
Luna – Hack your sleep - maghis
http://lunasleep.com
======
wernerb
This looks really cool. I wonder though if my bed would not then be dependent
on your servers at some point as I consider such a product as a long-term
investment. For example, can it live without the server-side aggregation?
Would you consider opensourcing parts of the server to enable people to use
their own servers in the long run? Would you consider adding a respectable API
that follows the ideas of for example, the philips hue?
[http://www.developers.meethue.com/philips-hue-
api](http://www.developers.meethue.com/philips-hue-api)

~~~
maghis
It's nice that you mention because we inspired both our API and architecture
to Philips Hue: the REST api is served by both our cloud servers and by the
device locally.

The app connects to the unit via wi-fi when you are home, which means you can
control the product even if the internet (or our service) is down.

Opensourcing a lot of our stack is part of the plan, we take a lot from OSS
and we want to give back. As far as the hardware, we'll make sure it's a
pleasure to hack on, remember that we have to do it every day :)

~~~
comboy
How much of this do you have working already? I've been using Zeo and miss
them a lot, tracking sleep phases or heartrate through this seems very
ambitious.

Also, some physical switch for microphone could be nice..

~~~
maghis
We never record the audio from the mic, we are only capable of detecting loud
sounds or a sustained vibration (snoring).

------
deanclatworthy
My first instinct (being the geek that I am) upon seeing this was it looks
great. And having lived in England the majority of my life, with cold houses
and heating turned off at night - heated underblankets are a necessity.

But as I read through the feature list, I couldn't help feel uncomfortable. Am
I the only one that finds this deluge of technology into every aspect of our
lives abhorrent?

Every single day billions of people stare into a screen. You can control your
whole life on it. Your lights can come on when you come home (Hue), the
temperature indoors is regulated (Nest), and now my partner and I can have
regulated heating on either side of the bed. Those who have watched Black
Mirror will see where I'm going with this.

I can't help feel that while there is nothing wrong with this product - in
fact it's kinda cool - is it really something the world needs?

Anyway, best of luck to the team. It seems like a good product. You can't
please everyone :)

~~~
ryanmcbride
Just because it's not something that's necessary, doesn't mean that it's bad
or "abhorrent". I want to live in a future with cyborg bodies and star trek
doors and if you don't, well then I feel sorry for you.

~~~
charliefg
That's an interesting one - I like the idea of technology allowing a more
inclusive society; enhancing mobility to some people to get them to the shops,
allow other people to use steps; maybe one day those who wish to regain their
sight or maybe get it for the first time. However -- as with everything in
nature -- it also has a dark side.

First, which is far more a philosophical addition to my previous point - it's
defining a norm. To some extent this is unavoidable; it is essentially saying
that to be at a normal functional level you need sight, be able to walk, etc.
So the question is - is a more inclusive society one that is setup for a whole
spectrum of people or one that enables people's bodies to bring them to a
functionally 'equal' footing? It's probably somewhere in the middle.

The other part, which I know I've experienced, is that the more unnecessarily
engaged I was with technology -- more so with hi-tech -- the more detached I
was with the actual world around me. So, for instance, walking around outside
listening to music in headphones; walking around outside with a mobile phone
(especially a smart phone). Nowadays, unless I have a damn good reason to take
it with me (The only one that comes to mind is playing a set), I go around
outside with clothes and maybe bags and leave everything else at home. On the
rare occasion I've found that a mobile phone might have been useful, but those
occasions are mainly when I've relied on a car to take me beyond walking
distance. The cycle of reliance.

Since placing this limit on myself, It's challenged me to be more engaged with
the environment around me, more mindful in myself and I've found this has made
me much happier and my environment more colourful. Trying to strike the
balance is good, and I enjoy walking the tight rope. However cyborg bodies
starts entering a whole new domain - the idea of being chained to technology
because it's a part of my body seems horrible to me; there would be no relief
from it.

If people want society to go that way, fair enough. However, I personally
won't encourage unnecessary integration with bodies because that's not the
world I want to live in.

------
gallamine
I've noticed my sleep quality is strongly correlated with my room temperature,
but being in a moderate climate I find that I need my bed and room _colder_ to
sleep better. Looks like this only provides heating.

~~~
tericho
As someone who struggles mightily with sleep I can tell you it's science not
preference that makes you prefer cold. I can't find the original source of
this fact but here is a decent alternative[1].

> ...scientists were able to lower skin temperature less than a degree
> Centrigrade without affecting core body temperature. The changes were
> dramatic. People didn't wake up as much during the night and the percentage
> of the sleep spent in stages 3 and 4 (deep sleep) increased. ... A 0.4 C
> decrease in skin temperature caused a decline in the probability of early
> morning waking from 0.58 to 0.04.

