But I, like a few of my colleagues and other users, soon discovered a downside to Fitbit’s (see disclosure) discreet design — it’s so inconspicuous that you can forget about it entirely. On several occasions, it ended up in my laundry hamper, on the verge of taking a dunk in the washing machine. And many days, I’d simply forget to re-attach it to an article of clothing.

So I was curious to check out Fitbit’s newest device, the Flex wristband, which the company debuted earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show and is available starting today.

Like the Nike Fuelband and Jawbone’s UP, the Flex is a sporty band worn around the wrist. It logs steps taken, distance traveled, hours slept and active minutes – a new stat measuring the number of moderate-intensity cardio minutes experienced a day. It syncs wirelessly via Bluetooth with Fibit iOS and Android apps and also displays data through an online dashboard.

I chose Fitbit’s One tracker over the Fuelband and UP precisely because I didn’t want an extra accessory on my wrist. But after wearing the Flex for a couple of days, I can see the benefits of the new design. It’s nice not rummaging through your laundry hamper to find the tracker or trying to find a suitable pocket each day on which to clip it. And while I loved the One’s sleep-tracking and alarm capabilities in theory, I rarely actually put it in the device’s nighttime wrist band so that it could do actually do its job. With the Flex, it’s easier to monitor sleep and use its wake-up feature because the tracker is already attached to your wrist (although you do need to remember to tap it into sleep mode).

I also liked the simplicity of the Flex’s display. With the One, I was constantly fumbling under layers to check my steps or loading the app and waiting for the Bluetooth connection to show my progress. But the Flex includes LED lights that indicate how close you are to achieving your daily goal instead of an actual screen that shares stats. With a couple of taps, it shows one to four lights, with each light representing 20 percent of your daily steps. When you reach your goal, the device buzzes in acknowledgement.

Still, despite the extra convenience I experienced with the new Flex design, I’m still not in love with its aesthetic. The band was more comfortable and unobtrusive than I expected it to be, but (like the Fuelband and UP) it’s still more of an accessory than I’d like it to be. It also took me a while to get the band to snap into place on my wrist (the company acknowledges that the clasp can be tricky but wanted to err on the side of making it more secure).

Those who already have a Fitbit or other activity tracking device might not be in a rush to buy another. But it’s an attractive, full-featured option for those in the market for an activity tracker — and its $99.95 price tag might be more appealing than the slightly more expensive Fuelbands and UPs.

Disclosure: Fitbit is backed by True Ventures, a venture capital firm that is an investor in the parent company of this blog, Giga Omni Media. Om Malik, founder of Giga Omni Media, is also a venture partner at True.

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Many of these problems stem from the fact that the Fitbit uses plain HTTP in its communications, exposing usernames, passwords, and data to opportunistic attackers. A suite of tools to probe the Fitbit created by the researchers was able to capture data from any Fitbit tracker within a radius of 15 feet. Another type of attack they tested forced the Fitbit to attempt frequent data upload, draining the battery 21 times faster than with normal once a day uploading.

An additional problem the researchers identified is an absence of a data consistency check on the Fitbit and its associated online social network. For example, they were able to inject 12.6 million steps into a user account, which the system translated into only 0.02 miles traveled, based on the initial calibration to the user’s stride length. This kind of data injection could be exploited by cheats, people who don’t want to work for the badges and monetary rewards that are available to fitness over-achievers.

While such an attack on a given individual might seem far-fetched, hackers could be motivated to expose or misuse sensitive personal health data. The consequences of that exposure could be no more than embarrassment for the Fitbit’s owner, but the security and privacy ramifications could go much deeper for similarly vulnerable wireless devices used in larger settings by healthcare companies.

The researchers also highlighted a few more bizarre “mule” attacks, such as attaching the Fitbit to a spinning rope or a car wheel (you can “burn” about 350 calories in 20 minutes with the latter method).

