I agree the Apple Watch is really useful this way. But can't an "independent" device do this? It does not need to be tied to a phone or an app ecosystem (android or iOS) to work. It does need a cellular connection, and some logic on the device, but that's about it. This device would be cheaper and affordable to a larger set of people than spending upwards of $500(estimated) on an apple watch.
One could also carry around a calculator that's cheaper than their cellphone. Not many folks under 60 walk around wearing heart monitors, fall detectors, and other health monitors. This is about those things becoming commonplace for everyone.
My cousin was 53, vegetarian, biked and ran regularly. This gave him the chance to say goodbye.
Then his helmeted head hit the ground so hard it knocked him unconscious — hard enough for his Apple Watch to feel it. “A hit that hard could have killed me if I weren’t wearing it,” Burdett said. He had to replace the helmet. Sigh. Bicycle helmets prevent neither concussions nor death: by design, according to all epidemiological studies and according to the manufacturers of bicycle helmets. https://www.badscience.ne…
You are misrepresenting the research. The research is regarding the effect of public policy (making it illegal to bike without a helmet) on bicycle accidents. > With regard to the use of bicycle helmets, science broadly tries to answer two main questions... “what is the effect of a public health policy that requires or promotes helmets?” and... “what is the effect of wearing a helmet?” > The linked paper by Dennis an…
I am not misrepresenting the paper: it attempts to explain why countries with mandatory helmet laws see _no_clearly_measurable_reduction in KSI (Killed, Seriously Injured) rates.
More cyclists wear helmets in those jurisdictions (parts of Canada, all of Australia and N.Z.) and yet ecological studies fail to clearly demonstrate any benefit from helmets. If you sprayed a field with RoundUp and saw no difference in the number of weeds compared to an unsprayed field you would start to wonder about the effects of the treatment.
I really want an Apple Watch for this and the EKG / Heart stuff. But I hate the idea of having another bit of technology on my wrist when I already have the iPhone with me. I like watches, the mechanical kind. I love them as the art of design and as fashion item to be match to what you are wearing (when appropriate). I do not want to give that up. In the end I will likely give in and get the Apple Watch just because…
This might help: I frequently leave my iPhone at home, the watch is good enough on its own for messaging, calls, and email. Feels good not carrying a phone around.
Why does everyone who praises Apple on HN qualify it with the fact that they don’t like Apple for other reasons? Also, Apple is probably the best corporate citizen of any company its relative size in history.
It's not specific to this place. It's an effective persuasive argument technique. Say you want to praise Apple for something. Since praising Apple to Apple fans is preaching to the choir, your target is people who are not currently huge Apple fans. So, you begin by saying "hi, I am one of you, a person who isn't a big Apple fan." Now that you've established yourself as a member of the in-group, you drop your argument…
Life Alert, horrendous as their ads may be, would probably be surprised to hear that it's only now that you're finding a "device which can contact emergency services in the event of an accident" so life changing. As might OnStar, etc.
If they're surprised by this then that explains a lot.
We got a call recently from my elderly grandmother’s Apple Watch letting us know that she’d fallen. This feature was the main reason we bought the watch for her, and it worked when it mattered. (She’s fine.)
I really want an Apple Watch for this and the EKG / Heart stuff. But I hate the idea of having another bit of technology on my wrist when I already have the iPhone with me. I like watches, the mechanical kind. I love them as the art of design and as fashion item to be match to what you are wearing (when appropriate). I do not want to give that up. In the end I will likely give in and get the Apple Watch just because…
Think of the Apple Watch as something that you can use to reduce your phone usage. If you get the one with cellular and GPS, you can go walking/biking/outside and be reachable while at the same time not staring at your phone all the time. Even when you are at home the justification, for me at least, to keep the phone closer was because I might get a call or message I need to respond to. With the Watch, the phone goes…
So I kicked the Reddit habit. I pretty much only read HN, BBCNews, ft.com and ArsTechnica at this point. I have stopped looking at my iPad, iPhone, etc. when watching TV, sport or a movie. The need to always look was really unhealthy. I am much happier now. I have like 5 books on my iPad that I have never quite finished over the last 2 years when before all this easy tech I would have read them quite quickly. It really bugs me. I am going back to paper books as it forces focus (no, I do not want a book only reader to carry as well). The only reason I really care about having the phone with me is for the family. Between email, slack, hangouts, AppleIM and Line it is all just to damn much.
> Then his helmeted head hit the ground so hard it knocked him unconscious — hard enough for his Apple Watch to feel it.
> “A hit that hard could have killed me if I weren’t wearing it,” Burdett said. He had to replace the helmet.
Letter to the editor: the last sentence is a non-sequitur.
You have to replace a bike helmet any time it takes an impact, even if it isn't "so hard," because even if it doesn't look damaged the foam may be compressed and useless for a future crash.
Life Alert, horrendous as their ads may be, would probably be surprised to hear that it's only now that you're finding a "device which can contact emergency services in the event of an accident" so life changing. As might OnStar, etc.
LifeAlert makes you press a button, it is designed for people who might fall off the toilet, not someone who might fall off a mountain bike in the wilderness and be unconscious for hours.
OnStar is part of an entire car.
This is a watch with greater capability than both put together. Let it be awesome.