Omron Healthcare Business Continues to Grow
Omron sales rose five per cent and after-tax profit was up 11
per cent in the company's financial year ending March 2008. Healthcare products
(nine per cent of total turnover) enjoyed a good year, and the
company reported:
In Japan, sales of digital blood pressure monitors and pedometers were
strong, backed by increasing recognition of metabolic syndrome and related
medical checkups that will become mandatory in fiscal 2008. While sales of body
composition analyzers levelled off, sales of electric toothbrushes expanded
strongly, due partly to the effect of television commercials.
Overseas, sales in Europe remained generally strong overall, led by the digital
blood pressure monitor business in Russia and Eastern Europe, although sales of
digital blood pressure monitors in North America were sluggish due to weak
consumer spending. In China, sales expanded sharply due to factors including
steadily rising sales of newly introduced blood glucose monitors.
As a result, segment sales for the fiscal year were 71,562 million yen ($680
million), an increase of 8.9 per cent compared with the previous fiscal year.
...Continued expansion of demand for digital blood pressure monitors and
pedometers is projected as health consciousness continues to rise in Japan as
well as overseas. Particularly strong growth is predicted for digital blood
pressure monitors in China, Russia, Eastern Europe, India and other newly
industrialized countries. While the business environment for vital sign monitors
for medical institutions is likely to be challenging due to the effect of
reduced compensation for medical treatment, healthcare structure reforms
designed to shift the focus from treatment to prevention are expected to lead to
expanding sales of lifestyle disease prevention equipment to medical
practitioners, including arteriosclerosis detection systems and central blood
pressure measurement systems.
As a result, segment sales for the fiscal year are projected to be 74 billion
yen, a year-on-year increase of 3.4 percent.
May 4th, 2008
Tanita's Coolest Body Composition Monitor
The Coolest Gadgets website likes the
Tanita BC538 body
composition monitor:
It has been a while since we have reported on Tanita’s products. Tanita
probably makes the best weighing scales in the world, but one of their products,
the BC558 is more of a “Segmental Body Composition Monitor” than a scale.
...So what exactly is the Tanita BC558 measuring? Everything. This includes your
body fat percentage, body water percentage, muscle mass, bone mass, visceral
fat, metabolic age, as well as weight. All of this information can be used to
set up an exercise plan for yourself, and the Tanita BC558 can graph your weight
loss progress on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
...So if you are looking for a more disciplined and technical way of losing
weight, the Tanita BC558 is the way to go.
April 28th, 2008
Design Awards to Omron Healthcare
Omron says its healthcare products have won
design awards from Germany's International Forum Design GmbH:
The five Omron Healthcare products that received iF Product Design Awards are
as follows:
Automatic blood pressure monitor HEM-7080IT-E (M10-IT)
Solar-powered blood pressure monitor HEM-SOLAR
Body fat monitor with scale HBF-201
Pedometer Walking Style One HJ-152-E
Vital signs monitor HBP-T105
Omron Healthcare was recognized for the accuracy, functionality and usability of
its products, which were developed under the company’s “Shaped for people”
design concept. This year’s awards represent the second consecutive year of
recognition for Omron Healthcare, which received iF Product Design Awards in
2007 for a digital thermometer (model MC-670-E; iF Gold Award) and the SpotArm
i-Q132 automatic blood pressure monitor.
The Universal Design Awards were held for the first time this year. Hosted by
Universal Design Association, the awards evaluate the fairness, flexibility,
safety, usability and cost of products. There are two award categories: the
Universal Design Award, judged by four people including an internationally
active designer, and the Universal Design Consumer Favorite Award. Consumer
Favorite Award winners were selected by visitors to ADF 2008, a consumer expo
held in Hannover from January 26 to February 3.
Although the Universal Design Awards were only in their first year, the
competition drew 131 entries from 18 countries, of which 36 products received
awards. Seven of the winners, including Omron Healthcare’s SpotArm i-Q132
automatic blood pressure monitor, were further honored with Consumer Favorite
Awards. The SpotArm i-Q132 received high marks for usability due to the position
of the cuff, which encourages correct posture when taking blood pressure and
thus ensures that readings are accurate.
