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Lumosity fined $2M for deceptive ads of “Brain Training” app

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221–230 of 259 posts

Re: Lumosity fined $2M for deceptive ads of “Brain Training” app

#221

The way I see it, they tapped into a widely held belief , rather than fears. It is a popular belief that doing mental work staves off cognitive decline (including age-related). I bet you that everyone at Lumosity actually believes it because their mother told them that when they were kids. My wife (Japanese) always says "good for older people" about any sort of puzzle. She didn't get this from being deceived by Lumos…

> It's like someone sold carrots claiming they improve vision, and got thrown in jail.

Exactly. Want to tell carrots? Go ahead. Want to sell carrots by telling people with failing sight that it will improve their vision, and talk them into a monthly fee for carrot delivery? You'd better have some research to back that up.

Re: Lumosity fined $2M for deceptive ads of “Brain Training” app

#222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure that same mobile telephone was capable of far less than a smartphone. I remember my Nokias being able to last for days on end (unless I played a lot of Snake!) While I wouldn't trade my current smartphone for one of those, I do miss the lack of battery anxiety, and wish the manufacturers would make models for those of us who aren't obsessed with thinness. An iPhone 6 at 5/8" (15mm) would be awesome.

Nope, it's just bad software engineers. Africa has those pretty very battery friendly "smart phones" and they do everything that yours does, probably without the fancy games. I've been tweaking my Android tablet's code (10" screen), profiling, setting up all of the possible GPU optimizations (whole UI is whenever possible displayed using it) and this is the result. http://imgur.com/QLN17SS This is about a one year wo…

Africa's "smart phones" (whatever that means) are usually a feature-phone with a web browser. Much less capable than a smartphone

Turn off wifi and 3G/4G see how long your smartphone battery lasts. Oh I did this recently with an old phone, it lasts around 4 days as well (and that's with an old battery)

Also a lot of apps abuse smartphone processing updating how many times per minute

But screens and processing power still cost a lot of energy

Re: Lumosity fined $2M for deceptive ads of “Brain Training” app

#223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure that same mobile telephone was capable of far less than a smartphone. I remember my Nokias being able to last for days on end (unless I played a lot of Snake!) While I wouldn't trade my current smartphone for one of those, I do miss the lack of battery anxiety, and wish the manufacturers would make models for those of us who aren't obsessed with thinness. An iPhone 6 at 5/8" (15mm) would be awesome.

Nope, it's just bad software engineers. Africa has those pretty very battery friendly "smart phones" and they do everything that yours does, probably without the fancy games. I've been tweaking my Android tablet's code (10" screen), profiling, setting up all of the possible GPU optimizations (whole UI is whenever possible displayed using it) and this is the result. http://imgur.com/QLN17SS This is about a one year wo…

Really want to read more about it. You should do blog or do a write-up on it on xda-developers about it.

Hell you should release a mod for whatever tablet you are using, and make a killing.

Re: Lumosity fined $2M for deceptive ads of “Brain Training” app

#224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you do that's different?

We provide a form of neurofeedback[1] therapy. [1] http://synaptitude.me/blog/neurofeedback-in-200-words/ Essentially, we can help people identify bad practices and create better ones. Turns out many of us don't realize when we start losing attention, or feeling sad. We just suddenly realize we do feel bad. The idea is to make you more aware of what makes you feel bad/lose attention, then you can control it (to a deg…

This actually sounds very close to a need I have been trying to fill, and failing to do so. I have many of these same issues, and can't stand dealing with touch feely psycs (I am way to practical for that nonsense). I realize that many of my issues are simply behavioral and can be overcome through simple training, and have been seeking a "personal trainer" of sorts.

Is this an actual product you have out in production now, or is it still in the planning stages so far? I would be very interested in further developments. I am a Software Engineer by trade, so please let me know if you would like any beta testers.

Cheers and thank you!

