For a gambling-industry event as hyped as any shareholders gathering since the historic PASPA decision, Penn Entertainment’s annual shareholder meeting on Tuesday largely failed to bring the sizzle.

As expected, Penn shareholders elected Johnny Hartnett and Carlos Ruisanchez to the gaming company’s board of directors as part of a continued reshuffling of the board. Their additions were sought by HG Vora Capital Management, a top Penn shareholder.

But Penn did not consider the nomination of William Clifford, a third independent director sought by HG Vora. Clifford’s nomination represents a key sticking point in contentious discussions regarding the future composition of the board.

At the conclusion of the 10-minute, 30-second meeting, Penn CEO Jay Snowden announced the election of Hartnett and Ruisanchez, based on the preliminary results of the vote. But without a resolution to Clifford’s nomination, the brief meeting ended on an anti-climactic note. As a court hearing in HG Vora’s lawsuit against Penn over board seats approaches next month, the meeting arguably produced more questions than answers.

Penn: Nomination of Clifford ‘out of order’

Speaking on behalf of HG Vora, a New York-headquartered hedge fund, Mandy Lamb put forth Clifford’s nomination at Tuesday’s meeting. Clifford has deep experience with Penn, where he formerly served as the company’s chief financial officer for nearly 13 years. He left the company in November 2013, seven years before Snowden’s appointment as CEO, to join Gaming Leisure and Properties.

Snowden abruptly dismissed Lamb’s proposal, immediately quashing any possibility for the election of a third director. Pursuant to Penn company bylaws, the board set the number of Class II directors at two, Snowden stated. He deemed a proposal to nominate a third director as “out of order” and not permissible.

The proxy battle on board composition has been the subject of an intense months-long dispute between Penn and the hedge fund. Since his departure, Clifford subsequently interviewed with Penn for a position on the board in 2020.

Penn indicated that it still has some of the same concerns on Clifford’s expertise in digital gambling that it raised five years ago. In a May letter to shareholders, Penn asserted that Clifford lacked digital gaming and online sports betting experience, areas that are “essential to the future” of its business.

Federal lawsuit

In May, HG Vora filed a lawsuit against Penn accusing the company of violating Pennsylvania Business Corporation law. The suit also accuses Penn of breaching its fiduciary duty by reducing the number of seats available on the board. In response, Penn filed a motion to stay, urging a Pennsylvania court to temporarily halt legal proceedings. According to Penn, the merits of HG Vora’s claim do not “constitute good cause”.

In addition, Penn argued that the plaintiffs have not established likelihood of “imminent and irreparable harm”. There, Penn addressed HG Vora’s arguments on board composition. Speculation about a future board action cannot constitute “good cause”, Penn contends. A speculative matter is not even a dispute ripe for adjudication, Penn added, because it rests upon contingent future events that may not occur as anticipated, or may not occur at all.

Penn also criticised HG Vora for its failure to abide by disclosure standards in other instances. The Securities and Exchange Commission announced a $950,000 settlement with the fund in March 2024 for its failure to make timely ownership disclosures in the lead-up to a May 2022 acquisition bid for trucking fleet company Ryder System Inc.

According to the SEC, HG Vora disclosed that it owned 5.6% of Ryder’s common stock as of 31 December 2021 and certified that it did not have a control purpose. The fund subsequently built its position to a 9.9% stake in the first half of 2022 and formed a control purpose in May of that year. However, HG Vora did not make the proper disclosures until 13 May 2022, the same day it made a proposal to buy all of Ryder’s shares for $86 a share, a sizeable premium over the trading price.

HG Vora trots out the Gold card

Ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, HG Vora urged shareholders to vote using its “gold card,” which featured the nominations of all three directors. By noon on Tuesday, more than 55% of all votes cast in the election were submitted on the gold cards, HG Vora wrote in a statement.

At the same time, HG Vora claimed that approximately five of Penn’s top 30 institutional investors voted on the company’s white proxy card, based on preliminary tabulations from the fund’s proxy solicitor, Okapi Partners.

“Penn’s shareholders have voted overwhelmingly for genuine change, including for the election of William Clifford to the board,” said Parag Vora, founder of HG Vora. “There can be no mistake about the mandate from Penn’s shareholders that the status quo is simply unacceptable.”

Institutional ownership

The nasty proxy battle may serve as an example for major sportsbook operators on how to handle disputes from activist investors. In a memo issued by Penn Entertainment last month, the company claimed that HG Vora violated several institutional investor waivers in which they agreed to remain passive in their activities. Furthermore, Penn asserted that the fund pushed for governance changes despite express prohibitions on doing so by state gaming regulators.

