Smart Scale Goes Dumb As Under Armour Pulls the Plug On Connected Tech (arstechnica.com) 133
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Today's example of smart stuff going dumb comes courtesy of Under Armour, which is effectively rendering its fitness hardware line very expensive paperweights. The company quietly pulled its UA Record app from both Google Play and Apple's App Store on New Year's Eve. In an announcement dated sometime around January 8, Under Armour said that not only has the app been removed from all app stores, but the company is no longer providing customer support or bug fixes for the software, which will completely stop working as of March 31.
Under Armour launched its lineup of connected fitness devices in 2016. The trio of trackers included a wrist-worn activity monitor, a smart scale, and a chest-strap-style heart rate monitor. The scale and wristband retailed at $180 each, with the heart monitor going for $80. Shoppers could buy all three together in a $400 bundle called the UA HealthBox. The end of the road is nigh, it seems, and all three products are about to meet their doom as Under Armour kills off Record for good. Users are instead expected to switch to MapMyFitness, which Under Armour bills as "an even better tracking experience." The company also set the UA Record Twitter account to private, effectively taking it offline to anyone except the 133 accounts it follows. Current device owners also can't export all their data. While workout data can be exported and transferred to some other tracking app, Record users cannot capture weight or other historical data to carry forward with them.
Under Armour launched its lineup of connected fitness devices in 2016. The trio of trackers included a wrist-worn activity monitor, a smart scale, and a chest-strap-style heart rate monitor. The scale and wristband retailed at $180 each, with the heart monitor going for $80. Shoppers could buy all three together in a $400 bundle called the UA HealthBox. The end of the road is nigh, it seems, and all three products are about to meet their doom as Under Armour kills off Record for good. Users are instead expected to switch to MapMyFitness, which Under Armour bills as "an even better tracking experience." The company also set the UA Record Twitter account to private, effectively taking it offline to anyone except the 133 accounts it follows. Current device owners also can't export all their data. While workout data can be exported and transferred to some other tracking app, Record users cannot capture weight or other historical data to carry forward with them.
*yaaawn* (Score:3)
Meanwhile my "digital" health-o-meter that I got.. somwhere... sometime.. just keeps working. I feed it a pair of AA batteries maybe once a half-decade.
IDGI *scratches head* I think we've reached Peak Convenience or something.
I know! We've jumped the shark! Again!
Re: (Score:2)
Now we need some kind of digital Shark Jumping apparatus.
Re: (Score:2)
I bought a digital Weight Watchers branded scale at the second hand store for $8, something like 10 years ago, and it still works great. If I ever replaced the batteries it has been too long to remember. Glass top, looks nice. Rubber feet are still attached.
In the past when people talked about wanting networked appliances, they meant their own network. There might actually be a huge latent market there.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:*yaaawn* (Score:5, Interesting)
IDGI *scratches head* I think we've reached Peak Convenience or something.
Given how some people are about to be inconvenienced it's clear we haven't. Also we have a long way to go on the convenience road. The key thing here is that these systems need to be decoupled from their dependent services. Convenience is a selling feature (see TV remote as the most overt example) as is access to data.
We shouldn't need to settle for dumb just because some idiot companies can pull the plug when they feel like it.
Sidenote: I wonder when the last of these items was on sale. The EU regulations require a device to function for 2 years, be that against warranty defects, provided consumables, or continued service. I hope it's under 2 years, and I hope Under Armor gets punished as a result.
We shouldn't sacrifice convenience, we should punish companies that don't hold up their side of the deal.
Re: (Score:2)
Retailer for refunds, but manufacturer for support. Not all cases are resolved with refunds under the rules. Additionally Under Armour sells direct to consumers just like many companies do.
Re: *yaaawn* (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, if company providing the health tracking that I use withdrew its services my scales would drop to around 40% of their value.
They'd still work though, and continue to tell me my weight and a crude estimate of body fat percentage, hydration and some weird other thing I don't understand.
