A new year usually starts with great intentions of watching your calories, changing to healthier diet and exercising more. Yet for many those resolutions are shelved by the time February comes around as you just didn't have the right tools to keep you motivated. This is where the Timex Health Tracker comes into the picture.

Aimed at women with hectic lifestyles the Timex Health Tracker has a built-in walk sensor that automatically records distance, steps taken and calories burned. It also lets you record calories consumed in a diet diary and allows you to create custom fitness goals and track your progress to keep motivated. And as it sits on your wrist, you can easily review your stats whenever and wherever with just a few clicks!

We've been testing the Health Tracker for a week and have found it does really help with motivation. Working as a little nudge each time we look at our wrist, being able to easily record calories and check how many steps we've taken at any time is definitely a bonus. Now there is no need to remember to bring that notebook or recall what you've eaten throughout the day when you sit down in the evening to log it online.

The Health Tracker is available in three colours; purple, grey and black for £59.99 from www.timex.co.uk/wellness.

Win a Timex Health Tracker

To help you take your first steps towards a healthier you, we have teamed up with Timex to give one of our readers the chance to win a Timex Health Tracker.

To enter simply Like Connected Health Store on Facebook and leave a comment on our Wall saying where you like to walk and why.

The winner will be picked at random and will be announced on Facebook. The competition closes on Thursday 2^nd February 2012.

While you are at Connected Health don't forget to check out the latest news on health and fitness gadgets.

NIKE have added a new gadget to their range of digital fitness products today. The NIKE+FuelBand sits on a user's wrist, and is designed to track everyday movements that could encourage people to live more active lives.

Pairing up with the NIKE+ website or a free iOS app over Bluetooth, the NIKE+FuelBand uses an incentive system called NikeFuel. A normalized score that awards equal points for the same activity regardless of physical makeup, users can set a daily goal of how much NikeFuel they want to earn through being active during the day.

Whereas previous NIKE fitness systems have required users to set aside time for a workout, the FuelBand instead uses four slightly more passive metrics (Time, Calories, Steps and NikeFuel) that can be tracked throughout an entire day, letting users gradually adapt their days to make them a little more active.

The wristband itself lets you track how close you've come to reaching your target goals over a day through a series of 20 LED lights, gradually building from red to green as you approach your set achievements.

"The NIKE+ FuelBand is a way for Nike to further evolve the exciting possibilities of merging the physical and digital worlds," said NIKE, Inc. President & CEO Mark Parker.

"Nike has always been about inspiring athletes, and the NIKE+ FuelBand will help motivate them in a simple, fun and intuitive way."

The NIKE+ FuelBand already has the backing of some major names in the world of sport too, including seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstong, Oklahoma City scoring champion Kevin Durant and 2011 IAAF women's 100 metres World Champion Carmelita Jeter.

"What's great about the idea of NikeFuel and the FuelBand is the way it provides real information and numbers to show how much people are doing all day, every day," said Armstrong.

"That's what will get people challenging themselves to do more and better their own scores. It's a tool to get people more active."

The Nike+ FuelBand will be available in the UK from the 1st May, priced at £139.

From research papers, new companies and industry rumours, we always knew 2012 was going to be a big year for fitness gadgets and technology that gives us the power to take control of our own health in a way we've never quite experienced before. Here at Shiny Media we've even set up a dedicated sister site called Connected Health, focused on exploring ways we can monitor our well-being and live happier, healthier lives. What a lovely vision.

But the big question is, are any of these products really innovative or are they just jumping on the "improve your life" bandwagon?

Well, here's our pick of the ten best health and fitness gadgets of 2012 so far that we think are more than just faddy gizmos. We've seen a few at CES, we've only heard rumours about the others, but they could well shape the way we view our personal health and fitness over the next twelve months.

1. The Basis health and heart rate monitor

From the Jawbone UP bracelet to the Fitbit, we've come across all kinds of monitoring devices in recent months that promise to give users detailed stats about their health and fitness.

The Basis works on that same kind of principle, but its watch design would make it much more practical for most users and the simple interface you use to look through your data is the cleanest and most intuitive we've seen so far.

Check out our video demo of the Basis watch and its computer dashboard from CES 2012.

