Nintendo Hits Snooze On Sleep-Tracking Device (techcrunch.com) 61
In October 2014, Nintendo announced a plan to develop a sleep-tracking app and device. This device would use microwave sensors to monitor important sleep data throughout the night, to optimize users' slumber time and encourage a healthier rest cycle. Now, Nintendo has announced that the sleep app has been put to sleep indefinitely; the company is instead focusing on its new mobile games and next-generation console.
It's a trick! (Score:5, Interesting)
They're just trying to throw us off the scent. Everybody knows dream product placement is the next big thing. I, for one, love alpha testing my DreamBoy Advance XL, and I can't even remember why.
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Lightspeed Briefs: For the discrimination crotch.
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For the memory of a lifetime...
Recall recall recall..
Nope (Score:4, Interesting)
It didn't stop developing this. It never started.
The "Quality of Life" shit has been teased by Nintendo for years and nothing had ever come of it, and nothing ever will.
It was simply a buzzword bandied about to tease investors along with in order to prevent them from demanding that Iwata step down.
Iwata died, so it's not longer needed.
The mobile shit is going to be quarter-assed at best, as is their My Nintendo and Miitomo shit (register your account names if you give a shit on the 17th, but it's just another abortion of an account system to replace the existing abortions of Miis, Club Nintendo, NNID, etc.).
Nintendo's job right now is stringing along investors until they can reveal their next console, which is codenamed "NX". Nintendo swears up and down that this won't be a console/portable hybrid, so you can bet your ass it'll be exactly that. Nintendo is a very Japanese company and in Japan consoles are dead, dead, dead. Portables are dying as well. The only games that sell in the Japanese market today are trashy mobile games. Nintendo of America has absolutely zero say in what Nintendo does, so despite the western markets being where Nintendo can make money they will continue to chase after a market that has largely given up gaming.
I expect the NX to be nothing more than a handheld like the 3DS (dual screen or not, who knows, but probably without the 3D) that you can connect to your TV like the failed version of the Vita or the nVidia Shield things. Nintendo's mobile efforts will be side-games and shitty apps no one will care about. You won't be playing a proper mainline Pokemon on your phone unless you're emulating one of the classics, despite the fact that Nintendo would make obscene amounts of money if they let it happen (Pokemon is made by The Pokemon Company, but Nintendo has control and oversight). Instead you'll get an app where you can have your Mii store notes for you, you'll get a Pikachu-themed calendar that does 10% of what your current Google / Outlook shit already does, and you'll get a Pokemon-skinned game like Pokemon Shuffle [pokemonshuffle.com].
I'd love for the "X" in "NX" to stand for x86, meaning that Nintendo is:
1 - Developing a traditional console based on x86 hardware
2 - Giving 3rd parties even less reason to not port to their platform
3 - Cutting off backwards compatibility with the Wii U / Wii / GameCube (yes, the Wii U can run GameCube games since it's inherently the same architecture as the 2001 console, it just lacks the controller ports and ability to load the smaller discs - homebrew lets you get around both limitations)
But I'm used to Nintendo's ways, and I know whatever they trot out will be a disappointment overall, but worth it for the few stellar IPs you can only get from Nintendo.
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Cutting edge hardware is expensive so they have always gone for the cheaper option than Sony, MS etc. The downside is something not so quick, the upside is no blue rings of death or other cutting edge flakiness.
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Cutting edge hardware is expensive
Sort of. Cutting edge custom hardware is expensive. There's no good reason not to use commodity hardware-based designs these days for their next console. Sony and Microsoft have both already figured this out.
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Yes. See as an example the original Nintendo DS with a custom ARM CPU that was some way back from the cutting edge.
Why would Nintendo do that? (Score:2)
Nintendo can count on selling DSes and NX Consoles, so why collapse the two into one platform? They'll wait for Microsoft/Sony to drive down ram/cpu prices and crank out a decent box they can sell for $250 at launch with $200 worth of hardware in it.
