The boom in smartphones and especially smartwatches has transformed our daily lives in a rather "performance" way. The sensors we have on us are increasingly precise in measuring heart, sleep, breathing and physical activity, but for some the game doesn't work. Having a trinket on your wrist that continuously stimulates us is an important distracting factor, and we can already glimpse the first studies that warn: sleep trackers could make us sleep less, and worsen insomnia.
How to reconcile the need to monitor sleep with that of not having constant distractions? Amazon brings out a "bedside" product that also watches us sleep. Take it as a kind of alarm clock, but a little nosy. Is called halo rise, and it looks like a Black Mirror contraption, but maybe I'm wrong.
Halo Rise, what have you got to watch?
It's not the first sleep tracker we've seen and it won't be the last, but Amazon's endorsement makes expectations for this product pretty high. How is Halo Rise made? In a single device we find a bedside lamp, an alarm clock, a sleep tracker and an ambient, humidity and light meter. The lamp, obviously LED, helps to illuminate the environment for reading, but in alarm mode it simulates the colors of dawn to accompany us from sleep to wakefulness in a natural way.
Additionally, the device works as an alarm clock and helps you wake up in the morning using lights and a smart speaker. Not just sleeping, however: it also measures room temperature, humidity and light.
While it comes with a lot of features, Amazon hasn't built any camera or microphone into this particular device. So, it's not a cog that will wander around and sneak up on you, rather it will stay in one place and analyze your breath. And it seems little to you. Halo Rise tracks breathing at a distance, but also always in proximity, and in an "intimate" environment.
Anyway, sleeping will have no secrets
The sensor technology built into Halo Rise provides highly accurate information and personalized sleep analytics. Its algorithms are painstakingly trained on polysomnography nocturnal. Amazon calls it “the clinical gold standard for sleep analytics.” The company does not explain the technology behind this detection, but I assume it uses ultrasound.
And privacy? The company says that you can easily turn off sleep tracking at any time. In that case Halo Rise will not listen to us sleep, but will only function as a lamp and alarm clock.
"And what do I buy her to do, if she doesn't monitor sleep ?," you say. You are right: she does not run away. 140 dollars (we will see the price in Europe) to know a little about us, and to give all our data to those who will use it to help perfect new devices, and maybe new treatments, or this. I know, he's a bit conspiratorial, but do I have to say anything else that I haven't already said?