For its part, the hedge fund retorted that it does not consider itself to be an activist investor. To buttress its point, attorneys for HG Vora wrote in the suit that the Penn nominations marked the first time in the 16-year history of the fund that it nominated director candidates for a company in its portfolio. Over that span, HG Vora has invested in hundreds of firms.

In a Schedule 13D filing with the SEC issued on 28 December 2023, HG Vora disclosed an ownership stake of approximately 9.6% of Penn’s outstanding common stock. By the following December, representatives for the fund appeared in Massachusetts for a licensing hearing. According to the lawsuit, HG Vora contends that it sought an emergency hearing with the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) in order to obtain a gaming licence or limited relief in Massachusetts to be in a position to nominate candidates to the Penn board.

Reduced holdings

After the MGC denied HG Vora’s request for relief, the fund decided to shave its holdings in Penn for licensing purposes. Weeks later, HG Vora disclosed in a 13D filing that the fund reduced its ownership in the company’s common stock by approximately half to 7.25 million shares, representing an equity stake at the time of 4.8%.

According to TipRanks.com, a leading market research website, there is considerable institutional ownership in Penn, with 86.7% of shares held by institutional investors.

Beyond HG Vora, three others maintain a stake of at least 4%, led by iShares which tops the list at 11.4%.

Speaking on the sidelines of Wednesday’s Canadian Gaming Summit, Canadian Gaming Association CEO Paul Burns told iGB that the gaming industry is “in a fascinating spot” at the moment. He was responding to a question on how the Penn matter can become a template for other proxy battles throughout the industry.

One avenue to explore surrounds the mix of private equity investment. As Burns points out, the shift could be interesting since the private equity community maintained a relatively low appetite for sportsbook operators before PASPA.

Investment into digital gaming

Before Penn’s foray into online sports betting, HG Vora lauded the company for its execution on the retail gaming side. The fund pointed to Penn’s financial results in the second quarter of 2015, a period where Penn delivered a strong balance sheet favourable by industry standards in terms of net debt leverage and interest coverage.

Its criticism, however, centres on Penn’s spending habits in growing its digital gaming business. Penn is in the middle of a 10-year, $1.5 billion deal with the Walt Disney Co that led to the launch of ESPN BET.

The August 2023 partnership was announced on the same day that Penn sold Barstool Sports back to Dave Portnoy for $1. In total, Penn had spent in excess of $400 million to purchase Barstool.

Wall Street analysts believed Dave Portnoy’s reputation kept Penn from getting a NY license, a big reason Penn dumped Barstool last year. It seems the shift has paid off.https://t.co/qS9XL09Qo5 via @sportico
Penn, ESPN Bet Secure New York Licenses in $25 Million Deal $PENN

— Brendan Coffey (@bpcoffey) February 13, 2024

A major purchase, eh?

With the Disney deal, Penn essentially swapped Barstool Sportsbook for ESPN BET as its front-facing sportsbook brand. At the time, Snowden had ambitions to hit 20% online sports betting market share by the end of 2027. But as the two-year anniversary of the deal nears, ESPN BET’s nationwide market share still hovers in the low single digits. The deal also came on the heels of Penn’s acquisition of Score Media and Gaming Inc for approximately $2.1 billion.

TheScore, a digital media, sports betting and technology company, is one of the most popular sports apps in Canada. At Wednesday’s conference, Burns gave theScore high marks for its tech platform.

Others, though, have questioned the cost of the Score acquisition, considering other subsequent deals such as Fanatics purchasing PointsBet’s US assets for $150 million. An industry tech consultant speaking to iGB on condition of anonymity this week believes Penn could have waited for valuations to moderate, noting that “timing is half of everything”.

An inflection point?

In attempts to grow its online business, Penn may spend at least $4 billion, HG Vora estimates. Both Penn and ESPN have an opt-out at the end of the third year, which Snowden noted could be exercised by either company if they believe ESPN BET has underperformed. HG Vora has advised Penn to abandon its online division. Based on comments from Snowden on a recent earnings call, such a move appears to be a longshot at best.

“Our digital business continues to evolve, supported by our well-known brand-differentiated IP, a fully owned technology stack and newly recruited, industry-leading talent,” said Snowden on Penn’s first-quarter earnings call. “We are nearing an inflection point.”