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Medical Device (Score:4, Interesting)
I wonder how much this sort of tracking app encroaches on the medical device domain. It could be that Nintendo just didn't want to get a cease and desist letter from the FDA.
Sleep studies appear to be one of the next big things in the medical business. Lots of sleep disorder labs are popping up and pushing their services through primary care physicians. My physician is pushing this stuff, even though I don't suffer from any symptoms that indicate sleep problems. There are big bucks to be made, paid physicians conferences in hot vacation spots and finders fees for referrals. So I'm certain that if some tech company comes up with an app and/or cheap hardware to screen for this, many people might feel threatened.
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I hope it does massively encroach on the medical device domain. Medicine care and medical information is artificially scarce.
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I wonder how much this sort of tracking app encroaches on the medical device domain. It could be that Nintendo just didn't want to get a cease and desist letter from the FDA.
Sleep studies appear to be one of the next big things in the medical business. Lots of sleep disorder labs are popping up and pushing their services through primary care physicians. My physician is pushing this stuff, even though I don't suffer from any symptoms that indicate sleep problems. There are big bucks to be made, paid physicians conferences in hot vacation spots and finders fees for referrals. So I'm certain that if some tech company comes up with an app and/or cheap hardware to screen for this, many people might feel threatened.
It could also be for privacy reasons. Many people who are adults buy Nintendo consoles, definitely, but their primary market tends to be kids/adolescents, and that's who they market towards. They may have had a lawyer examine privacy laws for children and maybe something would have prohibited tracking the info by kid or something like that. Obviously, collecting sleep data is of no use if you don't know who it belongs to, so they may have decided to cancel the project because it wouldn't have been useful. O
There were apps for that years ago (Score:2)
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Seriously guys, there was a sleep tracking application for the Nokia N900 not long after release.
Tell us about the microwave sensors the N900 uses to track your sleep.
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I'm not sure I can see how.
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... Seriously?
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Here is one that is current:
http://www.sleepcycle.com/ [sleepcycle.com]
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I mean you seriously think this is the same thing?
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Basically I just wanted an answer to my original question.
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How about you say what you mean and then it will be less of a secret thus making communication possible. Deal?
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Please ask it again in a sensible way instead of weird shit about microwaves (did you really mean an ultrasonic distance measuring device instead)...
No, I meant microwaves... because I read the summary:
This device would use microwave sensors to monitor important sleep data throughout the night, to optimize users' slumber time and encourage a healthier rest cycle.
So... oops, yeah, I did have a direct reason to mention microwaves. The system uses radio waves to determine the sleeper's position. That made your remark a little bit weird. It made for 3 possibilities:
1. The N900 has that hardware, which I had never heard of and it sounded cool! Between wifi and the cellular antennae it's a wonder we don't have any sort of imaging with these devices.
2. Somehow accelerometers are as good as the radio-wave approach. (
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With respect different hardware has been producing the same outcome for years - and you are the one that jumped on my post ignoring that because of SHINY NEW TECH or something.
Heh. SHINY NEW TECH!! Or, another way to put it: A new tech that offers different advantages. Because... you know... a tech isn't done just because it succeeded in a goal years ago. Like how you have an LCD instead of a CRT now.
Movement is what matters and there are many ways to find out when it happens.
Or, another way to put it: The N900 clearly wasn't the tech to end all tech when tracking sleeping patterns.
You're being disproportionately defensive, here. It's pretty clear to me now that #3 was correct.
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Obviously, but equally obviously the existing function available for just about every phone since 2009 is likely to have led to pulling the plug on a project that is an incremental improvement.
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That is certainly possible. It's also possible that the existence of those apps would confuse people about how new hardware would make the product work a lot better.
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That's a bit of weird logic. Not sure why it would benefit you to remain confused about advances in technology. Bliss maybe?
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You thought the devices were identical and didn't even know that radio waves were involved. Yes, you have certainly dumbed it down enough to make things clear.
