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Adam Smith | September 7, 2014 | Leave a Comment

An Apple (or Google) a Day Keeps Your Health in Check – Beth Kelly

health-app
Photo credit: apple.com

 

[box] This is a guest post from Beth Kelly, who is a freelance writer and blogger. Born and raised in Michigan, she moved to Chicago to attend DePaul University where she graduated in 2011. She lived in Krakow, Poland briefly before moving to South Korea to teach English. She writes most frequently on health and technology topics. You can follow her on Twitter @bkelly_88.[/box]

There are hundreds of thousands of apps available for your smartphone. The fitness and health section of Apple’s App Store is almost overflowing with choices, and with that many options it would take anyone hours to do their research and find exactly what they’re looking for. Even if you’ve already collected a favorite cache of helpful health and fitness apps, tech companies are constantly striving to improve their products and push you on a journey to better health. And if you’re like many other consumers in a close relationship with their mobile device, chances are you might even use your phone for monitoring heart related ailments or a chronic disease like diabetes. There are a myriad of apps available that allow users to “self-quantify” and establish a more productive relationship with the functions of their body.

Yet, the problem for many of those looking for technological help with their health is simply that so many of these apps are owned by different companies, developed using different software, and just generally incompatible with each other. For someone with diabetes, for example, it can be difficult to monitor your blood sugar levels, insulin, and your food intake from three different apps.

Luckily companies like Google and Apple have heard the call and have developed their own sort of “catch all” for these apps, allowing them to work together and deliver the results you need from a sleek and easy-to-use interface. This type of software is posed to revolutionize the healthcare industry, making it easier for doctors to diagnose and treat issues by simply looking at the data collected from apps on your smartphone.

“Doctors and healthcare providers are increasingly looking to technology to make their lives easier and their practices run more smoothly, and so the proliferation of ways for people to track their own health data is definitely a boon to practitioners and patients alike,” says HealthITJobs.com’s Tim Cannon. “While worries about privacy and data security are coming to the forefront now as people explore these new ways of interfacing with their healthcare, it’s likely that just as we’ve seen with the adoption of other technologies, big companies like Apple and Google, with direct health industry backing, will be doing everything they can to allay these concerns.”

So what makes Apple’s “HealthKit” different from Google’s “Fit”? Is one better than the other? While much of it likely depends of personal preferences, here’s the rundown of the two leaders in this pack:

Apple HealthKit:

First unveiled in June at Apple’s annual developer conference this app is the product of a new relationship between Apple, the Mayo Clinic, and Epic Systems, one of the nation’s largest creators of electronic medical records. The three powerhouses joining together was enough to get both the health and technology worlds buzzing about this being the next breakthrough.

The features within the HealthKit are impressive, according to Apple’s page for the new iOS8, which will contain it. The new system will collect all of the data from your preexisting health and fitness apps and store, track, and monitor it all from one place (similar to the existing PassBook.) Beyond that, you can share the data you’ve obtained with your doctor, and use the blood pressure, cholesterol, or blood sugar level stats to develop a larger picture of your health. It also will be able to transfer data from one app to another – this way a “food diary” type app can work in conjunction with an exercise app to tell you how much exercise you need to do to hit your weight loss goals.

Considering all the lofty ambitions Apple has shared with us, including ever-persistent rumors of an “iWatch” that could serve as a fitness tracker as well, there are a few noticeable slipping points. The first obstacle is ease of use. In an age of instant gratification, are consumers going to want to take the type to sync up all their apps, input medical data, then regularly monitor and track them? Beyond that there is the issue of data privacy. With the increasing amount of hackers and software leaks, will people really want to rely on technology companies to protect their private health and medical records?

Google Announces Quarterly Earnings
Photo Credit: cnet.com

Google Fit:

At its core, Google Fit is very similar to the Apple HealthKit. It can be used to track all the data from your health, fitness, and nutrition apps in one place. Of course, Google Fit is only available through Android devices, and HealthKit is only for Apple products, so that alone might make the decision easy for some.

Much like Apple, Google has teamed up with other companies to combine all their technology in an effort to streamline the overall user experience. Unlike Apple however, according to the Google Fit webpage there are big names such Adidas, Nike, Basis, Intel, LG, RunKeeper, Motorola, HTC, Runtastic, and Polar interested in getting involved as well.

