In her new monthly blog, AS&K Head of Digital, Katherine Vik, sifts through the latest news from the digital frontline and selects her highlights.

First up, the social media companies that just keep on growing

Clubhouse has announced a new partnership with TED of the famous TED Talks. They’ll be bringing exclusive chats to the social audio platform throughout the summer and beyond. The first room, called Thank Your Ass Off, started on 12 July and runs weekly at 11AM ET on Mondays, all going through TED’s Clubhouse club.

It’s also worth noting that Clubhouse is no longer invite-only, although around 10 million people are currently on the waiting list, and they’ll slowly be added to the app over time.

And Facebook is taking on Apple and Google in the world of wearable health as it reveals more detail on plans for their first smartwatch for next summer, with a heart rate monitor and two cameras, one of which could even be detachable.

Which brings me neatly on to wearables

Rockley Photonics has unveiled ‘clinic-on-the-wrist’ sensors, which offer a glimpse into the future of the Apple Watch. Being able to analyze a wearer’s skin, blood and extracellular fluid will allow the watch to measure core body temperature and blood pressure, as well as hydration, muscle lactate, alcohol and glucose levels. The breadth of possible features far outpaces what current smartwatch models can do.

The Kernel Helmet that claims to read the human mind has started shipping for $50,000 in the US.

Newly published data from a longitudinal study of Fitbit users highlights the lingering physiological, behavioral changes after COVID-19 infection. Fitbit users describe long-lasting activity, sleep and resting heart rate changes triggered by the infection that often continue weeks and months after the first signs of COVID-19 symptoms.

And some interesting health related apps that have been launched

• Level Ex puts actual skin into a video game with it’s new mobile app for dermatologists
• Smartphone AI app reads HIV test results in low-resource settings, outperforming humans
• ‘Digital therapist’ Woebot wins $90 million in funding for AI-powered mental health platform

Are you working so hard you have no time to make lunch? Let the robots do it for you!

For now you can watch robots make pizzas from start to finish at an automated pizzeria, and I’m definitely visiting this if I ever get to Paris again! Pazzi’s creators spent eight years researching and developing the pizza bots.

Ever wondered how many robots it takes to run a grocery store? In Ocado's grocery warehouses in deepest south London, thousands of mechanical boxes move on the Hive. Are they all individual robots? Or is this one giant hive mind?

Though be careful. Sometimes the robots can go wrong!

There is so much interesting techie stuff going on this blog might just blast off!

• How researchers are using AI, big data and advanced data analytics to speed up clinical trials and reduce costs
• Emerging trends: The 5 fields where technology can help with Alzheimer's
• Amazon gets the go-ahead to track your sleep with radar
• How femtech is putting women's healthcare front and centre
• RMIT University researchers train AI to detect early-stage prostate cancer

And finally, if you want top predictions on the Next Big Thing, where better to start looking than The Simpsons, who back in 2014 predicted Richard Branson would conquer space before Jeff Bezos!

That’s all for this month.

#WordFromTheWeb

At AS&K, one of our key values is Being Curious ‒ asking what if, why not, could we? The Word From the Web blog series is one example of how we are horizon scanning and infusing the latest innovations within our medical communication services. Want to learn more about how AS&K can help you stay in front of the latest trends? Contact our Business Development Director, Alana Zdinak at alana.zdinak@asandk.com today!