Sean Ludwig/VentureBeat

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

In 2013, we’ll download 10 apps for every single woman, man, and child on planet Earth.

Half of those apps will be Android apps, which will have 58 percent smartphone app share, according to ABI Research, and 41 percent of those will be iOS apps. Apple’s iPhone will account for 33 percent of smartphone app downloads, ABI says, while the company’s iPad will take 75 percent of tablet app downloads. Windows Phone and tablet devices will account for the majority of the rest, with BlackBerry taking about a 2 percent share.

Add it all up, and about 35 billion Android apps will load to devices in 2013, plus another 29 billion iOS apps.

That is a lot of apps.

While Google’s Android is clearly doing well in smartphones, the future of its tablet aspirations is not yet as clear. Only 17 percent of tablet downloads in 2013 will be on Android tabs, ABI says, which compares poorly to iPad’s 75 percent tablet app share.

“The most pressing issue for Google is how much of this handset momentum will ultimately trickle down to tablets, where Apple is holding the fort remarkably well,” ABI analyst Aapo Markkanen said in a statement.

Source: Jennifer Van Grove/VentureBeat

Jeff Bezos and the Kindle Fire

Interestingly, Markkanen says that Amazon, which is a major Google frenemy, might be helping Android the most in the tablet space, since its Kindle Fire is almost certainly the best-selling Android-based tablet on the market. The enemy part is that Amazon’s Android is a de-Google-ized version of Android which taps into Amazon’s content ecosystem, not Google’s.

The friend part is that since Kindle Fire is giving Android at least some degree of tablet momentum, app developers are more likely to build apps for Android-based tablets, which they can then sell on both Google and Amazon app stores.

But Google needs more Android tablet partners to do well if it wants Android’s share of app downloads to increase.

“The question is becoming, is there enough critical mass with Android partners, led by Samsung?” Jeff Orr, another ABI analyst told me over the phone. “And, are there going to be more vendors who can make a move and break away from the pack?”

Another big question: How will wearables affect the market?

Google is coming to market with Glass in 2013, the company has said, and it’s a perfect chisel to pry Apple fans out of the iOS ecosystem. But Apple is countering with iWatch, conceivably. Both will stimulate an explosion in apps designed either to work with them or on them.

“We’re certainly looking at wearables,” Orr said.

photo credit: schnaars via photopin cc

Those who are waiting for the hotly anticipated Google Glass, the wearable computing gadget from Google, should start saving money for it now.

Google is planning to release a “fully polished” version of the smart eyeglasses for consumers before the end of the year, according to The Verge’s Josh Topolsky, who was able to extensively test out the gadget recently. Google also indicated that it would cost less than the $1,500 price tag that developers and creative types can spend to get an advanced version and that its pricing would be more in line with a new top-model smartphone.

Google Glass does many of the same things you do with your smartphone, such as snapping pictures, recording video, displaying augmented reality user interfaces (such as driving directions) and communicating with others. Also, the device can connect with your smartphone’s (iPhone or Android) cellular data network via Bluetooth, so you can stay connected anywhere. (Previously, some speculated that Google Glass would only work with smartphones running Google’s native operating system, Android, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. At least according to The Verge’s report.)

The tentative consumer release time frame for Google Glass is sooner than the 2014 general product launch timeline stated by Google cofounder Sergey Brin last summer. Obviously, Google is aggressively pursuing its goal of being the first major manufacturer to get into the wearable computing gadget market, especially since rivals Microsoft and Apple are also rumored to be working on a product of their own.

 Photo via Google

The latest marketing video for Project Glass, Google’s ambitious wearable display, finally shows off its awesome potential. Now Glass doesn’t just look like a casual device for annoying hipsters, it looks like something essential for sharing intimate and exciting moments in your life.

Google is also opening up pre-orders for Project Glass in the form of a contest: Post a note to Twitter or Google+ with the #ifihadglass hashtag in 50 words or less detailing what you’d do with a Glass headset. You can also include up to five photos and a 15-second video. Unfortunately, the contest is only open to adults in the U.S. (And yes, you’ll still need to pay $1,500 for the Project Glass unit.)

