O'Grady's PowerPage

Tag: Reader

  • First-gen MacBook Pro notebooks with Retina display round corner, now considered “vintage” or “obsolete” by Apple

    As heartbreaking as it may be, the first MacBook Pro notebooks with a Retina display are now considered vintage.

    The notebook was also praised in many reviews, which awarded it top marks for its mix of functionality and portability. Marco Arment, a well-known developer, even called it “the best laptop ever made,” with a “crowd-pleasing design.”

    “Introduced in 2012, less than a year after Steve Jobs died, I see it as the peak of Jobs’ vision for the Mac,” said Arment, in a blog post last year.

    The 2012 notebook, which featured a much slimmer design when compared with previous MacBook Pro models, also removed the built-in Ethernet port and optical disc drive for CDs/DVDs. The external design of the notebook remained largely unchanged through 2015.

    (more…)

  • AliveCor concludes studies with May clinic, finds KardiaBand device could be paired with Apple Watch to help detect high potassium levels

    AliveCor’s FDA-approved KardiaBand EKG reader could be used with the Apple Watch to detect high levels of potassium in the bloodstream.

    The company, which cooperated with the Mayo Clinic for two studies, noted that the KardiaBand device could be used to detect both high levels of potassium as well as atrial fibrillation.

    For the potassium study, AliveCor used more than 2 million EKGs from the Mayo Clinic from 1994 to 2017 paired with four million serum potassium values and data from an AliveCor smartphone EKG device to create an algorithm that can successfully detect hyperkalemia, aka high potassium, with a sensitivity range between 91 and 94 percent.

    (more…)

  • Rumor: Apple developing next-gen Apple Watch with built-in EKG reader

    It’s a rumor, but it’s an interesting rumor.

    Apple is thought to be building an EKG heart monitor into the next generation of its Apple Watch. The Apple Watch Series 3 already features an all-day heart rate monitor that tracks beats per minute while wearing, but third-party accessories are needed to add EKG functionality.

    It’s thought that the version being tested will have the user squeeze the frame of the Apple Watch with two fingers from the hand that’s not wearing the device according to one of the sources. The Apple Watch will then pass an imperceptible current across the person’s chest to track electrical signals in the heart and detect any abnormalities like irregular heart rates.

    (more…)

  • FDA approves first EKG reader for Apple Watch

    The FDA has just cleared the first medical device accessory for the Apple Watch. AliveCor’s KardiaBand electrocardiogram (EKG) reader functions as a sensor that pairs with an app and can detect abnormal heart rhythm and atrial fibrillation (AFib). The user touches the sensor, which snaps into a slot on the watch’s band, to get an EKG reading in 30 seconds. The recording can then be sent to a doctor.

    The KardiaBand can then predict and analyze the user’s heart rate based on data from both sick and healthy users.

    AliveCor’s CEO Vic Gundotra, formerly of Google, offered the following comments:

    (more…)

  • Apple surpasses PayPal, now accepted at 36% of U.S. merchants according to recent study

    PayPal has apparently fallen as the leader among U.S. merchants and Apple Pay has taken its place.

    Per NFC World, Apple today sits at 36 percent versus 16 percent a year ago. PayPal, by contrast, is being offered by 34 percent of merchants.

    Both Apple and PayPal are trailed by MasterCard PayPass (25 percent), Android Pay (24 percent), Visa Checkout (20 percent), Samsung Pay (18 percent) and Chase Pay (11 percent). Notably, Samsung Pay can be used at businesses that don’t officially support the platform.

    (more…)