Comcast Work on a device to monitor the health status of the elderly, but do not call her Alexa



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Comcast is working on a new home device that will monitor your health, according to a new CNBC report. A source familiar with the product has confirmed its existence in Gizmodo, but said many of CNBC's early reports on the device today were inaccurate, namely that Comcast was working on everything that was close to a competitor Alexa.

Comcast's health monitoring device will be used primarily to detect elderly home movements, identify the user's movement patterns, and identify abnormalities that may be related to health problems.

For example, if an older person gets up more often to go to the bathroom, an underlying health problem may need to be resolved. Or if a senior stays in bed longer than usual, this may be another red flag for caregivers. This type of problem can often go unnoticed when the user does not remember getting up to go to the bathroom or does not want to admit that they are feeling tired and spending more time in bed. The device will also be looking for falls, which can be particularly difficult for older consumers.

Comcast does not plan to launch the next product directly with consumers and will rather associate with a healthcare network to test the device, which has not yet been named.

One thing that remains to be determined is precisely who will have access to the data collected by the product. Is it fair for your doctor? The members of your family? And if the elderly patient does not want to use it?

The project was reportedly led by Sumit Nagpal, executive vice president and "chief of health innovation" at Comcast, according to CNBC. But again, it's not an Alexa-compatible device and it's not a smart speaker that has its own personality, our source tells us.

Comcast plans to test the product later this year and hopes to launch a pilot network by 2020.

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