At Google I/O last June, the company showed off how versatile Project Glass can be by having people livestream their experience jumping out of a plane, rappelling down the side of a skyscraper, and riding a bike onto the main stage. That was also where Google initially kicked off Glass pre-orders for attendees. Glass also made an appearance at Fashion Week in New York City last September.

The latest video appears to be a mix of actual footage taken from Project Glass units and some footage produced to mimic its on-screen experience. It shows how Glass can be used to capture moments traditional technology could miss — though I don’t suspect many early owners will be as carefree with their units, given the initial high cost.

It looks like Project Glass will need a solid (perhaps lifetime) warranty when it finally starts shipping.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Motorola Solutions is showing off today a gee-whiz mobile computer that you can attach to your head and operate with voice commands.

The HC1 headset computer looks bulky and cumbersome now, but it’s just a demonstration of what can come. The headset is one more example of “wearable computing” that is starting to become more functional and practical as the cost of computing falls.

You could think of it as a Windows-based variation on a theme that is similar in concept to Google Glass. Aimed at the enterprise, the HC1 is the first in a new class of Motorola Solutions hands-free enterprise computers that use voice recognition, head gestures, and video streaming.

A firefighter could use it to identify toxic chemicals or building blueprints during a fire. It’s best for use in harsh environments and remote locations, where pulling out a laptop isn’t practical. Paul Steinberg (pictured above), chief technology officer at Motorola Solutions, said in an interview with GamesBeat that the computer could be used in fields such as defense, utilities, telecommunications, aerospace, and aviation markets.

I used the computer on my head (pictured right) and issued voice commands, saying words to drill down on menus and retrieve information. You can use it to play videos, view pictures, or access records. A field technician repairing a car could use it to access repair manuals. That, in turn, could improve inspections, reduce labor rates, increase safety, and make for better repairs. Looking through the display is like viewing a 15-inch laptop screen.

The headset can connect via WiFi, Bluetooth, or mobile hot spot. You can use it to make voice calls and use navigation data.

The headset pictured is a demonstration unit and isn’t the final version. It was built in collaboration with Kopin, which makes optical micro-displays, for customer and partner trials. Andrew Cook, senior vice president at Areva, said, “In the highly demanding and regulated nuclear energy industry, innovation is essential in meeting ever-increasing standards for safety and operational performance for our utility customers. With the Entervise Remote Expert application running on Motorola’s HC1 headset computer, we can perform independent quality oversight at nuclear power plants without requiring a second person to enter restricted areas.”

Motorola Solutions is an independent communications infrastructure company, not the phone maker Motorola Mobility, which is now owned by Google. Motorola Solutions is publicly traded. The Motorola Solutions device competes with Google’s own wearable computing project, Google Glass.

If anyone has deep thoughts about the future of advertising, Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen would be among them.

Today at the IAB MIXX conference in New York City, the pair sat down with veteran interviewer Charlie Rose to discuss just where the ad industry is headed, as well as where technology is taking us in general. The conference is just one of several events happening in NYC as part of Advertising Week (think of it like a Comic-Con for Mad Men types).

Rose kicked off the conversation by asking Sandberg how advertising will evolve as we move to new digital platforms, and she was quick to point out the trouble with existing markets: “Most of the marketing is to large anonymous groups of people, it is a relationship which is one business to many consumers all at once … those advertisements are one time and one way.”

And how will Facebook offer a better alternative? “Rather than just talk at large anonymous groups of people, businesses can relate to a consumer and establish an ongoing relationship,” Sandberg said. “And importantly, that consumer has an average of 130 friends, so when they’re talking to that consumer that person brings their friends along.”

Rose later tried to pry additional details about Facebook’s tumultuous IPO from Sandberg, but she deftly avoided commenting. Sandberg pointed back to Facebook’s missteps with HTML 5 in its mobile apps, which chief executive Mark Zuckerberg called the company’s biggest mistake, in response to Rose’s question about one area where Facebook’s  assumptions didn’t pan out.