2. Striiv pedometer gadget

Striiv is a cute little device, which is being billed as a handy personal trainer for your pocket. It takes the features of a basic pedometer and builds on them to create a device that gives you all kinds of readings about how much you move during the day.

As you'd expect, it's a small gadget that you attach to your belt and has a colour screen, which not only allows you to track your steps, but lets you play games and encourages you to be more active along the way.

To find out more about the device, check out the post Striiv - a pedometer on steroids over on Connected Health.

3. Ideal Life's connected health system for the home

Ideal Life's booth at CES was less about a specific gadget and much more focused on how to integrate a connected health system into your home.

Primarily devised for those already living with a medical condition, Ideal Life's products and services allow you to use gadgets, like pedometers and blood monitoring devices in your home. These gadgets then send the readings that are taken throughout the day to a dedicated patient portal, where users can monitor them. This data is also accessible via a clinical area, where medical professionals can keep a close eye on their patients too.

Check out our video demo of Ideal Life's connected health home system from CES last week.

4. STMicroelectronics' smart suit prototype

STMicroelectronics has recently unveiled a new kind of smart suit technology with sewn in sensors that track movements and turn them into a digital model. It all sounds a bit sci-fi, but the technology used in the suit could help to improve outcomes in clinical and sports medicine applications. The technology is still in the early stages of development at the moment, but watch this space for Tron-style light suits over the next year.

5. Valencell's fitness monitoring in-ear device

We've seen a number of new gadgets that utilise in-ear technology to give users the best readings recently, and at CES we came across Valencell, a company which aims to give you a better workout by providing you with detailed health and fitness data from within your ear.

Valencell's technology currently exists in small earbuds that contain sensors to collect important data, which is then delivered back to a mobile device.

Check out our chat with one of the Valencell team about the in-ear technology and how it could evolve in the future.

6. The Fitbit ecosystem

At CES last week we had a demo of Fitbit's new Aria scales, which give you accurate information about your weight, body fat and BMI. Although the scales are pretty cool, it's the ecosystem Fitbit is building up around its products that we're particularly interested in. Now you can track everything you do with the Fitbit Ultra and then see your results with the Aria scales, as well as share everything among friends, set challenges and store all of your data. So the devices themselves are certainly interesting, but its the way everything connects together that we think will make Fitbit a big player in the health and fitness arena in 2012.

7. Qualcomm AliveCor iPhone ECG device

This ECG mobile device from AliveCor has been making the headlines recently because it was used to save someone's life on a flight. Despite the circumstances, that's a pretty brilliant testament to just how well it can detect heart problems.

We spoke to one of the AliveCor team at CES, who explained the basics behind the technology and how it was used to diagnose someone in the real world.

8. Iqua Beat fitness gadget

Like the Valencell earbuds, the Iqua Beat tracks your exercise and fitness through little buds in your ears. We particularly love the fact that the device comes with a way to answer calls and intuitively skip music tracks with a simple swipe. It's less of a ground-breaking device and more of a handy gadget for fitness fanatics ho want to know more about their workouts.

Check out our video demo of the Iqua Beat from CES last week over on Connected Health.

9. Wahoo Fitness Bluetooth heart rate strap

Although many devices measure your heart rate, this strap from Wahoo claims to be the world's first Bluetooth Smart heart rate strap made for the iPhone 4S (and also other Bluetooth Smart Ready devices). It's also pretty clever because it works with a range of different fitness apps too, like RunKeeper and MapMyRide.

10. BodyMedia's adhesive patch

BodyMedia already has a new personal health system and part of it consists of an adhesive patch, which when placed on the skin can be left for several days to record as many as 500 data points each minute including calories burned, steps taken, activity levels, and sleep pattern.

Although BodyMedia's system looks great as a whole, we're interested to see whether an adhesive patch is more or less convenient than the straps, watches, clothing devices and ear buds we've seen from other companies.

One of the hottest trends at this year's show has been health and fitness gadgets and we have already compiled a list of some of the best here.

However they keep on coming, and here are a few more for you to check out.

The Basis, a wrist based rival to the FitBit, Jawbone Up and BodyMedia Fit

We like the design of this Fitbit Ultra and Jawbone Up rival as it looks more stylish and high tech. As for features it has many you'd expect, like a 3D accelerometer to track your movements, temperature gague and a heart rate monitor.

