I'm posting this on behalf of Marcel. He's one of the guys behind
SNIF.
To the IXDA group %u2013 thanks for all the interest on your group. I
have received multiple forwards of this post today. In the interest of
an intellectually fruitful discussion, I wanted to highlight and
clarify some of the issues brought up.
@Rob: You make a valid point. It could very easily be
done and turned on its head. While I don't have in-depth knowledge of
the inner workings of the Fitbit, every person in our office has worn
the SNIF Tag for the greater part of two years. The three-axis
accelerometer (similar to that used by Apple in the iPhone) is only
one part of the system and provides a data point, from which we have
a state-classification algorithm specific to quadrupeds embedded in
the firmware of the tag. For your reference, the SNIF Tag concept
(May 2005) predates the iPhone.
@Jake: Pet owners are very concerned with how much
exercise their dogs get. Think about how much money is spent on pet
walking and related services. Unlike a webcam, which requires
constant attention, or recording on motion activation, the SNIF Tag
automatically aggregates activity data, then transforms this into a
visually accessible format. This allows the user to quickly and
efficiently notice trends, patterns and anomalies. The data is
available historically (month view down to five minutes' average),
and does not require continuous monitoring. We are working on alert
systems that would be able to contact the owner on trigger events
that they can previously set.
Pacemakers are designed to handle everyday radio interference. The
SNIF Tag has a radio that is only 1/1000th the power of a cell phone,
and it has achieved full FCC approval only after meeting stringent
conditions. It will not interfere with a pacemaker.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Posted from the new ixda.org
http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=35610
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