SCiO: A Pocket Molecular Sensor For All • Hacker News Board

Re: SCiO: A Pocket Molecular Sensor For All

#21

Post by flyinglizard » Mon, May 05, 2014, 11:13 AM UTC

InclinedPlane wrote: post #12

Does anyone have an email address to contact them directly? I'm concerned this might be a scam and I want to ask them a few in depth questions and I'd rather not be forced to do that through kickstarter or twitter.

Knowing the people behind this, I don't think it's a scam. They have a good staff, so I think they are certainly trying to make this a reality. Are they "hustling their MVP" in startup speak? Maybe, I don't know, I never saw the product (nor did I ask to). Are these people scammers? Absolutely not, to the best of my knowledge.

Re: SCiO: A Pocket Molecular Sensor For All

#22

Post by pervycreeper » Mon, May 05, 2014, 11:14 AM UTC

ars wrote: post #2

Very cool idea, but I hate that it must have data connectivity to work. Not only that, they won't actually give users the raw scan results! You have to transmit them and then get the analyzed results only. Reality is that many such services inevitably go under, and then your device is useless. Especially when the service is as compute intensive as this one sounds.

That is indeed a very big catch. Almost backed this on impulse before reading the full description.

Looks like you have to pay separately for each individual use case as well!

Hard to see how they will compete with the inevitable clones, unless they get really lucky with patents. The nickel-and-dime scheme is not only consumer unfriendly, but probably a strategic mistake.

Re: SCiO: A Pocket Molecular Sensor For All

#23

Post by nowlnowl » Mon, May 05, 2014, 11:16 AM UTC

Could be good for drugdealers. What pills are these? Do I need to water my plants? Is this avocado "just right" for me...

Re: SCiO: A Pocket Molecular Sensor For All

#24

Post by fredoliveira » Mon, May 05, 2014, 11:20 AM UTC

ars wrote: post #2

Very cool idea, but I hate that it must have data connectivity to work. Not only that, they won't actually give users the raw scan results! You have to transmit them and then get the analyzed results only. Reality is that many such services inevitably go under, and then your device is useless. Especially when the service is as compute intensive as this one sounds.

I assume that using the SDK they provide lets you access the raw scan results. It would severely limit the possibilities for the apps they want developers to work on on top of their device.

Re: SCiO: A Pocket Molecular Sensor For All

#25

Post by chrisBob » Mon, May 05, 2014, 11:22 AM UTC

alkimie2 wrote: post #19

I see a sort of structural flaw. They seem to be matching measurements against known materials and then reporting that. But where is the utility? Figuring out whether a pill is asprin or tylenol? I'd be interested in identifying characteristic of -new- materials unknown to the database. That's where the raw information is really crucial.

IR Spectroscopy is purely a pattern matching game. All it will ever do is compare a spectrum to a known one. The raw information would be useful to very few people outside of a lab environment. That said, I will probably recommend that my PI order one for our lab.

Re: SCiO: A Pocket Molecular Sensor For All

#26

Post by rjdagost » Mon, May 05, 2014, 11:23 AM UTC

For several years I worked in spectroscopy. It's REALLY tough to take a sensor out of a controlled lab and into the uncontrolled real world and get clear, unambiguous results like this video shows. Usually the absorption signal you're trying to measure is tiny compared to changes due to background fluctuations, etc. Things tend to only work well for special types of materials that have very distinct absorption properties. There are massive unknowns here and I would never fund them unless they opened up about what spectroscopic technique they're using.

Re: SCiO: A Pocket Molecular Sensor For All

#27

Post by pervycreeper » Mon, May 05, 2014, 11:26 AM UTC

fredoliveira wrote: post #24

ars wrote: post #2

Very cool idea, but I hate that it must have data connectivity to work. Not only that, they won't actually give users the raw scan results! You have to transmit them and then get the analyzed results only. Reality is that many such services inevitably go under, and then your device is useless. Especially when the service is as compute intensive as this one sounds.

I assume that using the SDK they provide lets you access the raw scan results. It would severely limit the possibilities for the apps they want developers to work on on top of their device.

From the comments page:

>Dear backers, Some of you have asked about access to the raw spectrum and some subscription fees related questions. We take your comments very seriously and are now processing that internally. Please stay tuned for our upcoming updates. Thank you for supporting our project! The ConsumerPhysics Team

I take that, along with the pitch page to indicate that they weren't intending to initially, at least.

Re: SCiO: A Pocket Molecular Sensor For All

#28

Post by verbin217 » Mon, May 05, 2014, 11:27 AM UTC

flyinglizard wrote: post #18

s_henry_paulson wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very good note about the goal price. To me, more than anything, that suggests that this was designed to be intentionally misleading.

It's a common Kickstarter practice to set intentionally low goals. It makes the project seem more achievable to those pledging before the goal is met, it makes the project seem more successful mid-campaign as it exceeds the goal within a short time, and you can later brag to the press and potential customers about exceeding the target goal by hundreds of percents or more. Look at all the successful projects of late,…

Also, if they fail to reach their goal they get nothing. Outside funding is basically a given. They're likely just using Kickstarter as an extremely lenient pre-order service.

Re: SCiO: A Pocket Molecular Sensor For All

#29

Post by ryanjshaw » Mon, May 05, 2014, 11:37 AM UTC

alkimie2 wrote: post #19

I see a sort of structural flaw. They seem to be matching measurements against known materials and then reporting that. But where is the utility? Figuring out whether a pill is asprin or tylenol? I'd be interested in identifying characteristic of -new- materials unknown to the database. That's where the raw information is really crucial.

This seems like it could be pretty useful to, say, the blind. Also a great educational tool, a notion which isn't just limited to children (one of the primary drivers of change is consciousness raising -- e.g. a dieter monitoring their food intake may find this tool useful).

Re: SCiO: A Pocket Molecular Sensor For All

#30

Post by emm » Mon, May 05, 2014, 11:41 AM UTC

ars wrote: post #2

Very cool idea, but I hate that it must have data connectivity to work. Not only that, they won't actually give users the raw scan results! You have to transmit them and then get the analyzed results only. Reality is that many such services inevitably go under, and then your device is useless. Especially when the service is as compute intensive as this one sounds.

I second that! It's an unnecessary date of expiry for hardware. You see that in every fitness armband and more and more apps. In two years ahead it could end up as a useless piece of electronics.

In the past we used cloud features for offline tracking in AR applications because an iPhone 3GS wasn't capable of real time pose reconstruction. But today it seems more like a lock-in and a way to collect data. A quad-core cpu on a phone should do most tasks offline.