Re: *yaaawn* (Score:4, Insightful)
I'd rather require the ability to separate the device from the original service. Publish the protocols used by the device, allow the user to set the service server address, and whatever else would be needed to allow a third party to continue to support the device after it's been abandoned.
My wife has a Cricut machine that requires her to use their cloud software and storage for everything. She can't use the damn thing without an internet connection. What happens when the company decides her perfectly good machine is too old to support? (I wouldn't doubt if they'd stop supporting the hardware after 5 years.) Hundreds of dollars worth of hardware and accessories could be made useless in an instant!
We've got way too much hardware that just stops functioning when it can't phone home -- or just won't work at all without access to some unnecessary online service.
We need to do better. This is outrageous.
Re: (Score:2)
The problem with publishing the protocols is that they are useless to most people who have no idea what to do with them. They might be useless to everyone in fact since if there is any half way decent security the devices probably have a hard coded crypto key and maybe even an IP address for the servers to avoid DNS hijacking.
Re: (Score:3)
The problem with publishing the protocols is that they are useless to most people who have no idea what to do with them. They might be useless to everyone in fact since if there is any half way decent security the devices probably have a hard coded crypto key and maybe even an IP address for the servers to avoid DNS hijacking.
I think the point being made is that companies should be required to design the software for things like the Cricut machines and this UA scale thing in such a way that it is possible for them to abandon their own support if they so choose, while allowing those who purchased these things to use them. This could be done by way of an 'abandonware firmware' that is released at EoL, allowing users to do their own programming if they so choose. Yes, the number of individuals who would actually do this is small, b
Re: (Score:2)
We've got way too much hardware that just stops functioning when it can't phone home -- or just won't work at all without access to some unnecessary online service.
We need to do better. This is outrageous.
Too often we get the government our neighbours deserve - and increasingly, that also applies to products like this. Most people never learn from even their own mistakes in this regard, never mind the mistakes that other people make. Even in the face of stories like this they keep 'buying', (but really it's renting), technology that can be remotely turned into bricks on the whim of some corp. They keep buying it, so companies keep making it.
Ideally I wouldn't have to give a shit about sheeple lining up to ge
Re: (Score:2)
My wife has a Cricut machine that requires her to use their cloud software and storage for everything. She can't use the damn thing without an internet connection.
I bought a Xaiomi dash cam that's even worse than that. The blasted thing needs to be connected to an Android or iOS app to so much as record video to an SD card. The app needs access to the phone's contact list, and requires online registration via email or Facebook.
If that isn't enough, the camera talks to the phone via wifi, which means that the phone cannot have an active cellular data connection when the camera is in use. So driving with Waze is right out.
Needless to say, not only have I never actually
Re: *yaaawn* (Score:2)
Well said.
Perhaps, before they are permitted to go to market, they must establish a trust where the receipts for a device are kept and money paid out in installments based on the estimated life of the product.
The consumer must receive rebate if the product becomes unavailable for any reason other than the customer cancelling during that period.
But, hey...this is Under Armor. They cancelled a Christmas order the day before Christmas saying it âoewas out of stockâ - I ordered it weeks prior. They o
Re: (Score:2)
^^^ A sensible and insightful comment AmiMoJo - too bad some trolltard keeps modding you down. Wish I had some mod points now...
The access protocol now needs to be open (Score:5, Insightful)
So a company sold a device and provided software to access that device, not a license. All they have to do is make sure that customers that purchased the product have a means to access all metrics the device records. The market will take care of any UI issues people find from a forced migration as long as how data is transferred to and from the devices are open sourced.
Anything short would appear to be contrary of the UCC regarding the warranty of merchantability. Perfect fodder for class action litigation.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uc... [cornell.edu]
Re:The access protocol now needs to be open (Score:4, Interesting)
Sony smart now stupid TVs are the best example of this. Bunch of aps to start with and they just killed them all off because sucker time to buy a new TV. Pretty disgusting by Sony to turn it's smart TVs into stupid TVs just like that no fucks given. I'll expect it would be long until Sony kills all of it's apps on it's old model smart TVs, perhaps just display an ad, time to buy a new Sony TV.
