We got an e-mail about a new-ish Kickstarter campaign for an ear-worn biometric tracker, the SensoTrack. The device looks like the marriage of one of those old behind-the-ear hearing aids attached to a Bluetooth headset. It claims to track heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, respiration, location, pace and body position, as well as the usual stuff like speed, steps, and activity level. The key seems to be a sensor or sensors in the earpiece, near the temporal artery.
There are also smartphone apps and a web site to which one can download and share workouts. It looks like the data is downloaded by USB cable.
That’s rather a lot, and the claims seem elaborate. Also, they’re looking to raise $250,000; early bird backers will be charged $250 and get product (and a hoodie!) in Februrary 2015, with mass production at $199 in April 2015.
Frankly, those prices and deadlines seem awfully ambitious to us, given the complexity of the hardware and software.
