Categories
Connected Objects Kids/Babies Sensors/IoT

Butterfly Bluetooth thermometer lights up your life like a baby’s smile

Caring for a feverish child is a consuming process. Parents not only must keep a close watch on the child’s temperature using thermometers even during stressful times like in the middle of the night, but they also have to keep track of the all the measurements to better inform doctors of the child’s health.

Butterfly aims to make this easier to do. It’s comprised of a dime-sized temperature sensor, a base station, and a mobile iOS/Android app. The water-resistant temperature sensor can be stuck onto a child’s body to constantly gather temperature readings. These readings are sent to the base station and displayed on its small LED screen, and reflected in the three colored lights Butterfly uses to quickly inform parents at a glance. (A blue light is normal, a yellow light means elevated temperatures, and a red light means a fever.)

Categories
Health and Wellness Sensors/IoT

IDo smart thermometer measures temperature continuously, syncs with smartphone

The problem with a traditional thermometer is that it doesn’t continuously measure a sick user’s temperature. There is no way for it to keep track of fever spikes that can happen in the middle of the night –- especially dangerous when it’s a young child who is sick.

The iDo smart thermometer measures and monitors temperature accurately and continuously after being placed underneath an armpit using disposable patches. IDo Smart is the companion mobile app that the company is developing for the device. IDo is about the size of a U.S. dollar coin and uses Bluetooth LE to transform the data to the app. An open software development kit is also being made available for developers to build their own iDo integration into their products. Backers who pledge $35 AUD (~$29 USD) will get an iDo in March as part of a Kickstarter early bird promotion. Qodome is hoping to raise $10,000 AUD (~$8,200 USD) on Kickstarter.

The number of mobile devices that the app can be used with is still limited, which could limit its appeal. As of now, it will only work with the iPhone 4S or newer iPhones, fifth-generation iPod Touch 5G, iPad 3G or newer iPads, and recent Android devices including the Samsung Galaxy S4 and S5. It also faces competition from rivals including the similar Fever Smart which goes the extra mile with cloud integration.