PS: You finally got me to register an account here ;)

Re: Lumosity fined $2M for deceptive ads of “Brain Training” app

#225

I just wanted to share my thoughts, which are simply: "Thank God!" I've been working on a startup: http://synaptitude.me/ (demo is old) Essentially, we can do some of what Luminosity claims (and have independent studies to prove it). Every time someone goes: "Oh it's just like Lumosity" I have to go through and explain the difference. My wife has a degree in neuroscience and I minored in BioE, and we both just HATE L…

Wanted to you let know that the pricing table on the comparison page cuts off: http://paste.click/AJrEyb And unfortunately it's your price that gets cut off.

Seems pretty interesting though, signed up for Early Access.

Re: Lumosity fined $2M for deceptive ads of “Brain Training” app

#226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure that same mobile telephone was capable of far less than a smartphone. I remember my Nokias being able to last for days on end (unless I played a lot of Snake!) While I wouldn't trade my current smartphone for one of those, I do miss the lack of battery anxiety, and wish the manufacturers would make models for those of us who aren't obsessed with thinness. An iPhone 6 at 5/8" (15mm) would be awesome.

Nope, it's just bad software engineers. Africa has those pretty very battery friendly "smart phones" and they do everything that yours does, probably without the fancy games. I've been tweaking my Android tablet's code (10" screen), profiling, setting up all of the possible GPU optimizations (whole UI is whenever possible displayed using it) and this is the result. http://imgur.com/QLN17SS This is about a one year wo…

While that is pretty awesome, and I've played with Android tweaks to get better battery life in the past, the software doesn't seem like the biggest consumer of power. These days I generally I see >80% of battery power being used by the screen, so no matter how well optimized the software/cpu/gpu is, actually using the device is going to kill the battery.

Added: With Timur's Kernel and some rtc/wakeup/governer tweaks I can get at least 2 weeks on my nexus7.

Re: Lumosity fined $2M for deceptive ads of “Brain Training” app

#227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure that same mobile telephone was capable of far less than a smartphone. I remember my Nokias being able to last for days on end (unless I played a lot of Snake!) While I wouldn't trade my current smartphone for one of those, I do miss the lack of battery anxiety, and wish the manufacturers would make models for those of us who aren't obsessed with thinness. An iPhone 6 at 5/8" (15mm) would be awesome.

Nope, it's just bad software engineers. Africa has those pretty very battery friendly "smart phones" and they do everything that yours does, probably without the fancy games. I've been tweaking my Android tablet's code (10" screen), profiling, setting up all of the possible GPU optimizations (whole UI is whenever possible displayed using it) and this is the result. http://imgur.com/QLN17SS This is about a one year wo…

amazing, write this up please!

Re: Lumosity fined $2M for deceptive ads of “Brain Training” app

#228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering the standard deviation for IQ is 15 points, I wouldn't drink an extra glass of water per day for another 3-4 IQ points, let alone play a training game for any extended amount of time. 3-4 points is statistically meaningless.

"Considering the standard deviation for IQ is 15 points" The standard deviation for the distribution of IQ is 15 points. The standard deviation of the errors of measurement associated with measuring IQ is 3 points.( ie: the standard error of measurement aka SEM) I would be willing to have 3 fingers of my left hand ( not including my thumb ) amputated to improve my IQ by 1 standard deviation. For more on Standard Erro…

Out of respect for people who don't like being surprised, that link is a PDF.

Re: Lumosity fined $2M for deceptive ads of “Brain Training” app

#230

I just wanted to share my thoughts, which are simply: "Thank God!" I've been working on a startup: http://synaptitude.me/ (demo is old) Essentially, we can do some of what Luminosity claims (and have independent studies to prove it). Every time someone goes: "Oh it's just like Lumosity" I have to go through and explain the difference. My wife has a degree in neuroscience and I minored in BioE, and we both just HATE L…

Are those studies about your product in specific?
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