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Comcast would work on a device designed to closely monitor a user's health. According to CNBC, the conglomerate should start testing the product this year before its full launch in 2020. Have one of the most powerful telecommunications empires in the world, monitoring your health and lifestyle, has it.
"The device will monitor people's basic health measures using ambient sensors, determining whether a person is going to the bathroom often or spending more time than usual in bed," says the report. CNBC. "Comcast is also creating common, life-threatening fall detection tools for seniors."
Many products currently on the market already have motion sensors, cameras and other hardware that allows Comcast to give the imagination – but neither Amazon nor Google have directly sought to closely monitor the health of their customers with their products. respective Echo and Home devices. Comcast itself already offers home security services, and the much-vaunted X1 voice remote control from its Xfinity wired platform has helped Comcast advance voice recognition and processing.
According to CNBC, the Comcast loudspeaker will not offer features such as smart home control, nor will it be able to search for answers to someone's questions on the Internet. But he would have "a personality like Alexa" and would be able to make calls to emergency services. Some startups have already had similar ideas for Alexa speakers.
But in an email to The edge, a spokesman for Comcast, said the future device of the company "is NOT a smart speaker" and "is designed for this purpose to be a sensor that detects motion".
Comcast would aim to offer the device and a health monitoring service to "people at risk, including the elderly and the disabled." The company is also discussing with hospitals the possibility of using the device to ensure that patients do not return to hospital after they leave the hospital. Does your Internet provider, doctors and insurers have a direct and unimpeded view of your daily life activities? Nothing in this story is very reassuring. Repairing the US health care system and reducing the cost of medical care appears to be a better end goal than keeping people away from emergency rooms.
Although Amazon has not yet taken this route with its consumer-friendly line of smart speakers compatible with Alexa, the online retail giant has shown a major interest in healthcare. Amazon recently announced that Alexa is now able to manage certain patient health information, allowing users to check prescriptions, monitor blood glucose, and more.
But Comcast is different. Comcast has long worn the unwanted crown of the most hated American society. It's not hard to see Comcast putting pressure on this health monitoring speaker when it comes to cable installations or regular customer service visits – or that insurance companies are pushing customers to accept this. level of supervision in exchange for cheaper rates. And if you decide that you go to the bathroom too often or sleep more than usual, what happens then? This is very disturbing, even though Comcast must comply with HIPAA and other strict patient data laws. There is quite a place where such tools and technologies exist and help older people to live independently longer. But … Comcast?
"This device has no role beyond health," Comcast spokesperson The edge.
Disclosure: Comcast is an investor in Vox Media, The edgeMother Society.
Update May 21, 5:03 pm ET: The article has been updated with comments from Comcast and to remove references to the next device as a smart speaker.
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