Ok so I have to disagree. I'm a very attentive dog owner. Matter of fact I'd say I'm really good. And my memory is also pretty good. I'm going to lay out what's nice about this device.
1) You have a lifetime of data on your dog (and with further improvements to the device I'm sure you'll get heart rate as well as movement). This is awesome, and here's why. My dog blew her knee out. She got a lot less exercise and is finally recovering. But how can I SHOW myself that she's running better other than this vague feeling I get as her owner. I can't, but with this device I could.
2) I can compare Sophie to other dogs her age, and possibly with help see that she's not running as much. That could have potentially alerted me to her knee issue (which is something you can NEVER learn about too early).
3) I can watch what she's doing no matter where she goes or who's watching her. I get data on her. This also has implications about lost dogs and your dog getting out of the yard (but for most attentive owners that isn't a problem).
I think you are attempting to argue away the value of this data, and I for one completely disagree. Sure I want more data, possibly gps/heart rate monitor. But I'll support someone who is taking a step in the right direction.
You are creating capabilities for this device that don't exist. Currently the data provided does not help with any of your use cases. In fact, it could actually hurt.
I used to have a dog with hip problems. As her hip got worse she ran more, not less. Why? Because it took her longer. Sure, it was lower speed, and she galloped weird, but Whistle would still track that as an increase in running! As a converse, as she got better the time duration of her running fell, but her intensity and speed increased. Again, giving you the wrong idea via Whistle data.
As I said before, Whistle is the Moves app for Dogs. I suggest you download that app, see the data you get from it, and if you would like that for your dog then go for it. Just remember you're paying $100 for the same functionality provided by a free app.
I fully agree. This is just a toy you can spend money on so you can buy of your feeling of guilt of not spending enough time with your dog and observing how they are doing.
Or you can do next to nothing with them for a month and then feel really good by doing just a bit more every week for 4 weeks and seeing a nice line going up and get some badges or whatnot for it.
I think a case can be made that if you seriously think about buying one of these, you probably already know you should spend more time and attention on your dog.
> You are creating capabilities for this device that don't exist. Currently the data provided does not help with any of your use cases. In fact, it could actually hurt.
Hurt? That's not physically possible... It sure as hell isn't going to bite my dog.
> I used to have a dog with hip problems. As her hip got worse she ran more, not less. Why? Because it took her longer. Sure, it was lower speed, and she galloped weird, but Whistle would still track that as an increase in running! As a converse, as she got better the time duration of her running fell, but her intensity and speed increased. Again, giving you the wrong idea via Whistle data.
Where's your data to back this claim up? I kid, I kid, but seriously don't you think these are changes that this device would detect, and if properly programmed point out to the user as abnormal? Now there's nothing to stop their algorithm from sucking and they could say "great job on walking your hurt dog for 27 miles this weekend on a camping trip dude. Gold star! (I'm assuming this is what you mean by hurt, not to be bitten) But, you'd hope that as the device matures they'd discover these sorts of things and look for them.
> As I said before, Whistle is the Moves app for Dogs. I suggest you download that app, see the data you get from it, and if you would like that for your dog then go for it. Just remember you're paying $100 for the same functionality provided by a free app.
I'm sorry my dog lost his smart phone last week so I'd have to buy him a new one... oh oh oh, I hear I could spend 100 bucks and get this same information in a nice neat little package that clips onto their collar!
The point of all this is that this device IS superfluous, I don't need any of this data. It falls squarely into the WANT category. Just like the fitbit (don't need that to work out either). It's a want kinda like say... a galaxy s4 (or iPhone 5), second laptop, extra pairs of shoes, raspberry pi, a new game, a new... you get the picture. No one is going to put this in the "You literally have to get one of these or your dog will die" category.
But you can't argue that a collection of data from all 10+ years is something that you ALREADY have . I say that because I like data. I like seeing graphs of activity, and being able to digest information in a meaningful manner. And it's not like you are going to make something that collects said data for cheaper than 100 bucks and create instructions/send it to me...
What I will say is that this device is not a substitute for caring for and watching your dog. Sure it'll give you pretty data, but at the end of the day they need love and attention more than anything else (which I think we can both agree on).
I honestly can't tell if you are joking or not, because I love actually do love more data on everyday things, and this is hacker news so I'm inclined to lean toward serious on a statement like that...
I.E. I downloaded a sleep app and very much enjoy seeing how I've slept over the past few weeks. Also thanks to one of the other commentators I'm going to download move and check that data out.
Do you know of any place I can get at my data from Google to see what my internet footprint looks like?
1) You have a lifetime of data on your dog (and with further improvements to the device I'm sure you'll get heart rate as well as movement). This is awesome, and here's why. My dog blew her knee out. She got a lot less exercise and is finally recovering. But how can I SHOW myself that she's running better other than this vague feeling I get as her owner. I can't, but with this device I could.
2) I can compare Sophie to other dogs her age, and possibly with help see that she's not running as much. That could have potentially alerted me to her knee issue (which is something you can NEVER learn about too early).
3) I can watch what she's doing no matter where she goes or who's watching her. I get data on her. This also has implications about lost dogs and your dog getting out of the yard (but for most attentive owners that isn't a problem).
I think you are attempting to argue away the value of this data, and I for one completely disagree. Sure I want more data, possibly gps/heart rate monitor. But I'll support someone who is taking a step in the right direction.