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Steven Colbert On Vessyl Digital Cup [video]
- joesmo 12y agoAbsolutely hilarious. What would actually be useful is something that does the same for food, although I have no idea how that'd work (perhaps a probe of some kind). It's trivial to calculate nutritional information for beverages as a human, but for those of us who track such things, I have yet to see a really good system for solid foods that doesn't rely on human guessing about portion sizes and matching to existing known entities from a database of foods.
- chriskanan 12y agoComputer vision researchers are starting to work on the food calorie counting problem. See this video demo from SRI International: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH2c_F6YB-A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH2c_F6YB-A Related information: http://www.psfk.com/2014/04/siri-creator-builds-platform-that-guesses-calorie-counts-from-photos.html http://www.psfk.com/2014/04/siri-creator-builds-platform-tha... http://gigaom.com/2014/04/03/dont-eat-that-sri-built-a-calorie-counting-food-app-that-works-via-a-photo-snap/ http://gigaom.com/2014/04/03/dont-eat-that-sri-built-a-calor...
- iffycan 12y agoSuch as SCiO? https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/903107259/scio-your-sixth-sense-a-pocket-molecular-sensor-fo https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/903107259/scio-your-six...
- justinpaulson 12y agoWhy is it trivial to calculate nutritional inoformation for beverages? In the United States, on average, 21% of our calories are consumed from beverages [1]. I know some people that just drink water, so that means there are others who are consuming probably greater than 1/4 of their calories from beverages. There is clearly a problem, in the USA, of people consuming too many calories from beverages, and it is not trivial. I think this is a good step, but there are a few ways it may be missing the mark (like why not a set of mugs that I can change the user settings of based on who in my family or friends grabbed the cup out of the cupboard.) [1] http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/nutrans/policy/beverage/us-beverage-panel http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/nutrans/policy/beverage/us-b...
- cseelus 12y agoYeah, thought that too. Some approximation on calories and macronutrients would be really great. This would definitely serve the huge market of folks who track their daily intake: - People who (have to) do it for medical reasons - People that want to loose weight and need to get a better understanding of what exactly they are eating every day (often times it is not enough or the ratio of macronutrients is out of place) - Nearly every bodybuilder and fitness-addict
- bellerocky 12y agoA hardware startup is hard enough without this kind of mocking, but mocking the new smart objects does make for some compelling humor. Google Glass for example was mocked pretty extensively recently too. This take wasn't fair, since this product saves you the time of having to type in your calories for each drink into your phone by figuring out what you are drinking, but it was funny.
- kingnight 12y agoThanks for sharing what the possible use for this could be. That's a quite a price to accomplish just that... 7 years bit was really great.
- zalmoxes 12y agoAppropriate to the 7 bits comment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TE0n_5qPmRM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TE0n_5qPmRM
- anon808 12y agoWhat is the everyday benefit of this for the regular person? Humans have been drinking things for a long time without knowing the exact stats of their beverages. What is this product trying to optimize?
- NickWarner775 12y agoColbert raises a great point about the practicality of it though; why would you take the time to pour a beverage into the Vessyl just to get the same readings you could have obtained from the initial container?
- ithought 12y agoWine.
- tdicola 12y agoWine connoisseurs would probably scoff at drinking out of a giant cup. There's a whole art/science to the cup shape and ritual of drinking wine.
- JAFTEM 12y agoThe only reason I can think of is the listed nutritional value isn't always accurate. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't understand how this cup can be any more accurate than the label. Honestly if I wanted to count calories and monitor my nutrition, I would rather speak to my phone what I'm currently eating and have it tally everything up. And I would gladly pay $10 for an app like that over $200 for a cup, so until someone can bring this technology down to $20-$30, I don't care.
- sp332 12y agoI don't feel like calculating how much I poured into a cup every time, or manually journaling every time I get a drink. But it would be nice to know how much soda I've had in a day.
- ethana 12y agoA "toylyt" would be a good medical analytic device actually. Get it on kickstarter Steven!
