Technology

Abbott launches its first over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor in the U.S.

Published

10 months ago

September 5, 2024

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A man wearing Abbott’s Lingo biosensor.

Courtesy of Abbott

Abbott Laboratories announced Thursday its over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor Lingo is available in the U.S. starting at $49.

Lingo is part of an emerging class of consumer-friendly biosensors that people can use to learn how their bodies respond to food, exercise, sleep and stress. These devices, called continuous glucose monitors, are small sensors that stick through the skin to measure real-time glucose levels. Glucose is a sugar molecule that comes from food, and it’s the body’s main energy source.

Continuous glucose monitors have served as tools for patients with diabetes, but Lingo is not intended for diabetes management. Instead, it’s designed for adults who do not take insulin and want to “improve their overall health and wellness,” according to a release.

Everyone’s glucose levels fluctuate, but consistently high levels can cause more serious health problems like metabolic disease, insulin resistance and heart disease, Abbott said. The company argues Lingo can educate users about existing habits and help them learn to manage their glucose in healthier ways.

“That’s really the goal, is to not only see and understand what’s happening inside your body, but to be able to improve on that, to be able to build these healthy habits that drive those changes,” Ben Fohner, the director of Abbott’s Lingo app, told CNBC in an interview.

Abbott already offers continuous glucose monitors for diabetes patients in the U.S., so the company is looking to break into an entirely new market with Lingo. About 1 in 3 Americans have prediabetes, for instance, but these patients typically don’t qualify for prescriptions or insurance coverage for the monitors.

Now, they can pay for the sensors out of pocket without a prescription. Users can buy one sensor online for $49, two sensors for $89 or six sensors for $249, Abbott said. Each sensor is worn on the upper arm for up to 14 days.

Olivier Ropars, Abbott’s divisional vice president of Lingo, said the company decided to offer three different pricing options so curious consumers won’t feel intimidated by a lengthy commitment. A customer can opt to buy just one sensor to try for a couple of weeks.

“We want to make it as accessible and affordable as possible,” Ropars told CNBC in an interview.

Abbott’s competitor, Dexcom, is also eyeing the prediabetes market. The company released its over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor geared toward this demographic in late August. Dexcom’s device is called Stelo, and is available in the U.S. for $89 a month. Patients with Type 2 diabetes who do not take insulin can also use it, the company said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Dexcom’s Stelo in March, and it cleared two over-the-counter continuous glucose monitoring systems from Abbott in June. One of Abbott’s systems was Lingo, and the second system, called Libre Rio, is intended for patients with Type 2 diabetes who do not take insulin.

Though Type 2 patients who are not taking insulin could technically use Lingo, Ropars said Abbott’s recommendation is to primarily use Libre Rio since it is specifically designed for them. The company declined to share when Libre Rio will be available.

The Lingo app

Abbott’s Lingo app.

Courtesy of Abbott

Like many continuous glucose monitors, Lingo transmits data wirelessly to an app. When users open it, they’ll see a real-time reading of their glucose data that’s updated every minute.

Those glucose readings are plotted on a graph, which includes a shaded area to indicate a “healthy range.” Fohner said Abbott’s clinical team defines this range as 140 milligrams per deciliter to 70 milligrams per deciliter.

One of Abbott’s primary goals is to help Lingo users learn about glucose spikes, which occur when the amount of sugar present in the bloodstream rapidly increases and then decreases. Glucose spikes commonly occur after eating.

Spikes can push a user’s glucose reading above the healthy range, but they can also occur within the healthy range. Limiting spikes and improving glucose management overall can help users improve their sleep and mood, manage their weight, and be proactive about their future health, Abbott said.

To help users conceptualize the impact of their spikes, Abbott created a metric called the “Lingo Count.” It’s an algorithm that assigns a numeric value to each glucose spike, and it’s supposed to represent how significant the impact is. Over each day, users have a target Lingo Count that they want to aim to stay below.

Abbott’s Lingo app.

Courtesy of Abbott

Users can see this data represented on a second, more interactive glucose graph when they scroll down Lingo’s home page. A number will appear in the shaded area beneath a spike, which represents the Lingo Count for that spike.

“It’s unique to Lingo, but really that number is an indicator and a function of, how high did your spike go, how long did it last, and what was the impact that that spike had on your body,” Fohner said.

Users can analyze Lingo Count data and see how they are doing over time, as well as what time of day they tend to experience the most dramatic spikes. They can also participate in challenges and access educational resources to learn how to reduce those spikes.

Ropars said metabolism doesn’t change overnight, and everyone’s bodies work differently. He said Lingo can serve as a window into how and why a user’s glucose levels vary. But the real value of Lingo, Ropars said, is the support it can offer users as they try to establish healthy habits.

“A lot of our products today are geared toward helping people that are experiencing a chronic disease or sickness and trying to get back on track,” he said. “Here, this is the first time we’re doing a product that is helping people, improving their daily life, taking control of their health before they get sick”

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Technology

Google hires Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan, others in latest AI talent deal

Published

9 hours ago

July 11, 2025

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Google hires Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan, others in latest AI talent deal

Chief executive officer of Google Sundar Pichai.

Marek Antoni Iwanczuk | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Google on Friday made the latest a splash in the AI talent wars, announcing an agreement to bring in Varun Mohan, co-founder and CEO of artificial intelligence coding startup Windsurf.