But Sandberg was clear to point out that she didn’t see the HTML5 situation as a major setback. “We are more afraid of losing by standing still than by not changing,” she said.

Andreessen, who’s also a Facebook board member, backed her up, saying, “you want these companies taking risks.”

Later on in the conversation, Andreessen geeked out about his vision of the future. “these [smartphones] are going to be the essential devices in our lives,” he told Rose. “These are going to become the control devices for a lot of things in our life.”

He pointed to Apple’s Airplay functionality as one example. Not only can it control what we’re watching on our TVs, it can also be the source of media. “I think all of the big screens in our lives are going to be controlled through these devices,” he added.

Beyond mobile, Andreessen also pointed out his fascination with wearable computing, which he believes will be controlled by smartphones. That’s not too surprising, considering his firm, Andreessen Horowitz, poured a whopping $49 million in Jawbone last year, creator of popular Bluetooth headsets (and a failed health tracking device).

Andreessen also said he believes the PC is still a very useful device for people who actually do work. He said he was impressed by Ultrabook laptops and that he also still sees a place for big screens for desk work. Eventually, he said, screens will cover entire walls.

Check out the full interview here.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Steve Mann says he’s the world’s first cyborg — and that you’ll join him as one pretty soon.

“It’s kind of obvious that everyone is moving along that trajectory,” Mann told The New York Times in an interview published on Tuesday.

Mann, a professor at the University of Toronto, is a big figure in the world of wearable computing, which he pioneered in the 1980s. His most recent project is EyeTap, a camera attached to his face that records what he sees.

Mann believes it won’t be very long until the likes of Apple and RIM follow Google’s lead and introduce their own head-mounted displays. This battle, he says, will eventually eclipse the smartphone one that the companies are waging right now.

This rise won’t be without its complications, of course — and Mann would know. In what was called the world’s first cybernetic hate crime, staffers at a Paris McDonald’s last month attempted to tear Mann’s EyeTap glasses from his face, which they said weren’t allowed in the restaurant.

While the employes denied the claims, Mann, a cyborg with a camera in his eye, had what he claimed was photographic proof of the incident.

The events raised some big questions about the imminent emergence of cyborgs, many of which Mann talks about in his interview with The Times. One of these concerns was over the question of privacy in a world where everyone has cameras on their heads.

“If you and I were to meet in a coffee shop and you had an audio recorder in your pocket, what’s the difference than if you had a photographic memory and could remember the entire conversation?” he said.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

When developers finally get their $1,500 Project Glass units next year, they’ll be prime targets for envious gadget geeks, spies from rival companies, or anyone looking to make a quick buck. Luckily for them, it looks like Google has come up with an innovative way to keep Glass data secure: motion-based theft detection.

Google today has received a patent for a method that will lock down the Glass unit when it detects “unnatural movements” — for example, somebody slipping off your glasses from behind. Even better, the patent also covers a method that will alert authorities when the Glass units are stolen.

Attendees of Google’s I/O conference were able to buy early Project Glass models for $1,500, though they won’t be receiving them until early 2013. There’s no word on when Glass will make it to a wider audience, or how much it would cost when it does (I’d wager it’ll be well over $500 though).

Here’s the abstract of the patent, USPTO 8,223,024:

A wearable computer determines unnatural movements of a head-mounted display (HMD) and triggers a locking mechanism. In one embodiment, the wearable computer receives movement data from one or more sensors and determines that the movement of the HMD is unnatural. In one embodiment, the wearable computer receives movement data from one or more sensors and determines that the HMD is being worn by an unauthorized user. In response to determining an unnatural movement and/or an unauthorized user wearing the HMD, the wearable computer triggers a locking mechanism, which can beneficially provide security measures for the wearable computer.

Via Engadget; Photo Chris Chabot/Google

Olympus’ model, however, is not much more than a display … a wearable LCD screen that requires a connection to a smartphone.

But that’s not its biggest problem. Which would you wear?