Qualcomm's Alivecor software and how it saves lives

Do mobile self-diagnosis devices mean people could get more accurate assessments of their health than they necessarily would from their doctors? Qualcomm thinks so.

Second generation Striv 'pedometer on steroids' on its way

Everyone's favourite pocket pedometer to get even smarter.

Forget hospital Matrons - here comes Ava the healthcare robot from iRobot

At CES 2012 iRobot, the company that makes the Roomba home-cleaning robots, was parading its Ava bot, a three-to-five-foot tall robot with an Apple iPad for a head. And it could be heading for your nearest hospital.

So you think medical and health gadgets a bit gimmicky? Well maybe, but they may have already saved one life.

In a keynote speech at CES 2012 Dr. Eric Topol, the chief academic officer of Scripps Health told a story about how he was able to use a software called Alivecor from Qualcomm - which is being trialled on mobile phones - to save a man's life.

He was apparently on a flight when someone was taken ill with chest pains. Using the tool Topol was able to quickly diagnose that the passenger having chest pains was having a heart attack, and not just indigestion. The airplane made an emergency landing, allowing the man's life to be saved.

Here's a video of the device in action. For more on some very cool medical gadgets and apps from Qualcomm go here, and check out Connected Health for full CES coverage here.

Fitness freaks get another gadget to add to the growing pile of workout-monitoring tech at CES 2012 thanks to the new Iqua Beat headphones.

Pairing with an iPhone over a Bluetooth connection, and syncing with its own iPhone app, the Iqua Beat headphones can monitor heart-rate, calories burned, miles ran, steps taken and your speed.

A touch-sensitive controller unit also allows you to answer phone calls, and select new music tracks by swiping across the controller's surface.

Shipping with an iPhone arm-clip, the splash-proof headphones look a good new tool in the fight against the flab.

For more news from CES 2012, click here.

Ok, so CES 2012 hasn't exactly been that exciting so far. We are however noting the emergence of one very important new product category - namely health and wellness gadgets. We have already been tracking these for a while on our sister site, but what started as a trickle a year or so ago has now turned into a flood. On day one we have already the following...

The smart suit for athletes and Parkinson's sufferers

Want to analyse your body movements so you can run as fast as Theo Walcott or play tennis like Roger Federer? Well STMicroelectronics NV has unveiled a smart-suit prototype with motion sensors which is designed to help people recover from injuries quicker or improve their co-ordination if they are suffering from conditions like Parkinson's Disease. It will also enable athletes to closely study their movement and learn how to perform to higher standards. More here

The first Bluetooth Smart heart rate strap made for the iPhone 4S

The Wahoo Fitness Blue HR heart rate strap's big claim is that it is the world's first Bluetooth Smart heart rate strap made for the iPhone 4S (and also other Bluetooth Smart Ready devices). It is a standard format of a strap and an accompanying app. The clever bit is that it works with a load of different iPhone apps More here.

The ultra smart blood pressure monitor

The Zensorium Tinke is a two unit system with dongle that fits on to your iPhone that then connects to a wearable heart monitor - which incidentally comes in an array of bright colours. It measures heart stats like blood pressure, respiratory rate and oxygen levels through shining infrared and red light beams onto the tiny blood vessels in the tip of your finger. More here

The intelligent disposable adhesive patch bandage

BodyMedia is parading a new and highly innovative new way of capturing data about our bodies. It has unveiled an adhesive patch which you place on your skin and leave there for seven days. During that time it records as many as 500 data points each minute including calorie burn, steps taken, activity levels, and sleep pattern. More here

The baby scales that tweet your child's weight

French technology company Withings has just announced an Internet-connected baby and toddler scale, the Withings Smart Baby Scale. The idea is that thanks to its Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity it will automatically update your child's weight on any manner of devices from PCs through to phones and tablets in some instances using a dedicated WiScale app. It can also instantly update Facebook, Twitter or send an email to private email addresses with new readings. More here.

Name: Philips Sonicare DiamondClean

Type: Electric Toothbrush

Specs: Click here for full specs

Price: £250

Can you covet a toothbrush? That's a question Philips are hoping to answer with a resounding "YES" with their latest electric brush, the Sonicare DiamondClean. Packed full of teeth-tidying features, it's about as techy as a toothbrush is ever going to get, and as expensive too. But is it worth the £250 asking price? Read on to find out.

