Home Health and fitness

FasTeesH Y-Brush is an electric toothbrush that does all the work for you

NEWS – It’s a stretch to call this interesting device a toothbrush. It’s more like a “tooth appliance” that you place in your mouth like a mouthguard for football or hockey. However, the Y-Brush caught my eye as a possible solution for consistently getting my 7-year-old son to actually clean his teeth. As of now, he often just stands in the bathroom, moving the brush around his mouth in a random fashion until the timer goes off.

Created by the French company FasTeesH from a successful Kickstarter campaign, the Y-Brush is marketed to medical professionals and home users. The Y-Brush is a combination of a “brush” (the Y shaped mouthguard portion) and a handle to which the brush attaches. The brush comes in four sizes that are designed to fit a range of people from small children to adults. The nylon bristles are angled at 45 degrees and are rounded so as to not be too hard on teeth or gums. The handle has three vibration settings so the user can pick the one that’s most comfortable for them. Each handle can be used by multiple brushes. Unsurprisingly, FasTeesH recommends that each person have their own brush attachment.

To use, you put toothpaste (whatever kind you like) on the brush and simply bite down while making a chewing motion for 5 seconds. Once done, you flip it over and repeat the process for another 5 seconds. According to the FasTeesH, you only need a total of 10 seconds rather than the recommended two minutes, as all of your teeth are being brushed at the same time.

FasTeesH offers several Y-Brush packages designed to fit a number of users and family members. They also sell additional mouthpieces. The basic set up (called the Single Package) includes one of each of the following:

  • Handle
  • Brush
  • Charging Station
  • Storage stand
  • Toothpaste applicator

Other packages include multiple handles and brushes.

As of today, Y-Brush packages are available for pre-order from y-brush.com and are expected to deliver in April of this year. Prices start at $125 for the single package and top out at $299 for the Family+ package. It’s worth noting that these appear to be introductory prices and should be expected to increase after launch.

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FasTeesH Y-Brush is an electric toothbrush that does all the work for you originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 3, 2019 at 8:39 am.

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It’s January so it’s time to get fit in style with the Withings Move activity tracking watch

NEWS – January brings resolutions, and many of those revolve around fitness. Sadly, most don’t last much past mid-January, and if you’ve invested a ton of cash on what is now a very expensive clothes rack or jewelry cabinet ornament, it also leads to regrets. Enter the Withings Move activity tracking watch.

Like other trackers like Fitbit or Apple Watch, the Move can track activity, sleep, and with a connected GPS phone, track workouts and provides more analytics. The Move’s difference is that it does it with style.

Looking more like a fine watch than a piece of electronics, the Move has a unique, almost luxury look to it that both makes it stand out and also blend in.

The Move’s other differentiator is its battery life. With a claimed life of 18 months, it far surpasses both the Fitbit (five days) and Apple Watch (< one day) and beats competitors from Misfit and Fossil by six months.

The Move is a bargain at $69.95 and is available directly from Withings.com.

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It’s January so it’s time to get fit in style with the Withings Move activity tracking watch originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 29, 2019 at 8:00 am.

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Wave to the Airthings Wave Mini to check the air quality in the room

NEWS – I’ve become a fan of Airthings products after reviewing their Wave radon detector last spring. That detector may have saved my life. More on that story in an update to my review coming soon, but the news for right now is that Airthings has added a new product to their line up called the Wave Mini. The Wave Mini is a small battery powered air quality monitor that you can put in various rooms throughout your home to keep an eye on the temperature, humidity, and Airborne chemicals (TVOCs) and track the levels. It might be strange to think of air pollution inside your home, but it exists and certain TVOCs can have a negative impact on your body if you’re exposed to them over time. The Wave Mini will show a visual indicator with a quick wave of your hand or by checking the mobile app and even works with Google Home and IFTTT so you can create custom alerts in the event of critical levels. The Airthings Wave Mini air quality monitor will be priced at $79 and will be available for pre-order beginning January 31 at airthings.com.

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Wave to the Airthings Wave Mini to check the air quality in the room originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 22, 2019 at 10:00 am.

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Motiv Smart Ring review

REVIEW – Over the years I’ve reviewed a LOT of fitness trackers. The vast majority of them have been trackers that clip to a belt or ones that you wear on your wrist like a watch. Only recently have we started to see fitness trackers that are small enough to fit on your finger like the ŌURA Ring that I reviewed over a year ago. I loved the idea of a finger wearable fitness tracker, but the original version of the  ŌURA Ring was just too large and uncomfortable for me to wear 24/7. Another smart ring fitness tracker that was on my gadget radar during that time was the Motiv Smart Ring but they ignored my requests to review one. Fast forward to a month ago when I was looking for gadgets to gift to myself for Christmas. The gifts that I ended up buying were an Apple MacBook Air, a 2018 11-inch iPad Pro, a DJI OSMO Pocket camera, and a Motiv Smart Ring. I ended up returning all of those gifts except for the Motiv Smart Ring, so I guess you can say that I like it. Let’s take a closer look.

What is it?

The Motiv Smart Ring is a truly ring sized fitness tracker that you wear on your finger 24/7 to track your activity, steps, sleep, and heart rate.

What’s in the box?

  • Motiv Smart Ring
  • USB magnetic charging dock

Design and features

Anyone who sees you wearing this smart ring will have no idea that it’s nothing other than a regular piece of jewelry as it takes a close look to see the electronics. First of all the ring has a titanium shell with a scratch resistant coating and is available in silver, rose gold, or black. I bought the black version that has a very subtle brushed matte finish.

