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2025-08-20 19:45:00| Fast Company

Just in time for the season’s kick off, the National Football League (NFL) is tapping into artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze game and performance insights in real time. On Aug. 20, the NFL and Microsoft announced they are expanding their partnership to bring AI to the field. Integrating technologies like Azure AI and Microsoft Copilot, coaches and players across the 32 NFL teams may now have more efficient sideline evaluations and enhanced scouting insights. Beyond the playing field, the 30 franchise stadiums will also have AI available to streamline its operations during the multiyear partnership. The NFL and Microsoft partnership is entering a new era, and were proud the league is once again putting its trust in Microsoft to bring AI to the NFL, Corporate Vice President, Global Marketing, Microsoft, Bryson Gordon said in a blog post announcement. “Whether youre preparing for the championship or running a global enterprise, the principles are the same: insights matter, preparation is essential, and the ability to act quickly is critical. Fast Company reached out to Microsoft and the NFL for comment but did not hear back at the time of publishing. AI-powered sideline decisions The current NFL’s Sideline Viewing Systemleague-provided, Microsoft configured tablets available to all clubswill be upgraded to include SurfaceCopilot+ PCs, providing data and analysis tools on game day. Making sound decisions and putting players in the best spots on the field is a coachs ultimate responsibility, head coach of the Los Angeles Rams Sean McVay said in a blog post. Microsoft Copilot enhances our efficiency and accuracy by breaking down complex data into digestible insights.  For coaches and players, the dashboard will feature the ability to sort through plays filtering through scoring plays and penalties, and analyze formations and coverage. The feature, which is built with GitHub Copilot, will allow teams to make faster strategic decisions based on data.  Additionally, club analysts may quickly spot insights like personnel groupings and more from the coaching booth using the upgraded dashboard. Beyond the field The NFL’s integration with Copilot and Azure, is not the league’s first AI related partnership in recent years. Notably, Sony’s Hawk-Eye, which uses cameras and artificial intelligence to make calls, is set to replace the line measuring system in favor of the faster and quicker autonomous option. Still, Microsoft’s partnership is set to expand beyod sidelines, integrating unto day-to-day activities at clubs and stadiums. Research is still underway for ways to incorporate Copilot as a tool for operation managers to help identify incidents like technical issues or weather conflicts to generate its own AI-powered dashboard for game day operations. While still in the works, the partnership also aims to provide data-driven insights on draft performance, as well as insights on non-football-related operations like business, finance, human resources, and events functions. And while development is underway, some teams are already utilizing Microsoft’s technology to optimize their strategies, wit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers using Copilot for a recent marketing campaign.


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2025-08-20 19:00:00| Fast Company

The top free app in Apple’s App Store right now is a passion project from Hank Green that includes a sentient bean, knitted socks, and home decorating. Its entire goal is to get you to put your phone down. The app, called Focus Friend, was made through a collaboration between Greenan author, YouTuber, and science educatorand Bria Sullivan, founder of the mobile game studio Honey B Games. Sullivan describes the app as a gamified focus timer, built with the primary goal of encouraging users not to doomscroll on social media. So far, its working shockingly well: After soft-launching in late July, the app has risen all the way to the top of the App Store in the U.S., Australia, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand, amassing 740,000 downloads as of this writing.  For years, solutions to smartphone addictionlike the pared-down dumbphonehave been gaining popularity. Now, Focus Friend is demonstrating that theres a broadening market for more creative solutions to our reliance on the scrolling-induced dopamine rush. [Images: Focus Friend] What is Focus Friend? Focus Friend centers around an adorable animated bean who loves to knit and decorate his room. When the user sets a timer in the app, the bean is able to knit in peaceas long as no other apps are opened. Once the time is complete, he produces knit goods (such as socks) that can be used to purchase quaint little decorations. If hes interrupted, though, his knitting is ruined and he becomes visibly sad. The apps entire premise revolves around users desire to avoid disappointing the bean at all costs. Currently, Focus Friend has a free mode and a pro subscription tier. To get the benefits of the apps free version, users need to turn on deep focus mode. This setting allows Focus Friend to block almost every other app while a focus timer is on, except for essentials like messages and calls.  With the pro tier, users earn socks faster, gain access to premium decorations, and are able to personally edit the list of apps that are blocked by Focus Friend. The subscription costs $1.99 per month, $14.99 per year, or $29.99 for a lifetime. So far, Sullivan says, the lifetime option is proving most popular. The massive response to Focus Friend has come as a shock to both Sullivan and Green. Hank and I thought this was going to be a niche, cute little app,” Sullivan says. “We were hoping that some people would like it, and thought his super loyal fans would probably be the ones who were interested in it. I don’t think we really had a sense of it getting to where it is right now. [Images: Focus Friend] A cute mascot for the tech-weary The idea for Focus Friend started during a casual conversation over dinner. Sullivan mentioned to Green that she had been thinking about how the mobile app could be the next frontier of merch for creators. Green later followed up with Sullivan about the comment, launching them into a monthslong ideation process for the app. Since Green specializes in educational content, Sullivan suggested a focus timer as a good format for an app that his audience might enjoy. Green liked the idea, but found that the focus apps hed already tested werent always effective at keeping him from scrolling. That insight led them to develop a central character to lightly guilt-trip users into sticking with the timer. It’s somewhat akin to a character like Duo, Duolingos cute green owl who convinces users to keep up with their language lessons, or the little bird on Finch, the self-care app that helps people tackle their to-do lists by nurturing an avian creature. Green fronted the costs for Sullivan to hire a few contract employees, including animator Noelle Brandmier, composer Samantha van der Sluis, and artist @euaruu, but he didnt actually commission its development. Instead, Sullivan says, the work was purely a passion project for the two of them. Most of the time, she was the only person building the app. This was just something that he and I have been working on for the past year and a half, and we did it out of the love of wanting to see something like this come to fruition, Sullivan says. [Image: Focus Friend] While Focus Friend takes a unique approach, the desire for tools like it isnt new. For the past several years, the dumbphoneor 90s-inspired phones with pared-back featureshave been gaining traction in the mainstream. But many people find that its just not realistic to give up smartphones and social media altogether, leaving focus tools to fill that gap.  Theres been the Brick app, a physical device that temporarily removes distrcting apps and notifications from your phone; Aperture, a phone case that turns your screen into a series of minimal widgets; and Touch Grass, an app that will make you literally touch grass before you can doomscroll on TikTok. Focus Friends true innovation is combining this middle-of-the-road approach with the human desire to please a cute character. At first, it was just going to be about taking care of the character, but that turned into whatever the Bean was knitting would break, Sullivan says. I don’t think we realized how bad people didn’t want to disappoint this little bean.


