Startup Uses Your Smartphone To Tell You When You’re Sick

Name: GINGER.io

Quick Pitch: GINGER.io lets users know when their behaviors signal health problems.

Genius Idea: Using data from mobile phones, like location and communication, to flag health problems.

“Your smartphone senses your location and who you talk to when. But does can it detect when you’re feeling under the weather?

Anmol Madan explored this question in his thesis at MIT Media Lab. After completing a study that involved more than 320,000 hours of data from research participants’ mobile phones, he was able to model smartphone behaviors that predict the onset of common colds, depression, and influenza.

Now he and two other MIT alumni are using the research to launch a business. GINGER.io uses an Android app to collect SMS data, calling data and location data. When these behaviors change in a way that signals something could be wrong, it alerts the user.” Read more at mashable.com