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Health

Would You Wear a Bracelet That Tracked Your Eating, Sleeping and Exercise Habits?

Oct. 9, 2012 11:00pm Liz Klimas

With studies confirming the importance of the proper combination of sleep, eating and exercise habits as all contributing to a healthy lifestyle, app and tech developers have begun upping creation of devices that can constantly track personal data and measurements as you pursue your health goals.

Nike’s FuelBand was among the first to really create a buzz earlier this year, but a new device by lark, a company that makes wearable wellness monitors, is being said to take the technology a step further. The device larklife tracks circadian rhythms – not just diet and activity – to monitor how your energy levels “peak and dip.”

larklife Wristband App Tracks Various Wellness Measurements to Increase Productivity and Energy by Through Habit

(Image: Lark)

larklife works through the iOS platform, tracking activity, diet, sleep and providing “expert-backed coaching” on small changes that could lead to an overall increase in “productivity and wellness both at home and on the job,” according to the company’s press release.

“Among many other metrics, larklife tracks steps and calories burned, the kinds of foods you are eating and when you are taking breaks throughout the day, and, using a smart machine learning algorithm, larklife can identify the kinds of activities you undertake,” the promo video description states. “Using this information, larklife harnesses the power of behavior change science to help users build long term healthy habits.”

Watch this promo video about the $150 wristband and app:

When it comes to connecting your daily habits and bodily measures with an app though, what are the privacy restrictions placed on the company collecting said information? According to larklife’s's privacy policy, the information it collects is knowingly provided by app users and, as you might expect, it is used to “personalize and improve” services. They do acknowledge the right to share some of your personal information with third parties, such as affiliated businesses. larklife also states that it could release your personal information when it believes “in good faith that realize is necessary to comply with laws; enforce or apply our conditions of use and other agreements; or protect the rights, property, or safety of lark, our employees, our users, or others.”

(Image: Lark)

larklife also includes a HIPPA privacy policy, because it handles personal information regarding health. The policy states:

It is the policy of the Company that for all routine and recurring uses and disclosures of PHI (except for uses or disclosures made 1) to or as authorized by the customer, client or end-user or 2) as required by law for HIPAA compliance such uses and disclosures of protected health information must be limited to the minimum amount of information needed to accomplish the purpose of the use or disclosure. It is also the policy of the Company that non-routine uses and disclosures will be handled pursuant to established criteria. It is also the policy of the Company that all requests for protected health information (except as specified above) must be limited to the minimum amount of information needed to accomplish the purpose of the request.

[...]

It is the policy of the Company that all members  of our workforce have been trained by the compliance date on the policies and procedures governing protected health information and how the Company complies with the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules. It is also the policy of the Company that new members of our workforce receive training on these matters within a reasonable time after they have joined the workforce. It is the policy of the Company to provide training should any policy or procedure related to the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rule materially change. This training will be provided within a reasonable time after the policy or procedure materially changes. Furthermore, it is the policy of the Company that training will be documented indicating participants, date and subject matter.

lark founder and CEO Julia Hu described the band in a statement like being “a fitness trainer, nutritionist, productivity, stress and sleep coach” all in one. The process is gradual, Hu said, but “failure isn’t possible.”

(Image: Lark)

Larklife advisor and neuroeconomist at Stanford University Baba Shiv in a statement said what she researched about habit-building has been included in app to help the wellness program stick.

“This product doesn’t just give people data and expect them to know how to use it,” Shiv said.

Sarah Rotman Epps reviews the device on Forbes writing that she sees it as a “new phase of personal computing that will transform the way we live and work.” She points out similar devices coming before larklife and why she thinks this one is here to to stay. Epps writes that instead of just focusing on weight loss, the app looks at increasing productivity and energy levels for daily activities. It works with existing infrastructure — the iPhone and other iPod. It also has a wearable design that gives information to users and what they should do with it “in a way that’s not boring.”

The device is available for pre-order now and is expected to ship before the end of the year. Learn more about larklife on its website here.

(H/T: Wired)

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Comments (68)

Libermerican
Posted on October 10, 2012 at 12:53am
I’ll wear it, if they pay me enough.

