Fitbit Wristband Falls to its Knees and Faces Lawsuit

Fitbit Wristbands on Recall

When government is involved on your business, it is a sign of bad storm heading your way.  Several weeks after the company undertook its own recall of the product, the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission has recalled 1 million of the devices in the U.S. after receiving nearly 10,000 complaints from consumers.

The specific bracelets involved in the recall are the Fitbit Force bands with model numbers FB402BK, FB402BKS, FB402SL and FB402SLS. As we’ve reported before, the materials used in the product were resulting in contact dermatitis for many users, sometimes leaving nasty, itchy rashes on their skin.  Furthemore, The lawsuit was filed Monday in a California state court in San Diego. It alleges that the company misled California consumers by failing to disclose in its marketing materials that there was a possibility for allergic reactions to the materials in the fitness wristbands. In all, Fitbit says it has sold more than 1 million of these devices.

Those who have a recalled Fitbit but have not already done so, can get a full refund from the company by calling (888) 656-6381 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET daily. The CPSC and Fitbit also say you can go to Fitbit.gov and click on the “Recall/Safety Info” button on the bottom right of the homepage, but right now that only results in users downloading a Word document with the same information available from the CPSC recall page.

In a statement to Huffington Post, which published a story on Monday as well, Fitbit issued a public apology to customers who have experienced skin problems on the wrists where they’ve worn the force.

 

We are looking into reports from a very limited number of Fitbit Force users who have been experiencing skin irritation, possibly as a result of an allergy to nickel, an element of surgical-grade stainless steel used in the device.

We suggest that consumers experiencing any irritation discontinue using the product and contact Fitbit at force@fitbit.com if they have additional questions. Customers may also contact Fitbit for an immediate refund or replacement with a different Fitbit product.

We are sorry that even a few consumers have experienced these problems and assure you that we are looking at ways to modify the product so that anyone can wear the Fitbit Force comfortably. We will continue to update our customers with the latest information.

RFID Wristbands Applications and Benefits

RFID Wristband

RFID enabled wristbands are used for various purposes across a number of industries. Schools, hospitals, amusement parks, militaries, cruise ships and a number of other enterprises are moving forward with projects to put RFID tags into wristbands. RFID enabled wristbands are ideal for various applications where it is vital to provide location or privileged services to patrons, patients, workers, temporary visitors or other personnel groups. Some of the applications that come to mind are in healthcare, where these wristbands can provide patient safety and security; in the entertainment industry where wristbands can be used for convenience and customer safety; the U.S. Department of Defense can use RFID wristbands to track soldiers, and combat casualties, and higher education facilities could used RFID wristbands to monitor attendance and increase student safety. While the above mentioned applications are important, the list does not end there, RFID wristbands can be used across most industries for various applications.

What is an RFID Enabled Wristbands?

In simple terms, RFID wristband systems contain two parts: a tag and a reader. An RFID tag embedded in the wristband contains an antenna; the majority of these tags are passive. Passive RFID tags are small data transponders that are powered by the radiation received from a querying RFID reader – these tags “wake – up” when irradiated by the reader.Active RFID wristbands contain batteries and can send signals to readers. Readers can be mounted on walls, doorways, ceiling or be hand held.A lost child wearing a barcode wristband in RFID wristband in an amusement park can be located by the reader infrastructure which then transmits that location information to his/her parents.

RFID Wristbands in Healthcare:

There are many applications for RFID technology in healthcare. RFID wristbands specifically can be used in patient safety applications.These applications can provide patient tracking and identification services through the use of RFID wristbands. Additionally the use of RFID wristbands in healthcare can improve resource utilization and expedite patient admission process within all hospital departments. Due to the lack of real-time data, majority of the hospitals find it hard to keep track of their patients’ whereabouts while the hospital staff is on the move, thus leading to delays in patient admission from the emergency department.By assigning RFID wristbands to patients at the point of admission, recording patient information on these wristbands and strategically placing RFID readers throughout the hospital, patients can be located and identified while moving freely around the hospital, thus decreasing delays throughout the hospital.

