Kombucha Dog

Some of you are thinking "huh?". Or maybe, "oh, some fermented tea and a hot dog?". Well, Kombucha Dog is fermented tea and the "Dog" part is a clever strategy to help get local dogs in need of a home adopted. Good cause, great design, healthy drink! 

Besides the healthy, organic, raw, hand pressed goodness, every dog on the bottle is a local (Los Angeles area) dog that is currently in need of a home. And as you can see from the beautiful dog portraits on the label, Michael, the founder was a commercial photographer turned kombucha producer. Each dog has it's own page on the website under "Adopt K-Dogs".  If these dogs don't get you to try kombucha, I'm not sure what will. 

They are a hyper-local brewery and product so all you LA people, go show some love and help find these dogs a home while you're getting all this probiotic goodness.  

Measuring Heart + WILL Power

GigaOm's Kevin Tofel tells us a skeptic's story of UnderArmour's new fitness strap. For myself, I'll keep a more open mind. That might do a better job of measuring my willpower!

Via GigaOm

What 2000 Calories Looks Like (video)

The FDA recommends consuming 2000 calories a day and bases nutrional labelling on this. But really? Most people do not need to consume 2000 calories a day. Here's a fun video at what 2000 calories looks like. 

I'd have to go with bacon and carrots!

(Thanks Buzzfeed!)

STILLMOTION, Because Yoga Mats Matter

STILLMOTION is a project that Toniq's Craig Swanson worked on a while back. He's the man behind the name, STILLMOTION. A most appropriate name for an innovative yoga mat designed to provide a stable foundation.  There are grip-zones designed to help your pose and improve strength and stability. Check it out here, STILLMOTION. 

Fantastic Voyage Comes To Reality in Digital Medicine (video)

Do you remember the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage where a diplomat is nearly killed and a submarine with a crew is shrunken to microscopic size and injected into his body in efforts to save him? Or what about the 1987 film, Innerspace, where Dennis Quaid is miniaturized in a secret experiment and accidentally injected into Martin Short? If you remember these films when they were at the theater, you are probably a Boomer or Gen-X'er, and sorry to say this, but you are not getting any younger. With age comes health problems. But these films are inspiring a new direction in the medical and pharma world.

Would you take a pill with a sensor to monitor your internal health? Aptly named company, Proteus, the same name as the submarine in Fantastic Voyage, is a digital medicines company doing exactly this – making pills with sensors that communicate vital information about your medication-taking behaviors and how your body is responding. All of your internal and physical information is sent to a patch worn on your body and then sent to a digital health feedback system where all your vitals can be monitored. 

With the world's population ageing at alarming rates, Proteus is developing technologies and are working with companies such as Metformin, the largest pharmaceutical pill for Type II Diabetes, to create sensors ingested like pills that can monitor a myriad of health stats. The 3 core areas they are concentrating on are diabetes, central nervous system and transplant care. Proteus also develops products for caregivers as well as lifestyle tools for wellness. 

As the world ages and technology advances, we are going to see more and more technology integrated medicines. Not just in the form of chemical formulations, but more digital medicines like Proteus. Ageing is not a trend, it's a reality of life. Helping maintain a healthier lifestyle and providing tools to do this is a trend that will continue to advance as technology and medicine become more integrated and people begin to adapt to this new way of wellness.  

CES: Health and Auto?

We all know that Health and Wellness technology has been blipping on the radar for quite some time. Now integrate that technology to your driving experience and that is exactly what Ford in collaboration with Microsoft is working on "The car that cares". This future car will integrate and support the driver's health while in the car and integrate the information to mobile healthcare systems. After all, most Americans spend a good amount of hours in a car each week...in some cities, commuters may spend more time in their cars than in their home. 

With the WellDoc Application and Sync, the future Ford car can remind a diabetic to take check their insulin or take your blood pressure and keep track of your stress levels. 

(photo from iQ and for more informaiton, please check their blog post)

It has also just been released that Ford is opening a R&D labin Silicon Valley. "Slated to open in the first quarter of 2012, it reckons the center will help "prepare [Ford] for the next 100 years" as it scouts out new technologies and partnerships with local startups and universities alike." (engadget) 

For more information and some quite scary statistics on American health, please visit: Ford Collaborates with Microsoft via Digital Health Summit

We believe that the mobile health and wellness technology trend is only going to grow. Consumers are going to embrace the application and there will be more integration into other parts of our everyday life...like driving.

Flu Fashion

With flu season in full swing I thought I would take a look at some of the great fashion out there for prevention. Seriosuly if you are sick, stay home! And if you have to venture out, keep your germs to yourself. For everyone else, be armed and ready to protect yourself! Here are a few of my favorites flu-fashes.

this guy is the commuter with style and protection...Doraemon steez! (Doraemon is from a classic japanese cartoon)

and more from Japan...land of the face masks!

So have fun this flu season and get your flu-fash on! 

(p.s. Thanks Craig! The inspiration behind this Blip. Aaaachooooo!)