- j2kun 12y agoThis already exists. I saw a live (text) feed of a toilet that would post statistical information about the contents — get this — in real time. Apparently it could also determine if you have STDs, and which ones. [EDIT] here's the site: http://quantifiedtoilets.com/#feed http://quantifiedtoilets.com/#feed Apparently it also tracks blood alcohol content and doubles as a pregnancy test. The former sounds convenient for a toilet in a bar: it will tell you if you're legally able to drive before you leave the bar.
- bstpierre 12y agoThat's not real: > This was a thought experiment
- j2kun 12y agoHow embarrassing! I never checked up on it after I first saw it, I suppose, during the experiment. I thought it was cool.
- gdilla 12y agoI think they do have toilets that analyse things and send it to your doc. in japan, for the elderly. http://mashable.com/2014/05/27/japans-lixil-apple-toilets/ http://mashable.com/2014/05/27/japans-lixil-apple-toilets/
- guiomie 12y agoDoesn't work in Canada. See this link for Canada: http://www.thecomedynetwork.ca/Shows/TheColbertReport?vid=397740 http://www.thecomedynetwork.ca/Shows/TheColbertReport?vid=39... It is the full episode with annoying ads at the beginning...
- gatehouse 12y ago& the segment starts at ~10:20
- headbiznatch 12y agoDetecting rohypnol, or similar scenarios where you are "truth testing" the ingredients. Pretty sure rohypnol detecting glasses (or drink umbrellas, etc.) exist, but I am not Googling that.
- jkestner 12y agoDisposable stirring sticks and coasters that detect roofies do exist, and they're more convenient than bringing your special cup around to bars.
- sebular 12y agoI've never heard of the Vessyl before, but it sure looks like something that'll be gathering dust in people's cupboards. It might be a valiant engineering effort, but the concept strikes me as a poor way to digitally tap into peoples' diet information. The real solution is ultimately going to be at the point of purchase. Sales already happen in the digital space, so that's the logical point to start building a database of food intake. If you had a digital grocery bill, that information could be used by your digital fridge (or just a simple phone app) to track what's been purchased and consumed by each member of the family. Taking that idea a step further, the marketing / monetization of being able to sell that usage data back to advertisers, or creating a "diet API" that knows peoples' habits after they leave the grocery store would be a gold mine. In that light, the Vessyl just seems insanely shortsighted. It's a shame that Colbert had to be the one to tell them. Honestly, who uses the same cup every time they pour a drink?
- tdicola 12y agoGrocery stores already know what you purchase through tracking with the the club/value cards they promote. The information is sold to marketers, etc. and even in some cases used by the police and insurance companies.
- jkestner 12y agoI would love love love for someone to make a loyalty card with an API. It would be a win for grocery stores since they would have more accurate data and more users, who would actually be more loyal if they're able to get real personal value out of shopping at a particular store. Fine detail on what I'm buying, and when. I could see a slew of services for brick-and-mortar that can compete with some of the data that Amazon keeps to itself.
- sp332 12y agoHonestly, who uses the same cup every time they pour a drink? Well, I do. I buy 2-liter bottles of soda because they're cheap, but they're unwieldy for consumption. At work I just have one cup, so that's what I use. I feel like lots of people already have a personal coffee mug or something. And more people would if they bought one of these.
- jonhmchan 12y agoThe CEO of Vessyl responds: https://www.myvessyl.com/blog/posts/9-vessyl-on-colbert-report-toylyt-coming-soon-in-real-time https://www.myvessyl.com/blog/posts/9-vessyl-on-colbert-repo...
- smacktoward 12y agoGlad to see he was a good sport about it -- that's exactly the right way to respond to a story like this, even if you really want to blow your stack and punch the wall a few times. Which isn't to say you shouldn't blow your stack and punch the wall, just that you should only do it in private :-D
- jakar 12y agoWow, that camera phone clip from the Daily Show is great. And Jon Stewart looks so much younger!