To combat these attacks, they developed FitLock, a hacked together defense system that includes encryption. A data consistency check also verifies new uploads against stride length and basal metabolic rate so that number of steps, distance traveled, and calories burned correspond. According to the recently released research, this additional security results in a negligible increase in processing time of 37 ms, about 2.4 percent more than normal Fitbit overhead. They also propose an extra step to thwart mule attacks: using a smaller, more accurate GPS chip to tell whether location is not changing (rope attack) while steps are being taken, or when the location is changing far too much (wheel attack).

The attacks that are averted with FitLock are not unique to Fitbit or other sensing devices. Insulin pumps and cardiac defibrillators, for example, could be manipulated with the same methods, with much more dire consequences.

Disclosure: Fitbit is backed by True Ventures, a venture capital firm that is an investor in the parent company of GigaOM. Om Malik, founder of GigaOM, is also a venture partner at True.

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In a lawsuit filed with the U.S. District Court for Northern California, Fitbug accuses San Francisco-based Fitbit (see disclosure) of trademark infringement that is causing “irreparable harm and damage” to the company.

Aside from the name similarity, Fitbug alleges that Fitbit’s logo, imagery and packaging bear a “striking resemblance” to early Fitbug marketing material and have caused “consumer confusion.”

Fitbug was founded in 2005 and Fitbit came along in 2007. Both digital health companies make wearable devices that track users’ activity and sync with web and mobile services to help users increase their fitness. And as evidence of customer confusion, the complaint says that, in the last year, it’s received more than 200 customer service inquiries from Fitbit customers and that several news reports and blog posts have mixed up the two services.

In response to the allegations, James Park, Fitbit’s CEO and co-founder said in a statement:

“Fitbit is very proud of our fantastic products and reputation, which we have earned solely through the tremendous efforts of the Fitbit team. We are surprised by the allegations contained in Fitbug’s complaint. We are confident of our legal position in the case and look forward to addressing the allegations in court.”

This is hardly the first time that companies have to come to blows over similar names. A few years ago, Facebook sued parody site Lamebook (and ultimately settled). Although the dispute never reached legal proportions, Chicago-based programming bootcamp Code Academy last year changed its name to Starter League partly because of confusion with online coding startup Codecademy.

Fitbug, which says it has two U.S. Trademark Registrations, is asking the court to require Fitbit to cease the use of its logo and refrain from conduct that causes confusion with Fitbug’s brand and services.

Disclosure: Fitbit is backed by True Ventures, a venture capital firm that is an investor in the parent company of this blog, Giga Omni Media. Om Malik, founder of Giga Omni Media, is also a venture partner at True.

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But two former Microsoft product managers believe those apps cater to the more motivated fitness fiends among us. On Thursday, they rolled out Cody, a fitness app intended for everyone else.

“The way I observe the people who use existing apps today, I’d characterize them more as enthusiasts, and we hope that more and more of the mainstream will get into the space,” said co-founder Paul Javid. “[It's the difference between] what do the enthusiasts want versus more casual consumers of fitness.”

While other fitness apps emphasize metrics — either through GPS tracking that automatically calculates the distance of a run or the number of steps taken or through manual input – Javid said that to reach casual fitness fans (those who might only exercise a couple of times a week or less) Cody is more about the “stories” behind the activity. The image-heavy app encourages users to share posts about why a given activity is important to them or what’s happening around them, as well as tag their locations and add pictures to build up their “fitness graph.”

Cody also acts as a kind of virtual coach. When users first load the app, they’re asked to identify their goals – from losing weight to building muscle tone to de-stressing. For now, the app just surfaces original content about workouts, healthy living and other topics that match up with those goals. But, ultimately, Javid said, the plan is for Cody to learn from users’ activity and recommend articles, workouts, people or places that fit their interests. In time, he added, the app could integrate with fitness tracking devices to get an even more comprehensive view of each user.

Prior to launching the app, the startup created a couple hundred pieces of original content but it soon plans to syndicate content from fitness and health site Greatist and could distribute content from other sources in the future.

