Today at CES 2012 in Las Vegas, FitBit, the company behind the FitBit Ultra smart fitness tracker we reviewed a couple months ago, unveiled the Fitbit Aria Wi-Fi Smart Scale, a scale that goes far beyond making you feel guilty for snacking on that gallon of ice cream the previous night. In addition to tracking your weight, the Aria can also track body fat percentage and calculate your BMI based on your height. And, as the name states, the Aria is Wi-Fi connected so that a family of up to eight people can have their stats privately and securely uploaded to FitBit’s online tracking portal which contains social networking, weight management, and motivational tools.

You can pre-order the Aria now for $129.99 and it’ll hit store shelves in April.

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There is a new robot from Japan that promises to bring a gentle solution for snoring, and possibly for Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). Its name: Jukusui-kun, translated as “Deep sleep”. Researchers at Wasaeda University (Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan) have developed this robotic pillow and the prototype was demonstrated at the International Robot Exhibition in Tokyo. Akiyoshi Kabe and his team developed the pillow robot to help people with obstructive sleep apnea. The uber-cute pillow has the looks of a polar bear and when your snoring gets too loud, it will gently tickle your face.

Because the pillow has built-in microphones, it can measure your snoring volume. Besides that, the fingers of the person sleeping on the pillow will be connected to a saturation meter. Using the snoring volume and the saturation level as input, the pillow bear will correct your sleeping behavior by tickling your face. The aim is, of course, to get the person to move the position of the head as is demonstrated in the video below:

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As the days continue to grow shorter in the Northern Hemisphere, patients who suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD) will start to experience symptoms of depression. Finish company Valkee Ltd. has performed research which shows that the brain is sensitive to light, and claims that its bright light headset can help treat SAD. The CE Marked device looks like an mp3 player with earbuds, but instead of filling the patient’s head with the sounds of Lady Gaga or whatever they are playing nowadays, it pumps bright light to the brain through the ear canals.

In initial trials, 92% of patients reported that the Valkee headset reduced or completely eliminated symptoms of SAD.

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In news out of Steeler Nation, University of Pittsburgh researchers led by Mingui Sun, professor of neurosurgery and electrical and computer engineering, have developed a wearable multi-sensor device that automatically tracks a person’s activities, including food intake, shopping patterns, and activity levels.

It encompasses a camera, accelerometer, and GPS and connects to a computer for analyzing the data.  It’s currently being studied in a pilot trial to see whether it can help to accurately assess caloric intake and activity levels.

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Shoes with built-in GPS could be useful for two purpose: either tracking down your lost shoes or tracking down the person who is wearing them. GTX Corp figured the latter option might be useful for safety purposes, especially for people who suffer from Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia. The company has been developing these shoes for two years now, which will feature a built-in GPS in the heels.

The purpose of the GPS is to ensure that family or other caregivers can see where the monitored person is at any given time. A primary feature of the service is an alarm system which will alert the family or caregivers when the person who is wearing the shoes is moving beyond a certain area. In the past there have been other GPS devices, like bracelets or watches, but these can easily get lost or the user forgets  to wear them. Shoes, however, are items that are difficult to forget when venturing outside the home.

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MIT startup Nyx Devices wants to watch you sleep. However, unlike other methods of sleep diagnostics, their method doesn’t sterile-looking sleep laboratories or intrusive EEG’s. All you need to do is dress for the occasion, in this case, in Nyx Device’s Somnus Sleep Shirt. The Somnus Sleep Shirt is a form-fitting shirt embedded with a couple of sensors to measure your respiration. The sensor information is stored in a small data recorder kept in a hip pocket, which the user removes and connects to a computer for uploading.

Analyzing sleep patterns based on respiration is still considered experimental, but inventor and Massachusetts General Hospital sleep neurologist Matt Bianchi thinks the device could help patients suffering from insomnia.

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EASYWAKEme is an intelligent alarm clock system, that includes a wrist worn device and software installed on your smart phone, that helps you wake up at an optimal time.  A sensor on the wrist monitors your movements during sleep, in essence differentiating between when you’re deep asleep and when you’re closer to consciousness.  The device talks to the software on the phone via Bluetooth, and decides when to emit gentle waking sounds and send vibrations to the wrist.  Additionally, the system keeps track of your sleeping patterns, compiling statistics and providing charts for review.

From the product page:

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If a longer, more comfortable life isn’t enough motivation for you to make health-conscious decisions, why not turn the tasks into a game? That’s what San-Francisco startup GreenGoose plans to with its innovative lifestyle tracking platform. The company recently raised $100,000 in funding to build the platform, which uses wireless sensors attached to household objects such as a water bottle, toothbrush, or vitamin container.
GreenGoose’s service doesn’t just track the number of times each week you pick up your toothbrush; the service is part of a points-based game based on the number of healthy activities you perform. GreenGoose has developed adhesive sensors for bottles and containers, a credit-card sized pedometer, and toothbrush sensor, all which communicate with a base station attached to a broadband router. At the moment, the points you earn are not worth anything, but GreenGoose is currently developing an API and seeking partners to help develop the program.

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Hair restoration therapies have become increasingly popular in recent years, but the treatments are often prohibitively expensive. Newport Beach, CA based Apira Science, Inc. has just announced the launch of its iGrow system, which it claims will significantly reduce the cost of hair restoration treatment. The iGrow consists of a helmet with laser and LED diodes which deliver low level laser therapy to the scalp, and that supposedly allows patients to regrow their hair at home. Paint us skeptical, but what do we know? Apira claims that results can be realized with 12 weeks of use, and recommends that patients use the helmet for 24 weeks for best results.
From the product page:

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If your child’s speech sounds like Elmer Fudd while on a rabbit hunt or Tweety Bird that just saw a pussy cat, Speech Buddies from Articulate Technologies may help. The plastic devices that look like toothbrushes are designed to be manipulated in specific ways by the tongue while pronouncing letters and words that need working on.
Here’s a demonstration of how to use a Speech Buddy:

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