The three Omron Healthcare products that received Universal Design Awards are as
follows:
Automatic blood pressure monitor SpotArm i-Q132 (HEM-1010-E)
Digital thermometer i -Temp (MC-670-E)
Portable ECG monitor HCG-801-E
March 26th, 2008
Solar-Powered Blood Pressure Monitor
Omron Healthcare has announced a new line of
solar-powered blood pressure monitors, for release in Spring 2009:
"HEM-SOLAR monitors will allow health practitioners and individuals to take
blood pressure readings wherever sunlight is available," says Keiichiro Akahoshi,
representative director and CEO of Omron Healthcare Co., Ltd. "The development
of this series further illustrates Omron's commitment to environmental
stewardship."
Omron Healthcare has developed two blood pressure monitors for the series, a
manual upper-arm and automatic upper-arm model. Both are charged by exposure to
sunlight through the solar panel at the back of the product. After just four
hours of direct exposure to sunlight, the manual model can take more than 100
readings while the automatic model can take 28 readings. When fully charged
(requires approximately 15 hours with the manual model and 24 hours with the
automatic model), the manual model can take measurements more than 280 times and
the automatic model more than 100 times. Wherever sunlight is available, the
monitors facilitate easy readings, regardless of proximity to an electrical
supply source.
March 14th, 2008
SatNav Breathalyzer
It is a satellite navigation system for cars, with a
built-in breathalyzer.
CNET Crave says:
Of all the odd combo devices on the road today, this one actually seems to
make some sense....The built-in GPS system might provide additional incentive
for motorists to buy one of these portable devices, which appear to be destined
for the European market for 200 euros, or about $297. As for the practicality,
it obviously doesn't hurt to have a little help with directions, especially if
you've had a few beers.
February 22nd, 2008
Wellness Phone
CNET has a little detail on
NTT
DoCoMo's new Wellness phone, with features that include a pedometer, heart
rate monitor, body fat monitor and bad breath monitor. It is still in the test
phase.
February 22nd, 2008
Green Technology Investor
It's not directly relevant to
this website, but you might be interested in checking out the new
Green Technology Investor
website. An interesting article there is titled
Introduction to Investing in Wind Power Stocks.
January 31st, 2008
OV-Watch
Celebrity endorsements of the OV-Watch, from two TV personalities, who used
it to help get pregnant.
January 30th, 2008
Real Estate on the Wrist
Dana Blankenhorn, columnist with ZDNet Healthcare,
writes:
Like a lot of people I stopped wearing wristwatches a few years ago. My cell
phone keeps time fine.
Turns out this leaves me with some important real estate, the space on my wrist,
for rent. My health wants this real estate, and so does yours.
One way to use that real estate is with a heart rate monitor. Simple models like
the Polar FS1 let you set your target rate, keep an eye on your heart in
real-time, and they are water resistant.
Fancier models like the Polar AW200 track your calorie count, your steps, and
keep an eye on the weather.
The best news in all this is how these devices, like the watches they replace,
are subject to Moore’s Law, and falling prices.
January 16th, 2008
Alcotest 6510
I've received an email from
Ladybug Teknologies notifying
me of the Alcotest 6510 breathalyzer, from Drager Safety. According to a
product specification page:
The Alcotest 6510 utilizes scientific technology previously available only to
law enforcement and government agencies. This electronic breath alcohol
measurement instrument combines Drager's 50 years of experience in breath
alcohol detection with modern technology in a handy, compact instrument that can
fit easily into a shirt pocket or purse.
December 23rd, 2007
Forget Video Games
Interesting article at PhysOrg.com on new
portable personal health
monitors:
Forget about videogames or driving directions. Paul Blair thinks the next
‘killer’ mobile applications will be for monitoring your health. The Calit2
staff researcher should know; he is working on a range of devices that use
wireless technology as well as smaller and cheaper sensors to track people’s
vital signs on a daily, even hourly, basis. The data can then be automatically
uploaded to a database accessible via the Internet.
...The blood-pressure monitor includes a Bluetooth interface for sending the
latest reading to a nearby phone capable of data transmission. At routine
intervals, the phone automatically uploads the information to a central database
via the phone’s 3G wireless transmitter.
Blair has also developed a high-tech bathroom scale that automatically records
the patient’s weight and timestamps the data, which is stored in the scale’s
memory, capable of holding up to six months of data. What makes this scale
unique is that it allows the patient to upload the data seamlessly to a
Bluetooth-enabled cell phone for subsequent transmission to a data repository
accessible via the Internet. According to Blair, the scale is ready to be mass
produced, and he is talking with UCSD tech-transfer officials about how to
commercialize the technology.
December 23rd, 2007
A Breathalyzer for Christmas
The
headline says it all:
Personal breathalyzers increasingly popular as New Year's approaches
According to the Arizona Republic:
As the holiday party season kicks into high gear, so do concerns about
Arizona's stricter DUI laws.