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2025-08-20 19:00:00| Fast Company

Small wearable patches that continuously scan your blood and zap numbers to your smartphone are about to be everywhere. Once the sole domain of people with diabetes, glucose monitors are gaining popularity as a health tracking accessory not that different from an Apple Watch or an Oura Ring. On Wednesday, the FDA approved a glucose monitoring system from the startup Signos for weight management a first for the tech, which represents a growing corner of the digital wellness space.  “Everyone deserves access to insights that help them live healthier, longer, more vibrant lives, Signos CEO Sharam Fouladgar-Mercer said in a press release. Signos isn’t just about data; it’s about giving people ownership over their health and weight journeys in a way never before seen.” [Photo: Signos] Signos designed an app that sets glucose range goals based on individual needs and tailors them over time, encouraging its users to make healthy lifestyle choices to meet them. The app pairs with the Stelo continuous glucose monitor (CGM) sensor patch made by Dexcom, which already sells its devices over the counter for around $100 a month. This is the first-ever FDA clearance for a system for weight that isnt a pharmacological intervention, isnt a surgical intervention, Fouladgar-Mercer told STAT.  FDA approval is an expensive, time-intensive process, but obtaining the clearance means a Signos subscription could be covered by HSA and FSA plans and potentially be reimbursed by insurance in the future. Signos sells its plans for $129 for six months, which includes glucose sensors and access to its app, which converts real-time blood sugar data into health insights and tips.  The company can also now boast about being the world’s first and only FDA-cleared app and CGM for weight management and wellness, which might take it pretty far in a soon-to-be crowded market. As is the case with all technology these days, Signos uses AI to offer personalized recommendations based on the data it logs. Users can also track their food and exercise within the companys app, blending that data with glucose monitoring to make changes to their behavior and diet. Fouladgar-Mercer believes that bariatric surgery patients and some people using GLP-1s for weight loss will want the additional insights possible with the Signos app. The app also offers an alternative non-pharmaceutical path for people looking for new ways to succeed in their weight management goals, and could provide an off-ramp for former GLP-1 users looking to maintain their results with behavioral changes. One piece of the MAHA movement  Obsessively quantifying the self right down to your blood sugar levels isnt everyones cup of tea, but it is a major health goal for the Trump administration. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is championing health tracking devices as part of the Make America Healthy Again movement, which is pursuing disparate health goals from regulating ultra-processed foods to investigating well-studied vaccines, sowing doubt about life-saving shots in the process. “It’s a way people can take control over their own health. They can take responsibility,” Kennedy said at a recent House Subcommittee on Health hearing. “They can see, as you know, what food is doing to their glucose levels, their heart rates and a number of other metrics as they eat it, and they can begin to make good judgments about their diet, about their physical activity, about the way that they live their lives.” Beyond RFK Jr., the U.S. government is poised to have a major glucose tracking booster in the administration. In June, Trump swapped his previous surgeon general nominee out in favor of Dr. Casey Means, a wellness industry figure who co-founded a blood glucose monitoring startup called Levels. Like Signos, that company sells subscription access to an app, pairing custom software with off-the-shelf glucose monitors made by Dexcom. Unlike Signos, Levels is not FDA approved for weight management and is marketed for general wellness. Kennedy, a skeptic of weight loss drugs, has advocated for dietary and behavioral changes over GLP-1s to reverse the most worrying U.S. health trends. We think that wearables are a key to the MAHA agenda — Making America Healthy Again, Kennedy said. My vision is that every American is wearing a wearable within four years.


Category: E-Commerce

 

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