Though far thicker and a good inch longer than your average manual toothbrush, the DiamondClean is an attractive bit of kit, in so far at least as a toothbrush can ever be attractive. With an oblong handle that features a power/mode select button and an illuminated display to indicate which of the brush's five cleaning modes you're currently using (as well as battery charge levels), it tapers off at the neck into a thin, slightly angled head. It feels a little heavy in the hand, but never uncomfortably so, with much of the weight likely made up of the motor system inside and the impressive rechargeable lithium-polymer battery, which is good for 3 weeks of regular usage from a single overnight charge. The brush head (of which two are included) snap satisfyingly on and off, making it easy to hygienically share the DiamondClean with your partner providing you each grab your own head piece.

The DiamondClean looks great on a bathroom shelf, and that's not least of all down to some premium extras thrown in. As well as the brush itself, heads and charging cables, the DiamondClean package also includes an eye-catching silver travel case and a nicely cut glass tumbler with a silver base unit that it rests in.

There's more than meets the eye with these two add-ons however, as both are used to wirelessly charge the DiamondClean. Using an inductive charging system similar to that found in Powermat chargers, simply placing the brush into the glass resting on the base unit (with the base unit plugged into a wall socket) charges the DiamondClean. With the green-lined travel case, it's a similar principle, lying the toothbrush down inside rather than standing it up, and connecting the case via a USB connection on a PC or laptop to charge the brush. Though it may initially sound silly, the USB support is actually a nifty addition; anyone who regularly works while travelling on trains or planes will be able to conveniently charge the brush at the same time.

If you've only ever used a manual toothbrush, how clean your teeth feel after using the DiamondClean will be a revelation. Your teeth feel remarkably polished and genuinely "squeaky clean" afterwards. It's a strange sensation using the brush at first, causing your teeth to vibrate in a peculiar way, but Philips have cleverly designed the DiamondClean to ramp up the intensity of the cleaning cycle progressively after your first few brushes, letting you get used to the way the brush works gradually. If, once the DiamondClean has hit its regular level of cleaning intensity, you still find it too much, you can choose the gentle "Sensitive" mode instead.

There are 5 cleaning modes programmed altogether in the DiamondClean (Clean, White, Polish, Gum Care, Sensitive), each designed to focus on a particular cleaning process. However, apart from the light touch of the "Sensitive" option, we felt little difference between the modes apart from cycle lengths, and generally stuck with the default "Clean" setting which got the job done fine.

On the "Clean" setting, the DiamondClean uses a 2 minute "Smartimer", automatically switching off after you've brushed for the recommended 120 seconds. This particular timer takes it a little further though, stopping the motor for a split-second at 30 second intervals to help you better judge when to move onto a new area in your mouth. It's a great way of making sure you've brushed each area equally, and for the recommended length of time, considering both over and under-brushing can be just as damaging to the health of your teeth.

For all its bells and whistles though, at the end of the day the most important part of the DiamondClean is whether or not it has the ability to give you a Hollywood smile. And, after around three week's use (give or take a day) I've noticed my teeth look notably whiter. The small, pointed head lets you easily get into the nooks and crannies between your teeth, and while I've never suffered from gum disease to know whether or not the DiamondClean has made them feel any healthier, the brush has certainly done a good job of keeping the fleshier parts of my mouth feeling fresh too.

Verdict:

OK, so no matter how hard you try, it's never going to be easy to get all that excited about a toothbrush. But credit where it's due, Philips have managed to "tech-up" the humble gnasher polisher into an attractive package that's made a genuine improvement to the sparkle of Tech Digest's pearly whites.

The DiamondClean is to toothbrushes what the iPhone is to smartphones. It looks great, has a solid battery, travels well and cleans teeth almost as well as my dentist. Is it drastically better than cheaper alternatives? Perhaps not, but it still impresses with a rich feature list that rivals just cant offer. If money is no option (and you're hoping to be munching on steak with your own set of molars well into your old age) then the Philips Sonicare DiamondClean is for you.

For the purpose of this review, Tech Digest were given a sample model of the Sonicare DiamondClean electric toothbrush by Philips.

Do they? Don't they? Do they, don't they??? Today, they don't. New research looking at a large selection of the Danish population has found that there is no definitive link between mobile phone usage and an increased chance of brain cancer.