When Javid and his co-founder Pejman Pour-Moezzi first left Microsoft about a year ago to focus on a startup, their plan was to build a social app that would help people accomplish their personal goals – in a manner not so unlike that of Lift, the Obvious Corp.-backed good-habit-building app.  But Javid said they soon observed that about half of the early beta users had fitness- or health-related goals, so they switched tacks to focus on those needs. To date, they’ve raised $200,000 in seed funding from Ken Irving, a member of a powerful oil family in Canada.

Given all the recent interest in digital health and quantified-self-type activity tracking tools, it’s not surprising that more entrepreneurs are hoping they can carve out opportunities with new tools. But while I think Cody’s highly visual design and clean layout could appeal to consumers who are just starting to get their feet wet in fitness, the crowded landscape could be a big challenge. While other fitness apps may not provide “coaching” and content, they’re already amassing tons of users’ fitness and health data and could, at some point, roll out data-driven recommendations as well. Also, when it comes to socializing around workouts, plenty of people already use Facebook and Twitter to share workouts, and Fitocracy already offers a dedicated social network for fitness.

Interestingly, among early beta testers, Cody’s founders have found that the app is especially popular among yoga, crossfit and bar method enthusiasts who don’t focus on metrics in the same way runners and bikers might. While the beta group has been small, it will be interesting to see if that trend continues.

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If you’ve read anything about Amiigo since its launch in October, you’ve might have read all about how it places sensors (an accelerometer, skin-temperature sensor and pulse oximeter, to be exact) into a wristband and shoe clip in order to figure out what exercises someone is performing and how well, hard or often he or she is actually doing them. What you might not know is how that process actually works. So I asked co-founder Abe Carter to explain.

All about the database

The core of Amiigo’s promise isn’t actually part of the device at all. Rather, it’s a database full of baseline information, which Amiigo calls reference data, for hundreds of different activities. It turns out, Carter explained, “there’s a generally accepted way that the vast majority of exercises and activities are performed.”

So, when users are out jogging or lifting weights or rowing, let’s say, Amiigo is clocking the motions they’re making and how often they’re making them. When they open the Amiigo app, they’ll not only be spared the hassle of entering data on what activity they just performed and how long they did it, they’ll actually be greeted with all that information and more. If you’re lifting weights, Carter explained, Amiigo will know that you were doing squats and therefore burned a whole lot of calories (even though you might have taken just a few steps), as well as how hard you were working, how many reps and how long you took resting in between sets.

But more importantly, Amiigo’s database grows smarter as users teach it about a variety of new activities. Initially, the app will still rely on reference activities with similar profiles (swimming, for example, instead of my homemade activity of laying on my belly and thrashing my arms and legs) in order to gauge intensity and calories burned, but it will eventually come to recognize the unique characteristics of the new activity, too. It’s all a matter of time and data: “You don’t know exactly with a sample of one how well that person was performing that activity,” Carter explained.

Better personal data helps everyone

Over time, all of this data lets users track at a very granular level their performance in specific activities rather than just how many times they’ve done it and for how long each session. Furthermore, it helps eliminate an innate desire to cheat the system — and the social competition features of almost all fitness-tracking platforms — by entering false information. Carter says social workouts have proven to be more effective than working out alone because of the motivation factor, but some jerk claiming he’s doing 2-minute miles can upset whole game dynamic when the socialization is merely virtual.

Going forward, Carter said Amiigo has plans to use all the data it’s collecting for bigger and better things than just personal data. He mentioned building analytics tools atop the aggregate data from users, or using it to help spot the early onset of certain diseases. These could include, for example, tracking changes in motion to identify Parkinson’s disease (already the subject of a study using voice data from phone calls) or, presumably, tracking changes in cardiovascular data to identify heart disease.

All of Amiigo’s promises are just theoretical, of course — it still needs to collect all that user data and prove it works when the devices are finally available — but they do point in the direction that I think the personal health field needs to take. As I’ve explained before (as has my colleague Stacey Higginbotham), all the connected devices and personal data in the world are of relatively little use if they’re not easy to use and tied to a service that’s actually valuable. And while Fitbit, Jawbone Up and other fitness trackers have certainly pioneered a hot new field, they’re still relatively limited in what they can track and the data they present, all the while requiring a fair amount of legwork from users.

