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Google Fit To Curate Steps, Calories, Heart Rate, Other Biometric Data

mpicpp (3454017) writes "Google is planning to release a new product called Google Fit that will aggregate health data from various devices and apps, according to a report Thursday from Forbes. Fit will use available APIs to pull biometric information together into one place, but it's unclear whether it will be a standalone app or part of the Android OS. Reports of Fit come on the heels of Apple's announcement of HealthKit in iOS 8, a system that also interacts with apps and APIs to curate and present health data like steps walked, calories consumed, and heart rates logged. Fit also follows the announcement of Sami, Samsung's health platform for culling health-related info."

10 of 53 comments (clear)

  1. The more they know about you... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...the more tailored offers they can make for you.

  2. Re:Fuck Google by fazig · · Score: 3, Insightful

    EULA: You agree that Google may transfer, store, and/or share your User Data with third party organizations, like health insurance companies.

  3. Re: Don't do evil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Apple's "healthkit" closely mimics both the appearance and functionality of Samsung's S-Health suite, which is an android health app / service suit that has existed on Android for a few years now.

    It was quite cringeworthy watching apple's announcement, implementing "revolutionary" and "new" features which have been available on Android sometimes for over 5 years+.

  4. Re:Fuck Google by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Yes, I don't use Gmail. Yes, I block Facebook and Google's script library. Yes, it breaks pages because stupid webmasters needlessly make their pages dependent on a third party server. Yes, my phone uses a custom ROM, is rooted and Google services are not installed. It doesn't matter. Google has most of my email because it has all of yours. Google has my picture, my address, my phone numbers and basically everything else, because other people give it to them. Just like the Indians who accepted trinkets in return for real value, it's not those people who are doing evil. Google needs a new motto.

  5. Oh yeah - that sounds like a great idea... by queazocotal · · Score: 3, Interesting

    http://www.google.com/intl/en-...
      Google Health has been discontinued

    Google Health has been permanently discontinued. All data remaining in Google Health user accounts as of January 2, 2013 is being systematically destroyed, and Google is no longer able to recover any Google Health data for any user. To learn more about this announcement, see our blog post, or answers to frequently-asked questions below.
    Frequently-asked questions

            Is there any way to retrieve my Google Health data from Google?

            No -- all remaining user data is being permanently and irrevocably deleted from the Google Health system starting on January 2, 2013. Google is no longer able to recover any Google Health data for any user.

            What happened to my Google Health data after January 1, 2013?

            All Google Health user accounts have been deactivated, and all data stored in them is being systematically deleted from Google’s systems starting on January 2, 2013.

    1. Re:Oh yeah - that sounds like a great idea... by c · · Score: 2

      And that do you really want to put your information into a service that may well go away, rather than trying to work out some way to use it locally.

      I can live with the risk; I don't keep data online that I don't have local copies of or would be bothered if it went away.

      I'd estimate that at least 50% of the services I use daily now won't be around in another 5-10 years, and 90% of the devices I use now won't be usable in another 5 years. That's the nature of modern technology, and it's not specific to Google.

      --
      Log in or piss off.
  6. Not Fit by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Also, for others, they will release Google Fat. Which will help the consumer find restaurants with extra large helpings, identify the transportation approach that requires the least walking, and includes smart deep fry timing technology.

  7. Re:Don't do evil by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 2

    Their unofficial motto is "Don't be evil".

    When was the most recent instance someone from Google's leadership team used that phrase, anyway?

    --
    #DeleteChrome
  8. Re:The insurance companies... by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

    thus increasing the price of your insurance, or denying it altogether.

    They would have loved it back when they were permitted to deny pre-existing conditions. Now they can't do that any more.

    I agree that it's too soon to be aggregating this data on Google's servers. But sooner or later, it's going to be trivial for anyone to get all that data about you anyway. Pulse and respiration rates, for example, can be read with a camera today, noninvasively and at a distance. Video tracking and face recognition are becoming ubiquitous. We must hack society such that it will not harm us for other people to have this information about us, because we will never prevent them from gathering it when the technical bar drops too low.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  9. Re:Sure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Dream on.

    Of course it's going to their servers. Almost all software built now from multiplayer games to logging exercise data uses someone else's servers. It's how things are now, because very few people mind, and there's a big financial upside to the companies involved by having the control and the data-mining capability.