In addition, RFID wristbands can be used to record patient information to correctly identify patients.Incorrect identification of patients can lead to incorrect drug administration, execution of undesired procedures, misfiling of results and medical documentation and can cause general delays.RFID enabled wristbands can, not only store patient information, but can have read and write capabilities as well.Usually, nurses and hospital personnel take notes by hand and then enter them into databases, leaving room for human error and causing general delays in hospital proceedings.With RFID enabled wristbands patient information, can be retrieved from the database via a wireless network by getting RFID enabled handheld devices in the vicinity of the wristbands. Hospital personal can obtain information on their patient instantly through patient’s wristband. With the use of RFID enabled wristbands doctors and nurses can monitor patients’ in real time, decrease mistakes and allow for a faster patient admission and treatment.

Some hospitals are already employing RFID enabled wristbands to help them track and identify patients. In 2003, The Albert Einstein Healthcare Network in Philadelphia, PA deployed a passive RFID identification tracking system. Since the deployment the hospital increased emergency department traffic flow by 24% and decreased the number of patients leaving before receiving care by 3%.

RFID Enabled Wristbands in the Entertainment Industry

RFID wristbands can have various applications in the entertainment industry. Amusement parks, cruises, concerts and festivals could all benefit from RFID wristband deployment. RFID wristbands in amusement parks can provide customers with convenience and security. According to some studies, over 27% of all families that visit an amusement park loose one of their children while there. With the use of RFID wristbands parks can prevent children from being lost.RFID wristbands assigned to park goers at the point of ticket purchase, can store basic information such as name, telephone number and address of the person wearing the wristband. Parents with lost children could go to park administration and retrieve their child’s location.Paramount’s Great American in Santa Clara, CA is a perfect example of an amusement park using RFID enabled wristbands to track park goers. Great American attendees get RFID wristbands with his/her name. One of many antennas scattered throughout the park –whichever is closest to the person at any given moment –reads the wristband and sends the information to the park’s administration.Parents who lose their children can go to any service kiosk, wave their own wristband, and bring up maps showing their kids’ locations.

Cruises, concerts and festivals could all benefit from similar RFID wristband applications. By utilizing RFID enabled wristbands, these ventures can not only track their customers but also provide them with convenience and security.

Royal Caribbean Oasis did just that, when it set sail in December 2009. The world’s largest cruise ship provided its customers with RFID wristbands that not only offered families and groups a way to track their members, but to also allowed users to make reservations at restaurant’s and spas. The application used Wi-Fi based RFID tags in wristbands and Apple iPhones. The location information was transmitted to the iPhone user to send alerts, to those wearing wristbands. This allowed for users to move freely about the cruise ship without worrying about their family members being lost. 2Live sector can also benefit from RFID wristband deployment. By storing bank account information on RFID enabled wristbands, attendees will not need to bring their debit cards, cash, and credit cards to the venue, therefore eliminating theft that occurs at concerts, sporting events and other similar events. Similarly, medical information can be stored on RFID wristbands, therefore upgrading safety for individuals in case of an emergency. Additionally, RFID enabled wristbands allow administration personal to monitor the crowds. By scanning wristbands by readers that contain all of the information of all the wristband holders attending, and sending this data wirelessly to a server, crowds can be monitored and controlled in real time. In 2004, South by Southwest (SXSW), a music festival held annually in Austin, Texas, used RFID wristbands to prevent counterfeiting of wristbands, eliminate over – crowding and to increase public safety at their events.

RFID Wristband Application in Defense

RFID enabled wristband applications vary when it comes to defense. These wristbands can be used to track wounded in warfare, track soldiers on battlefields, help families track relatives and identify victims during natural disasters. In 2007, U.S. Navy used RFID enabled wristbands to track and identify the wounded naval officers arriving at the field hospitals in Iraq. By employing RFID wristbands and satellite communication, medical personnel could better plan for arriving casualties. Additionally, the U.S. military has been considering using RFID to track soldiers on the battlefield to warn and monitor those going in and out of chemical or biological hot zones.

Some companies have been employing RFID wristbands to help families prevent their loved ones, who are at risk, from wandering away from the house. If an individual wearing the wristband approaches a door, an alarm sounds. This application is perfect for individuals suffering from Alzheimer’s or similar conditions.

Additionally, the state of Texas used RFID wristbands to track victims of hurricane Ike and Gustav. In 2008, the state’s division of Emergency Management employed RFID wristbands to evacuate 34,800 residents.

