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Apple's Hiring Spree of Biosensor Experts Continues As iWatch Team Grows

An anonymous reader writes "As the rumors surrounding Apple's mythical iWatch continue to swell, Apple has continued to hire folks with deep biomedical and sensor technology expertise. A previously unreported addition to Apple's growing cadre of medical device experts is Marcelo Malini Lamego, who began working at Apple this January. Before joining Apple this past January, Lamego spent 8 years as the CTO of Cercacor, a medical devices company with a focus on developing noninvasive monitoring technologies."

62 comments

  1. iWhat? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How is this tech news? A company hires some "experts" to create a product.. news at 11

    1. Re:iWhat? by ColdWetDog · · Score: 0

      Your post is just about as stupid as the Slashdot beta.

      You should be thoroughly ashamed of yourself.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  2. Re:Apple is making Jewelry? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why is the public perception that everything Apple does have to be something new that has never been done before?

  3. Re:Apple is making Jewelry? by Teun · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Because that's how Apple sells it to their public?

    --
    "The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
  4. Re:Apple is making Jewelry? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why is the public perception that everything Apple does have to be something new that has never been done before?

    Because that's how Apple sells it to their public?

    Oh, so it's because Slashdot posters are so dumb that they can't tell apart marketing speak from reality. Makes sense.

  5. Re:Apple is making Jewelry? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why is the public perception that everything Apple does have to be something new that has never been done before?

    Because that's how Apple sells it to their public?

    Oh, so it's because Slashdot posters are so dumb that they can't tell apart marketing speak from reality. Makes sense.

    Only if you assume that Apple's customer base is limited to Slashdot posters which seems unlikely given that the majority of Slashdot posters seem to regard Apple as the spawn of Satan.

  6. Not sure what they're doing by oscrivellodds · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I can't see going after the market for fitness buffs because there just aren't enough of them who care about heart rates, etc. Everyone who goes to the gym isn't training for a triathlon.

    I CAN see going after the chronically ill. That is a huge piece of the US/world population. If you could monitor things like blood sugar, heart rate/rhythm, blood pressure, blood oxygen/CO2 levels,etc., and detect anomalies and sound alarms this thing could be huge. I suppose all the fitness stuff would be a subset of this capability, so you'd get the fitness nuts and the ill with one device.

    Knowing Apple, it will probably only work with iTunes, the worst POS software since Windows...

    1. Re:Not sure what they're doing by psergiu · · Score: 2

      If it can monitor blood sugar level non-invasively and continuously and can make a iPhone/iPad/Mac do something on set thresholds, i am buying one for my mom, no matter the cost.

      I wish you all to never have to witness first-hand a loved one almost dying from an accidental insulin overdose.

      --
      1% APY, No fees, Online Bank https://captl1.co/2uIErYq Don't let your $$$ sit in a no-interest acct.
    2. Re:Not sure what they're doing by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

      I can't see going after the market for fitness buffs because there just aren't enough of them who care about heart rates, etc.

      Yet. Don't forget marketing can make people want a facility they hadn't thought about before.

      I don't think they'll go after the chronically ill specifically. I think they'll go for the people that want to be fit, and the people who are concerned about staying healthy. And they'll do that offering the kinds of measurements you mention.

      Knowing Apple, it will probably only work with iTunes, the worst POS software since Windows...

      It's been a few years since iOS devices have required iTunes. They can do updates, sync, backup, purchase software and media etc online without ever being connected to iTunes.

    3. Re:Not sure what they're doing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Knowing Apple, it will probably only work with iTunes, the worst POS software since Windows...

      You clearly haven't used Samsung Kies .

    4. Re:Not sure what they're doing by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      Nobody has to use Samsung Kies.

      Most Android users don't even know it exists.

      iTunes is no longer mandatory to use an iOS device, but it used to be. Kies is outright obscure.

    5. Re:Not sure what they're doing by maccodemonkey · · Score: 1

      Knowing Apple, it will probably only work with iTunes, the worst POS software since Windows...

      I'd go further than that. No iTunes compatibility at all. Requires an iPhone.

    6. Re:Not sure what they're doing by Bogtha · · Score: 0

      It's Apple. If they use their normal strategy, the product they release will not have every feature that everybody wants. It's going to have 80% of the features that 80% of people want, but done in a very nice way. There will be fitness features, but they will be aimed at the average slob who keeps telling himself he needs to get fitter, not experts. Fitness buffs will complain that it doesn't do X, but they'll end up using it anyway because it's convenient because lots of other things will start integrating with it.

