Chelsea McCullough, Executive Director of Texans for Economic Progress, authored two pieces on MedHab's signature product, a recreational device known as RPM2. On January 23rd McCullough ran a post on Texans for Economic Progress' Blog. Here's the intro:
TEP was fortunate to meet RPM2 Co-Founder and CEO, Johnny Ross at our recent MedTech event with Tech Fort Worth. This technology combines the latest advances in wearables and mobile applications to let athletes know exactly when, where and how they step. Amazing innovation and made possible by our robust broadband infrastructure. This is tech policy at work and we’re happy they’re making it all happen here in the great State of Texas. Please enjoy this blog post from RPM2 that highlights their latest innovation.The second piece conjured up visions of Olympians using high tech training devices at the Sochi Winter Games. The Push reported:
Whether you were casually watching the Sochi Olympics from your living room sofa or live streaming every second on a mobile device, I’m willing to bet there’s one aspect of the winter games you completely overlooked — wearable tech.
The first two products were actually used at the Winter Olympics by snowboarders and ice skaters. McCullough squeezed in MedHab, before returning to another device used by an Olympic mogul skier. She wrote the following about MedHab:
Another wearable manufacturer focused on keeping athletes healthy is the Dallas-based company, MedHab. MedHab is responsible for a shoe insert called RPM2 (Remote Performance Measurement/Monitoring), that provides detailed, real-time analytics for athletes who put a lot of strain on their feet.
The article closed with needing ubiquitous access to the internet so these devices could provide real time feedback.
As our phones, cars, home appliances, and now shoes and workout clothes get “smarter,” the pressure is mounting to ensure that modern policies are in place to provide an infrastructure that keeps our devices well-connected. After all, our future Olympians depend on it.
Wow, that statement is packed full of public subsidy, at least that's my take. Stay tuned for more from Texans for Economic Prosperity and MedHab.
2 comments:
Lets clear up some confusion. Devices such as RPM2 and hundreds of other wireless training devices out there on the market use a short range wireless system such as Bluetooth, BLE (Bluetooth low energy) or ANT+ which is very short range and device to device or a PAN (personal area network). They don't really require much "infrastructure." A cell phone, tablet, laptop or desktop that is part of the PAN can serve as a gateway to the internet for these devices but it's not necessary for their operation.
A few training devices, the "internet of things," laptops, tablets, etc, use WiFi to connect to local network and then these are connected globally over the internet using cellular and broadband technologies that are, with rare exceptions, provided by private corporations both large and small. The government role in this infrastructure is mostly adding regulations, fees, and taxes. The real infrastructure is built by the marketplace. If Medhab had something that was actually unique or innovative it would likely already be a success in the market instead of just promises.
I guess my point is that the infrastructure and technology all these devices depend on are the creations of market forces with the assistance(?) of government rules and regulations, not the result of successful subsidies.
I guess what needs to be said is that modern policies don't provide infrastructure for wireless communications and the internet of people and things. That is and really always has been provided by an active, often innovative, market place that has been largely unregulated and left to grow. The best thing that can be said about modern policy is that it stayed pretty much out of the way, only stepping in to settle arguments and managed to not strangle these markets in their infancy.
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