I don’t suspect Amiigo will render all other fitness devices obsolete, but it should give them something to think about.

Disclosure: Fitbit is backed by True Ventures, a venture capital firm that is an investor in the parent company of this blog, Giga Omni Media. Om Malik, founder of Giga Omni Media, is also a venture partner at True.

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This week, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) released its annual report on the top health industry issues. The document touches on everything from state debates over establishing Affordable Care Act-mandated health insurance exchanges to employers’ new role in providing health care to the growing influence of the consumer. Chris Wasden, PwC’s Global Healthcare Innovation Leader, chatted with me about how technology specifically fits into the bigger picture and the ways in which it will impact the industry in the next few months and years.

2013 is a critical year in healthcare for several reasons, he said – this year, health insurance exchanges are supposed to be ready to come online, doctors are incentivized to meet new electronic health record guidelines and more hospitals will feel the pinch from new penalty fines for high readmission rates. But even aside from the changing policy landscape, a big driver of technology in health care is simply its ubiquity in the lives of consumers.

“Consumers [think that] with my mobile device, I can control the light fixtures in my home remotely, I can buy and sell goods, I can get directions. I’m able to do all these things and yet, when I walk into [the doctor’s] office, I can’t use my mobile device to do anything,” said Wasden.

Technology is poised to shape the health care industry in several ways – here are seven of those trends to watch in 2013.

Consumers get more tools for being cost-savvy

If you needed to buy a plane ticket across the country, you’d likely have a sense of how much it would cost and, if not, you’d at least know where to go to find out. But what if you needed to pay for an MRI? Or a colonoscopy? Or a mammogram? Comparison shopping is the modus operandi for most big-ticket items we purchase, but not so for healthcare – until now.

We’re clearly not going to become a nation of cost-savvy health care consumers overnight. But as states implement the recently-passed Affordable Care Act (ACA) and establish health care exchanges, they’ll be under more pressure to provide tools that assist people in choosing their own coverage. The push for more transparency is also coming from employers’ shifts to higher-deductible health plans and, says PwC, the rise of retail health clinics that provide health services in nontraditional environments, like pharmacies, big box stores and other non-medical locations. Sites like Castlight Health, ClearCostHealth and GoHealth are leading the way in comparison shopping, while startups like Simplee and CakeHealth help consumers manage and understand their health care finances.

Employer as health coach

When it comes to health care, employers have played the role of banker for decades, but, going forward, many may start playing the part of coach. Given new incentives in the ACA and in light of rising health care costs, employers will increasingly rethink their roles, says PwC. And, as they do, many could embrace prevention-focused, data-driven employee wellness programs that quantifiably monitor employees’ behavior and provide tangible rewards. With new fitness trackers like FitBits, WiFi-enabled scales and biometric devices that measure blood glucose levels, blood pressure and other vital signs, programs from companies like Healthrageous remotely track patient progress and outcomes; companies like Keas use social media and gamification to keep employees engaged; and PUSH, for example, actually pays employees for achieving their goals.

Consumer ratings make a difference

Consumer reviews are run-of-the mill for everything from restaurants and reviews to gadgets and books sold on Amazon. And they’re slowly making their way into health. Through consumer services, like ZocDoc, HealthTap and Healthgrades, patients are reading and contributing comments about their doctors. And, PwC’s report highlights that government payment to hospitals is increasingly being connected to consumer experience and satisfaction. Historically, health care providers have been resistant to reviews, believing that patient ratings would skew negative. But a study last year, found that patient reviews were largely positive. A more recent study indicated that too few patients had submitted reviews for rankings on sites like Healthgrades, Vitals and RateMD to be reliable. Still, though there are limitations to the ratings, patients support them and their value is expected to grow.

