I’m happy to see a couple Punch Through Design clients getting press. Both Pedal Brain and Shepherd are mentioned in the article:
The iPhone and the iPod Touch, it’s a pretty cheap platform and it has a lot of power behind it,” said Colin Karpfinger, owner of hardware and software developer Punch Through Design. “It’s a really nice building block to do other things with.”
Minneapolis-based PedalBrain will sell a product for cyclists later this year that will collect performance data and make it available in real time on their iPhones.
[…]
PedalBrain plans to sell a $195 product that collects wireless data from existing accessories on a cyclist’s bike that measure heart rate, speed, cadence, power and other statistics. The device would deliver the information to their iPhone and a website in real time.The website could be monitored by the cyclist’s friends and family, teammates and coaches, and the product also tracks the GPS coordinates of the biker. Already about 1,000 have been sold to distributors, and the product will be available in stores later this year.
PedalBrain attaches to the iPhone and includes an integrated battery that doubles the phone’s total battery life. The company is developing other sensors, such as one that will keep track of a swimmer’s laps and another that can analyze a person’s glucose and lactic acid levels, said founder Matt Bauer.
And recently renamed ‘Shepherd’ was listed as well:
Meanwhile, the Vista Institute, based in Minneapolis, will launch a product next month called Shepherd, which will help clients such as restaurants and farms log food safety data into secure web databases in real time through smart phone devices such as the iPhone.
The Vista Institute says Shepherd will eliminate the need to transcribe paperwork into the database and allow clients to see data in real time. Shepherd has been beta-testing its product for the past two years.
“Shepherd can replace the pen and paper data collection,” said Peter Boutros, the company’s CEO, adding the technology can extend outside of the food industry to areas such as clothing production facilities or vineyards.
Karpfinger, of Punch Through Design, said he is developing the hardware behind Shepherd, which he envisions to be a pocket-sized case that will connect to a temperature probe, used to track whether foods such as meat follow safety standards. The iPhone will slide into this case.
Full text here: New Phone Apps aim to boost health – Minneapolis Star Tribune