      --
      Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
    7. Re:Not sure what they're doing by dkf · · Score: 1

      Nobody has to use Samsung Kies.

      Obscure or not, it's still a good counterexample to iTunes being "the worst POS software since Windows". Alas. It's also hardly unique. There are times when I hate this industry.

      --
      "Little does he know, but there is no 'I' in 'Idiot'!"
    8. Re:Not sure what they're doing by RespekMyAthorati · · Score: 1

      I use iTunes to transfer files between my computer and my ipad (and yes, it sucks). Is there another way?

    9. Re:Not sure what they're doing by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

      Nobody has to use Samsung Kies.

      And nobody has to use iTunes. But many people do use iTunes, because unlike Kies it isn't a piece of shit.

      --
      Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
    10. Re:Not sure what they're doing by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

      email, dropbox, and if you have a Mac - iCloud.

  7. Re:Apple is making Jewelry? by geogob · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Ah yes! I had one of those. I loved my Casio calculator watch with biomedical sensoric, music and player and communication capabilties.(!)
    Apple should also be ashamed to have released a cellphone 2007. Didn't Motorola already make cellphones like in the '70 and '80? I remember frying parts of my brain with one of those. There was Apple little late to the game as well it seems.

    The total lack of inovation and success of Apple in the mobile industry and the currently brillant success of Motorola in this branch is true mirror of this I guess. Gosh, I bet things would be different if they had been the first ever to make mobile telephones. Then they would surely be at the top of the marked with their true innovation.

    By the way, are your having fun with your Samsung phone today? oh, what do I hear? your were too busy trolling? Carry on.

  8. No Strap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Will be attached IV-style.

  9. Re:Apple is making Jewelry? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why is the perception of Slashdot that if anyone has done something even vaguely in the same ballpark, no matter how removed it is, then clearly the newer lot are just copying.

    I mean really, who really expects an iWatch to be anything like the old Casio calculator watch in any way shape or form? This is just yelling "zomg, that watch had something kinda resembling a computer in it".

  10. Re:Apple is making Jewelry? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A majority of Slashdot posters don't matter in the real world either. Putting more stake into what technology someone owns instead of what someone is doing with that technology is shortsighted and, frankly, the sign of being a total asshole who has little to offer aside from being able to vomit up the stats on a product spec sheet. I'll go to Google if I need to know what Product A's processor is versus Product B. When I want someone who can make either one of those processors do something that last place I would bother would be Slashdot.

  11. hiring now = little progress yet by rapjr · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Doing medical sensing, making sure the data is accurate, especially in a mobile setting where the sensors are subject to movement, and understanding what the data means (mostly only astronauts have ever been subject to continuous medical sensing) are not easy. If they are just hiring experts now it will be a year or more before they have even a basic handle on the issues involved. If they want something FDA certified with data that can be easily digested by doctors it will take at least several years to bring a product to market. If they are just building another fitness device they probably already have it working. Possibly they'll try to position some medical-like sensing as non-medical so they don't have to get FDA certified and can avoid liability by claiming the device and apps are not intended for any medical/health purpose.

  12. Re:Apple is making Jewelry? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    but this one has a basal thermometer sensor to tell every greasy brotha with an I-phone app when your ol lady is at peak fertility..

  13. Re:Apple is making Jewelry? by Hognoxious · · Score: 3, Insightful

    A beta-loving nonce wrote:

    it's because Slashdot posters are so dumb that they can't tell apart marketing speak from reality.

    Quite the opposite. They're perfectly aware of the discrepancy which is why they call foul, in a vain attempt to educate any feckless hipster fucktards like you whose mom's might be reading slashdot to them.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  14. Re:As Cato said of Carthage, Beta must die! by Savage-Rabbit · · Score: 1

    Beta must die...

    Nitpick, it was the Phoenicians who founded Carthage which in software parlance would make this first Carthage the Alpha version. It was the Alpha version that was destroyed by the Romans, not the Beta version. Carthage Beta came into existence when the Romans refactored the whole Carthage project after the fiery destruction of Carthage Alpha. Carthage Beta was eventually destroyed by the Arabs and what remained of it has today been absorbed by the still ongoing and highly successful Tunis project. Hope that cleared things up for everybody.