As part of the deal, Google will also hire other senior Windsurf research and development employees. Google is not investing in Windsurf, but the search giant will take a nonexclusive license to certain Windsurf technology, according to a person familiar with the matter. Windsurf remains free to license its technology to others.

“We’re excited to welcome some top AI coding talent from Windsurf’s team to Google DeepMind to advance our work in agentic coding,” a Google spokesperson wrote in an email. “We’re excited to continue bringing the benefits of Gemini to software developers everywhere.”

The deal between Google and Windsurf comes after the AI coding startup had been in talks with OpenAI for a $3 billion acquisition deal, CNBC reported in April. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The move ratchets up the talent war in AI particularly among prominent companies. Meta has made lucrative job offers to several employees at OpenAI in recent weeks. Most notably, the Facebook parent added Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang to lead its AI strategy as part of a $14.3 billion investment into his startup.

Douglas Chen, another Windsurf co-founder, will be among those joining Google in the deal, Jeff Wang, the startup’s new interim CEO and its head of business for the past two years, wrote in a post on X.

“Most of Windsurf’s world-class team will continue to build the Windsurf product with the goal of maximizing its impact in the enterprise,” Wang wrote.

Windsurf has become more popular this year as an option for so-called vibe coding, which is the process of using new age AI tools to write code. Developers and non-developers have embraced the concept, leading to more revenue for Windsurf and competitors, such as Cursor, which OpenAI also looked at buying. All the interest has led investors to assign higher valuations to the startups.

This isn’t the first time Google has hired select people out of a startup. It did the same with Character.AI last summer. Amazon and Microsoft have also absorbed AI talent in this fashion, with the Adept and Inflection deals, respectively.

Microsoft is pushing an agent mode in its Visual Studio Code editor for vibe coding. In April, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said AI is composing as much of 30% of his company’s code.

The Verge reported the Google-Windsurf deal earlier on Friday.

WATCH: Google pushes “AI Mode” on homepage

Technology

Nvidia’s Jensen Huang sells more than $36 million in stock, catches Warren Buffett in net worth

Published

18 hours ago

July 11, 2025

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Nvidia's Jensen Huang sells more than million in stock, catches Warren Buffett in net worth

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, holds a motherboard as he speaks during the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, on June 11, 2025.

Gonzalo Fuentes | Reuters

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang unloaded roughly $36.4 million worth of stock in the leading artificial intelligence chipmaker, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

The sale, which totals 225,000 shares, comes as part of Huang’s previously adopted plan in March to unload up to 6 million shares of Nvidia through the end of the year. He sold his first batch of stock from the agreement in June, equaling about $15 million.

Last year, the tech executive sold about $700 million worth of shares as part of a prearranged plan. Nvidia stock climbed about 1% Friday.

Huang’s net worth has skyrocketed as investors bet on Nvidia’s AI dominance and graphics processing units powering large language models.

The 62-year-old’s wealth has grown by more than a quarter, or about $29 billion, since the start of 2025 alone, based on Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index. His net worth last stood at $143 billion in the index, putting him neck-and-neck with Berkshire Hathaway‘s Warren Buffett at $144 billion.

Shortly after the market opened Friday, Fortune‘s analysis of net worth had Huang ahead of Buffett, with the Nvidia CEO at $143.7 billion and the Oracle of Omaha at $142.1 billion.

Tesla to officially launch in India with planned showroom opening

Published

20 hours ago

July 11, 2025

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Tesla to officially launch in India with planned showroom opening

Elon Musk meets with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Blair House in Washington DC, USA on February 13, 2025.

Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Images

Tesla will open a showroom in Mumbai, India next week, marking the U.S. electric carmakers first official foray into the country.

The one and a half hour launch event for the Tesla “Experience Center” will take place on July 15 at the Maker Maxity Mall in Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai, according to an event invitation seen by CNBC.

Along with the showroom display, which will feature the company’s cars, Tesla is also likely to officially launch direct sales to Indian customers.

The automaker has had its eye on India for a while and now appears to have stepped up efforts to launch locally.

In April, Tesla boss Elon Musk spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss collaboration in areas including technology and innovation. That same month, the EV-maker’s finance chief said the company has been “very careful” in trying to figure out when to enter the market.

Tesla has no manufacturing operations in India, even though the country’s government is likely keen for the company to establish a factory. Instead the cars sold in India will need to be imported from Tesla’s other manufacturing locations in places like Shanghai, China, and Berlin, Germany.

As Tesla begins sales in India, it will come up against challenges from long-time Chinese rival BYD, as well as local player Tata Motors.

One potential challenge for Tesla comes by way of India’s import duties on electric vehicles, which stand at around 70%. India has tried to entice investment in the country by offering companies a reduced duty of 15% if they commit to invest $500 million and set up manufacturing locally.

HD Kumaraswamy, India’s minister for heavy industries, told reporters in June that Tesla is “not interested” in manufacturing in the country, according to a Reuters report.

Tesla is looking to recruit roles in Mumbai, job listings posted on LinkedIn . These include advisors working in showrooms, security, vehicle operators to collect data for its Autopilot feature and service technicians.

There are also roles being advertised in the Indian capital of New Delhi, including for store managers. It’s unclear if Tesla is planning to launch a showroom in the city.