[1][http://www.sleepdex.org/thermoregulation.htm](http://www.sleepdex.org/thermoregulation.htm)

~~~
delian66
That article is wrong. The quote that you gave, is contradicted in the last
paragraph of the same article: >> Recent research by Dutch scientists found
that by increasing skin temperature the sleep quality in elderly people could
be enhanced.

Also the study, that the article links to [0] says:

By employing a thermosuit to control skin temperature during nocturnal sleep,
we demonstrate that induction of a mere 0.4 degrees C _increase_ in skin
temperature, whilst not altering core temperature, suppresses nocturnal
wakefulness (P<0.001) and shifts sleep to deeper stages (P<0.001) in young
and, especially, in elderly healthy and insomniac participants. Elderly
subjects showed such a pronounced sensitivity, that the induced 0.4 degrees C
_increase_ in skin temperature was sufficient to almost double the proportion
of nocturnal slow wave sleep and to decrease the probability of early morning
awakening from 0.58 to 0.04. Therefore, _skin warming strongly improved_ the
two most typical age-related sleep problems; a decreased slow wave sleep and
an increased risk of early morning awakening.

[0]
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18192289?dopt=Abstract](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18192289?dopt=Abstract)

------
azdle
If any of the creators are reading this, is there any chance you're going to
be making this in a hacker-friendly way? I've been contemplating making
something sorta like this myself (although much less ambitious) and I'd really
like to be able to integrate it into other smart things that I have going in
my house.

Also, just out of curiosity, what are you using for the WiFi connectivity?
I've been playing with a bunch or the new embedded stuff and like to know what
people are actually using.

EDIT: Also, cool, I was the one to push it over 100K: "You raised the campaign
total to: $100,008!" I feel special.

~~~
maghis
Yes, I'm the CTO of the company.

The product will have an open (and well documented) REST API from the day we
ship. Our app and website will use the same exact API that 3rd party
developers will use. Apps will have to levels of data access permission: sleep
patterns only and raw data (they will have to ask access to the user).

We are taking a lot from OSS and we want to give back and contribute to the
community, we will start soon opensourcing part of our stack.

As far as the hardware goes, we are doing our best to make it a pleasure to
hack, it's in our interest:)

~~~
sschueller
Any plans to make a none wifi version (or a way to turn that off and connect
via RJ45)? Where is the wifi antenna in relation to the head?

I try to avoid sleeping to close to my phone as well as other wifi/bluetooth
enabled devices as it does appear to have an affect on my sleep quality.

~~~
maghis
No plans to make it non wi-fi. The antenna is inside the main enclosure,
together with ambient sensors and power supply, outside of the bed.

------
simonebrunozzi
I know the founding team (3 out of 4 are Italians like me, all living in SF),
and as a disclaimer, I am an early angel investor in the company.

I have tried the product in its alpha version, and have followed the progress
thus far. I think that what Luna is trying to achieve is extremely important.
In fact, I have decided to invest because I thought that improving someone's
sleep is going to have a huge impact in his/her life.

I am not aware of any other product that is qualitatively similar to this. If
there are, let me know :)

Good luck, guys!

~~~
maghis
Simone, you are our favorite (and first!) investor:)

------
mb_72
What research has been done to show this actually has a beneficial effect on
one's sleep? I ask because there are many 'lifestyle' type of products that
get advertised, and sound good, but only seem to have anecdotal evidence to
support their claimed benefits.

~~~
mb_72
More: after read-reading the project page I'm going to assume the answer is
'no' to supporting evidence, otherwise this would have been included with all
the other (detailed) information already provided. So, for me at least, this
falls into the 'solution looking for a problem' category; it'a an exercise in
technology application that - yes - is cool, but doesn't actually solve
(supported by evidence) a problem.

------
johmas
JT from Tuft & Needle here. I met with Andrea and the team last year. They are
solid. The big difference with this tech is that it can actually impact the
way you sleep as opposed to just reporting data points.

When you sleep badly you usually know it in the morning. A wristband telling
me isn’t that useful. A tool that actually helps you fall asleep and stay
asleep provides significantly more value.

~~~
nighthawk454
Cool to get your opinion on this - I'm a huge fan of my Tuft & Needle
mattress. Interested to see if they make a good combo.

------
flurp
Seems really cool but I felt my internal warning sign go off when I see the
team is mostly comprised of marketers/managers/growth. Three engineers in an
eight person team. It can still be a good product but I'll wait until it's on
the market for some real reviews.