Penn is also bullish on a new initiative that enables customers to link their accounts between ESPN BET and the main ESPN app. The features combined with the rollout of ESPN’s new streaming service have Penn Chief Technology Officer Aaron Laberge intrigued by the “bespoke integrations” he said will be unique to the market. ESPN BET will look to the football season to provide customers with new personalised offerings that integrate their sports betting and fantasy sports selections with a quick thumbprint.

Despite Penn’s financial challenges, it is important to remember that top gambling names are valued in many cases as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) stocks. Stocks in the class are long-dated, high-growth companies in the tech sector. Amazon, for instance, took years to first turn a profit. Nevertheless, questions remain if investors such as HG Vora will exercise enough patience before attempting to execute major change.

Executive compensation

For HG Vora, executive compensation is a major point of contention. In April 2021, Penn’s board awarded Snowden supplemental equity grants worth nearly $200 million keyed to certain price targets, according to HG Vora. Those grants have incentivised Penn’s attempts to grow Penn’s digital business without exercising enough financial restraint, the fund contends.

Snowden’s compensation of $26.7 million in 2024 ranked second-highest for CEOs among a group of approximately a dozen peer companies, according to HG Vora. Penn, however, disputed some of the findings.

Snowden’s realisable pay represents only 45% of his reported compensation and is in the bottom quartile relative to the company’s proxy peer group, the company wrote in the memo. Snowden has only exercised expiring options and has not sold any stock since 2021. Moreover, the transactions were only conducted to cover the strike price and taxes, according to Penn.

Next steps

Since 2020, Penn executives and directors have purchased over $5.7 million worth of stock in the open market using their personal funds, including $2.8 million by Snowden. Of the amount, Snowden made $1.5 million in purchases over the last 10 months, according to Penn.

The insider activity may not assuage the fund. In 2024, the Institutional Shareholder Services gave Penn a score of -100 on its “Pay-For-Performance” evaluation, a comparatively low rating that reflects high pay for low performance, according to HG Vora.

Meanwhile, share advisory service Glass, Lewis & Co gave Penn low marks for compensation levels relative to performance against its peers. More than 60% of the votes cast in the election were against Penn’s Say-On-Pay proposal, according to HG Vora.

Penn did not respond to a request from iGB for comment.

On 10 July at the federal courthouse in Easton, Pennsylvania, Penn and HG Vora have a case management conference scheduled in the fund’s lawsuit.

On Nasdaq on Wednesday, Penn closed at $17.28 a share, up nearly 5% on the session. Shares in Penn are down sharply since hitting an all-time high of $142 in March 2021

Even as a lifelong fitness enthusiast, who has personally experienced the myriad benefits of weightlifting and jiu jitsu, Bigliassi is fascinated by the findings.

The first of the team’s tolerance experiments explored the connection between people’s self-reported exercise tolerance and their ability to endure the cold pressor test without moving their hand or making a fist. 

Across the board, high-tolerant people endured the discomfort for almost a minute longer than their lower-tolerant counterparts.

This was to be expected, says Dayanne Antonio, a Ph.D. student and teaching assistant in Bigliassi’s lab who helped lead the research. What was more intriguing: The low-tolerant group reported feeling more confident after the test was over. 

“It made us wonder: If they put their hand in cold water before exercise, could it influence their experience at high intensities?” says Antonio.

For the follow-up study, recently published in Stress and Health, a group of 34 participants who were minimally active or didn’t exercise at all came to Bigliassi’s lab. They filled out a questionnaire and were told about the two tests, so they knew what to expect.

First came the cold pressor test. Immediately after, they hopped on an indoor bike for an explosive burst of cycling.

Was it absolute torture for them? Surprisingly, not quite. Participants reported the peak intensity as being, well, not so bad and yes, even enjoyable and less painful. 

The takeaway isn’t necessarily to start experimenting with cold showers or ice baths (unless that’s something you’re interested in!) 

“People will ask me that and I have to tell them, no, that’s not really the idea,” Antonio laughs. “It’s that pushing our limits changes how we perceive stress, discomfort, and pain and is the only way to build up the cognitive abilities that make you mentally resilient enough to deal with whatever comes your way.” 

Bigliassi agrees, noting it is necessary to confront challenges, with one caveat.

“You have to match the level of complexity to your current capabilities. The goal isn’t to fail, fail, fail because then you’ll only feel terrible,” he says. “We want you to do hard things that are hard for you. Not anyone else. Only you.” 