    --
    Only to idiots, are orders laws.
    -- Henning von Tresckow
  15. And Here's The Bad News by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 1

    The iWatch is intended solely for the use of the NSA.

    Why else would they call it that?

    1. Re:And Here's The Bad News by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is probably for Obamacare.

  16. Yo dawg by Hognoxious · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Why is the perception of Slashdot that if anyone has done something even vaguely in the same ballpark, no matter how removed it is, then clearly the newer lot are just copying.

    Because they're imitating Apple's lawyers?

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  17. Re:Apple is making Jewelry? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why is the public perception that everything Apple does have to be something new that has never been done before?

    Because that's how Apple sells it to their public?

    Oh, so it's because Slashdot posters are so dumb that they can't tell apart marketing speak from reality. Makes sense.

    We know it's market speak. You're looking at this all wrong because you're convinced everyone else is so stupid (except you, of course). There's a lot of that on this site. Maybe one day you'll find a sense of worth that doesn't depend on other people screwing up, and on that day you will finally stop being so insecure.

    Anyway, it's not that we are all so dumb. It's that when a company repeatedly makes a set of claims, it is reasonable to expect them to measure up to their own claims. And to point out when they don't. None of this implies we ever took the claims seriously. Isn't that simple enough?

  18. Privacy regulations by failedlogic · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There are all kinds of biosensors available that don't connect to the Internet. An Apple device presumably will.

    There is enough concern with the amount of information being collected with an iPhone. Consumers should be cautious about providing their personal health info with Apple. I would only hope whatever information is stored on Apple servers, it is regulated like other HIPAA info. At the least, if Apple needs to be HIPAA compliant and information is breached, big fines and other penalties will/should follow.

    1. Re:Privacy regulations by StripedCow · · Score: 1

      Next up: AppleCare Health Insurances (*)

      (*) only people in the intended target population can apply; your iWatch can tell you;
      the rest can find themselves another insurance company.

      --
      If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
    2. Re:Privacy regulations by alvinrod · · Score: 1

      This assumes that they will actually store any of it on their servers. It wouldn't surprise me if the information stayed only on the device or your computer if you wanted to sync with it. If it were Google making this device one would probably assume that, yes, they would be collecting the data and analyzing it in order to sell advertisements, but Apple generally seems content to no bother with your data as they seem content to make their money selling people $100 worth of parts and components for $300.

  19. Re:Apple is making Jewelry? by Teun · · Score: 1
    Contrary to you I don't worry about the /. crowd, nor do I care about the latte sippers.

    But I do see a connection between Apple marketeers and their faithful.

    --
    "The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
  20. Re:Apple is making Jewelry? by Thantik · · Score: 2

    Troll or not, there's a good point made here. Apple doesn't seem to be doing anything that everyone else isn't already doing anymore. At least when the original iPhone came out in 2007 it had a real web browser, web apps, touch screen interface that didn't suck, etc. They were pretty much "never" going to do an iPad-mini...and then they followed that gravy train. Everyone jumped on the smartwatch game...and then Apple followed. Apple isn't doing their own thing any longer. They're merely trying to stay relevant at this point.

  21. Man, they are smart... by ugen · · Score: 1

    Disclaimer: I am an Apple product user. I like my iPhone 5. However, I tried and could not like iOS 7 (my primary iPhone is still on 6, and I'll stick with it for as long as possible), and admittedly for a few years I felt about my iDevices about the same as anything else - they serve the purpose, annoy me sometimes, whatever. Mildly ambivalent.

    At the same time, I wasn't too excited about wearable computing. Watch-like devices that came out so far seemed to be trying the form factor without actually having figured out their purpose. They were poor answers to questions no one asked.

    Then Apple does this. I have no idea what specifically "this" is but admittedly a "bio-metric" angle is intriguing. I am now somewhat curious and even a little excited to see what they will develop. This may be in part because as I got older, I've got a lot more careful about maintaining my health (whatever is left of it anyway). As part of that quest, I've been through a number of dedicated health-metric devices - and virtually all of them so far came up extremely short in both functionality, usability and integration. In fact, ironically, the most used "health" device is my iPhone which I consistently use for nutrition and fitness tracking.