And that's leading to some unconventional Christmas shopping.
While some people are securing designated drivers and reserving town cars,
others are taking safety, literally, into their own hands.
Sales of personal breathalyzers are up online and in Valley stores that stock
the blood-alcohol-level-measuring devices.
..."Now we literally sell them to everybody," said Keith Nothacker, president of
San Francisco-based KHN Solutions, which manufactures the Bactrack breathalyzer
and runs breathalyzer.net.
December 17th, 2007
Throw It in Your Bag or Purse
PC Magazine
likes the Omron HJ-720ITC Pocket Pedometer:
Many pedometers require the user to wear it on their wrist or belt buckle,
but the Pocket Pedometer can be thrown in a bag or purse, and it's still capable
of recording data.
To keep track of your aerobic abilities, install the included Omron Health
Management Software on your computer, connect the pedometer using the included
USB cable, and you can view your progress for the previous 41 days.
I tested the Pocket Pedometer, and liked being able to just throw it in my purse
and not think about it. The software was very beneficial, because I was able to
view and print out my data in graphs and charts by day, week, month, year, and
total.
I wrote about the pedometer
here.
December 7th, 2007
Choosing the Best Pedometer
The Associated Press offers
guidance on choosing a
pedometer:
START SIMPLE: Fancy models record calories burned, announce your steps in a
female voice and include an FM radio, but most people need only a simple step
counter.
...SWEET SPOT: Verify a pedometer's accuracy by taking 20 steps and checking the
readout. Off by more than a step or two? Slide the pedometer to a new spot on
your waistband and try again.
FREEBIES: Beware of pedometers given away as promotions. They can be off by 25
percent of more.
It recommends pedometers made by Yamax, New-Lifestyles, Walk4Life, Accusplit and
Omron.
November 26th, 2007
Blood Pressure Monitors Boost Omron
Omron has announced its half-year financial results, for the six months to
September 2007. Its healthcare business saw sales up five per cent from the
September 2006 half to 32.2 billion yen ($281 million). The company commented:
In Japan, sales of medical devices were solid overall as recognition of
metabolic syndrome spread among the general public. In particular, sales of
obesity solution devices such as body composition analyzers and pedometers
increased steadily, due partly to the effect of television commercials. However,
sales of medical devices to small and medium-sized hospitals, a particularly
important customer segment for the Omron Group, were weak, reflecting the trend
among medical institutions to restrain spending due to factors including
revisions of medical service fees and National Health Insurance drug prices in
the previous fiscal year.
Overseas, sales were generally firm, led by the digital blood pressure monitor
business in Russia, Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Sales also
increased strongly in China and Southeast Asia. In China, sales expanded sharply
due to factors including strong sales of blood glucose monitors, which were
introduced this fiscal year, and enhanced sales promotion. On the other hand,
sales in North America were sluggish because of factors including weaker
consumer spending and declining prices for healthcare equipment.
November 5th, 2007
Two Halves of Lager
It's the 40th anniversary of the breathalyzer. London's Daily Mirror
asks: "Will they throw a party where everyone invited is allowed to have two
halves of lager?" Some background information is
here.
October 12th, 2007
The Mobile Phone That Destroys Your Ego
MobileMentalism.com reports on a
new mobile phone in Japan from DoCoMo that gauges your health.
Hold the phone with both palms, and it will measure your fat content, giving
both a percentage readout, and happily telling you you're a porker if your fat
content is too high.
Worse is to come though. Breathe onto the phone, and it will tell you how bad
your breath is!!
...The only purpose for the Wellness phone that I can see, then, is to
completely destroy someone else's ego. You'll never use it yourself, but think
of the fun of talking to someone with bad breath, holding the phone up to them
as they talk, and having the phone say "Level 7 - your breath has reached
bio-hazard levels. HazMat teams have been informed and are on their way!"
October 4th, 2007
Card Pedometer
The
Sportline
ThinQ Pocket Pedometer is the size of a credit card. A company press release
says:
Not
into clipping electronics to your waist belt? Looking for a pedometer that fits
better with your lifestyle? Think Thin. Really thin. That was our challenge when
we decided to walk away from everything known about pedometer design to create a
new generation of performance products. At a mere 3mm thin, these credit card
inspired wafers will slide into your pocket and stealthy track your steps,
distance and calories burned.
September 22nd, 2007
When Is A Cycling Computer Just a Plain Old Cycling Computer?