For example, if you’ve been sedentary for years and walking is difficult for you, don’t start off trying to get 10,000 steps a day. Instead, Bigliassi suggests aiming for shorter distances and gradually working up to longer ones.

To an extent, there may be some truth to that old school motivational exercise motto, ‘no pain, no gain.’ Beyond what’s comfortable, there’s a lot of untapped potential for growth. 

“I guess I like to make people stressed,” Bigliassi says. “But it’s because I want them to capitalize on stress, not be afraid of it. If my work helps make someone mentally stronger and more resilient, so they can have a good, long, healthy life, well, that would be amazing.” 

TLDR

• Team Heretics becomes first esports club to integrate blockchain wallet directly into its official store
• Spanish esports giant launches new loyalty program powered by Chiliz’s Web3 infrastructure
• $TH Fan Token holders will get exclusive rewards, early product access, and special discounts
• Integration allows fans to securely connect wallets and manage their Fan Token ownership
• Program launches in 2025 as evolution of Team Heretics’ partnership with Chiliz since 2020

Team Heretics has made history by becoming the first esports organization to integrate a blockchain wallet directly into its official store. The Spanish esports club announced this development alongside a new loyalty program powered by Chiliz’s Web3 infrastructure.

The wallet integration represents a major technical step forward for fan engagement in esports. Fans can now connect their wallets securely and directly through the Team Heretics e-commerce platform while managing their $TH Fan Token ownership.

Team Heretics first partnered with Chiliz in May 2020 to launch their Fan Token on Socios.com. The new developments mark a major expansion of this relationship four years later.

The integrated wallet serves as the foundation for Team Heretics’ upcoming loyalty program. This program will use $TH Fan Tokens as the primary method to unlock membership tiers and exclusive benefits.

Loyalty Program Details

The loyalty program will offer Fan Token holders several perks including exclusive rewards and early access to products. Members will also receive special discounts and new ways to interact with the club.

Team Heretics plans to launch the program in 2025. The club wants to create an ecosystem where fan loyalty gets continuous recognition and rewards within their own platform.

“We’re taking a leap forward in how we connect with and value our community,” said Alejandro Marcos, CMO of Team Heretics. He explained that token holders will gain access to exclusive experiences and input on certain club decisions.

The program builds on previous Fan Token uses by Team Heretics. The club has already let their community vote on elements like their Superliga name and official flag design using Fan Tokens.

Web3 Infrastructure Benefits

Chiliz’s Web3 infrastructure provides the flexibility and security needed for this integration. The system allows Fan Tokens to function as genuine digital assets with full utility potential.

Alexandre Dreyfus, CEO of Chiliz, called the integration “the manifestation of our vision for the future of fan engagement in Web3.” He emphasized how blockchain technology enables clubs to build direct experiences with their communities.

The infrastructure gives Team Heretics autonomy to manage their fan experience directly. This approach allows clubs to build their own ecosystems rather than relying on third-party platforms.

Chiliz has partnerships with major sports organizations including FC Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, and Manchester City. Team Heretics joins this list of clubs using Chiliz’s blockchain solutions.

The integration adapts Chiliz’s infrastructure to Team Heretics’ specific needs and objectives. This customization approach could serve as a model for other organizations in the future.

Team Heretics operates across multiple esports titles including League of Legends, Valorant, and Call of Duty. The organization has over 7 million social media followers and more than 120 million combined across all their content creators.

India’s Drone Destination has announced the establishment of its European subsidiary in Cyprus, marking another strategic step in deepening bilateral economic ties following Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s historic first official visit to the island.

The New Delhi-based company, India’s first drone firm to be listed on NSE Emerge and a leader in commercial UAV operations, provides certified training programmes and tailored Drone-as-a-Service (DaaS) solutions, from agricultural spraying to aerial surveying and asset inspection.

According to the statement, Drone Destination, with a strong reputation for safety and operational excellence, now plans to build a full-fledged unmanned aerial ecosystem out of Cyprus.

The new entity will focus on research and development, service provision, education, and drone sports, aiming to position the island as a regional hub for unmanned systems across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

As part of its expansion strategy, Drone Destination is already in talks with both public and private stakeholders in the wider region.

The initiative is expected to enhance Cyprus’ position as a credible innovation centre in the high-growth unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) sector, with strong potential for foreign direct investment and advanced technological applications.

Commenting on the development, Invest Cyprus CEO Marios Tannousis said that drone technology is redefining key sectors such as defence, logistics, infrastructure monitoring, agriculture, environmental protection, and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education.

