mobile health

Austin, Texas-based Motion Computing, a longtime player in the semi-rugged tablet space that served the healthcare industry among others, has been acquired by rugged tablet PC maker Xplore, also based in Austin.

Weight Watchers is recruiting for a randomized control trial that will test the addition of a connected scale into its online weight loss intervention, according to a posting on ClinicalTrials.

Singapore-based RingMD launched its first app this week, an Android app designed to connect patients anywhere in the world to doctors anywhere in the world -- although for now the doctors are mostly based in Singapore.

Smartphone-enabled heart monitor device maker AliveCor has launched a new app for patients, which is both timed with the new iOS 8 launch and incorporates the atrial fibrillation algorithm the company received FDA clearance for in August.

AliveCor has received an additional FDA 510(k) clearance, this time for an algorithm that allows its smartphone ECG to detect atrial fibrillation -- an abnormal heart rhythm that isn't always detectable to the patient, but if left untreated can lead to stroke or congestive heart failure -- with high accuracy.

While Novartis' recent partnership with Google and its longtime relationship with Proteus have indicated that the pharma company has an interest in digital health, a page on the company's website, added this summer, lays out its broad vision and explicit interest in mobile health specifically.

Earlier this year Pew Research's Internet Project published a report called Digital Living 2025, which surveyed and aggregated ideas and predictions from internet scholars and successful entrepreneurs on the impact technology will have on our daily lives a decade from now.

There are now more than 100,000 apps on the iOS and Android app stores, according to a new report by research firm Research2Guidance, double the market size of two and a half years ago.