~~~
maghis
4 engineers actually:)

~~~
joering2
The moment I saw Matteo Franceschett being involved in this, ugh.

Some NY tech circles don't have a high opinion about this guy. He jumped from
one project to another, burning bridges behind (just Google his name in re to
MOWA and few others), and nowadays it seems he also likes to spam people.

A few of my colleagues received emails in regards to this wonderbra bedsheet,
but none actually ever recalls signing up. That's a big red flag.

------
slewis
Shawn from Beep here. We're super pumped to be integrating with these guys. As
someone who wakes up almost every single night either overheating or freezing
this product is near and dear to my heart and I personally can't wait to get
mine.

~~~
maghis
We are really looking forward to working with you guys!

------
tlrobinson
This looks great. I backed a project called Beddit which is similar, but just
a single strip that measures your breathing and heart rate, but it never
worked very well for me. Part of the problem was it required opening up the
application and connecting to the Bluetooth sensor every. damn. night. [1][2]

The only way I can integrate quantified self gadgets into my life is if they
are totally hands-off, passive data collectors. I don't want to charge a
fitness tracker every night and remember to put it on in the morning. The best
I can do is remember stand on my Withings scale a few times a week.

[1] [http://www.beddit.com/](http://www.beddit.com/)

[2]
[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/beddit/id794968897](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/beddit/id794968897)

------
ricardobeat
The hardware (including a bed warmer that is 100% guaranteed to not set your
house on fire), controller software, sleep-tracking software + mobile apps,
all for US$100k? Either we haven't learned anything from previous crowdfunding
nightmares, or they have another source of funding.

~~~
maghis
Yes, we have another source of funding, from a group of awesome people that
supported us believing in the project since the beginning. (you can find some
of them in the comments)

------
zyxley
This says it integrates with smart home stuff from the given companies, but
how does it actually do that? What sort of features are actually available?

Also, the partner logos should really be links. I have no idea what Beep or
Emberlight even are.

~~~
maghis
The product is wifi and we approach integration with partners in two ways:

\- some products will be integrated directly to enable a very specific user
experience (in particular thermostats and smart locks for now)

\- for other products we are integrated with IFTTT so that a user can
customize even the most complicated scenario (we are also looking at other
integration platforms, ideas are welcome)

Aaand... ticket created for the links, by tonight those logos are going to be
links. In the meanwhile:

\- [http://www.emberlight.co/](http://www.emberlight.co/) \- turn any light
into a smart light

\- [https://www.thisisbeep.com/](https://www.thisisbeep.com/) \- bringing
music to every room of your home

EDIT: fixed formatting of lists

~~~
zyxley
> in particular thermostats and smart locks for now

But what will they actually _do_? What are the use cases that you're looking
at?

~~~
maghis
Thermostats:

\- lower the house temp when everyone is in bed (save energy + better sleep
environment)

\- detect whether you are likely to come home tonight or not to avoid warming
up your bed if you are traveling

\- letting the thermostat know what's the temp/humidity in your bedroom when
you are in bed

Smart locks: you get in bed and, if you left the door unlocked, you get a push
notification that says: "Your door is unlocked, do you want to lock it?"

These are core use cases now, we will definitely expand the list, there are a
lot of things that need to happen in a smart home when you get in bed or fall
asleep or when you wake up.

EDIT: fixed formatting

------
hybridtupel
Sorry but I don't support indiegogo projects any more. There are more scam
projects than real ones out there and the indiegogo team doesn't give a shit
about it. This makes me sad, because I like the idea of crowdsourced projects.
But there needs to be a platform either side can trust which indiegogo is
definitely not because scam projects attract more people and so they make more
money with them.

------
jgj
This is pretty cool tech--if the smart alarm system works as advertised it
would replace a lot of poorly-performing manual processes I currently undergo
myself. Make a version with no heating element that can run on a battery and
I'll buy it.

Make a version that has active cooling and I'll buy 2 and wear the extra to
work.

~~~
mdpm
Yes please. Been wanting/plotting 'air-con' bed for ages. Passive ventilation
can't dissipate enough for chronic fever.

edit: There's also all of us in the tropics.

------
aw3c2
> SECURE AND PRIVATE

> Luna is completely secure and uses public key cryptography. Its security
> features include HTTPS, SSL, and 128-bit encryption.

What does a mattress need HTTPS for when it is private? Something does not add
up there for me.

edit: Sorry, I missed the mobile phone controller etc. So I guess this does
not phone home?

~~~
maghis
It does, but no raw data are sent, most of the aggregation happens on the
device. We upload sleep patterns, average values for some sensors
(temp/humidity, ambient light) and major events (loud sound or quick change in
ambient light). We use those data for historical data analysis on the server
side.