Nonphysicians put on the doctor’s coat

You’ve likely heard the phrase “doctor shortage” bandied about considerably in recent months. But according to a new study in Health Affairs, most estimates don’t consider how new technology, paired with nonphysicians, can make it possible to treat more patients with fewer physicians.  The health care industry may be more resistant to this kind of change than any other, says Wasden. But electronic communication, big data and other kinds of information technology will result in nurses, pharmacists and other nonphysicians stepping up to offset at least some of the increase in demand for doctor services.

Health comes home

Considering that we spend far more of our time at our houses and apartments than we do at the doctor’s office, health has always started with the home, Wasden notes. But the rise of telehealth services, from startups like Ringadoc to a national telehealth program from insurer WellPoint, as well as the growth of connected and wearable devices that enable doctors to monitor patients remotely, will make health even more bound to the home. Additionally, PwC reports that concierge medicine and “population health” approaches to care, which reward physicians based on outcomes, not treatment, are on the rise. And to keep patients healthy and out of their offices, physicians will increasingly rely on digital communication.

Consumerization of health IT

Mobile technology, as we and others have reported, is sweeping health care.  But that isn’t because IT departments across the industry have pushed it into the doctor’s office, it’s because doctors and consumers have. Doctors rarely warm quickly to IT initiatives, Wasden said, but because of their attachment to their mobile devices, they’re starting to bring them to work. The downside of the “bring your own device” trend is that hospitals must contend with security issues. But the upside is that it’s bringing consumer technology into health at a faster pace, which bodes well for patient engagement and more communication between patients and health care providers.

Big pharma goes ‘beyond the pill’

For years, drug companies have been looking for ways to provide value “beyond the pill,” says Wasden, and as they do, more are turning to apps, devices and sensor-based technology. Those options help keep them relevant to consumers on an ongoing basis and they help them address increasing pressure to show outcomes.  For example, earlier this year, Pfizer launched a Lipitor app just as generic versions of its drug hit the market. Drug firm Novartis is an investor in Proteus Digital Health, which this summer received FDA approval for its chip-embedded pill.

Image by Brian A Jackson via Shutterstock.

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Without external support, it can be difficult to stick to resolutions for improving your diet, getting enough sleep, exercising regularly or undertaking any other health-related routine. But a growing set of startups have launched apps to help people modify their behavior by making them more aware of their current routines and connecting them with communities of experts or networks of peers aspiring to achieve similar goals.

And these apps don’t just want to help those who want to lose weight or up their daily activity. They also take a more holistic approach, offering support for people whose goals include things like avoiding caffeine, practicing meditation, improving their posture and more.

Obviously, the apps themselves can only do so much — self-improvement strivers still need to dig in their heels and work on their own sticktoitiveness. But, if you’ve been trying to break a habit for a while, here are five apps that might help you get further in 2013 than you did in 2012.

FITOCRACY 

One of the older apps of the bunch, Fitocracy combines social networking with activity tracking to help people stick to whatever fitness goals they’ve set, from running their first 5k to practicing more yoga to following a paleo diet. As people complete activities or follow routines, they log their progress on the app but the most valuable feature is the ability to join groups of people engaged in similar activities. Newbie fitness nerds, for example, can find support in a group called “Nah, I’ll take the stairs” or regular marathoners can swap tips in a group on long-distance running.  (iOS only)

HEALTHTAP

Since launching last year, HealthTap’s goal has been to help patients connect with a network of 30,000 doctors willing to answer questions online. But, this month, the startup launched a new section focused on new year’s resolutions to support people who are interested in improving their general health but don’t have a pressing medical issue.  Through the app, people can browse information on a range of topics –from diet and exercise to lowering stress and improving relationships. And, for each topic, HealthTap enables people to follow and ask questions of the doctors most familiar with those issues, as well as view videos recorded by those doctors. (iOS and Android)