Re: (Score:3)
They pulled the same shit with their fucking Blu-Ray players. Promised a bunch of "smart" apps that made it more of a STB, but a year later, no apps. Then they came out with "next year's model" that had all that but FUCK ME for shelling out $450.00 for their current Piece of Shit and now UNSUPPORTED Blu-Ray player that all that was promised for, and the price paid accordingly when the other Blu-Rays by other companies were selling for HALF that or less.
I will NEVER buy or recommend ANYTHING by Sony EVER A
Re: (Score:2)
As heretical as the notion may be, it's actually possible that I know what I'm doing when I painstakingly build my own devices ;).
Re: (Score:3)
My parents gave me their old Sony 46" TV. It supposedly has smart apps. They've never used them. I've never used them. The ethernet cable has never been plugged into it.
Admittedly, it starts up a lot faster than my older dumb Sharp 42" did.
Re:The access protocol now needs to be open (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
If you bought or recommended anything by Sony after the rootkit fiasco in the early 2000s you were part of the problem. Or after removing the Linux booting capabilities on the PS3. Or any of all the other underhanded crap they've done and gotten away with over the years.
Re: (Score:2)
No. Those things all happened after I bought the player. Had I known then what I know now...
Re: (Score:2)
Why does anyone pre-order or otherwise buy things based on future promises? That just seems like a good way to lose your money.
Re: (Score:2)
I will NEVER buy or recommend ANYTHING by Sony EVER AGAIN. FUCK THEM.
Most people got to that stage with the Sony rootkit.
Re: (Score:2)
It's not just Sony. Vizio and others too.
Re: (Score:2)
Step 3: Bitch that Amazon's hoovering up all your activity data and selling it to interested parties.
Step 4: Whine when Fire stick 2019 is deprecated and out of support in 2023.
Re: (Score:2)
No, they don't sell customer data. In fact customer data has a higher confidentiality level than Jeff Bezos' personnel info.
Re: (Score:2)
> In fact customer data has a higher confidentiality level than Jeff Bezos' personnel info.
Considering the Saudis hacked his phone, that sounds like a pretty damn low bar...
Require open sourcing of "abandoned" APIs? (Score:5, Interesting)
Maybe what's needed is a law that requires any "abandoned" API for hardware be open sourced. Or perhaps a law that's similar to automobiles, where there's a required period of time that the hardware's cloud data connection must be supported.
Re: (Score:3)
I think this is an implementation of one of those lessons you always hear about: Let's remove all of the warning labels and let nature take it course." I think that losing $80-$400 MIGHT be is enough of a sting that people might remember that next time. (Yeah, I'm that naive.)
"My Phone Is Pure Stand-Alone, Self-Contained Magic!" Yeah, let's not mention the cell phone plan, the c
Re: (Score:3)
Key thing there is hopefully -API-, not the full device firmware which may contain proprietary binary blobs that you can't legally distribute.
Providing access for the API it communicates with can obviate that, can't it? All people need to be able to do
No, just good consumer protection laws. (Score:5, Interesting)
Many countries have them. These products require the online services to function, so if those services fail, so does the product. It is no longer 'fit for the purpose for which the product was sold', and so the consumer is due a full refund, regardless of when the failure happened. Normal wear and breakages are the only exemptions.
And this refund is due from the retailer, and it is then the retailer's job to sue the manufacturer or wholesaler - so any click-wrap legalese doesn't affect this, because the agreement aren't between you and the retailer.
This means retailers need to start getting smart about selling these 'smart' products, or they could be left holding the bag.
Re: (Score:2)
I have no problem making "if our business model to spy on your activities fails, so we will brick your device rather than just walk away" an illegal sham business model.
Re: (Score:2)
Or people need to be better educated about what they're buying and do their homework. A similar coming "catastrophe" is all those cheap RGB smart light bulbs that have been sold over the last couple of years. They all have to have internet connectivity to work and all commands pass through the mothership in the cloud. When that mothership disappears, everyone is going to have some very expensive dumb lights.