The study, published in bmj.com looked at 10,729 central nervous system tumours between the years 1990 and 2007 and found that there was little difference between the cancer rate of those who used mobile phones heavily for 13 years of more and those who hadn't.

The report contradicts recent reports from the World Health Orginisation, who claimed they could find a link between mobile phone usage and an increased risk of cancer.

Still, if you're finding yourself still a little worried about potential health risks, check out our mobile phone health tips here.

The Formula One Mercedes GP Petronas team have helped a British teenager improve his quality of life by helping him grab an expensive bionic arm from Touch Bionics.

14-year-old Matthew James was born without a left hand, and had been using a crude bionic arm which he described as "like a claw", which only allowed for simple gripping techniques.

He'd been dreaming of having an i-Limb Pulse from Touch Bionics fitted, a far more advanced arm and hand combo that allowed for individual finger movements. However, priced at £30,000 and unavailable through the NHS, the teen seemed out of luck.

That was until he came up with the ingenious plan of approaching the Mercedes team for funding, in exchange for advertising space on the side of his futuristic limb.

While Mercedes declined the advertising offer, they did manage to broker a deal for £25,000 off the price of the arm for Matthew by offering an exhcange of technologies between themselves and Touch Bionics. Mercedes are also helping raise the final £5,000 needed.

A great feel good story, with a sci-fi happy ending.

Well almost; Matthew one regret:

"Unfortunately there's one downside to it, I'm having to do more chores," he said.

Via: BBC

Tokyo Flash are back with another crazy watch idea to make your wrist-wear a talking piece as well as a time piece.

One for those who rightfully fear the dangers of drinking and driving, the watch comes equipped with a breathalyzer, relaying your blood alcohol levels on a touchscreen. Rather than using osmosis however, the watch has a fold out port to blow into which gauges how fit you are to drive.

It's just a concept for now so no word on when (or if, even) it will ever be released, but Tokyo Flash do have a good track record for turning their madcap designs into real-life products.

What they don't have a good track record for however is making watches that you can actually read the time on. Few people can ever make out the wacky watch faces, and God only knows who will be able to read one of them when they're pissed.

More info here.

It's probably the last thing you want to hear when you're browsing a gadget site with a strong slant towards mobile technology, but a new World Health Organisation (WHO) report has this week suggested that there may possibly be a link between mobile phone usage and lethal forms of brain cancer.

Working with the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), WHO has classified radio frequency electromagnetic fields found in mobile phones as possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B), based on an increased risk of glioma. Glioma is a malignant brain cancer which has previously been linked with mobile phone usage.

31 scientists from 14 countries scoured years' worth of research for the study. As a result, WHO have now said that mobile phones should be classed as "possibly carcinogenic".

Now the emphasis here is on "possibly" as WHO were unable to conclusively decide one way or the other whether or not smartphones are a direct link to certain forms of brain tumours. But the research did find snippets of evidence that suggested so.

Either way, erring on the side of caution is never a bad thing. Here are a few tips to help avoid exposure to radio frequency electromagnetic fields without ditching your trusty mobile.

1) Buy a Bluetooth headset

...or a wired one for handsfree calls. The idea here is that keeping the phone away from your head should reduce the exposure to the potentially harmful frequencies. While they can sometimes make you look like an extra out of The Matrix, stylish Bluetooth headsets can be picked up from as little as £10 or £15 nowadays.

2) Text more!

Again, by texting you're keeping the phone away from the sensitive areas of your brain that may be susceptible to an increased risk of cancer. Monthly contract deals usually come with far more texts available than any average person would ever use, so now is a great time to touch up on yr txt spk. Just watch you don't get RSI in the process.

3) When at home, use the landline

Another fairly obvious point, but why risk illness by using your mobile phone at home when most of us have a perfectly good landline sitting there unloved? Sure, it may not have Angry Birds built in or access to your Twitter hashtags, but the faithful old landline served us for many a good year before the advent of mobile phones. Rates to other landlines are usually significantly cheaper than with PAYG tariffs too.

4) iPhone 4 users, use FaceTime!

...or Skype or any other similar VoIP service that you favour. On a mobile you'll be holding the phone far enough away from your head to frame your pretty mug nicely, while on a computer you wont be near the potentially harmful phone at all.