Garmin has announced the Edge 605 and 705 cycling computers,
due to hit the market in time for Christmas.
Coolest-gadgets.com reports:
Is a cycling computer just that - a plain, old, cycling computer? I guess not
at the rate technology moves. Garmin has just announced a couple of new devices
in the form of the Edge 705 and Edge 605 which comes with virtually everything
except the kitchen sink. The top of the line Edge 705 is an integrated personal
training system, complete with a 2.2″ color display, mapping capabilities,
street navigation, and the ability to track vertical profiles, climb and
descent, altitude, speed, distance, time, cadence, and heart rate.
September 6th, 2007
Mobile Phone with a Fertility Monitor
The
Unwired View website reports that Samsung has filed a patent application for
a mobile phone equipped with a fertility monitor.
The phone will have ultrasonic or laser based distance sensor and infrared
ray temperature sensor installed around it’s speaker. Whenever you make a phone
call, distance sensor measures the location of the phone relative to your
eardrum and infrared sensor measures the temperature inside your eardrum.
The rest is up to the phone software, which processes the measurements,
transforms them into BBT records, determines fertile and infertile periods of
the menstruation cycle and provides you with recommendations.
August 18th, 2007
Garmin's New Forerunner Sports Watch
Garmin has introduced the
Forerunner 50, a sports watch that:
is an advanced fitness watch, which interfaces wirelessly with other fitness
devices such as a heart rate monitor or a foot pod that monitors speed and
distance. The system includes a wireless USB ANT(TM) Stick that plugs into the
user's PC and automatically downloads workout data stored on the watch to a
personal computer. No cables are necessary as the Forerunner 50 synchronizes
with the computer once it is in close proximity. Depending on the model
purchased, the Forerunner 50 accurately monitors and records heart rate or speed
and distance or all of the above. The workouts themselves are made easier with
the Forerunner 50 as its heart rate monitor and foot pod activate automatically
upon movement, removing the need to turn the lightweight accessories on and off.
According to
Engadget:
Garmin's Forerunner sport watches haven't always been the most wearable, but
the company has been making steady progress in that department, and it now looks
to have produced its most watch-like device yet. Helping in no small part to
keep the size of its new Forerunner 50 watch down is the lack of GPS found in
previous models, but it will still provide a fair bit of functionality.
August 12th, 2007
Five of the Best Pedometers
Money magazine
road tests pedometers. Here are "some of the better models on the market:
1. Omron Pocket HJ-720ITC (Rating: A-)
Plus: Large display; strong clip; unit works in pocket or purse.
Minus: To start at zero in the middle of the day, you must reset - and
lose - stored data.
2. Oregon Scientific PE823 (Rating: B)
Plus: Very compact size; "gripper" teeth on clip ensure unit stays
securely attached.
Minus: Screen is hard to read; function buttons are too small.
3. New Balance VIA Wrist Pedometer by Highgear (Rating: B-)
Plus: Wristband style is easier to use than waist clip.
Minus: Accurate so long as you're not moving your arm too much.
4. Walk4Life WFL Elite (Rating: C)
Plus: Compact size.
Minus: Flip-down display is often difficult to flip; unit must be closed
to function properly when you walk.
5. New Lifestyles NL-2000 Activity Monitor (Rating: C-)
Plus: Designed to work on overweight people with minimum repositioning.
Minus: Certain movements, like opening it, add steps to the count.
August 3rd, 2007
Omron Suffers a Slide in Its Healthcare Business
Omron's first-quarter (April-June 2007) financial results
reveal a
dip in its healthcare business:
In Japan, sales of digital thermometers, body composition analyzers and
pedometers were solid, but sales of mainstay digital blood pressure monitors and
devices for medical institutions slowed following an increase in demand in the
fourth quarter of the preceding fiscal year.
Overseas, weak sales in North America, mainly of digital blood pressure
monitors, reflected market stagnation, but sales in Europe were generally firm,
led by the digital blood pressure monitor business in Eastern Europe, although
demand varied from country to country.
In Asia, sales increased strongly in China and Taiwan, where consumption was
brisk.
As a result, segment sales for the first quarter were 14,837 million yen ($124.5
million), a decrease of 1.5% compared with the same period of the previous
fiscal year.
July 31st, 2007
The Best Pedometer
The Good Housekeeping Institute has
tested
seven pedometers. The best?
The Sportline 350 Pedometer Trainer ($34.95) is accurate and easy to use.
This basic model measures distance traveled, steps taken and calories burned.
