Have Wrist Tats? iWatch Has A Problem

[Kathianne]

LOL! So important!

http://money.cnn.com/2015/04/29/technology/apple-watch-tattoos/index.html


Your mother hates your tattoos. So does your Apple Watch, apparently.Tattooed wrists can prevent the Apple Watch's heart rate sensor from functioning properly, according to some customers.

...

[fj1200]

It's OK. Tatooines won't buy a watch smarter than them.

:scared:

[jimnyc]

That's odd. I wonder why ink would somehow affect how it detects a heartbeat? What a piece of crap.

Not to mention, it apparently eliminates me from this overpriced POS anyway. :)

[Perianne]

That's odd. I wonder why ink would somehow affect how it detects a heartbeat? What a piece of crap.

Not to mention, it apparently eliminates me from this overpriced POS anyway. :)

We have similar problems with women's fingernails and certain colors of nail polish when monitoring pulse oximetry.

[jimnyc]

We have similar problems with women's fingernails and certain colors of nail polish when monitoring pulse oximetry.

Had to look that word up, never heard it before! Is that like when you see the oxygen level reading on the monitors in the ICU? I remember them telling Mom that hers needed to stay above 90.

[Perianne]

Had to look that word up, never heard it before! Is that like when you see the oxygen level reading on the monitors in the ICU? I remember them telling Mom that hers needed to stay above 90.

Yes, it is to monitor the oxygen saturation in the blood.

[jimnyc]

Yes, it is to monitor the oxygen saturation in the blood.

They just referred to it as "oxygen level" when I was there, just confirming was the same thing. I am a quick learner, I can be a doctor now! :coffee:

[Perianne]

They just referred to it as "oxygen level" when I was there, just confirming was the same thing. I am a quick learner, I can be a doctor now! :coffee:

I had already heard that you are the "doctor of love"! :)

[Noir]

Sucks for people with the majority if both wrists tattooed, I guess they'll have to wait for future iterations of the hardware for different/improved sensors.

[jimnyc]

Sucks for people with the majority if both wrists tattooed, I guess they'll have to wait for future iterations of the hardware for different/improved sensors.

My left wrist area where the watch would go is covered. I refuse to wear my watch on the other side, just used to it now! But I honestly wouldn't purchase this anyway, as it's too expensive, and no need for it anyway. My fat fingers have trouble with hitting buttons on my huge Samsung phone, let alone a damn watch!

[Jeff]

Both of my wrist are covered with tatts and honestly I really don't want a watch that does anything more than tell me the time. :laugh:

[Bilgerat]

I can be a doctor now!


http://cdn.meme.am/instances/56210885.jpg

[hjmick]

That's odd. I wonder why ink would somehow affect how it detects a heartbeat? What a piece of crap.

Not to mention, it apparently eliminates me from this overpriced POS anyway. :)


It's not just tattoos...

It seems the iWatch might be racist as well...


...Why?

The technology is based on a laboratory technique called photoplethysmography, which uses a “pulse oximeter” to measure the components of the blood. A light pulse is sent through the skin and picked up by a sensor. Based on how the light scatters, the sensor can measure how oxygenated the blood is, which allows one to calculate heart-rate based on how often fresh, arterial blood is pumping through.

In the medical context, this oxygen level tends to be measured by a little finger cuff. So the light is on one side of the finger and the sensor is on the other. Even in this more controlled setting, there have been conflicting scientific reports about whether skin color impacts the accuracy of readings.

But no one wants to wear a finger cuff around while they work out, so fitness band companies have had to make do with the wrist. Even a flashlight can shine easily through one’s fingers, which makes the sensing task easier. A wrist-mounted sensor has to rely on the light that’s reflected back from the blood, not shining through it. That’s harder.

The skin on the back of the wrist tends to be darker, too, especially for people with more melanin. “The light has to penetrate through several layers…and so the higher the person is on the Fitzpatrick scale (a measure of skin tone), the more difficult it is for light to bounce back,” explained Basis COO Bharat Vasan to CNET.

Basis, and presumably Apple, try to compensate for skin tone by shining brighter light when someone’s complexion is darker.

Without knowing the precise nature of Apple’s lights and sensors, it’s hard to know whether the device will have hard limits on its ability to work with different skin tones. Apple probably had to choose a center point for calibrating the device, too, making the trade-off between lighting power and battery drain...



Will the Apple Watch’s coolest feature work for people of color? (http://fusion.net/story/60771/will-the-apple-watchs-coolest-feature-work-for-people-of-color/)

[Bilgerat]

With all this talk of tattoos, I have to add this


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4zRe_wvJw8