HEALTHY HABITS

Endorsed by the U.S. Surgeon General, Healthy Habits coaches people along the path to forming healthier behavior patterns by reminding them about the activities they should (and shouldn’t) complete and giving them a place to record their progress.  Users can select from a “Habit Library” or create their own custom habits and then indicate how frequently they want to receive reminders related to each. For motivation, users can include a picture and/or quote related to why they want to change the habit as well as an image or quote related to the reward they’ll give themselves when they succeed. It’s one of the more basic-looking apps – the aesthetic isn’t anything to write home about – but it gets the job done. (iOS only)

BLOOM and JUICE

All the way on other end of the design spectrum, Bloom and Juice (both made by Mindbloom) use inspiring images and sophisticated graphics to motivate people to healthier living. Bloom, which launched last year, lets people select from several “Life Areas,” including health, relationships, lifestyle and creativity, and then create “Blooms” that weave motivational images, music and quotes into reminders about specific activities.  For example, if you need to drink more water, you can choose a picture from their gallery (of beautiful images) and a song (from your music library or iTunes) to remind you at a specific time. Juice launched last month and similarly uses engaging aesthetics to help people track their exercise, sleep and diet to improve their energy level.  Each day, users log their mood, energy and activities and, over time, the app generates custom expert-submitted tips for improvement. (iOS only)

LIFT

Backed by Obvious Corp., the startup incubator-type venture created by Twitter founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone, Lift aims to encourage good habits by letting people “check-in” to healthy and positive activities and find motivation in the progress of peers. It supports health-related activities, like taking multivitamins and maintaining good posture, but also includes productivity and general lifestyle habits, like blogging more and waking up early. The app displays all the people following each habit and, as people check in, it shares the activity with the group. Members of each group can share comments about their own progress or give “props” and encouragement to their peers. (iOS only)

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On Wednesday, the company announced that it had raised $5 million in a Series A round of funding, led by Madrona Venture Group and including previous investors Innovation Endeavors (Eric Schmidt’s investment fund) and Jerry Yang.

The round comes on the heels of a successful Kickstarter campaign this summer intended to help the company bring its first product, a smart posture sensor, to market. The slim device fits around a person’s waist and tracks their posture throughout the day. When it senses that the wearer is slouching, the device vibrates and, via Bluetooth, sends the information to an iPhone app to help users track progress and provide feedback.

Co-founder and CEO Monisha Perkash said they looked to Kickstarter to answer the question “If we build it, will they come?”

The answer: yes. In a week, the company exceeded its $100,000 goal and, ultimately, raised more than double its target. Last month, the $149 dollar product started shipping to its more than 1,600 Kickstarter backers.

Devices like the FitBit, Nike FuelBand and BodyMedia products, which help people monitor their activity, are steadily gaining ground. But wearable devices, like LUMO’s smart posture sensor, will increasingly help people track other parts of their health. And, as the sensors and technology improve, they will only become more discrete.

Just this week, for example, Cambridge, Mass.-based mc10 announced that it had raised $10 million for its wearable flexible sensors that easily conform to the human body. In partnership with Reebok, it is expected to next year release a skullcap that could fit under an athlete’s helmet to determine the impact of a collision.  And, according to the Wall Street Journal, it has a prototype of a sticker-like patch that could be placed directly on a person’s skin to help determine her skin type or measure her exposure to ultraviolet light and signal the need for more sunblock.

Perkash said LUMO will continue to evolve their products as technology advances and plans to expand beyond back sensors to a range of body sensing devices.

“They’re going to be products that help you with other aspects of your movement… for health, but also performance and avoiding injuries,” Perkash said.

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Launched last year, the company offers a 12-month program that it says can help clients lose 10 or 15 percent of their body weight. On Tuesday, Retrofit announced that it had raised $8 million in a Series A round intended to help the company scale up and build out its product. The round was led by Draper, Fisher and Jurvetson and included new investors Correlation Ventures and Hyde Park Angels, as well as previous investors New World Ventures and I2A Fund.

For a monthly fee of $259 or $349 (the price depends on how much weight you want to lose), clients get access to a team of dieticians, exercise physiologists and behavior coaches, who communicate with them via Skype.  They also use a Wi-Fi enabled scale and wireless pedometer to monitor and share their activity with their Retrofit team. By observing clients’ activity, Retrofit’s experts can recommend the behavior modifications that can lead to lasting results, the company said.