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- PATTY HENRY
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 2:24am
  WHY ??? Those dopes. All they can do is treat other people like LAB animals. SHUT UP. STFU. STHU. STOP trying to get into our business. I will stay up, go to sleep, eat do whatever the H. I want to do, when I want to do it and I resent ANYONE ‘TRACKING” anything I do, say, think, write, whatever…
  not just NO. HELL NO!! What is wrong with AMERICAN???? I want my country back. I want my FREEDOM BACK. GTH outta here you progressive freaks…even if it would “save my life” YOU SICKO PSYCHO freaks!!!!
  
  WELLNESS PROGRAM my AUNT FANNIE!!! This is YET ANOTHER CONTROL device to suck us into being told what to do, when to do it. TELL YOU WHAT YOU FREAKS… leave me the hell alone and any HBP that I would develop would disappear. Get that SOB out of office and I’ll sleep like a rock again. NO. NO people. DO NOT EVER give anyone the right to YOUR PERSONAL information for ANY REASON !!! Just like that jacka’s confiscation of COLLEGE LOANS…now that SOB can tell kids where they can/can’t go to school and what they can study. OBAMA and his minions are just not smart enough to impress me. HIS IQ sucks; His mind and his ability do to. THEY GOT NOTHIN’… THEY ARE NOTHIN’…. Take your “wellness” (A.K.A. total control) and shove it. We’re talking about FREEDOM of our very souls now folks. STOP THIS MADNESS!!!
  
  Report this comment
- Gary_K
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 4:08am
  Hey Patty
  
  Next time wont you please tell us how you really feel…LOL Great post as usual !
  
  Report this comment
- damon_k
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 4:44am
  This is the stuff we use to read about in high school in books like “1984″, “A Brave New World” and “Animal Farm”. Read more insights at: http://smallcraftadvisorychronicles.blogspot.com/
  
  Report this comment
- loriann12
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 6:30am
  It would depend on who was analyzing the data. If my oncologist was getting the data and then setting up a program for me, I’d consider it. If it’s a government agency telling me I don’t eat right or get enough exercise, so they’re raising my health care costs, they can shove it.
  
  Report this comment
- chucksue351
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 6:47am
  when the government is the medical community and they are paying the bills (through our taxes) then they will be in the position to tell us how to live
  
  Report this comment
- MaleneSBrown
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 8:04am
  @ Patty
  Well said. Your sentiments are shared by many. I dare say the INFORMED majority (as opposed to the undecided voter crowd). Boy, do I wish I had more time to exercise. I would love to have the body that I did at 18. I don’t want the Gestapo to get me in to shape by making it criminal to not exercise.
  
  Report this comment
- CABERNETQHS
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 8:13am
  I’m with Patty. H E L L NO! I can see things like this, and the monitoring device Progressive Insurance has been promoting, starting out as an optional way to be rewarded for being a “good little citizen”…then soon turns into mandatory or you don’t get insurance at all. Soon it will just be the expected chip or “mark” on the right hand or forehead.
  
  Report this comment
- Popp40
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 10:17am
  Has anyone heard that more and more high schools that are requiring the students to have cards or lanyards that will track their movements. People need to wake up!
  
  Report this comment
- gingercake
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 12:39pm
  My hubby’s employer got into this program. They say it’ll save him $30 per month on his insurance premium. He just brought home the arm band, so we don’t know yet if it will work the way they say. Maybe he only saves the $30 if he loses a little weight or something?
  
  Report this comment
SUNTZU
Posted on October 10, 2012 at 12:33am
I might wear a vacuum sensor on my short arm
To track the governments sucking habits.

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- babylonvi
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 2:07am
  Damn, you made me spray soda all over my keyboard.
  
  Report this comment
- MaleneSBrown
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 12:32pm
  If I was drinking soda, it would have sprayed all over my key board!
  
  Report this comment
Cosmos102
Posted on October 10, 2012 at 12:19am
Wellll, Nike would be disappointed if I wore that bracelet. Or maybe appalled. But no, I would not consent to wear that bracelet.

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asybot12
Posted on October 10, 2012 at 12:11am
All of you (me included) by using social media, commenting on sites like this and others it would not take a large computer to figure out you life patterns as a matter of fact they would tell who ever wants to know a heck of a lot more about you than your sleep patterns!

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Metalstr8jckt
Posted on October 10, 2012 at 12:06am
These “Bracelets” are old “tech.” Historically – Prisoners and slaves wore these.They are called manacles or if you will: “Handcuffs” or chains. An article like this points directly at how far they can push you into believing “anything” that’s proposed to “help you,” You pathetic cows, and sheep.allow this to happen. Right into the cattle cars you go. Some may resist…..

