blood pressure – Backerjack

MOCAheart looks after vitals, lets you check up on loved one’s hearts

Health monitors that send information to smartphones are becoming increasingly popular. It’s an easy way to collect important data and send off to doctors if need be. They also provide a way to track patterns and trends, hopefully catching harmful conditions early on so they don’t get worse.

MOCAheart is one such monitor. This small metal sensor about the size of a contact lens holder measures heart rate (bpm) and oxygen levels in the blood and sends such data to its accompanying smartphone app. With this information it generates the MOCA index, a number that tells you how you’re doing. Zero is low, but still okay. One is normal, two is slightly high, at three they recommend you make a doctor’s appointment and four means you should seek immediate medical attention.

In addition to monitoring your own health, MOCA hooks up with other MOCAheart owners through the app. This way, you can monitor the health of loved ones. The app also allows users to put notes next to their readings, like one man does in the campaign, saying that his vitals show he’s stressed because he has to work late. It also records the date and weather of each reading, demonstrating how lifestyle can affect blood pressure.

MOCAheart joins scores of other health devices that make monitoring one’s health super easy. The size of the sensor itself makes it convenient to carry around and the two touch method of reading vitals is too simple to mess up. Perhaps the best part, though, is the ability to check up on loved ones. This seems great for younger generations making sure their elderly parents or grandparents are okay. Though this could get annoying after a while, however productive. Backers can own their own for a donation of $99 with delivery in April 2015. MOCAheart is looking to raise $100,000 on Kickstarter.

QardioArm puts blood pressure readings on your handset

The Premise. Many people have to monitor their own blood pressures multiple times daily due to various medical conditions. The means having a bulky blood pressure cuff with them, which can be unsightly and to some, embarrassing.

The Product. QardioArm revolutionizes not only the look of a blood pressure cuff, but also the usability and feasibility. The company has created a product that is sleek and doesn’t look out of place in a work bag or purse, while simultaneously creating a product that brings blood pressure monitoring into the digital age. The QardioArm can connect via Bluetooth to your iPhone, where it syncs the data with its secure cloud storage system. You can then share the information with your family or doctor, if you choose.

The Pitch. The video for the $100,000 campaign is professionally shot and features not only the developers but a physician who speaks to the merit of the product. After a brief personal story of how the item came to be, the video shows various stages of product, usage, and puts the QardioArm in a series of shots that are the contents of peoples’ bags, to show it doesn’t look out of place. The text gives more information and details, as well as a brief few sentences about an upcoming product that is a wearable EKG monitor that will work through the same system.

The Perks. For $85, a backer gets an early bird special price on a QardioArm, and for $160, a backer receives two. However, the company is also marketing to physicians and hospitals, and offers five QardioArms for $400 and 100 for $7500. That shows forward thinking and a great way to reach out to the medical community. The product offers perks for those who have to track their health, but one drawback may be the security these devices provide. By linking to a cloud and to doctor’s offices, there is a chance of hacking and so forth.

The Potential QardioArm follows earlier connected blood pressure monitors such as those from Withings and iHealth that attached directly to the iPhone, but makes improvements in terms of portability and Bluetooth connectivity. Making blood pressure readings more convenient, even consumers who have not been diagnosed with high blood pressure may be incentivized to do so and gain greater insights into their health.