- LandoCalrissian 12y agoTalking about the design part was the best for me. We made this new elegant future cup, that looks exactly like a cup, innovation!
- 0xdeadbeefbabe 12y agoIt's comfortable living on a desk!
- bunkat 12y agoAs opposed to on the ceiling where all of those other cups live.
- gk1 12y agoThe silliness is easy to recognize in this context, but I roll my eyes just as much when I see some site or app with "beautiful" or "elegant" in its tagline.
- ejain 12y agoDon't forget the "vibrant" colors...
- InclinedPlane 12y agoThis beautiful and elegant design will delight our customers while disrupting the industry with its game changing real-time social collaborative mobile experience.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- gk1 12y agoBuying an expensive gizmo to track every liquid you consume, and limiting all your drinking to just that one gizmo, seems like an awfully roundabout way of improving your health. Simply drink more water instead.
- joshfraser 12y ago1 can of coke contains 160% of your recommended daily intake of sugar. Lobbyists have worked hard to keep that information off the label, but it's true. Vessyl is an amazing feat of technology, but their messaging is confusing -- if they really want people to drink healthier, they should just encourage them to drink more water and less sugary drinks.
- ianstallings 12y agoAnd the damage to one's teeth from those drinks can be tremendous. Then there's this in diet soda: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4-Methylimidazole http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4-Methylimidazole I recently stopped drinking diet soda because of its possible health concerns and switched to brewed tea. One day I'll be completely free of caffeine also, I'm weaning myself off by simply drinking more water. I really wish I had never started drinking caffeinated sugary drinks.
- sp332 12y agoThat particular chemical looks completely harmless.
- ianstallings 12y agoDid you read the section under health concerns citing scientific studies? It's compelling enough that the FDA is taking another look and the companies are trying to do damage control. Here's more info and you'll see that the companies are trying to reduce the amount of the chemical in their diet sodas: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2014/01/caramel-color-the-health-risk-that-may-be-in-your-soda/index.htm http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2014/01/caramel-colo...
- sp332 12y agoAll the health effects were found in animals at incredibly high doses. California added it to a list, so the soda companies are only changing their formulas to meet CA's regulations, not because of any health effects. In consideration of tumor occurrence in the NTP rat studies, the NTP concluded that there was equivocal evidence of carcinogenicity in female rats based on the occurrence of mononuclear cell leukemia and no evidence of carcinogenicity in male rats. Section 25703(a)(3) states that “risk analysis shall be based on the most sensitive study deemed to be of sufficient quality.” The NTP studies in male and female rats were not sensitive and thus are not used for the dose response assessment. Thus, while the studies were considered, they were rejected for NSRL development due to lack of sensitivity. http://www.oehha.ca.gov/prop65/law/pdf_zip/100711_4MEIfindings.pdf http://www.oehha.ca.gov/prop65/law/pdf_zip/100711_4MEIfindin... So California basically ignored some of the evidence.
- GBKS 12y agoReminiscent of the Amazon Fire Phone promo video. Woman holds up phone to a book cover and says "Fire Phone can instantly identify this book, tell me the title and where to buy it." Information previously unknown...
- DanBC 12y agoThat information might not be as easily a a ailable to people with visual impairment.
- ejain 12y agoVessyl's reluctance to answer questions about the sensor they are using is a big red flag for me. I'm guessing it's some kind of photospectrometer? It's hard enough to build consumer gadgets even when using off-the-shelf sensors... The other issue is that knowing how much liquid you drink is not as interesting as knowing how dehydrated you are.
- bravo22 12y ago99% chance it uses a bunch of LEDs and optical sensors to measure things like refractive index and volume, couple that with a built in scale (likely a small load cell) and you can classify the drink. Note how they never say it "measures" the sugar in your drink. They say it recognizes that it is orange crush. I'll be interested when I can mix up a batch of sugar, water, and salt and have it tell me exactly what I've put in.
- jcromartie 12y agoThis is what they meant when someone said that "work on real problems" was bad advice for single male engineers in San Francisco.