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- Popp40
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 10:50am
  Well didn’t Biden say they were “going to put you all back in chains”? Maybe this was one of the ways he was referring to.
  
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willyman57
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 11:58pm
I will not comply!!!

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Ronko
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 11:57pm
Wear something similar to the Mark of the Beastin concept, no way.

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- Smokey_Bojangles
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 12:25am
  Coming to Obamacare near you!…Or Romney Care.
  
  Report this comment
- PATTY HENRY
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 2:27am
  NO….don’t even try to paint ROMNEY with the COMMUNIST/PROGRESSIVE/MARXIST BRUSH toots…this is pure Alinsky B.S. from Obama. Cutting Health Care and making it available is something ROMNEY did… but not as a “GOTCHA” to steal our freedoms….WATCH what you are saying here. This part of our History will be well recorded and the freaks on the Liberal side will be known throughout our history as the cowards who almost gave away our FREEDOM and AMERICA. GOT IT?
  
  Report this comment
Pyrat
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 11:57pm
Yeah I don’t care, I have two Nike Fuel Bands probably by the new one when it comes out. It’s a great motivator, compete against my friends and family. Anything to help raise my level, speed, strength, I have been looking into the Nike training shoes, too. I went from 400 pounds to under 200, and I just get faster every time I go for a run. Anything to help me do that, I’ll give it a try.

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- PATTY HENRY
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 3:13am
  @ PYRAT… so… YOU think it’s fine to have the GOV supply (or someone) a bracelet that we’d have to wear… use and share information it gathered… you lost 200 pounds…you say… with something like this bracelet? But you just signed up for the BLAZE two days ago… And you are here to encourage people to ALLOW this ? REALLY???? hmmmmmmmmmmmm. PEOPLE CAN LOSE WEIGHT without having some friggin’ gov. band on their wrist… don’t you think??? Just askin.
  
  Report this comment
- Wango
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 9:25am
  RATTY PATTY . . . What government band? Who’s forcing you to do what? You’re a case study in paranoia. If you don’t like government intrusion, maybe you shouldn’t have been so gung ho for the Patriot Act. Here’s a news flash, the government already has access to anything meaningful they want to know about you. And trust me, nobody cares that you eat cake and Pepsi for breakfast. But if you wore that Nike FuelBand, you just might be motivated to get off your duff and build a healthier life.
  
  Report this comment
- greatgrandma
  Posted on October 11, 2012 at 9:46pm
  Ptrat, what if it wasn’t a bracelet but a chip in the wrist? What if it not only gave all this info, but, could also administer medicine, as well as good dose of medicine that would end your life if deemed so? Look for it. Probably around March of next year.
  
  Report this comment
voting-for-romney
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 11:55pm
Between the consumer protection agency questioning how anyone can make an advertisement that they can calculate your calorie burning or other measurements with 100% accuracy without debate, the advertisement would have to include the phrase “estimated calorie burn rate, estimated measurement, etc”? Will that will spawn a dozen authors who claim that such consumer products don’t work as advertised?

Then the company would have to also ensure that any monitoring device advertising does not violate any government regulations concerning “medical advice”, as well as any possible warnings, if this device emits any radio wave communications, the disclaimer “user assumes all risks concerning unknown effects due to long term exposure to a device that emits electromagnetic radiation”, between those three “big government regulations”, its mandatory use by insurance companies will be a pipe dream?

Yea, we know where these devices go when they are mandatory to wear, in the microwave oven for 10 seconds?

Oh, must have been a factory reject? Oh well?

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Meyvn1
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 11:49pm
Would you wear a ring that said this?

http://www.wnd.com/2012/10/obamas-ring-there-is-no-god-but-allah/

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- The-Monk
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 12:02am
  Already sent it to GB.
  
  Thanks and I hope it turns out to be real.
  
  Report this comment
- asybot12
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 1:35am
  Hey monk thanks for the link to that ghoster
  
  Report this comment
HPC172ERTAV
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 11:43pm
NFWAY… 28 years late, but it’s here. Can’t decide if it’s Orwell or Huxley

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FROG_24_7
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 11:39pm
BodyMedia has had a Superior product out for a decade.

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christos
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 11:38pm
.Creepy.

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kaydeebeau
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 11:36pm
I seem to recall a warning about such things….666 – I’ll pass

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Gary_K
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 11:34pm
How is this for a piece of jewerly?

http://www.wnd.com/2012/10/obamas-ring-there-is-no-god-but-allah/

Now we know !!

