I have no idea whether this is real or not, but the idea is certainly neat… advancing the idea of the tricorder, the universal instrument the heroes of Star Trek always had with them…
Buyer beware – it could be one of those things that get funded never to be heard of again. If it's real, we will know fairly soon. A few months of wait.
$250 handheld laser spectrometer food scaner will connect to your smartphone and servers in the cloud to tell you what allergens, chemicals, nutrients, calories, ingredients are in your food
The TellSpec handheld device beams a low-powered laser at the food you wish to analyze, measures the reflected light with a spectrometer, and sends the data via your smart phone, computer, or tablet to TellSpec’s servers in the cloud. Those servers use this data to deduce information about your food that is of interest to you. This information is then displayed on your computer, tablet or smart phone so you can intelligently decide if you want to buy or eat the food.
TellSpec is currently under development, after raising three times its funding goal on Indiegogo. Shipping is slated to begin in August 2014. Its US$320 price tag includes one year of free analysis of food scans, with further analyses being made available through subscription plans.
The Indiegogo campaign is still offering US$250 devices for pre-order.
You'll get a TellSpec scanner in your choice of white, red, green, or turquoise blue—and two years of unlimited analysis of your food scans. Plus you will be listed as a Gold Contributor, for helping to build a healthier world for all of us. We will send you updates on our progress and invitations to live events. This offer includes limited warranty and EULA.
TellSpec is a handheld food scanner that connects to your smartphone to inform you about allergens, chemicals, nutrients, calories, and the ingredients present in any food item.
Phi Beta Iota: Much more likely to succeed is the existing bar code scanner application, connected to micro-data from a variety of consumer reports backed up by real laboratories. The public demand for public intelligence is not there yet — when it arrives, “buy cotts” (a term coined by Jim Turner) will change markets overnight.
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