Runners-up:
Slightly more difficult to operate, the Acumen 10K Stepper Plus Pedometer ($20)
is great for the serious walker -- it beeps when 10,000 steps have been
completed.
With the Oregon Scientific Pedometer with Radio (model PE316FM, $29.95), there's
no need to carry your Walkman: Plug in headphones to listen to the FM radio.
Bonus: a backlit display.
July 28th, 2007
Nissan's In-Car Breathalyzer
Giant Japanese car-maker Nissan is testing
in-car breathalyzers that can detect alcohol on a driver's breath and
disable the ignition if certain limits are exceeded:
The automaker said the tests were still at an early stage and there were no
firm plans yet to launch the technology.
'It's probably going to require a lot of legislative support or a government
push for making it a requirement, or it could be available as an option,' said
Nissan Motor spokeswoman Pauline Kee.
'Obviously we can install it on our vehicles but you also need to think about
whether or not customers want such a device,' she said.
Rival Toyota Motor is reportedly researching a system of sensors on a car's
steering wheel to measure the alcohol level in a driver's sweat, while mobile
telephone operators have developed a combined breathalyzer and telephone.
July 24th, 2007
Forehead Thermometers on Trial
Do forehead
thermometers (described as temporal thermometers) work well? Not according
to a new study:
[Craig] Crandall's team found that forehead readings were unreliable
indicators of core body temperature. Though the two devices reported the same
temperature at the start of the experiment, as the subjects' core body
temperature...rose, the temporal thermometer readings actually fell. At 50
minutes, for instance, the internally measured temperature had risen about 0.7
degrees C, on average, while the temporal thermometer reported a decrease of
about 0.3 degrees C.
...The temporal thermometer "is no better" than the tried-and-true parental
method of feeling a child's forehead, concluded Crandall. In fact, "putting your
hand on the forehead, in my opinion, is better, because we know the subject is
hot, whereas this device actually said a patient was cooling down. So, the hand
could actually be more accurate."
However, [thermometer manufacturer] Exergen President Dr. Francesco Pompei
claims the researchers failed to use the product as intended, and that colored
the final results.
July 14th, 2007
BACTRACK Breathalyzer
The BACTRACK digital breathalyzer from KHN Solutions was
introduced late last year, and claims greater accuracy than most other
personal-use breathalyzers. You can read more about it
here.
July 9th, 2007
Cell Phone Pedometer
And now, the
cell phone pedometer:
Bandai, the evil force behind Tamagotchis and the Power Rangers, has found
yet another way to torture its customers. Beauty Walker, a Japan-only cell phone
app, uses GPS instead of a pedometer to measure how far you walk and how many
calories you burn. It can also be used to choose foods you wish to eat, and will
alert you when you've burned enough calories to chow down. According to the
Google Translated version of the Bandai website, the service costs 315 Yen per
month, or about $2.55.
June 20th, 2007
Help from Fertility Monitors
Do fertility monitors help increase a woman's likelihood of getting pregnant?
asks the Boston Globe.
Yes, according to the
latest research.
June 20th, 2007
Dog Body Fat Monitor
We've seen the
dog pedometer. Now comes a
body fat monitor for dogs.
June 14th, 2007
Baby Monitor Shows Space Shuttle Astronauts
Illinois mother Natalie Meilinger turned on her
video
baby monitor - and saw astronauts from the Space Shuttle Atlantis.
Broadcast engineers said one of Meilinger's neighbors has a wireless device
connected to a TV that matches the frequency on the baby monitor.
Meilinger said it's strange to see something on the monitor other than her son
Jack, but it's giving her a great story to tell.
June 14th, 2007
Tanita Tops in British Body Fat Monitor Tests
Just how helpful are fat monitors? asks Britain's Daily Mail.
A good device will not only be accurate in its readings, but consistent - so
you can keep track of any changes in fat percentage. There are a number of
models available.
Some which measure not just body fat but even visceral fat (the dangerous fat
around the organs linked to heart disease). But are they any good?
The newspaper tested eight models, rating each out of 10 points. Here are the
results. (Remember, these are units for the British market.)
Tanita BC 545 - 9/10
Tanita BC 570 - 8/10
Terraillon Body Fat Analyzer - 7/10
Omron BF50 - 6/10
Weightwatchers Body Monitoring Precision Electronic Scale 8977 - 5/10
Lloyds Pharmacy Handheld Body Fat Monitor - 3/10
Salter Fitness Plus - 3/10
Accufitness Fat Track II Digital Body Fat Calliper - 1/10
June 13th, 2007