    So - great angle from Apple. Wish I could work on that project :)

  22. Imagine the marketing angles by retroworks · · Score: 1

    You've fallen in love... you get ads for valentines. You're hungry... you get coupons for fast food. Your IPhone can have a "lie detector" app which gives you a little electric shock if you text a lame excuse. Big Brother is Won't Just Be Watching.

    --
    Gently reply
  23. fuck apple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    if you give that company any of your money then you are just a fake anus

  24. Tech by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So most of the glucose monitoring requires microneedles.

    What I'd suggest they get into (eventually...) would be a wrist implant that senses glucose and other blood chems e.g. liver damage (did you eat poisonous mushrooms or get exposed to pesticides on your peaches in higher than normal amounts?) and cancer markers, that has a blue tooth low energy signal to the watch (which itself talks with your wifi / cloud / devices).

    You have... ONE (1) NEW ILLNESS!

  25. Also by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    (same anon coward here replying to himself)... for college kids... let me tell you, I'd pay anything to make sure if I had kids they never went through what I went through, and put sensors for common date rape drugs in the implant. Auto-call 911 with your GPS if someone doses you with roofies...

  26. Re:Apple is making Jewelry? by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

    You are giving credit to the iPhone as being different enough from existing phones. However you are judging the iWatch (if there is such a thing) without knowing anything about it. For all you know the gap between existing "smartwatches" and the "iWatch" will be greater than the gap between then existing smartphones and the iPhone.

  27. Re:Apple is making Jewelry? by aaaaaaargh! · · Score: 2

    Why is the public perception that everything Apple does have to be something new that has never been done before?

    Especially given the fact that Apple has never done anything that hasn't been done before...

  28. Wonder if I should send them my resume. by Ihlosi · · Score: 1

    ... having worked on a whole bunch of biomedical measurements (including, but not limited to ECG, non-invasive blood pressure and SpO2) in the last 12 years.

    1. Re:Wonder if I should send them my resume. by timeOday · · Score: 2
      Here is how google assembled the team for its self-driving car initiative:

      Within a few months, Page and Brin had called Thrun to green-light a driverless-car project. "They didn't even talk about budget," Thrun says. âoeThey just asked how many people I needed and how to find them. I said, 'I know exactly who they are.'"

      If this is any example, top tier companies putting together a hit squad don't look at resumes. They first make a key hire by making a can't-say-no offer to a professor at a top university, then he cherry-picks people with a name in the field.

  29. Re:Apple is making Jewelry? by negRo_slim · · Score: 1

    Your vitriol is pathetic.

    --
    On the Oregon Cost born and raised, On the beach is where I spent most of my days
  30. Re:Apple is making Jewelry? by geogob · · Score: 0

    Everyone jumped on the smartwatch game...and then Apple followed.

    That's absurd. Watch with higher funktionalities like calculator, PDA or so exist since the '80. There have been multiple models form a lot of different sources that have been released on regular basis. Some companies released a new model a year since 2000. For some reason there has been a recent hype on smart watches, mostly driven by rumors on nonexistent Apple products and by the Samsung Gear release. I wouldn't qualify a media hype on something that has already been there for decades and is well implanted as "everyone jumped on the smartwatch game". Especially when the overhyped media fail completely to talk about those models of smartwatches that are actually useful or inovative.

    Apple is doing what they have been doing with the ipod, the iphone and many other product. They don't jump on the bandwagon just like you suggest it. They watch every one doing it, look where they fail (because they do) and see how they can market such a product in a way to be succesful. A lot of the inovation is more on the maketing and market study side than on the actual technique itself. And it works.

    But for some reasons, people (you) seem to expect that Apple should make such breakthrough with every product release. Mind you, its mostly Apple's fault and their marketing approach that leads to this.

  31. Re:Apple is making Jewelry? by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

    That's absurd. Watch with higher funktionalities like calculator, PDA or so exist since the '80. There have been multiple models form a lot of different sources that have been released on regular basis. Some companies released a new model a year since 2000.

    The thing that makes a smartphone is not calculator and PDA facilities. It's the ability to run third party apps as "first class citizens". i.e. downloadable software that has the same possibilities and UI as the built in apps (so featurephone stuff such as WAP and J2ME doesn't qualify.)