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Yes - You said you thought I meant ultra-sonic and had no idea where microwaves came in until I quoted the summary. Your failure started before I posted. Frankly, I doubt you even knew that a hardware component was part of this discussion when you first posted.
Apps for that posts ago (Score:2)
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What do you think the word 'device' means? It's the word that turned up not long after the word 'app' in the summary. You'll find it hidden in the title, too. Number 3, without a doubt.
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Obvious troll probably should get a less pathetic hobby.
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Your failure existed before I even had a chance to post. Can't make me the bad guy here, sorry.
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The Nintendo product isn't just an app, it's hardware and software. Being that the hardware is different in fundamental ways, each approach has its pros and cons. Jack of all trades and related cliches. If you had caught this detail the first time you would have had the answer to your 'why bother' question days ago.
What annoys you so much about what I added to this conversation is that I drew attention to your reading comprehension failure. You're not saving face, you're making it worse. I did not crea
That's all from the summary and link (Score:2)
You have provided nothing new - nothing but noise and no signal.
Total waste of time.
Why do you do this?
It's truly pathetic.
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If being in the summary is so obvious, why did you miss it originally? Perhaps your attention span is 3 words long? "Nintendo Sleep App"
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Why are you keeping this up loser? It's all there above in this entirely useless thread.
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The reason there was confusion to be propagated was that you didn't read the part of the summary that specifically mentioned microwave sensors. As for this thread being useless, I agree! Imagine the discussion we could have had about the advantages the different hardware has if you weren't being so defensive.
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Why did you bother me in the first place and why are you continuing? You have added nothing but noise.
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Nah, the only way anything I said could be considered misleading is if I had known you hadn't read the summary. Apparently your biggest source have contention is that I had given you too much credit.
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Given that the whole premise of your post was that the two devices were equivalent, I don't see how I 'trolled'. I get that I made you pound your fists on the keyboard, I just don't get how I did that on purpose.
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Obviously not, just obviously doing the same task.
Epic fail.
Why are you doing this?
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Obviously not, just obviously doing the same task.
Obviously not...? Um, no. You didn't even know it used radio waves until I told you, so you didn't write your post post knowing that the products were distinctly different, and thus couldn't be doing the same task.
Epic fail.
Oh I agree. That's why I've been so entertained!
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Because obviously the N900 and all those other things after with those applications I mentioned do not.
Why are you doing this?
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Because obviously the N900 and all those other things after with those applications I mentioned do not.
Heh. So, in your own words, they cannot possibly make the Nintendo product redundant because they lack the hardware to perform the same functions. Thank you for that admission. This statement right here illustrates exactly why you should have read the summary before making your first comment.
I don't have a voodoo doll in your likeness, I couldn't possibly have made you do that.
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Jumping on a post, taking it offtopic and adding nothing but noise looks like a pretty boring hobby to me so I don't understand. Please answer the question I have asked several times.
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Jumping on a post, taking it offtopic and adding nothing but noise...
It's not off-topic, nor is it noise. It's just unpleasant to you because your pride is hurt. We could have had an interesting discussion by now, plenty of opportunities for it. "Why would radio waves be better than accelerometers?" "Why is sleeping with a smart phone in your pocket silly?" "What are the advantages of a dedicated device?" And so on. For some reason you didn't want that. Can't blame me for that one, either.
Please answer the question I have asked several times.
Oh, now that you've tripped over your own argument you want to change the topi
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I'll link your post above next time I see you trolling someone for entertainment.
Have a nice day.
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Heh. Anybody who has encountered someone like you, one who must save face at all costs and cry "troll!!!" when the debate doesn't go their way, will understand my amusement.
Anyway, be my guest. I look forward to you showing other people how you suddenly decided to find a shallow way to declare victory immediately after pointing out that you contradicted your own argument. That behaviour is so common here I'm impressed you actually think I'd feel threatened! "Oh no, he might show people what a bad spor
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