Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Smartphone cradle used to cheat “10k steps/day” health insurance discounts

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 215 posts

Re: Smartphone cradle used to cheat “10k steps/day” health insurance discounts

#71

Post by ghostbrainalpha »

otakucode wrote: post #46

What you measure - you optimize. They measured cellphone shaking. They got optimized cellphone shaking. I will also share another famous quotation of mine which I intend to eventually get tattooed somewhere (when I can figure out how to make it look good.. I have no tattoos): "Make game of that which makes as much as thee." - from The Rubiyat by Omar Khayaam.

Omar Khayyam

Great quote. But you probably know, that the English translation is more inspired by Omar, and much of what you enjoyed was the work of FitzGerald.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/516526...

Full Quote:

“But leave the Wise to wrangle, and with me

The Quarrel of the Universe let be:

And, in some corner of the Hubbub couch'd,

Make Game of that which makes as much of Thee.”

Re: Smartphone cradle used to cheat “10k steps/day” health insurance discounts

#72

Post by Havoc »

Steltek wrote: post #12

I bike 15+ miles a day but my work's discount program doesn't "support" biking. If I was into vigilante justice, I'd consider a solution like this too. But as it is, I'm quite content biking for my own sake rather than some pittance of a benefit.

You should be able to game that somehow in a legitimate way like Johnny says. Most types of oscillating movements should do

Re: Smartphone cradle used to cheat “10k steps/day” health insurance discounts

#73

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

Steltek wrote: post #12

I bike 15+ miles a day but my work's discount program doesn't "support" biking. If I was into vigilante justice, I'd consider a solution like this too. But as it is, I'm quite content biking for my own sake rather than some pittance of a benefit.

They would prefer that healthy people don't get discounts since they are such low risks for claims. Better to incentivize the couch potatoes as a preventative health measure to reduce losses and have you subsidize the lifestyle of those who won't make an effort.

Re: Smartphone cradle used to cheat “10k steps/day” health insurance discounts

#74

Post by dredmorbius »

stochastic_monk wrote: post #64
emodendroket wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you expect that in a world where people dump hazardous waste into rivers to save money?

Happens in America, too.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16681073

Re: Smartphone cradle used to cheat “10k steps/day” health insurance discounts

#75

Post by jtreminio »

vanadium wrote: post #40
forgueam wrote: post #28

I did something similar in college. A company paid cash for installing software that displayed ads on the bottom of your monitor. It qualified your ad viewing activity based on mouse movement. At night I would open the software, wrap my mouse cord around an oscillating desk fan, then go to bed. Earned myself $50/month

I remember the AllAdvantage.com cheat as well. It became so popular to game that one that not only were novel tactics like yours employed, but automatic mouse hijacking apps for Windows made some headway for those that didn't want to sit and click ads ad nauseum. I may have made a quick buck on this back in the early 2000s.

There were programs that would run up the 40 hour weekly limit in seconds. I'm assuming AllAdvantage had no real sanity checking when receiving data, which to my eyes means they deserved to go out the way they did.

Re: Smartphone cradle used to cheat “10k steps/day” health insurance discounts

#76

Post by rsynnott »

ikeboy wrote: post #41
rsynnott wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Twin studies have tended to indicate that IQ is quite dependent on socio-economic status (thereby raising the question of what IQ is actually _measuring_, but anyway...). Socio-economic status is also highly relevant to life expectancy.

My understanding was twin studies typically show a .70 or so genetic component. What studies are you looking at?

I mean, even base on .70 genetic (which is on the high end, I think), .30 is still a good bit...

Re: Smartphone cradle used to cheat “10k steps/day” health insurance discounts

#77

Post by Dave_TRS »

vanadium wrote: post #40
forgueam wrote: post #28

I did something similar in college. A company paid cash for installing software that displayed ads on the bottom of your monitor. It qualified your ad viewing activity based on mouse movement. At night I would open the software, wrap my mouse cord around an oscillating desk fan, then go to bed. Earned myself $50/month

I remember the AllAdvantage.com cheat as well. It became so popular to game that one that not only were novel tactics like yours employed, but automatic mouse hijacking apps for Windows made some headway for those that didn't want to sit and click ads ad nauseum. I may have made a quick buck on this back in the early 2000s.

AllAdvantage was great while it lasted. My method as a highschooler was a free mouse trembler app, coupled with 4 rotating Geocities sites I made to auto-forwarded to each other in a loop every 45 seconds.

Re: Smartphone cradle used to cheat “10k steps/day” health insurance discounts

#78

Post by CivilEngineer »

Steltek wrote: post #12

I bike 15+ miles a day but my work's discount program doesn't "support" biking. If I was into vigilante justice, I'd consider a solution like this too. But as it is, I'm quite content biking for my own sake rather than some pittance of a benefit.

Why don't they just give a discount for not being overweight or obese? They can check that with a scale and a tape meausure (are your hips wider than the widest part of your gut, etc?)

Re: Smartphone cradle used to cheat “10k steps/day” health insurance discounts

#79

Post by jimmy1 »

stochastic_monk wrote: post #63
8ytecoder wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have statistics to indicate biking is inherently more dangerous than other activities or are you just repeating a certain assumption you have?

Lots of runners in my family. They often get injuries (especially knew) from running. Biking is a lot kinder to your joints.

I rarely bike because I don't trust drivers, and you can't bike on the sidewalk.

Re: Smartphone cradle used to cheat “10k steps/day” health insurance discounts

#80

Post by Splines »

kpwags wrote: post #6

I wonder how many people use stuff like this to cheat the system? I remember seeing someone on reddit bragging about attaching their Fitbit to a reciprocating saw to get more steps than his wife. I couldn't figure out why it was that important, but with insurance discounts, I can definitely see the financial incentives.

People are willing to go quite far sometimes: https://www.reddit.com/r/canada/comments/8fu7wi/albertan_cha...
Post reply on HN