    So surely a smartwatch should have the same qualification. Show me a watch that has an app store with full featured apps, and I'll accept it's a smartwatch. Show me a Casio calculator watch and I'll just laugh.

  32. A watch that you have to take off and charge? by ASDFnz · · Score: 1

    I am not sure that this will catch on given that iDevices need it every day.

  33. Re:Apple is making Jewelry? by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    Whereas this would make Oscar Wilde jealous, right?

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  34. Re:Apple is making Jewelry? by the_B0fh · · Score: 1

    Perhaps if they actually made the claims you thought they made.

  35. Vapor-wear by riskkeyesq · · Score: 1

    An unsubstantiated claim about an unannounced product that may or may not include functionality relative to recent biometric hires is adequate to begin a flamefest. I love watching idiots argue about nothing they are privy to. Does one HAVE to be an idiot to be in the AndroidRox Club or does it just seem to draw those kind of people?

  36. Re:Apple is making Jewelry? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why is the public perception that everything Apple does have to be something new that has never been done before?

    Because that's how Apple sells it to their public?

    Oh, so it's because Slashdot posters are so dumb that they can't tell apart marketing speak from reality. Makes sense.

    Only if you assume that Apple's customer base is limited to Slashdot posters which seems unlikely given that the majority of Slashdot posters seem to regard Apple as the spawn of Satan.

    But the original post that started this silly thread was posted by someone who is clearly not an Apple fanboy but rather an iHater.

  37. Re:Apple is making Jewelry? by geogob · · Score: 1

    The thing that makes a smartphone is not calculator and PDA facilities. It's the ability to run third party apps as "first class citizens". i.e. downloadable software that has the same possibilities and UI as the built in apps (so featurephone stuff such as WAP and J2ME doesn't qualify.)

    So surely a smartwatch should have the same qualification. Show me a watch that has an app store with full featured apps, and I'll accept it's a smartwatch. Show me a Casio calculator watch and I'll just laugh.

    I don't know where your are pulling these definitions out. Did you come with those up yourself? Where's that normativ commity that qualifies what is a smartphone and not? Because last time I checked, the accepted understanding of what a smartphone (or smartwactch) are, are quite a bit broader. And if your think that the smart watches available in the last two decades limit themselfs to have PDA and calculators funktionalities, which were funcitonalities found in the '80, as I clearly mentionned I believe, you should go an read a bit about the history of smart watches.

  38. Re:Apple is making Jewelry? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But the original post that started this silly thread was posted by someone who is clearly not an Apple fanboy but rather an iHater. It was you who decided to make it about Apple and their customers. The GP post is just pointing out that inconsistency.

  39. Re:Apple is making Jewelry? by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

    Definition is from working mostly in the mobile industry since 1997, including on the teams making some of the early smartphones. The smartphone definition is widely misused. But if you look for a distinction between the functionalities of a "featurephone" and a "smartphone", you'll find it is what I told you.

    And if your think that the smart watches available in the last two decades limit themselfs to have PDA and calculators funktionalities, which were funcitonalities found in the '80

    I merely commented on what you brought up. I'm reasonably aware of the various watches that computer companies have tried since the 80s. Though less so than I am of mobile phones. Nevertheless, I don't need to read any history. I lived it.

  40. Re:Apple is making Jewelry? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wrong, I'm not an iHater (I did write the original post you speak of), I have a few Apple products around the house, I recognize quality when I see it, just happens that MOST of what Apple puts out there is junk to fill landfills.

  41. Re:Apple is making Jewelry? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    At least you care enough to comment, if I had not posted, you may have not gone to all this trouble!

    What is a troll? Someone who disagrees with you? I invite discourse on my opinion, you tell me to carry on, who is the troll here?

  42. Re:Apple is making Jewelry? by geogob · · Score: 1

    I consider someone turning to ridicule an action or person based on a obviously and willingly flawed logic a troll, that especially when it is wirtten in a tone like the one you use.

    I tried to illustrate how flawed your logic is. I do not care about your opinion and I will never comment or judge an opinion here. But a flawed logic of false statement, I will. If I believe the facts your state are false, I will comment on it. And that is what I did.

    Not being able to post on what I believe is a flawed statement and moderate at the same time, I allowed myself to express my opinion on my perception of your comment (seen as a troll comment), while still make a remark on the content of your post. From the moderation my comment got, I believe this approach did not come across well and I will refrain of doing it in the future.