Moving Forward

RFID wristbands can be used across many industries, and in various applications. However, the same holds true regardless of the industry or the application: RFID wristbands are becoming the standard in people identification and tracking.RFID enabled wristbands are used in healthcare, defense, entertainment industries and even some schools are starting to employ RFID to track student attendance. While the cost of RFID wristband systems may seem daunting, the system’s ability track patients in hospitals, cut down cost of counterfeit tickets at festivals, increase security and track wounded is a major plus.

RFID Wristband: In Music Festival Technology At Bonnaroo, Bamboozle, Coachella And More

Music festival season is in full swing, and while it is pretty obvious how much work goes into organizing the event and setting up the stages, something you don’t think about are the tickets. Think back to the last time you got a ticket to go into a festival? Seems like awhile ago right? You might have just received a wrist band that you flashed to security. Those days are long gone as Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) are the latest (and honestly greatest) in festival technology.

PDC RFID Wristbands Used in Coachella

To put it in the easiest terms, RFID is an actual chip (no not your average bag of Ruffles) that sends out a signal. RFID technology has made its way into music festival wristbands. You may have noticed at the last festival you attended (Bonnaroo 2011, Bamboozle 2012, Coachella 2012) that to enter the grounds you had to walk through what looked like a fun metal detector. These “fun metal detectors” had an outline of a hand that security kindly asked to place your hand by. Placing your hand in the outline like a missing puzzle piece, your wristband was validated within a millisecond, letting festival organizers know that “you, (place name here), have made it to the festival!”

While attending the Bamboozle festival in Asbury Park, NJ this past May, I had the pleasure of not only rockin’ the RFID wristband (along with every other festival attendee), but I also had a chance to talk with Greg Parmley, the Chief Information Officer for Intellitix, who told me a little bit more about how the RFID technology works to connect people.

Intellitix, a provider of RFID access control activated over one million RFID tags at festivals last year. What’s the big deal, you may ask? They’re the reason why queues have been cut and ticket fraud is almost extinct. Intellitix’s RFID wristband is some of “the next-generation festival technology.”

Maybe you don’t care all that much about shorter entrance lines or the extinction of ticket fraud, but RFID wristbands can actually expand your festival experience. These RFID wristbands can connect festival goers with bands and other fans through social media, and can even be used to pay for items.

“Rather than carry a wallet or worry about losing credit cards, in advance or at the event you can load funds onto your wristband to spend around the site,” Greg explained. “It’s really fast,” he said, stating that transactions occur generally between one and three seconds.

I know that I am personally tired of festival ATM charges and having a twenty dollar bill slip out of my wallet to be lost in the abyss.

By loading funds onto wristbands, it actually becomes a lot easier for the festival organizers as well. Gone are the long queues due to waiting for credit card transactions to go through, and organizers don’t need to worry about the cash. “It’s much more efficient, much more convenient,” he says of the wristbands.
According to Greg, within the coming year we’re going to see more festival attendees registering their wristband online and link it to their Facebook profiles. At this year’s Coachella, around 30,000 fans did just that.

“You can have points around the site where you can buy stuff or update your [Facebook] status,” he explains about the exciting new opportunities linked to the RFID wristband.

But besides music festival goers, bands can actually prosper from the new technology as well. Greg explained that a person might discover a band at a festival that they really like. The wristband could help connect a person with the band, letting that person download tracks, along with growing that bands fan base.
Those afraid of damaging the wristband and being denied entrance into a festival need not fear. Greg states that the RFID wristbands are “pretty much indestructible.” Don’t worry about getting them wet either. The wristbands can survive being submerged in up to 18 inches of water. So please continue washing your grubby hands at festivals.

I checked out people walking into the Bamboozle festival all three days. During day one some seemed timid, waiting with their hands at the hand outline for a couple seconds before continuing through. By day three, Bamboozlers were cruising through with their wristbands, getting the hang of the fast validating technology that has them in and enjoying live music in a flash.

Those attending Bonnaroo this year in Manchester, T.N. from Thursday, June 7 to June 10 will have the opportunity to check out the RFID wristbands in person. Register your wristband online beforehand to link to Facebook, and see how else you can socialize with other Bonnaroo-ians. Registering your wristband for Bonnaroo can also give you access to merchandise discounts, set lists and free music from Bonnaroo bands.

 Source: Entertainment & Stars – by Amanda Remling.