| Cult of Mac

There are two new ways the Apple Watch could help save your life

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Apple Watch can help diagnose sleep apnea and high blood pressure
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

The Apple Watch may be a useful tool for detecting potentially fatal medical conditions such as hypertension (high blood pressure) and sleep apnea (a sleep disorder characterized by pauses in breathing while a person is asleep), claims a new study.

Carried out by the health startup Cardiogram and the University of California San Francisco, the study illustrates that the Apple Watch can detect hypertension with 82 percent, and hypertension with an impressive 90 percent.

Work out with your dork out: Private Gym strengthens your man muscle

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Get stronger, go longer with a pelvic fitness program from Private Gym . Illustration: Private Gym
Get stronger, go longer with a pelvic fitness program from Private Gym. Illustration: Private Gym

The promise of rock-hard abs is still not incentive enough to get many men to the gym. But promise a rock-hard — well, you know — and you might launch a boner-fide exercise craze.

The makers of Private Gym guarantee “100 percent satisfaction” for gents and their partners, thanks to a pelvic fitness program that includes a rather chunky-looking piece of wearable tech.

iHealth Gateway makes it easier to monitor grandma’s diabetes

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Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
The iHealth Gateway blood-glucose monitor can make caregivers' jobs easier. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
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LAS VEGAS — Monitoring diabetes can be a pain (literally). Keeping track of your loved one’s diabetes is even harder, especially if you’re trying to ensure your tech-illiterate grandmother’s blood-sugar levels aren’t spiking.

Cult_of_Mac_CES_2015 Now you’ll finally be able to monitor all their vital stats from your iPhone, even if grandma’s not using one too.

iHealth revealed its new iHealth Gateway collection of devices at International CES here this week. The line of products allow loved ones or doctors to remotely monitor personal health stats for senior citizens who eschew iOS devices. All grandma and grandpa have to do is prick their finger with the supported blood-glucose monitor, and the Gateway hub will beam the data to their caretaker’s device. No more worries about whether they’re keeping up with their meds.

Scanaflo brings hospital-quality urinalysis to your home

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The Snanaflo lets you do at-home urinalysis test.  Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
The Snanaflo lets you do at-home urinalysis test. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
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LAS VEGAS — Taking a urine-analysis test to check your most vital and private health stats usually requires an hour-long visit to the doctor. But in 2015, you’ll be able to pee on a stick and get 12 vital health measurements without having to leave your bathroom.

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Scandu, the Silicon Valley-based medtech company behind the tiny Scandu Scout analyzer, has created an at-home urinalysis device called the Scanaflo that bridges the gap between the medical community and consumers.

Qardio’s medical devices put human face on health care

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Qardio's new smart scale won't automatically frown if you overate last night. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Qardio's new smart scale won't automatically frown if you overate last night. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
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LAS VEGAS — Who ever thought a blood-pressure monitor could look cool?

Cult_of_Mac_CES_2015 Qardio did. The U.S. medical device maker is obsessed with crafting hospital-grade gear that wouldn’t look out of place sitting alongside your iMac.

The company’s latest product, unveiled during the International CES trade show here, is a smart scale that delivers feedback in the form of a smile or a frown, depending on how your weight is trending.

“It makes you feel good,” said Rosario Iannella, Qardio’s chief information officer.

Shocking wearable could quell your chronic pain

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Quell is designed to alleviate chronic pain. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Quell is designed to alleviate chronic pain. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
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LAS VEGAS — Not every wearable launched this year will get slapped on your wrist.

Cult_of_Mac_CES_2015Quell, a new electrical-stimulation device designed to help alleviate chronic pain, gets wrapped around the wearer’s calf.

“I like to say it’s like a USB port into your central nervous system,” said Frank McGillin, SVP and general manger of Quell.

While a wave of fitness trackers and the upcoming Apple Watch are drumming up a healthy buzz about wearables, more and more medical devices work with smartphone apps and tap into Apple’s HealthKit platform. Quell doesn’t yet work with HealthKit, but McGillin told Cult of Mac that’s certainly in the cards.