Yet despite the visibility of these bigger brands, Google may encounter more difficulty in getting people to warm up to their product. We already know how quickly Android has taken over the smartphone market, but Apple seems to have a greater number of high-quality apps due in large part to the veritable goldmine developers see in the App store. Also standing in its way are residual ghosts of the failure of Google Health, the company’s unsuccessful prior attempt to serve as a personalized health records service launched in 2008 only to be cancelled in 2011.

It isn’t all an uphill battle for Google, though – for those who are wary of Apple’s wide reach, the Google Fit software is much simpler. Instead of attempting to monitor and track users health and medical records, the system serves as more of a platform for health device manufacturers (like Nike’s FuelBand) to make their devices compatible with the Android operating system. This makes it much more welcoming for developers and companies who want to break into Android software, indicating a potentially bright future for the Fit.

Bottom Line:

You’ve likely already established which phone you are loyal to. Chances are that if you’re an iPhone person, you have made a lifetime commitment – the same being true for Android. However if you are on the fence, and are considering switching based on the latest software presented by both companies, now may be an ideal time to make the switch. If you would like to strike a balance, and establish a harmony between your nutrition, fitness, and general well-being apps, Google Fit’s comprehensive platform may be your best bet. But, if you’re someone with more serious medical needs that demands daily monitoring, the services provided by Apple’s HealthKit could make your life much simpler – perhaps one day even going so far as to save it.

Courtney Gordner | December 6, 2013 | 8 Comments

Does Google Penalize for Using Stock Photos and Duplicate Images?

Nikon Coolpix P6000 13.5MP Digital Camera

 

Through the past few updates, Google has shifted its focus to unique content. What that means is any website or blog that doesn’t host engaging and original content takes a hit in terms of SEO ranking. This is largely due to the fact that many sites were just using cheap methods to rank higher in search results. Link baiting and keyword saturation are two of the most common problems with the old-style SEO rankings.

Even though Google has been working to do away with elements like that for some time, Hummingbird is the update that really solidified original content.

With all this focus on original content, it begs the question: What about photos? Do stock photos make or break your SEO ranking? Does it hurt you if you use duplicate image content from other sites?

Does Google Penalize for Using Stock Photos and Duplicate Images? Do stock photos hurt your SEO ranking or not?

In a video from June 2013, Matt Cutts, Google’s head of spam, gave a loose answer to the question. “To the best of my knowledge the answer is no. … It doesn’t really make a difference whether it’s a stock photo or an original photo,” he said.

However, Cutts then goes on to say, “You know what, that’s a great suggestion for a future signal we can look at in terms of search quality. Who knows? Maybe original image sites might be higher quality whereas sites that just repeat the same stock photos over and over again might not be nearly as high quality.”

In other words, Cutts has expressed that Google may look at adding such a filter to their SEO algorithms in the future.

Will problems with stock photos arise in the future?

Judging by what Cutts said in the video, there is a very real possibility that Google will update its SEO algorithm to filter for original image content. If you believe that such a thing is a stretch, just take a look at the sweeping changes Google has made regarding original text content. It’s clear that Google is looking to place quality content higher in search-result listings. Not only is this excellent for bloggers and content providers, but it’s also great for consumers. After all, I can’t imagine many people enjoy navigating to a website for answers only to find junk content and out-of-context keywords.

What will a change like that mean?

It’s better to be safe than sorry, so the best time to start preparing for such a change is now. You’ll want to take care of your images and content before your blog or site takes a ranking hit.

Expanding on that fact, such a change will affect more than just blogs and search-engine rankings. It will also change how photography and stock-image sites work. For example, content owners will want exclusive images, meaning higher prices on stock photos. In addition, there’s nothing stopping spammers and third parties from taking duplicate images and making minor changes to make them look unique. If the latter situation were to happen, would Google’s new algorithm be able to detect the minor differences? Worse yet, would the original content owner take the hit for the duplicate images? At this point it seems like that kind of filter would do just as well as a broken swimming pool fence does at keeping children away from the water.

It is hard to predict all of the possible scenarios that would come about if Google were to make such a change, but one thing is certain:

You should prepare as soon as possible.

How would images be affected?

