Hardware is expensive to develop; software is cheap. That’s why the Angel sensor, an open source fitness band, has the potential for being extremely important.
The Angel is raising money on Indiegogo, and (as of this writing) has raised more than $200,000 of its original $100,000 goal, with 9 days to go. So the thing is a hit. Or, at least, there’ll be enough money to get past the prototype stage.
Sensors can measure heart rate, skin temperature, blood oxygen, and physical activity. There are LEDs, a vibrating motor and a buzzer, and it uses Bluetooth 4.0 to transmit information. SDK, drivers, and app templates (iOS and Android) will be released as open source.
And, because The Angel is open source, developers (and scientist/researchers) can slice and dice the data for whatever purpose they can come up with. That’s pretty cool.
They hope to have the thing ready to ship in April 2014.
(h/t Dave Lustig for the pointer)