For many people, there are medical conditions that require constant active monitoring. Others have needs that can progress in unexpected ways, and whose trajectory can be monitored easily. However, the technology to track these conditions has generally been limited to doctors' offices or companies like Lab Corp. However, in the past few years, the ability to monitor and track a person's health has been miniaturized to the point where we can now do it at home. One company that has been at the forefront of this medical democratization has been Withings.
Withings is a company that makes a variety of at-home health and medical tracking devices. The brand has been around for a number of years and produced devices ranging from connected scales to blood pressure monitors. Most of the company's devices are fully connected and sync together into the Withings app on your mobile device.
This integration of devices can give you a better overall view of your health, from tracking weight loss progress to steps taken and even a regular log of blood pressure. The system can also be integrated with data from other providers, including Apple and Google. Together you can track your activity, weight, and more.
This year at CES 2023, the company showed off an entirely new entry into the product lineup - urine analysis. The new product is called U-Scan and is intended to help you keep track of a variety of important body metrics at home without any need to go to a lab. In fact, the U-Scan is like a urine analysis lab in your bathroom.
Now, the initial question might be, "Why do you want urine analysis at home?" That is a perfectly reasonable response, as it is a fairly new idea. The reason is that there are a number of health metrics that can be determined and monitored using this analysis. Using the U-Scan, you can monitor these metrics at home without doing anything special or outside of your existing habits.
The U-Scan device makes its presence almost unseen while still providing its value. The device is only about 90mm in diameter and fits into the toilet. So long as it is in the right location, you literally need to change nothing about your bathroom time in order to gain the benefits.
The device is able to test for and monitor a variety of biomarkers. The cartridges that are inserted into the device contain a dozen different test pods, which is where the tests are carried out. Once the tests are completed, the device syncs the data to your Withings app to be compared against previous results as well as other Withings data.
If something is out of sync, the app is able to alert you to changes in your body's state. For example, the U-Scan is capable of tracking nutrition and hydration. If you work out, which can be logged into the app, and then your electrolytes or water level are low, the app is able to let you know that your post-workout behaviors might need a change.
The Withings U-Scan is in active development and will be made available to the public in the near future. To learn more about Withings, U-Scan, or to sign up for launch alerts, you can go to the company's website.
Interview by Marlo Anderson of The Tech Ranch.
Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.
Marlo is a serial entrepreneur, global speaker, futurist and founder of National Day Calendar. Trending over 450 times on Twitter last year and a Social Media reach in the hundreds of millions, National Day Calendar is followed daily by more than 20,000 media outlets including Elvis Duran, Ellen Degeneres, Fox & Friends and Good Morning America. National Calendar Day has appeared in many major newspapers from the Wall Street Journal to the Fargo Forum. When he's not celebrating every day, he is the host of the radio show "The Tech Ranch" where he is known as "The Guru of Geek." This unique platform has allowed him to gain deep knowledge in emerging technology trends and hardware.