The first comprehensive gene mapping of the human brain has been carried out by the The Allen Institute for Brain Science, showing that our think-boxes are far more similar than anyone first thought.

Working with two normal adult brains, the team discovered that there is a 94% similarity in the bio-chemistry of human brains, which could potentially lead to great advances in the treatment of degenerative brain diseases. The team also found that 82% of all human genes can be found within the brain, further highlighting just how complex an organ it is.

"Until now, a definitive map of the human brain, at this level of detail, simply hasn't existed," said Allan Jones, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of the Allen Institute for Brain Science. "The Allen Human Brain Atlas provides never-before-seen views into our most complex and most important organ. Understanding how our genes are used in our brains will help scientists and the medical community better understand and discover new treatments for the full spectrum of brain diseases and disorders, from mental illness and drug addiction, to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, multiple sclerosis, autism and more."

For more info, visit www.brain-map.org.

Liked playing The Sims? Then you're going to love real life, where you work all day long, pay bills, grow old and die!

OK, so that was a rather nihilistic deconstruction of our love of life and video games, but those looking to inject a little more fun into their everyday lives may want to check out GreenGoose sensors.

A health-conscious, lifestyle tracking platform, it makes use of sensors in specially built bottles and containers, a credit-card sized pedometer, and toothbrush to award the user points on an online scoreboard.

Think of it like Foursquare for teeth-brushing; it basically turns life into a role-playing game, designed to encourage users to engage in healthy living practices.

While GreenGoose points are currently worthless, the company are looking into reward partnerships with companies with which users can redeem their healthy-living with real prizes. It probably won't be a box of Dunkin Donuts or McDonalds vouchers though.

Find out more about GreenGoose by clicking here.

Via: MedGadget

I may be a tech fan, but the thought of squeezing a camera into my innards during surgery has never appealed to me. Or probably anyone for that matter. Keyhole surgery may be about to get less invasive however due to a newly developed endoscope camera.

Designed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration in Germany, the camera is no larger than a grain of salt at just one cubic millimeter in size.

Traditional endoscopes can be costly to build due to the need for a lens, electrical contacts and thousands of sensors. The Fraunhofer system scales the construction back to only connecting contacts and sensors to one side of lens wafer however, reducing both size and manufacturing cost.This newly developed camera is in fact so cheap that it can be affordably thrown away after a single use, rather than having to undergo time-consuming sanitization procedures to make it fit again for multiple uses.

It won't win any battles in the megapixel war (with a resolution of just 62,500 pixels - less than 1MP), but it should make life easier for doctors and patients alike when it is expected to go to market next year.

Whether or not it's dangerous remains to be proven, but new medical research is clear on one thing: using a mobile phone changes brain activity.

According to the US government's National Institutes of Health, using a mobile phone for less than one hour is linked with increased activity in the part of the brain closest to the phone antenna.

47 people took part in the year-long study, where brain activity was mapped through scans. The outcome showed that metabolism in the brain region closest to the antenna was about 7% higher when next to a switched-on phone.

The areas affected by the position of a mobile phone influence a range of behaviours, including emotion, smell, memory, speech, eating and aggression.

The issue of how mobile phones affect health is becoming increasingly pressing as usage increases, but so far no study has been able to prove it's harmful. This one is no different.

"An increase in glucose metabolism doesn't mean it's dangerous," Murali Doraiswamy of Duke Medical Center, told USA Today. "Though cancer cells do have higher levels of glucose metabolism, it has also been associated in normal people, and in some animal studies, with some good things, including greater cognitive performance and greater blood flow."

Still, it might be an idea to invest in some decent hands-free gear, just to be on the safe side. The scientists believe the radiation won't have an effect at texting distance either, so all is not lost.

Oscar winning actress Helen Mirren has backed a new study into the potential benefits of using Nintendo's Wii gaming console as part of rehabilitation treatment for Parkinson's sufferers.

Mirren, who has a good friend diagnosed with the disease as well as featuring in the current round of Nintendo adverts, welcomed the news that the Parkinson's UK research group has awarded an innovation grant of nearly £35,000 to Dr Cathy Craig at the School of Psychology, Queen's University Belfast, who aims to investigate the potential benefits of the Nintendo Wii for people with Parkinson's.

