Wi-Fi can watch your heart beating, Taiwan’s datacenter power outfit Delta finds Delta is a Taiwanese company that specializes in power management kit, the sort of thing that datacenters need. It’s therefore very much in demand right now but also, as revealed in the final keynote address of the 2024 edition of the Computex conference, undertakes some tangential R&D Including work that allows measurement of …
I was going to ask when our closest bit of toxic waste would be used for such things, but the good doctor has already borged the problem.
So, heartbeat detectors are just an app away then ? Oh, silly me, they're already a dime a dozen.
Well, it seems the Terminators won't have much trouble finding targets . . .
Except if for curiosity when exercising I wear an HRM alongside this "smart"watch or that the discrepancy in calories burned according to the app/watch is massive. Sometimes up to 100% difference.
But solved that problem : no not the average. I add them up. If the app can lie so can I.
I have an app I use when I'm biking, and my Apple Watch can also do a "outdoor biking" workout. The app shows about 50% more calories burned than the Apple Watch. While I'm pretty sure the app is overestimating that doesn't mean the watch is correct. But does it matter? If I knew to within 1% accuracy exactly how many calories I burned on a bike ride or when lifting weights, how would that benefit me?
But I figure however it is being calculated comparisons between sessions ought to be fairly accurate, and that's probably more useful than knowing the exact number of calories being burned. It isn't like you have a good idea of calorie intake. Yes, that information is available on labels etc. but even if were carefully weighing everything you ate and calculating that accurately, you don't know much of that food your body was able to fully digest - and that probably changes depending on other factors so a 1,000 calorie meal might net you 950 calories one day and 850 the next if that had more stuff that passed through undigested or maybe you'd been drinking the night before and your gut bacteria were screwed up.
So I don't think it matters how accurately you can measure how many calories you burned. The trends are what matter.
A smartphone by the bed would only be so accurate, so you'd probably want multiple devices. For sleep monitoring at home that's not a problem, as it takes place in a set location. Just build a few battery operated devices you can attach to your bedroom walls, similar to battery operated cameras. When they need a charge the app will notify you.
I would get this if it were available. There is only so much smartwatches can do for sleep monitoring, but something that could effectively "see inside" your chest to accurately track breathing and heart rate could notify people if they have developing sleep apnea, assess overall sleep quality and make recommendation. Maybe you sleep much better in a particular position? Maybe your sleep quality is greatly diminished when your partner begins snoring, and it could vibrate their smartwatch to wake them so they can roll onto their side? Maybe a pet sleeping with you is causing sleep issues and you might want to reconsider letting them do that? Maybe test out different settings on your "sleep number" bed to find the one that produces optimal sleep?
Given that you spend at least 1/4 of your life sleeping, anything that can improve that will improve your waking hours.
Anything to stop my missus consulting her fitbit. It drives her mad and therefore drives me mad as I have to listen to her banging on about her heartbeat, steps taken and assorted other dross.
You can see the future...
Building: Dave, your heartbeat seems a little elevated. Is everything ok?
Dave (looking for his axe) : I'm fine, just fine.
Using the wifi's channel state to detect heart rate at 85% probably means a much higher rate of just detecting a heart beat or multiple heart beats ie the presence of one or more (human) life forms.
I am guessing the latest and greatest wifi uses some form of beam steering which could be subverted to scan, lidar or cat scan style, the environment. I would also guess these signals are also generated using (inverse) discrete fast fourier transforms which could also be subverted to produce all sorts of odd shaped pulses to probe the environment at higher resolution.
Tin foil hat time. ;)
Just realized it could be a right bugger if you had two hearts and went round thwarting the universe's evil intentioned.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2025
