Category: Technology News

The co-founders of Jiff are working to encourage workers at large companies to live healthier lifestyles.

Co-founders of a startup called Jiff have taken the example from PayPal, Facebook, and Tickle, and have developed a way to incorporate that knowledge into wearables that will encourage employees of companies such as Red Bull, Activision Blizzard, and Qualcomm to take on healthier behaviors and better overall lifestyles.

They have now raised just under $26 million in order to create a disruption to benefits programs from employers.

The strategy is to provide employees with meaningful incentives to encourage them to take on healthier behaviors. This will use a range of different methods and tools, including wearables, in order to improve the overall health of employees and to drive down the costs associated with their health insurance packages. Among the incentives that are being offered is to be able to earn credits that can be applied against deductibles if claims need to be made on their health plans.

Wearables in the form of fitness trackers, smartwatches, and other gadgets help to show who is truly participating.

By using wearable technology, employers don’t need to take a worker’s word for it. They can actually see exactly how much effort an individual employee is putting into the healthy lifestyle strategy so that they can receive their incentive rewards.

According to the CEO of Jiff, Derek Newell, “Our engagement is usually with the head of benefits. … We work with them to determine what behaviors they want to incent or what challenges they want to design into the system.” The incentives for this program are fully customizable, depending on the current health of a given employee. For instance, a worker who is currently managing diabetes would be offered different types of rewards than someone who hasn’t been diagnosed with any chronic conditions at all.

On the side of employers, this wearables based health tracking program helps to promote cost reductions when it comes to providing their employees with healthcare coverage. Moreover, this type of program has also been shown to boost the overall feeling of community and goodwill within a workplace.

The ubiquitous nature of smartphones among students is starting to cause concerns over the potential for cheating.

In India, a new concern has arisen with regards to the use of mobile technology among students, as the risks of the spread of copies of the HSC (higher secondary school certificate) exams throughout the web continue to grow.

Officials are now considering the implementation of more strict regulations with regards to the use of mobile devices.

The hope is to reduce the use of mobile technology by students and exam supervisors throughout the examination process. Currently, there is already a regulation from the state board that bans students from carrying cell phones into the exam halls. According to a divisional board standing committee member, Uday Nare, “It is dangerous for both students and supervisors to carry mobile phones to the exam hall, as it could lead to cheating. Although we have rules to prevent it, they should be stricter.”

Equally, most exam centers have permitted mobile technology devices to be carried in as long as they are turned off.

Mithibai College, Vile Parle principal, Swapna Durve, explained that student mobile devices can be very expensive, nowadays, and the exam centers are hesitant to “take any chance by asking them keep the phones in their bags outside the classrooms. So, we ask students to switch off the phone and keep it in their pockets.”

Unfortunately, there have been problems that have arisen with this honor system based policy. On March 4, a student was caught by an exam supervisor. That student had been using a cell phone to cheat during the Vile Parle exam center’s SSC examination.

These types of issues are popping up as colleges are, understandably, not frequently willing to actually frisk the students to ensure that they are not carrying any mobile devices. The principal at the Jai Hind College in Churchgate, Jyoti Thakur, explained that “We cannot frisk students, as girl students might raise objections.”

In order to help to overcome some of the mobile technology related issues, some of the centers have now hired women staff specifically to be able to check female students for devices before they enter the exam halls.