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- The-Monk
  Posted on October 9, 2012 at 11:52pm
  Thanks Gary_K….
  
  I sent it right to GB.
  
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- CatB
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 12:36am
  Yes .. sent that out to all my email friends earlier .. let’s see .. he hides everything else and leaves one of the biggest clues to his beliefs out in plain sight ..
  
  Report this comment
The-Monk
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 11:32pm
This device could increase the divorce rates if used in the bedroom….

Honey…. STOP looking at your Lark !!! : )

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Alborn49
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 11:31pm
I will not ever wear any device that can be recorded and put on the computer for access by hackers and government wanting to control us like the current government does. I will not even have a smart meter put on my house. I WILL NOT COMPLY.

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- Wolf
  Posted on October 9, 2012 at 11:45pm
  Still got your cell phone and laptop?
  But I do agree with your sentiment.
  
  Report this comment
- Metalstr8jckt
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 12:27am
  @ALBORN49: Unless you sever your ties with your commercial electricity provider, the smart meter will go on the meter base(box on house) without your permission or consent.(Your signing a contract allows them full access-supported by PUC of your State and it’s legal system) All electric metes are the power providers property that enable them to record your electrical consumption, and bill you for it. It is not your meter. BTW, many electrical delivery companies start charging well in advance of implementing smart meter replacement. Look at your bills. The lines from the meter-base, and breaker box/main shutoff of your dwelling (a couple of inches) are yours, as well as all the lines in the house. Everything from the pole down to, and including the meter belongs to the provider. (understand now?) I think that only membership in a
  Co-op could delay installation of a “smart meter,” however your resistance would be overturned by a majority opposition vote of Co-op members. Good luck. Electricity is still the energy sector, just as controlling, and all powerful. Feeling powerless?
  
  Report this comment
- PATTY HENRY
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 3:56am
  MetalStr8jckt… Yes this is more C. we have to undo when we get that jerk out of the WH and all of his COMMIE/PROGRESSIVE/MUSLIM/MARXIST dopes with him. The POWER CO’s are the real “seat of wealth’ in most countries. EVERYONE has to pay something into it…the amounts are small and not threatening (now) and they take in BILLIONS AND BILLIONS of dollars that just funnel through and grease all types of palms. I read that every PRIME MINISTER in CANADA (For example) had come up the route to the POWER COMPANY CORPORATE ladder. (then think those scandals with the power co’s etc.) I also heard that FIRED former CHAIRMAN and CEO OF FANNIE MAE (Franklin Raines) not only got a major golden parachute but he retains the PATENT ! (WHY would he have the patent in the first place) for the cover plate that the GOV. would use to close off various plugs in our homes so they can control what/how much we used!!! (I’m so nauseated) … and that this SOB is from…wait for it…CHICAGO and that he and VALERIE JARRETT and her commie parents. etc. all own this in a PRIVATE COMPANY. SO, using our TAX dollars thse SOBS got a Patent for a plug cover devise (that you need a special tool to remove) The Patent covers this tool too) and will have a MONOPOLY on it when it comes to closing off our electric supply. WHEN GLENN said we have a lot of work to do after we get the SOB out, he is not kidding. This is one of the first things. Keep Files folks, so you can refer/share.
  
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PaxInVeritate
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 11:29pm
No. Never. Haud!

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PALEHORSE
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 11:18pm
Big Brother needs to know if you are performing your daily tasks in the most efficient manner while consuming the fewest amount of calories needed for the tasks.

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OlefromMN
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 11:18pm
Is this a trick question?

H E double hockey sticks NO!

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possom
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 11:18pm
When you get tired of it you can see how many times it skip’s when you throw it in the lake.

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CatB
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 11:17pm
No . but I see the government REQUIRING them should Obama and his Obamacare get re-elected .. .this MUST NOT HAPPEN … repeal Obamacare …

R & R 2012.

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KingCanon
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 11:08pm
Yes if it was a stretching cinnamon flavored melatonin one!

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dylan
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 11:07pm
No!

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Meyvn1
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 11:06pm
Uh no. I don’t even where a wedding ring or a watch. If one doesn’t know their own habits without a stupid tracking bracelet they are extremely out of touch with themselves.

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- Dan_o
  Posted on October 9, 2012 at 11:13pm
  That’s what I was thinking.
  
  “Failure isn’t possible.” I guess we have different definitions of failure.
  
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