“By creating a safe, sovereign and innovation-driven drone hub envisioned by Drone Destination, Cyprus has the opportunity to lead in this critical sector, not only for itself, but also for Europe and its trusted partners globally,” Tannousis noted.

Drone Destination’s president Alok Sharma explained that India’s rapid advancement in drone technology, fostered under Prime Minister Modi through bold industrial policies and incentives, provides a solid foundation for expansion into new markets.

“Cyprus has the opportunity to participate in this momentum,” he said.

“With vision and commitment, it can become a strategic gateway for unmanned systems in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.”

Sharma added that the company’s presence in Cyprus will combine India’s proven expertise in drone services and pilot training with the island’s strategic location, robust intellectual property framework, and policy clarity.

“Together, we can create a global hub that will combine India’s dynamism and innovation with Cyprus’ strategic location,” he said.

The High Commissioner of India to Cyprus, Shri Manish, also welcomed the development, describing Drone Destination’s decision as a vote of confidence in the bilateral agenda.

“We welcome Indian companies, such as Drone Destination, to invest in Cyprus, especially in future-ready sectors such as drone technology and artificial intelligence,” Shri Manish said.

He stressed that the move is aligned with Prime Minister Modi’s vision to make India a global drone hub by 2030, while Cyprus, he added, can serve as an ideal European gateway for such innovations.

“Drone Destination’s decision immediately after the conclusion of the Prime Minister’s first official visit to the Republic of Cyprus testifies to the commitment of Indian companies to engage Cyprus in strengthening our bilateral economic agenda,” Shri Manish concluded.

New Delhi, June 19 (SocialNews.XYZ) Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has reaffirmed India’s commitment to transitioning the free trade agreement (FTA) from a negotiated text into a transformative economic partnership, the ministry said on Thursday.

The minister showcased India’s strategic global outlook and economic leadership at the India Global Forum (IGF) 2025 in London. His visit marked a significant moment following the historic signing of the India–UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in May 2025.

Delivering the keynote address, the Union Minister described the FTA as a reflection of shared ambition between two vibrant democracies. He stated that the agreement not only enhances bilateral trade, but also demonstrates India’s ability to negotiate balanced and future-oriented trade frameworks aligned with its national interests.

Goyal was joined by UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade, Jonathan Reynolds, with moderation by international journalist Mark Barton.

Outlining the next phase of implementation, Goyal highlighted key priorities such as strengthening institutional mechanisms for joint governance, unlocking early benefits for SMEs and startups, and facilitating smooth mobility of skilled professionals across sectors.

On June 19, the Union Minister participated in a special session on “UK–India Science, Technology and Innovation Collaboration” at the Science Museum in London.

The session explored opportunities for UK stakeholders to contribute to India’s expanding investments in digital public infrastructure, sustainable manufacturing, and green technologies.

Discussions also covered efforts to make India a global manufacturing hub through Make in India, PLI schemes, and enhancing collaboration in sectors such as fintech, artificial intelligence, and creative industries, according to the ministry.

The FTA’s role in deepening cooperation in critical technologies, defence production, and advanced manufacturing was also highlighted. The session further examined how innovations like UPI and CoWIN can be scaled globally through bilateral collaboration.

“By leveraging the India–UK FTA, both nations aim to unlock new avenues in goods, services, technology, and innovation for shared prosperity,” said the ministry.

Source: IANS

About Gopi

Gopi Adusumilli is a Programmer. He is the editor of SocialNews.XYZ and President of AGK Fire Inc.

He enjoys designing websites, developing mobile applications and publishing news articles on current events from various authenticated news sources.

When it comes to writing he likes to write about current world politics and Indian Movies. His future plans include developing SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgment towards any.

He can be reached at gopi@socialnews.xyz

Many fitness trackers are designed without consideration for different body types. (AYO Production/Shutterstock)

CHICAGO — Fitness trackers promise to monitor daily energy expenditure and help guide health decisions, but they’ve consistently failed to provide accurate readings for people carrying extra weight. Hip-worn devices get thrown off by different walking patterns, and wrist-worn trackers haven’t been properly tested for people with obesity. Until now, people with obesity have been making health decisions based on fundamentally flawed data.

Researchers at Northwestern University have created the first algorithm specifically designed to give people with obesity accurate energy expenditure readings from commercial smartwatches. Their work, published in Scientific Reports, could finally put reliable fitness tracking within reach for this underserved population.

