Sunday MashUp Is Medical Notes

Tons of “residual” links and resources are left out when reading and researching for newsletter issues. This one seems appropriate to use some of them, so I can (hopefully) get back on track next week.

I’ll also be adding more of these “raw” links in every issue.

But first…

I transitioned to yet another new domain, medicalnotes.co. It’s much less limiting than Sunday MashUp, which leaves space for developing and experimenting with this newsletter thing.

Hopefully, this one will last much longer.✌️

As I said earlier, I’ll be including more “raw” links to the issues, which we can say are “curated resources”. I’ll be very specific to which ones I include, which you can also see below and on the website.

Another idea is to build a community of Medical Notes subscribers. In my opinion, this will add value, since you’ll be able to communicate with each other and gain valuable connections and insights. This is what’ll make Medical Notes more than just a newsletter. Just an idea for now and something to think about.

One of the issues that was on my mind regarding Sunday MashUp was also its breadth. I knew this wasn’t sustainable, but it was a place to start. So, after 25 issues I figured out what I most enjoy writing about: digital medicine and well-being. It’s simple and easy (or easier) to understand.

At least something along those lines, I’m sure I’ll change the wording a bit in the coming days and weeks, but you get the idea. The idea is more specific, simpler and thus theoretically has better chances of growing.

Let’s see where this leads.

Whoop

Whoop is a new kind of health tracker because of three reasons:

1. It’s a strap, not a smartwatch (see photo), made purposefully for measuring health data and nothing else. It does 3 things: monitors sleep, measures recovery and recommends a daily exertion level based on the previous two.
2. The software behind the hardware is just as interesting. It analyses your day-to-day performance and coaches you towards a goal. This might be reduced heart rate, better sleep, less alcohol and so on. Plus, they offer a community of like-minded individuals.
3. Whoop are also special because of their business model. They don’t sell straps, they sell their software and community. That’s why you get the strap for free, but have to pay a monthly fee to access analytics and community. Sustainable from their view, but perhaps less appropriate for the masses. It’s more like a remote gym membership.

Air Quality

Air quality is not vital just outside, but also inside. Every time I think about its quality, I forget about its cleanness inside and take it for granted. This article in Wired reminded me about that. It’s a story about how a journalist fought bad air quality in her apartment. The key takeaways are:

1. It can be bad even if you think it’s good.
2. Cleaning air is expensive, especially because of purifiers. But they are also very innovative and well-designed. Examples are Molekule for cleaning and Airthinx for monitoring.

In issue #18 I extensively wrote about outside air quality and how Teslas can act as purifiers. A new solution is also battery-powered masks (see next).

Battery-powered Masks

This was just a matter of time and LG was one of the first to do it. You’ll soon be able to buy this tech/fashion piece. It’s also pretty interesting as it actively pumps CO2 out and O2 in and filters the air. No more excuses for anti-maskers!

Facebook vs COVID-19 Contact Tracing

In Issue #19 I shared an outlook onto the digital health landscape and I also mentioned contact tracing apps and the issues of privacy some had (more about privacy in Issue #23). Just about a week ago, the Slovenian government launched the full cross-platform support (iOS and Android) for a contact tracing app #OstaniZdrav (#StayHealthy). So, I made a little experiment and had a peek at the permissions it has and the permissions Facebook app has.

The privacy argument is out of the question. No additional words needed.

Paper-like Displays

E-ink displays are awesome for your eyes because they reflect light. Devices such as Kindle, ReMarkable and Light Phone use it, but the display performance isn’t the best. You can’t watch videos and has no colours for example. A company named TCL is merging E-ink with LCDs to spare our eyes - the technology is named NXTPAPER. This is perhaps a viable alternative to LCDs that our eyes are swarmed with every day. A nice fusion of consumer and health considerations.