Dr Craig said: "Our hope is to harness the benefits of the Wii technology to develop a system designed specifically for people with Parkinson's. If the project is successful the benefits could be twofold. It could allow us to develop a simple way to assess Parkinson's symptoms yet provide a safe and effective way for people with the condition to be more active and keep fit."

The research looks to find whether or not the use of the Wii system can improve the physical abilities and lifestyle of people with Parkinson's, and also whether the various games improve specific symptoms of Parkinson's including tremors, slowness of movement and balance.

Karen Rose is a Parkinson's sufferer, whos story is currently featured in a Wii TV advert. She said seems to think the Wii could have great potential as a treatment aid.

"Keeping moving is really important because of the stiffness. By doing the Wii I find that you loosen up the muscles that are constantly spasming, "she said.

"Most people with Parkinson's find that they lose their confidence. So I tend to do exercise at home. I've got all the benefits of a gym, but I can do it to fit in with my lifestyle and my medication. It gives you a burst somehow, and it makes you feel better, and then you have a better day."

Tech Digest yesterday had a play around with the Philips Original Energy Light, and learnt a little about S.A.D (seasonal affective disorder, not to be confused with sexual anxiety disorder) in the process.

Blasting out 10,000 Lux of light intensity, it's designed to cheer up those have depression brought on by those dark winter months.

But did it make the Shiny team any happier? Check out the video review above for our thoughts.

November is our favourite time of year, possible because it is really the only time of year when you can legitimately get away with sporting a moustache, and not look like you have just walked out of a trailer park or like you spend to much time snooping around playgrounds.

But on a more serious note November is that special month known a Movember. A challenge to men to change their appearance to raise awareness of prostate cancer. The rules are simple, starting today November 1st you must start clean shaven and then grow out your mo for the entire month. The moustache becomes the ribbon for men's health, the means by which awareness and funds are raised for cancers that affect men.

To help inspire you this Movember, we have pulled together our top 10 moustaches

Go to http://uk.movember.com to learn more

Patients suffering from the after-effects of surviving a stroke may soon find help in the most unlikely of places. A study conducted by a team at City University London seems to suggest that motion technologies found in the likes of Wii Remotes and Sony's PlayStation Move could soon play a vital role in the rehabilitation of stroke survivors.

The basic idea behind the Gesture Recognition in Aphasia Therapy (GReAT) study is that these relatively cheap technologies could be used by patients as part of ongoing treatments. Aphasia is a common side-effect of strokes that leads to limited spoken or written communication abilities, whose sufferers often learn to use gestures as an alternative to speech.

However, due to other stroke-side effects such as paralysis, helping stroke survivors to learn to use the gestures can lead to costly physio-therapy sessions. The ultimate aim of the project would be to use technology similar to that found in motion-gaming controllers to develop a system that could be used at home by the patients, delivering feedback on the how easily their gestures can be interpreted.

"Gesture tracking and recognition technologies are becoming a ubiquitous part of new computing and gaming environments, ranging from Apple's touchscreen iPad through the handheld Nintendo Wii Remote to Microsoft's forthcoming Kinect for the Xbox 360, which will track users' movements without the need for a handheld controller," says Stephanie Wilson, Senior Lecturer in HCID at City University London. "Whilst popular in gaming, we will evaluate the suitability of such technologies in aphasia rehabilitation."

Jane Marshall, Professor of Aphasiology at City University London, added: "Computer-based treatments have been shown to improve verbal language skills in previous studies, but this is the first time that gestures will be addressed. With 45,000 new cases in the UK each year, we hope that our work will help a wider range of aphasic people to regain communication skills."

The study, carried out in collaboration with The Stroke Association, has been made possible thanks to a £300,000 from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). Running for 18 months, the team will test a prototype system with the help of volunteers, who will report back on how effective the treatment is.

Dr Sharlin Ahmed, Research Liaison Officer at The Stroke Association, says: "Communication difficulties are the most frustrating disability that stroke survivors are left facing. This very exciting and intuitive project could go a long way towards helping breakdown some of the barriers of communication that people with aphasia have to tackle. 150,000 people have a stroke in the UK every year and the use of new technology could help them regain their lives, so The Stroke Association is very proud to be a part of this."