The ring is ultra comfortable because it’s lightweight and there’s nothing noticeable that presses against your finger when you’re wearing it. You can see the flat part of the ring inside the medical grade plastic band which is where the steel and gold plated electronic contacts are located, but you don’t really feel it while wearing the ring.

When you order a Motiv ring, you’ll be sent a box of 7 plastic sizer rings that range from size 6 up to size 12. You’re instructed to wear the best fitting ring for at least 24hrs before you submit your ring order. Not that anyone cares, but I ended up with size 7 for my ring finger on my right hand.

The actual working smart ring fit identical to the sizer ring, so my delivered Motiv ring fit perfectly which is what you’ll want because you’re able to wear this ring 24/7 because it’s waterproof to 165 feet. That means you can swim with it, shower with it, workout with it, wash your hands with it, etc.

But before you can start using the ring, you’ll need to charge it. Luckily, that’s a simple and quick task. The ring comes with a magnetic charger that plugs into a USB port and quick charges the ring in about 90 minutes. You’ll also be happy to know that the Motiv Smart Ring has a 3-day battery life so you won’t have to charge it every day.

While the ring is charging, a small LED hidden in a strip on the ring will glow red while charging and will glow green when fully charged. Once in a while, you’ll also notice that the LED on the ring is flashing blue which means it’s syncing data with your phone. Note, that you don’t have to have your phone always with you to make sure you don’t lose your fitness data. The Motiv Ring has enough onboard memory to keep your stats safe for up to 3 days.

Motiv app


The Motiv app is available for iOS and Android. I have been using the Android version of the app with my Pixel 2 XL. The app’s interface is easy to understand and navigate. The dashboard screen shows your accumulated stats for the day which include how many hours you slept the night before, your active minutes for the day, steps for the day, miles traveled, calories burned, last heart rate, and a scrolling list of your activities.

The settings screen shows the current battery status and lets you customize your profile info and link to your Google Fit account.



The Motiv Ring doesn’t take a heart rate reading every minute like the VivaLNK Vital Scout continuous wellness monitor wearable patch that I reviewed recently, but to help save battery life, it senses when you are active.

We optimized our system to sample heart rate when it matters most, in order to maximize battery life. When we sense step activity, the heart rate sensor activates. For all those times you’re not generating steps, we check your heart rate every few minutes and if your heart rate is elevated, the Motiv Ring will engage the sensor to track continuously those times you are active.

As for step tracking, I found to be within 100 or so steps of the Google Fit app on my phone.

What I like

  • Comfortable to wear 24/7
  • 3-day battery life and quick charging

What needs to be improved

  • Better heart rate graphs with the time of day so you can see when the rates were elevated or lowest
  • Add recovery rate
  • Better sleep tracking graphs that show the times during the night when you were awake, etc
  • I’d like to see contactless payment features added

Final thoughts

Right now, the Motiv Ring is my favorite fitness tracking wearable. When I put it on I forget about it because it is comfortable to wear all day and while sleeping. I only take it off when I put lotion on my hands or when I need to charge it. The only downside to the Motiv Ring is the price, but I’m hoping they add more features to it to justify the expense. They already have a 2-step security feature for iOS and you can request access to the open beta for Android if you want to test it – this is something I haven’t done yet.

There has also been talk of a contactless payment feature later this year that uses your heart rate to identify you. That’s a feature I’d love to have so I don’t have to take my phone out of my pocket when buying something. Unfortunately, it won’t come to existing rings and will require that I buy a new one. But even as it is now, I’m still a fan of this ring. So much so that I bought one for myself.

Price: $199.99
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was purchased with my own funds. You can read more about it at mymotiv.com

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Motiv Smart Ring review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 16, 2019 at 11:00 am.

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Back Pedal is a device that can help and prevent lower back pain

NEWS – Do you have back problems? I’m lucky to say that I don’t… at least not at the moment. But having said that, my back has gone out 2 times in the last few years and I never want to suffer through that kind of pain again, not to mention the frequent trips to the chiropractor. I think working out 4 days a week and improving my core strength has helped to keep my back from going out in the last year, but I’m always looking for specific things I can do to prevent another flare up. The Back Pedal looks like a specialized tool that might be the perfect solution for me and many people that deal with frequent back pain, hip pain, or sciatica issues.

What is the Back Pedal? It’s a tool designed by a physical therapist that is used to help strengthen and realign your pelvis.

Pushing with your legs opposite directions against the pads facilitates a co-contracting isometric pull that causes a rotational force in our pelvis. When we contract our hip flexors on one side we cause an anterior/forward rotation on that side of the pelvis. When we contract our hip extensors on the opposite side it causes a posterior/backward rotation.

This rotational co-contraction force brings the pelvis back into its normal position, realigning the spine and pelvis while strengthening the muscles (Iliacus, Psoas Major, Psoas Minor, Gluteus Maximus, Semitendinosus, Semimembranosus, Biceps Femoris, Transverse Abdominis, & Rectus Abdominis) and stabilizing the joints. This causes a better distribution of force up through the spine and down through the legs alleviating your back, hip, and sciatica pain!

Dr. Beddoe sent me a pre-production sample of the Back Pedal that I’ve used for a few minutes every day and I can tell you that it’s easy to use and you can really feel it when you use it. I’m adding it to my regular workout routine as an easy preventive maintenance measure.

The Back Pedal campaign ends on 2/15/19 and they are just starting the climb towards their funding goal of $12,500. You can pre-order a Back Pedal starting at $35. After the Back Pedal campaign ends, rewards are estimated to start shipping in April 2019. Visit their Kickstarter campaign page for all the details.

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Back Pedal is a device that can help and prevent lower back pain originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 15, 2019 at 12:00 pm.

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