CES 2014: Latest Gadgets Have a Healthy Dose of Innovation

By: Adam Balkin Text size: +-

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Some new tech devices designed to help you monitor and thereby better your health were unveiled last week at the International Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas. NY1's Adam Balkin filed the following report.

Not to be confused with all the fitness gadgets at CES this year, there were also loads of health gadgets. The difference? Fitness devices are for helping to keep track of your workouts while health devices help keep track of your overall well-being.

Take the Sleep Number X12 bed for example. As with other Sleep Number mattresses you can adjust the firmness of each side with air you either let in or out. But here, the bed will actually help tell you which setting is best and give you other tips for a better night's sleep.

"As soon as you lie down in this bed automatically, without doing anything, it'll detect all the motion you have during the night, it'll then pick up your heart rate, your respiration, and how many times you got in and out of bed and gives you and empowers you to make choices to get a better night's sleep," says Pete Bils of Sleep Number.

If you're a Star Trek fan, you'd instantly recognize a tricorder where you point it at someone and get their vitals. Here in 2014 there's the Scanadu, which works in a similar way only it actually...works.

"You put it on your forehead and it communicates with your smartphone via Bluetooth. It gives you your temperature, your SPO2 which is your level of blood oxygenation, your heart rate, blood pressure, respiration rate. And you can also share your information with your doctor in real time," explains Sam deBrouwer of Scanadu Inc.

For babies, there's the Mimo monitor. It's a onesie that monitors vital signs though, come to think of it, this one is probably more for the parents than the babies themselves.

"It's paired with respiration sensors on the front and small turtle that has Intel's Edison inside and with this guy and the onesie a parent can see the baby's breathing, skin temperature, body position, activity level so awake/sleep, and also listen to audio," says Dulcie Madden of Rest Devices.

That Intel Edison inside is a dual-core computer chip the size of an SD card. It also powers this concept coffee cup which can do everything from display the weather, stocks, or in this case, link to the Mimo monitor so that checking on your baby and having your morning Joe are one and the same.