3 ms·

This seems remarkably useless. Their only use case they present is figuring out how many calories are in the things you eat, which you can already figure out by

by x1798DE 13y ago

This seems remarkably useless. Their only use case they present is figuring out how many calories are in the things you eat, which you can already figure out by looking it up by name (chances are if you are finding and eating random things you're not carrying around a portable spectrometer). Even if it were more convenient to carry around a dedicated calorie-tester device, I hightly doubt that it would be at ALL accurate just looking at the skin of most things you eat. It might be accurate if it's using a spectrum "fingerprinting" technique to identify what it is you are eating and look it up in a table, but it's likely going to be less accurate than your own ability to assess whether something is an apple or a pear. Oh, I guess they also say you can test medicines. I guess that does solve a lot of problems - I can't tell you how many times I've found unlabeled pills lying around and thought, "If only I knew what kind of medication this was!" Gone are the days of "pop-and-pray", I suppose.

goldfeld 13y ago
Oh I guess also for checking plant, soil and water, possibly also for rock formations. Seemingly those are not interesting subjects to you, so it may be remarkably useless to you. In any case, it's expected that a "molecular sensor" will be more interesting for those with an interest in the sciences (especially on the field) than for the average, dieting joe.
dwsjoquist 13y ago
there is an app on the market for med identification: medsnap.com (disclosure: i worked as a subcontractor on parts of the app)
balor123 13y ago
Or for detecting gluten in food before eating it? The real question, is what can it accomplish in practice?
- sturmeh 13y ago
  They say they can't detect amounts less than 1%, and it's pointless to assume there's even that little unless you scan the entire portion of meal you're eating (there may be no gluten in the area you scan, but there may very well be in another).

by x1798DE 13y ago

goldfeld 13y ago

Oh I guess also for checking plant, soil and water, possibly also for rock formations. Seemingly those are not interesting subjects to you, so it may be remarkably useless to you. In any case, it's expected that a "molecular sensor" will be more interesting for those with an interest in the sciences (especially on the field) than for the average, dieting joe.

dwsjoquist 13y ago

there is an app on the market for med identification: medsnap.com (disclosure: i worked as a subcontractor on parts of the app)

balor123 13y ago

Or for detecting gluten in food before eating it? The real question, is what can it accomplish in practice?

sturmeh 13y ago
They say they can't detect amounts less than 1%, and it's pointless to assume there's even that little unless you scan the entire portion of meal you're eating (there may be no gluten in the area you scan, but there may very well be in another).