On the other hand, those of us who spent more on the Philips ecosystem have lighter wallets, but a
Re: (Score:2)
> The lights worked with the hardware Philips switches
Yes, that's part of what I meant.
> without Internet the app control was lost
Was that the official Philips Hue app? I generally use Hue Essentials or all 4 hue instead. Haven't tried them without the internet connection working yet - will have to try that tonight, but they seem to communicate directly with the bridge on the local network, and can reprogram the switches and set lights as needed. And full disclosure, the hardware switches are what
Re: (Score:2)
OK. Checked at home - no internet and all the apps including the official Hue one work for changing the bulbs. I can turn them on, off, switch themes, colors, etc.
When your internet was out are you *sure* your internal network was still operating, you didn't turn off the router that supplies your tablets and phones with IPs via DHCP or anything like that?
Or, maybe the official app's been updated to support offline mode? In any case it does work now.
Re: (Score:2)
Not sure you'll get notified of the other reply, just FYI I said I'd try it at home later and I did. The Hue app and all 3rd party ones all worked with no internet connection as normal. So, not sure what was going on with your outage but maybe there's an update to the app and it works offline now. .
just do a quick gdpr request. (Score:3)
you'll have your data at least.
but lets face it. I doubt many people were actually using it. seeing the dropoff stats would be interesting.
Re: (Score:2)
This is what I came here to say. See GDPR Right of Access [gdpr-info.eu]. If everyone in Europe who had one of these things exercised their rights this would cause Under Amour a lot of hassle and they might just find it easier to allow everyone to export their data.
I hope nobodies medical insurance paid for these (Score:2)
And I have no plans to buy any of this Internet Connected Junk.
If you bought them, submit a reverse credit card payment.
Why do you people keep falling for this shit? (Score:4, Funny)
Throw all that shit in the e-waste bin. Get your dumb asses to Bed Bath and Beyond, or at least Target or Walmart, and get a normal not-connected-to-anything digital scale for your bathroom. Enjoy it working for the next 10 years at least, and not a single fuck needs be given.
SImilarly take your so-called 'fitness trackers' and toss them in the e-waste bin, too; no one who matters to you gives a shit about how many 'steps' you take every day. Really think you need to know what your heart rate is? Are you training for a marathon? Serious athlete? No? Just don't want to be a fatass anymore? Yes? Here's your fitness advice from someone who has been there and isn't a fatass anymore: Get the fork out of your mouth, push away from the dinner table. That's the most important thing you can do to not be a fatass anymore.
"But Rick, I want to be more than just 'not fat' anymore, I want to be HUGE and BUFF and have sixpack abs!"
LOL that's nice, good luck with that, for real. But you don't need 'fitness trackers', or 'Internet of Things' crap to do any of that. Never did, never will either. Do the work. That's the only thing that counts. The rest is shit-ass companies convincing you that you need this useless tech, when in reality they're just conning you into giving away Even More Very Personal Data on yourself; stop doing that. Just move your ass more, eat less, you'll eventually stop being fat and stop being weak. There's more to it than that in the details but that's the kernel of truth in it.
Can't get yourself to Just Do The Work? Still convinced you need all these stupid-ass tech toys? Get over it.
Re:Why do you people keep falling for this shit? (Score:4, Insightful)
I'd bet that 99% of all these 'Internet of Things' devices don't need to exist at all
Neither does the TV remote, yet it's one of the greatest success stories of consumer convenience.
It seems in your rant you have forgotten that people buy things to make their life easier and rather than attack said people, how about attacking the corporations who pull the plug on perfectly functioning hardware instead.
Here's your fitness advice from someone who has been there and isn't a fatass anymore: Get the fork out of your mouth, push away from the dinner table.
That's not fitness advice. Your recommendation has nothing to do with fitness, and very little to do with many indicators of health. You're demonstrably unqualified to give such advice much less put it in bold.
Re: (Score:3)
It seems in your rant you have forgotten that people buy things to make their life easier and rather than attack said people, how about attacking the corporations who pull the plug on perfectly functioning hardware instead?