The first thing to point out is that image quality would likely be a factor in such an update. Sites may or may not take a hit for publishing poor images with lower resolutions. If Google were to implement an advanced image-detection system, it is possible it could even test image composition, exposure and brightness. After all, if Google is going to focus on identifying engaging text content, doesn’t it make sense it would go to the same lengths for images and photos?

Another question that comes up is whether or not stock, professional-quality photos would be better to use over those taken with a personal camera. There is no question about the quality difference between the two image types. However, I would argue that sometimes a personal photo looks better than a professional one, especially those images that have been staged in a cheesy manner.

The algorithm could even factor in alt tags, naming conventions and image captions. Just think, how many images do you have on your blog in which you ignored filling in the alt tag?

What are you getting at?

The point to all of this is that sometime in the near future, Google may implement a filter that identifies poor or duplicate image content and reflects the findings in search results. You should prepare now for such a thing to happen, because even if nothing comes to pass, you will still have better content. Google Image Search already filters out duplicate image content for the most part, which means if you want your site to rank high across the board, you should already be adding unique images.

If you are one of those people who love to recycle the same stock images over and over, you should probably stop doing that. Not only will it potentially affect your site ranking in the future, but it is also just plain boring. After all, what could it hurt to add an original photo every once in a while? The answer is nothing, so get on that.

The ultimate answer is that stock photos and duplicate images don’t really factor in to SEO ranking, for now anyways.

Where do you get your photos? Let us know in the comments below!

Photo Credit: Mikebaird

Courtney Gordner | November 8, 2013 | 5 Comments

What Does Google’s Hummingbird Update Mean for Blogs?

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If you manage a blog, you will no doubt understand how important Google is when it comes to how many hits and readers you achieve. It is important for your blog to be easily discovered if you want to become successful and continue to grow. For the last three years, it has been relatively easy to be discovered on Google, as long as you know what you are doing. Keywords used to be the key to Google’s searches, but now things are changing. Google recently unveiled their Hummingbird update—on September 27, 2013, Google’s 15th Birthday—and this update has been billed as their biggest since the Caffeine update in 2010.

Hummingbird has been in effect since August, and you may have already noticed some negative changes as to how many visitors have been coming from Google. If that’s the case, there are a handful of things you can do to combat the Hummingbird update and bring the traffic back to your blog.

 

Change Your Approach to Keywords

Keywords have long been the driving force behind being discovered through Google searches and, while they still remain a big part of it, specifics have been somewhat refined. Instead of just working a keyword into a post, it is more effective to cover a full concept with your posts. For instance, if you were writing a blog post about workers’ compensation, you should write about that subject as a whole, not just use one keyword or phrase about it.

Essentially, the Hummingbird update now crawls posts and analyzes their content as a whole; using a keyword is no longer enough. You should instead develop content around the keyword and its concepts.

 

Be Kind to Smartphones

While the iPhone and other smartphones were billed to deliver the Web to the palm of our hands, desktop websites aren’t ideal on mobile. Instead, Google now crawls websites and checks whether or not they have a mobile-friendly website. Make sure your website works well on mobile platforms so that your content can be appreciated on smartphones everywhere. The mobile web is a big thing, and it will be a necessity to offer a mobile-friendly version of your site. Otherwise, you might find yourself losing readers to other sites.

 

Consider Unlinked Content on Your Site

Now, Google is crawling pages that aren’t linked, specifically those without a “HREF=” attribute to them. These pages might have even increased in traffic already. Pages like these are easier for Google to recommend as they come across as “clean,” meaning the search giant feels comfortable in listing them in their results.

 

Clean House

When Google starts to change things, it can be a wake-up call, and for a good reason. You should make sure that your blog, be it for personal or business, is where it should be. Ensure that your mobile site is working properly and make sure the content you are running is clean and well-proofed. Generally, you should go through your site and make sure it is up to standards. By following the tips above, you might end up gaining more traffic as a result of the Hummingbird update.

Have you noticed anything different since the update? Leave your comments below!

Photo Credit: dhiren2

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Hi, my name is Adam Smith and welcome to asmithblog.com. I am the author of the book, The Bravest You. Because of my work as an entrepreneur, consultant, writer, and speaker, I have been named a top industry influencer by American Genius. I live with my wife, Jasmine, and three children in Shenandoah, IA.

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