It has been a long, hard road for TellSpec in getting their food scanner into the market. A series of setbacks with their scanner chip, firmware issues with the Bluetooth, and some bad press from Pando.
I have followed the story from both sides, and I can say that I have not put many serious brain cells into worrying about what Pando and gang were saying. It is, after all, a pay to read tabloid that I find writes with tabloid credibility. I have read many of their posts about the technology not being able to work, people requesting their crowdfunding money back, and their rants against CEO Isabel Hoffmann. I have found none of these articles very credible, and mostly filled with unsubstantiated hearsay.
Despite the naysayers, I have in my hands the real beta TellSpec application for my iPhone, and FedEx tried to deliver my beta scanner today.
The Tellspec app is not overly useful without the scanner, but their Tellspec-o-pedia is full of all kinds of goodies. You can search on about any food ingredient or (food) chemical I can think of. If the scanner links to it correctly, and displays the promised information after a scan, it will prove out the technology beyond doubt.
I will admit that the beta scanner appears larger than the original prototype cases, but I really cannot comment on that at this time. I am hoping it is a reasonable size for general use, but question if it will be small enough to carry around with me. I do know, however, that the company is working to reduce the size for the scanners delivering to Indigogo backers and retail.
Tomorrow evening, I will unpack the scanner and set it up. Results of the ease (or not) of setting it up and conducting a scan are forthcoming. As a diabetic, I am holding out hope for much of what Tellspec touts as benefits for people like me.
Quite exciting for those of us invested in the company.
I knew they could do it. Now to prove it.