With the rise of fitness tracking devices, like the Fitbit and Nike Fuelband, even long established programs like Weight Watchers are starting to take a more data-driven approach to weight loss. But Jeff Hyman, Retrofit’s founder and CEO, said his company offers a private program, which contrasts with Weight Watchers’ emphasis on group classes. He also said Retrofit prioritizes the behavior change aspect of weight loss.

“Half of what we do is focus on what goes on between the ears,” he said.

Retrofit says it has many hundreds of clients around the country and, to date, has raised $10.7 million in venture funding.

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That’s where Tictrac comes in. The U.K.-based startup, which launched in closed beta in April, aggregates data from all kinds of services — from apps like Runkeeper and Withings (which tracks weight, sleep and heart rate) to Facebook and Twitter  — to provide a personal dashboard of all your activity.

Specific apps and tools, such as FitBit or Sleepio already track and identify patterns within one kind of data stream. But TicTrac integrates with 30 APIs (with 50 more on the way) to enable people to understand the relationships between the various parts of their lives, in hopes of helping them accomplish goals and make better decisions.

“Life isn’t a silo,” said Blinder. “What’s affecting you in one aspect of your life will affect you in another.”

Through Tictrac, a user attempting to shed a few pounds could monitor his weight against his sleep patterns, physical activity, stress level and meals to see which factors may be contributing to weight change.  Or a runner could similarly look at his performance in the context of other internal factors, like sleep and stress, and external factors, like the weather and the music he listens to, to figure out how to improve.

Pairing those who create data with those who interpret it

The platform’s clean design and and infographic-heavy dashboard takes an almost Pinterest-style approach to displaying all of a user’s personal data. But in addition to just showing and aggregating a user’s personal data for self-reflection, Tictrac helps people organize their data around “projects” that range from losing weight and eating better to monitoring the development of a newborn and correcting posture.

Beyond helping people organize their data for themselves, Tictrac plans to pair users with data-driven coaches, doctors, teachers and other experts who can further personalize projects and draw custom insights from the data. For example, a patient suffering from migraines could choose to share that information with his doctor or someone on a weight loss plan could share online food diaries with a nutritionist.

No ‘ads’, but brand-sponsored projects

That kind of open environment also gives brands an opportunity to engage with users in an ongoing way, Blinder said. While the site doesn’t allow outright ads, it would let Huggies, for example, provide a project targeting new parents learning to care for a newborn or Gatorade offer a project for budding athletes looking to improve their performance.

Considering all the data flowing through the site, one concern for users could certainly be privacy, especially when it comes to relationships with advertisers. But Blinder said that unlike social networks, Tictrac makes no claim on a users’ data.  Users choose who gets to see their data and if they close an account, Tictrac will delete the data.

Over the past few years, the Quantified Self movement has steadily gained traction. But while its numbers are growing, it’s still mostly just enthusiasts who take the time to monitor and measure their every bodily function and activity, in addition to patients dealing with chronic diseases like diabetes and hypertension who need to track their vital signs for medical reasons.  Ginger.io, a Boston-based startup, combines smartphone calling and location data, which it uses to help predict behavior changes, with patient-reported data to help healthcare providers and researchers support diabetes patients.  And Healthrageous, another Boston startup, targets enterprises with a platform that helps people with diabetes, hypertension and other chronic conditions monitor their different data streams and receive personalizedd support.

But as applications like Tictrac emerge and make it easy for those not necessarily managing a health condition to actually use the insights from their data, the Quantified Self movement could move closer to the mainstream.  Lift, the self-help app backed by Obvious Corp., similarly takes a general approach to life-tracking but requires users to input the data in the app instead of integrating with third-party apps.

To date, Tictrac has taken no venture capital funding and is still in closed beta with users in the five-digits. But if you’re one for resolutions, get ready because the startup aims to launch more widely around the start of the new year.

Image by Angela Waye via Shutterstock.

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