Maybe because that's not how it works? You change companies' behaviour by not buying their shitty products, then the company changes or folds. That means the consumers need to stop "falling for this shit" as the OP said.
I don't know what system exactly you think is in operation, but ranting at a company while they continue to make profits has zero effect.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
You change companies' behaviour by not buying their shitty products, then the company changes or folds.
No. Americans think they change American company's behavioirs like that. The rest of the world has consumer protection laws. See for example Microsoft laughing in consumer's faces in the USA when their XBoxes were red ringing after a short time, while in the rest of the world governments forced them to offer replacements even out of warranty.
Re: (Score:2)
You change companies' behaviour by not buying their shitty products, then the company changes or folds.
No. Americans think they change American company's behavioirs like that. The rest of the world has consumer protection laws. See for example Microsoft laughing in consumer's faces in the USA when their XBoxes were red ringing after a short time, while in the rest of the world governments forced them to offer replacements even out of warranty.
Well, I agree that consumer protection is valuable because it creates a cost to the company up-front, which is not the case if you simply walk away from them. But most consumer protection has a limited duration and in a case like this I think it would be hard to make it stick.
And the point still stands: if a company dicks you around, even if you get your money back, why would you use them again?
Re: (Score:3)
"Neither does the TV remote, "
He did say 99%.
"That's not fitness advice. "
He does have a kernel of truth there.
Re: (Score:2)
He did say 99%.
And he's still wrong. Nearly all IoT devices are for convenience, and consumers abjectly love convenience and pay for convenience.
"That's not fitness advice. "
He does have a kernel of truth there.
No he doesn't. What he did was give advice on how a subset of people lose weight. Losing weight and being fit are not the same thing, though fit people are rarely overweight. Telling people to just eat less without combining advice on what to eat or how to look after their body is a fantastic way for a thin person to need a triple bypass.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Being an ex-fat person I'll say what I want
You may continue to do so, and I will continue to call it out to the world as bad advice. You seem to be concerned with only your fatness and somehow think that has to do with health or fitness. If that's the way you want to live your life, good on you. At least you're not obese.
But you did not provide health advice. You did not provide fitness advice. And you continue to equate your waistline with fitness which has lead you to give bad advice to others, others who may actually be interested in being health
Re: (Score:2)
Know what I do with my spare time? I race bikes. You think I'm some fatass or I'm weak and diseased and be able to do that? Don't you think just perhaps I know a thing or two, have been there and back, and maybe, just maybe I know what the hell I'm talking about? Or are you just looki
Re: (Score:2)
Here's your fitness advice from someone who has been there and isn't a fatass anymore: Get the fork out of your mouth, push away from the dinner table. That's the most important thing you can do to not be a fatass anymore.
As a medical treatment, that statement has a 98% failure rate, and would be categorized as snake oil.
Re: (Score:2)
SmartFork (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I'd bet that 99% of all these 'Internet of Things' devices don't need to exist at all
Actually most IoT devices have nothing to do with consumers and are very valuable to their users. Your definition of 'IoT device' is far too narrow, they include things like:
field moisture monitors
tide meters
John Deere tractors (really)
fish ladder counters and game trail monitors
smart streetlights that also monitor parking space utilization
earthquake monitoring and warning equipment
forest fire detectors
and millions of factory automation devices
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Well, even if you manage to impose your own private definition on the entire rest of the world you're still wrong, as the wearers of insulin pumps and pacemakers will attest.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Losing weight is that simple, so something is clearly wrong with your sentence because not everyone is doing it to a healthy weight.
It's actually very, very simple - eat less than your maintenance calories. You can even guestimate until you hit the right point.
The problem isn't complexity, it's 'difficulty' and discipline. Bench pressing 500lbs is 'simple' - you move your arms forward. But most people aren't physically equipped to do it, in the case of weight loss it's about not being mentally equipped to s
Re: (Score:2)
Fool me twice (Score:2)
Can't wait to see what the marketeers come up with next once term "smart" becomes sufficiently toxic.