Source: Olympus, Google

Olympus prototype vs Google’s Project Glass

The Olympus model is bulky and oddly bulbous. The Google model is sleek, stylish. It’s like putting an Apple product against a GE MP3 player: not a contest. In fact, not even close.

Of course, that’s Olympus president Hiroyuki Sasa wearing the prototype, and he’s no model. Our guess on the Project Glass model? She’s no Google employee.

But a display-only product that requires a Bluetooth connection to actually do anything also compares poorly to Project Glass, which has an integral CPU and memory built right into the glasses. The Olympus model does have an acceleration sensor, and seems to be usable with GPS, according to the company’s released information, but no camera, and certainly not as much intelligence as Google appears to have built into Glass.

And for a device that’s intended to be worn on users’ faces, style and fashion are not just nice-to-haves. They are purchasing factors of paramount importance.

It must be said that Olympus didn’t, of course, rush a prototype into the market in two weeks. They have been working on prototypes for at least seven years, as the Verge notes. But the timing of this July 5 announcement (Japanese/Google Translate version) seems a little transparent: The company wants to cash in on some of the new wearable computing cachet.

All fine and good.

But after seven years, you’d hope the company would be able to come out with a better prototype than this.

Valve’s Abrash described the project he is working on in a new employee blog post according to Kotaku. It sounds a lot like Google’s Glasses, but the pie-in-the-sky project could also tap into all sorts of visions of how we will have computing distributed through our own clothing. Abrash stressed the that project won’t be a product anytime soon, if at all.

Abrash wrote, “By ‘wearable computing’ I mean mobile computing where both computer-generated graphics and the real world are seamlessly overlaid in your view; there is no separate display that you hold in your hands (think Terminator vision). The underlying trend as we’ve gone from desktops through laptops and notebooks to tablets is one of having computing available in more places, more of the time. The logical endpoint is computing everywhere, all the time — that is, wearable computing — and I have no doubt that 20 years from now that will be standard, probably through glasses or contacts, but for all I know through some kind of more direct neural connection. And I’m pretty confident that platform shift will happen a lot sooner than 20 years — almost certainly within 10, but quite likely as little as 3-5, because the key areas — input, processing/power/size, and output — that need to evolve to enable wearable computing are shaping up nicely, although there’s a lot still to be figured out.”

If it were anybody else doing this work, it wouldn’t be as interesting. Abrash, however, has made his mark in the video game industry. He created his first game, Space Strike, in 1982 for the IBM PC. He went on to work on Doom and Quake for id Software in the mid-1990s. As a noted graphics expert, he joined Microsoft to work on advanced technology research for Microsoft’s Xbox team and moved on to co-found (with Mike Sartain) Rad Game Tools which created the Pixomatic software renderer. Pixomatic was later acquired by Intel. Abrash was also a consultant who helped Microsoft pull together the technical specifications for the Xbox 360 game console.

Valve hired Abrash in 2011.

[via Kotaku]

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July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

The next wave of computer innovation might be heading to the runway — or at least your wardrobe — if tech titans Apple and Google have anything to say about it.

With wearable computing, both companies are aiming to boost sales of smartphones, according to a New York Times report. The wearable technology will add a new level to the user experience by collecting data new kinds of data about the wearer.

According to anonymous sources in the report, Google is working on new wearable peripherals that communicate info to an Android smartphone. The company has hired engineers from Nokia Labs, Apple and various universities to work on the project.

As for Apple, the company is also experimenting with wearable technology capable of transmitting data back to its iPhone device. The iPhone itself is already doing some of this. iOS applications from Nike do things like count your steps and calculate fitness goals. One of the concept devices Apple engineers are testing is a bracelet-like curved-glass iPod.

Cellphone’s are already frequently the most relied upon machine in our day-to-day routines. Smartphones have replaced wrist watches and alarm clocks. They’re rapidly chipping away at printed newspapers and physical day planners. So, it makes sense to integrate them into wearable technology.

Either way, the technology is years away from production.

[Photo via Coolest-homemade-costumes]