The research was born from a deeply personal moment. Lead researcher Nabil Alshurafa got the inspiration for the algorithm after going to an exercise class with his mother-in-law, who has obesity.

“She worked harder than anyone else, yet when we glanced at the leaderboard, her numbers barely registered,” says Northwestern University researcher Alshurafa, in a statement. “That moment hit me: fitness shouldn’t feel like a trap for the people who need it most.”

Why Your Tracker Fails You

Fitness trackers were designed with “average” bodies in mind. For people with obesity, everything changes. Walking patterns shift, preferred speeds differ, and body composition affects how devices sit and function. Due to body composition differences, hip-worn devices can tilt at different angles, leading to inconsistent and unreliable measurements.

Wrist-worn devices seemed like the obvious solution. They’re more comfortable, people actually wear them consistently, and they’re less affected by body composition variations. But until this study, nobody had properly validated wrist-based energy expenditure algorithms specifically for people with obesity.

The researchers noted that existing commercial wrist-mounted device companies have developed algorithms to determine calorie expenditure, but these algorithms remain proprietary and lack transparency in their validation, leaving a critical gap for people with obesity.

Northwestern’s team recruited 52 participants, all with BMIs of 30 or higher. The average BMI was around 36, and participants ranged from their early 40s to mid-50s.

In the lab portion, 27 people wore both a commercial Fossil Sport smartwatch and a research-grade ActiGraph device while performing everything from computer work to vigorous aerobics. Researchers also hooked participants up to a metabolic cart, the ultimate truth detector for measuring actual energy expenditure through breath analysis.

Another 25 participants took the devices home for two days of real-world testing. Researchers used wearable cameras to visually confirm what people were actually doing, ensuring their algorithm matched reality rather than just other estimates.

A Smarter Two-Step Process

Most existing algorithms try to estimate energy expenditure directly from movement data. Northwestern’s team took a different approach, creating a two-step process specifically designed for wrist-worn devices.

First, the system determines whether someone is doing sedentary activities (sitting, reading, typing) or non-sedentary activities (walking, exercising, moving around). For sedentary activities, the algorithm assigns a standard resting value.

For non-sedentary activities, it applies a more sophisticated model that considers not just movement patterns from the smartwatch sensors, but also personal factors like age, sex, weight, height, and BMI.

When tested against the metabolic cart in the lab, the new algorithm achieved much better accuracy than existing methods. It outperformed six out of seven established algorithms, including several designed for hip-worn devices that supposedly provide more accurate readings.

In real-world testing, the algorithm’s estimates fell within acceptable ranges 95% of the time when compared to the best existing methods. Among algorithms tested at the same time window, Northwestern’s approach consistently delivered the lowest error rates.

Statistical analysis confirmed these represented significant improvements in accuracy compared to existing methods.

Algorithm Struggles

No system is perfect, and Northwestern’s algorithm is no exception. It tends to underestimate energy expenditure when the dominant hand stays relatively still compared to the rest of the body. This could happen, for example, when holding a phone against your ear while walking.

On the other hand, it overestimates when the dominant hand moves more than the rest of the body, like scrolling through social media while sitting still or gesturing during a phone conversation.

Walking while talking on the phone led to underestimation more often than overestimation. Sitting activities showed varied results depending on hand movement; passive activities like watching TV led to underestimation, while active phone use led to overestimation.

However, since the algorithm works with smartwatches worn on the dominant hand, it could potentially integrate with other health monitoring applications that track eating, drinking, or smoking behaviors—all activities primarily performed with the dominant hand.

A health monitoring system like this could track both calories consumed and calories burned using the same device. For people managing their weight or monitoring their overall health, having reliable data on both sides of the energy equation could be transformative.

Making Tech More Inclusive

This is a step toward making fitness technology actually useful for people across different body types. Currently, people with obesity may be making health decisions based on flawed data from their fitness trackers.

During the study, Alshurafa would challenge participants to do as many pushups as they could in five minutes. The experience opened his eyes to broader inequities in how we measure fitness and exercise success.

“Many couldn’t drop to the floor, but each one crushed wall push-ups, their arms shaking with effort,” says Alshurafa. “We celebrate ‘standard’ workouts as the ultimate test, but those standards leave out so many people. These experiences showed me we must rethink how gyms, trackers, and exercise programs measure success — so no one’s hard work goes unseen.”

If someone is trying to lose weight, increase activity levels, or simply understand their daily energy expenditure, inaccurate data leads to poor outcomes. When fitness trackers only work accurately for certain body types, they’re failing a significant portion of their users.