Re: (Score:2)
They'll just cycle back to Easy or Convenient.
Warranty Period (Score:2)
While it is all nice to complain that the devices will no longer function as sold, one wonders what the warranty period was for these devices? That is, if the last such device was sold in January 2019 and was warrantied to work for 1 year, then one should not be surprised that one year later the device/service is no longer available.
The expectation that the devices/services would work "forever" is a comment on the stupidity of the buyers of these sorts of products.
Re: Warranty Period (Score:4, Insightful)
So when the warranty on your car ends, you're fine with it immediately destroying itself?
Re: (Score:2)
That is quite a leap of stupidity. It may very well continue to work past its warranty period, however, the manufacturer clear does not have that expectation. Nor should you.
Re: (Score:2)
That is quite a leap of stupidity.
Pot. Kettle.
It may very well continue to work past its warranty period, however, the manufacturer clear does not have that expectation. Nor should you.
A scale should work as a scale for as long as its sensors and display works. THAT is a reasonable expectation. You can find scales from the Eisenhower administration that still perform their intended purpose, and it's a reasonable expectation that a device serve its core intended purpose for far longer than the duration of its warranty.
If UA doesn't want to offer its online services to old devices anymore, fine. Let it continue its life as a garden variety digital scale, or ideally, provide an E
Re: (Score:2)
In countries with strong consumer law, warranty periods are nothing more than a fiction the manufacturer tries to pass off on tose ignorant of their rights. If a product can be proven to have failed prematurely due to the manufacturer's negligence, as opposed to the customer's abuse or normal wear and tear, then a strong consumer law puts the manufacturer on the hook for it.
Re: (Score:2)
The product died in 2017 (they stopped selling and updating it). Now they decide to just pull the plug on remaining infrastructure.
Who bought this crap? (Score:2)
1) Who was stupid enough to buy this crap?
2) Who didn't see this coming?
The answer to both questions involves the exact same people, desperate to buy the New Shiny so they could brag about their $180 bluetooth scale.
Re: (Score:2)
1) Me, though I bought the Nokia and it still works fine.
2) I do see it coming, but fortunately I'm not poor and won't tear my hair out over spending $100 or so on a scale I got several years use out of.
You must surround yourself with weirdos if people are 'bragging' about something literally above homeless level income can walk into a store and buy.
Reminds me of weirdo rap music where they say shit like "I see you over there with your Gucci purse, bitch I have sneakers that cost 2X that!". Apparently 'new
Re: (Score:2)
You must surround yourself with weirdos if people are 'bragging' about something literally above homeless level income can walk into a store and buy.
1) Aren't we all, in some fashion, surrounded by weirdos? If you go outside or to a mall or store or school or work, you'll be surrounded by weirdos. In my personal life (friends, family) not so much, but frankly none of us are really normal. And to be honest, a little weirdness is fine with me. Weirdness is like garlic, a little bit is fine, but too much is always way too much.
2) People will brag about *anything* they think will get them attention, from the shoes they wear to the size of the crap they took
Re: (Score:2)
to the size of the crap they took this morning.
Now I feel personally attacked. Were you the guy behind me in the elevator this morning or something?
IOT (Score:2)
And the Internet Of Trash strikes again. Or is it Internet Of Targets?
Re: (Score:2)
Or is it Internet Of Targets?
As an nmap aficionado I love the Internet Of Targets angle.
It reminds me of the old saying "The S in IoT stands for Security".
There's an old saying about this... (Score:5, Insightful)
"Users are instead expected to switch to MapMyFitness, which Under Armour bills as 'an even better tracking experience'."
"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice..."
Re:There's an old saying about this... (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Oh, I LOVE that!
Well played, sir. Well played indeed!
In related news ... (Score:2)
The scale and wristband retailed at $180 each, with the heart monitor going for $80. Shoppers could buy all three together in a $400 bundle called the UA HealthBox.
