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Property rights are pretty ambiguous when a device purchased by a consumer requires a backend service and/or is managed by an outside company. Yhe consumer has
by smoyer 10y ago
Property rights are pretty ambiguous when a device purchased by a consumer requires a backend service and/or is managed by an outside company. Yhe consumer has no control and while they might own the hardware they have no guarantee of it's continued utility. Companies claiming DCMA violations against those who choose to alter their devices also limits their effective ownership. I personally avoid buying devices like this in the first place.
I do however think this company should be put out of business as they clearly misled their backers. Is there any information on how many of these wer sold? The device certainly doesn't look like it cost anywhere near $199 to manufacture. And if there enough people interested in hacking the device to do a clean-room reverse-engineering project it looks like it would be a fun little project.
Is anyone who owns one of these willing to loan it out for a while? They might also become cheap on eBay next May.
EDIT: As I've thought about this a bit more, why not push a firmware update for your users that allows the device to collect the information as a fitness device? Surely if a machine in the local mall can take my blood pressure without a technician monitoring it, you can own a scout that provides reasonably accurate measurements?
- TeMPOraL 10y agoYeah, I have the same rule of thumb right now - if it's cloud-dependent, steer clear. Especially if the device should presumably be partially or fully functional off-line, but isn't, because "cloud powah!" (in reality, because of the shitty business model that's basically "Hardware as a Service" + possibly data selling). > The device certainly doesn't look like it cost anywhere near $199 to manufacture. I can imagine it costing that much in very small batches, if it uses somewhat decent sensors. I can imagine $199 would be the cost of making a somewhat decent DIY version. I couldn't find any teardown though, and I'm pretty interested what sensors are they using, and if they're any better than the usual crap installed in fitness devices.
- smoyer 10y agoI spent the first 20 years of my career as an embedded systems engineer and the most expensive parts were generally the case and power supply. For devices with specialized sensors, they generally dominated the costs. I think you're right - it's the sensors that matter. I don't think $199 will buy you a laboratory grade sensor though. If we're going to make OSS firmware for this (and what's "firmware" now that everything is FLASH?), creating a tear-down will be the first step. Anyone willing to loan one of these to TeMPOraL or me? If you're capable of doing it yourself, could you create a tear-down?
- TeMPOraL 10y ago> I don't think $199 will buy you a laboratory grade sensor though. I don't think so either. I was thinking more about "not the cheapest crap you can source for < $10 on Aliexpress". Some sensors that are even remotely capable of making reliable and accurate measurements in end-user conditions.
- tyingq 10y agoInfo about the hardware is somewhat difficult to track down.. "The device runs the 32-bit version of Micrium RTOS (real time operating system). Under the hood, CNX Software says the layout seems somewhat similar to the Laird Technology BL600 and RFDigital RFD51822 modules, both based on Nordic nRF51822, an SoC with Cortex M0 CPU, 256kB flash, 16kB RAM, and a 2.4GHz Bluetooth low energy transceiver."[1] [1] http://www.tgdaily.com/hardware-features/72028-video-scanadu-scout-is-a-medical-tricorder-for-android-and-ios http://www.tgdaily.com/hardware-features/72028-video-scanadu...
- TeMPOraL 10y agoSo a standard BLE platform. But the most interesting information - sensors used - is unfortunately missing.
- tyingq 10y agoNot what you were looking for, but indicative that sensors were a key issue. https://www.scanadu.com/blog/making-headway-with-the-scanadu-scout https://www.scanadu.com/blog/making-headway-with-the-scanadu...
- lathiat 10y agoMeanwhile you can't play super Mario run (at all) without working internet. Go figure.
- post_break 10y agoLooking at you Glowforge.
- TeMPOraL 10y agoYeah, this is my go-to example of a cloud-dependent product that really shouldn't be.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]