Consumer

A new survey of 1,500 consumers from Apple Watch research service Wristly has found that 83 percent of the Apple Watch owners surveyed said the device at least somewhat contributes to their overall health and fitness.

Early next year Lumo Bodytech, the company behind the Lumo Lift and Lumoback posture and activity tracking devices, will launch a new wearable, Lumo Run, a pair of running shorts or capris with a sensor embedded into the waistband to track runner-specific health metrics like cadence, bounce, ground contact time, braking, stride length, and pelvic rotation.

Palo Alto-based consumer health startup Better, which counts the Mayo Clinic's venture arm and the Social+Capital Partnership as investors, is closing up shop at the end of the month, according to statements made by the company on its website and on Twitter.

WebMD's Medscape team is working on a new clinical reference app called Medscape Consult that will include an option for doctors to "crowdsource" clinical advice from their colleagues.

Sharing economy lodging giant Airbnb has acquired Lapka, a Russian startup, that developed smartphone-connected sensor offerings, including a smartphone-connected breathalyzer.

Like all populations, the population of seniors in the United States is changing.

Medtronic has launched its MiniMed Connect system, which allows people with diabetes who use both a Medtronic continuous glucose monitor (CGM) and a Medtronic insulin pump to see data from both device on their smartphone, and send it to their caregiver.

Combining health tracking with incentives, rewards, and challenges can contribute to consumers' lowered blood pressure, according to a study that looked at historical data from higi, a health kiosk company.

In its most recent S Health app update, Samsung added support for all Samsung smartphones, starting with the Galaxy S3.

Fitbit Surge Fitbit's Corporate Wellness arm officially became a HIPAA compliant platform, announced Target as a new client, which will offer Fitbits to its 335,000 US employees, and showed off a new software offering that will facilitate fitness competitions among employees in large, distributed companies.