The story of the Healbe GoBe is not a pretty one. The company crowdraised $1.1 million for the wristworn calorie counter and has blown multiple delivery dates while fighting back allegations that its central claim — to measure caloric intake — is nonsense. The BBC more or less cornered the company’s CEO at CES last week and challenged him to a demo once and for all.
CEO George Mikaberydze agreed to the test — but only on his device worn by him. (He said calibrating the device for a new user would take too long; not a great sign for product adoption.) The BBC, however, chose the menu. And to their surprise, the GoBe appeared to have eventually (after 2.5 hours) more or less recognized the caloric intake in question.
Mikaberydze told the BBC that 12,000 devices have been made. (Previous statements put it at 7,000.) He said they’ll be going on sale later this month.