MyFitnessPal 

MyFitnessPal is application that gives you information about calories and nutrition facts of restaurant meals. It shows you a map and a list of restaurants that meets your calorie targets.  MyFitnessPal got most of their data by working with Foursquare, but when there is no information available it uses data science and calculates an estimate of the calories and nutrition.  

Launching an App

When it’s time to launch an app you should think a couple of things like, do you pay for some marketing people and what is your marketing tactic? 

Before launching you should have some people who will test the app. There could always be some bugs on the app and those need to be fixed before launching. When it’s time to launch the app you should think how people will find just that app. One good tactic would be do like Spotify.  At first, Spotify was available by invitation only in the U.S. This helped it to grow and scale sustainably and ratcheted up the hype surrounding the app. 

You should also think the app name and description. There should be right keywords. That help people to find the app on google play/app store. 

DietSensor 

DietSensor is an app that helps you follow your personally recommended carbohydrate, protein, fat and calorie intake goals. With the app, you can set macronutrient targets and it alerts you when you have exceeded them in each meal.  This app is directed especially for those who want to lose weight, build more muscle or if you are on special diet.  

As an optional feature, you can buy the SCiO molecular scanner. SCiO uses infrared spectroscopy to determine the chemical composition of your food and drink. “Each type of molecule in a food vibrates in its own unique way, and these vibrations interact with light to create a unique, optical signature”. SCiO scanner is a small, pocket-sized portable spectrometer. You just click a button and aim the light on your food. The spectrometer collects and breaks the light reflected from the sample. Then the results are transformed into useful information such as percentage of carbohydrates, fat and protein contained in the sample and sent to user’s DietSensor app.  

Another optional feature is a digital scale. You can weight your food and identify the metrics on your app.  

SCiO can measure even small portions of the sample, but it shouldn’t be relied to notice allergens. SCiO can only identify major components with the (typical) concentration of 1 % or more, whereas allergens can be hazardous in even lower concentrations. SCiO is very useful and it has won CES Innovation Awards in 2016. 

Bite is a free app created by Sodexo and available for both Apple and Android users.

The main point is to help students to better their health by keeping track of the foods they eat in the Marketplace.

Bite includes a categorized list of most foods served in the Marketplace where users can see the nutritional information, ingredients, sizes, etc.

They are working now on building the data base for the retail restaurants and plan a conversation of the data over the summer.

Yuka