My 25+ year-old dumb scale keeps working just fine. I step on it, a few seconds later it beeps and I step off and look at the numbers. But perhaps a scale linked to a watch is good for people that, for some reason, can't look down and see the numbers on the scale and/or remember things like numbers. P.S. I also don't wear a watch.
Fitness trackers (Score:2)
switch to MapMyFitness, which Under Armour bills as "an even better tracking experience."
Better for us, or for them?
Take a leaf out of Pebble's book (Score:4, Interesting)
At least when Pebble went broke they were kind enough to provide one last firmware update that allowed their watches to be configured to talk to other servers.
And so the community created Rebble, and it was a relatively simple process to point your watch at their servers, and things were good again.
Ha! (Score:2)
Analog (Score:2)
While my digital thermometer stays in the drawer in dire need of fresh batteries, my "analog" (i.e. thermal-powered) kitchen thermometer does the job just fine.
Yes, I can afford fresh batteries, but I can't afford the time. Sometimes the simple things really are better, for those of us who want something that just works.
Computers are great for those things which can't be done by simpler devices. I just don't understand the apparent need to complicate an otherwise simple device.
Wait (Score:2)
"While workout data can be exported and transferred to some other tracking app, Record users cannot capture weight or other historical
data to carry forward with them"
So this is a GOOD thing, right? Make it much harder for the insurance companies to collect telemetry on YOU to jack up your rates and deny you coverage, of course without your knowledge.
Make an open source app, save all of the log data to a plain text file, even have some fancy graph thing to show that data in an easy to read fo
Re: (Score:2)
Oh yeah, it sucks you can't get all of the previous log data before the shutdown, but this is another hard lesson on why it's best to keep this stuff completely in your possession and under control. E.T. no phone home.
Gone but not gone (Score:2)
"Today's example of smart stuff going dumb comes courtesy of Under Armour, which is effectively rendering its fitness hardware line
very expensive paperweights. The company quietly pulled its UA Record app from both Google Play and Apple's App Store on New
Year's Eve. In an announcement dated sometime around January 8, Under Armour said that not only has the app been removed from
all app stores"
Except the more questionable .apk download sites to side load the software. Of course, iOS users are SOL. Do
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
digital scales just mean the readout is digital, chris
how the hell would it be monitored by a doctor
they don't even give a shit about you when you're right in front of them
besides you thunked your scale at 350 pounds and you thought you weighed the same for a year
remember that you walrus
Re:Stupid Scales... (Score:5, Informative)
they don't even give a shit about you when you're right in front of them
Yeah, patients know that being overweight is unhealthy. You'd have to be living on Mars not to have heard that by now. Diet and exercise might be mentioned simply out of professionalism, but we're not parents to our patients. Whet they do is up to them. Certainly it's not my job to force or coerce anyone into any plan of action. Next!
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Huh. Didn't know that. Of course I've never had to stay in a hospital, either, so why would I have known that?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
My doctor always weighs me. And he always tells me I need to lose some weight and get some exercise.
Then when he sees me at the grocery store he critiques the items in my cart.
And when he sees my wife at her workplace he tells her she needs to remind me to exercise.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm a total outlier for the 21st century. Doctors are more likely to tell me shit like "You don't need to do all that extreme exercise (I race bikes, and are training in one way or another all year 'round) just to be healthy". I get anywhere from 7 to 15 (or more) hours of 'exercise' every week, unless I'm sick.
I then tell them "It's not 'extreme exercise', it's 'training', and it's exactly the right amount". Of course when they see
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
But, but, if it's something so low impact how can I rant and rave about the evils of spending a few hundred on fitness gadgets, then go out and spend $500 a month on restaurants and rack-mount servers for my home server closet?!
What's funny, though, is I do literally all of the above _except_ rant and rave about it like some fucking luddite.
Oh teh noes, I have to use a different service than I originally used when I bought the device, quick someone appeal to the EU they really stand up for We Little People!
Re: (Score:2)
But it won't stop the insurance companies for denying you coverage "for medical reasons" after they got a hold of this data. And yes
they DID get it. If you believe otherwise, there is a bridge I'd like to sell you.