The cloud service relays commands to the cover when your phone is not
connected to your wifi too (you can warm up your bed while ubering back home
on a cold night).

~~~
teamhappy
> We upload sleep patterns, average values for some sensors (temp/humidity,
> ambient light) and major events (loud sound or quick change in ambient
> light).

That's kind of the opposite of private, no?

[http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/private](http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/private)

------
iffycan
Putting this technology in the mattress cover is great. Kudos to you.

I'm pretty sure I'm not in the target market, though, and that this would do
nothing to improve my sleep. The number one reason I sleep or don't sleep is
whether or not my babies sleep :)

~~~
maghis
Improving the sleep of people by making their kids sleep, next product maybe?

------
benreic
We have a queen mattress with a pillowtop - so its taller than a standard
queen. Would this work with the queen size Luna product?

It likely wouldn't reach the bottom of the mattress, but it seems like that
shouldn't be a big deal.

~~~
maghis
It should be fine, we managed to fit it to a lot of mattresses. If you post
the full height I can check.

------
yCloser
I'll tell you what: this device is great, really

BUT: a microphone where I and my wife sleep and have sex? you either put an
HARDWARE switch to turn it off (or even better, permit me to unplug the cable)
or not gonna happen in my house

~~~
maghis
Audio is never recorded by Luna.

We have a microphone in the main enclosure but we don't have an audio codec
which means we cannot record the audio. The only thing we can tell is whether
there's been a loud noise or some sustained vibration at a specific frequency
(snoring).

With the bed sensors we definitely pick up the movements of an intercourse but
that is something you can only see by looking at raw data. Before sending them
to the cloud, all the information about your movements get aggregated in sleep
phases, this means that "sex" becomes "you are awake in bed".

A 3rd party app connected via wi-fi to the device can ask the user permission
to access raw data from the device (much like facebook apps can ask for
different permissions).

------
thebacon
Just happened to be reading HackerNews at the right time and got myself a
Queen at the Early Bird price!

I see you've already answered that the mattress cover itself cannot vibrate,
and that the alarm will actually be through the app.

Rather than increasing the volume of the alarm gradually, I'd much prefer
being woken up like geoelectric by my phone vibrating or perhaps triggering
another wifi enabled alarm that vibrates.

1) Will your app make the phone vibrate as your alarm goes off (perhaps with
increasing intensity as you get closer to your waking time)?

2) Does anyone know of a wifi enabled vibrating alarm that could be put under
a pillow?

~~~
maghis
Yes, there a checkbox that enables the vibration when the alarm goes off. I am
not aware of a wi-fi enabled vibration alarm, that would be an awesome
product.

------
geoelectric
Anyone know how the alarm works? I've been using a vibrate-only alarm on Sleep
Cycle with the phone under my bottom sheet to avoid waking my partner. Can
this be configured in the same way somehow?

~~~
maghis
We currently don't have a built-in motor for the vibration, currently we are
using the phone as an alarm, informed by the data coming from Luna.

We have an experimental feature that consists in gradually increasing the
volume of the alarm sound till we notice you are waking up: the goal is to
keep it just loud enough to wake you up but not your partner. This is
obviously assuming your phone sits on a nightstand on your side of the bed.

~~~
dankoss
Any chance you could integrate it with a Hue or similar to do a light-based
alarm, given it has wifi?

~~~
maghis
Of course! We are already integrated with some smart lights (Philips Hue and
emberlight), we plan to integrate with more. We are also integrated with IFTTT
for the devices we are missing.

~~~
Pyrodogg
This would be fantastic!

Light is essential for me to get up properly. I currently have an alarm that
gradually ramps up a lamp in my room to full brightness. It works well, but
the downside is that it only stays on full brightness for a set period of time
which I can't change. I want my alarms to continue to pester me until i'm
actually out of bed! regardless of what time it is while completely removing
my sleepy self from the equation of mashing buttons.

Luna sounds like a great fit.

------
andy_adams
Question for the creators:

I have small children who wake me up almost every night at inconsistent times.
Am I going to get much benefit out of a Luna, or are my broken sleep habits
going to render Luna less effective?

------
ddw
I didn't know you can "hack" something by buying a product.

------
tempestn
Dang, I just bought a dual zone heated mattress cover. Absolutely love it
except for the fact that it's all manual; you can't turn it on remotely or
schedule on and off times (although it automatically shuts off after a fixed
10 hours). I often go to bed later than my wife, so have to sneak in to the
bedroom 15 minutes before bed to turn my side on (or leave it on
unnecessarily, or get into a cold bed, defeating the whole purpose).

This is actually less expensive than the one we bought, and obviously much
more feature rich.

~~~
maghis
You probably got a "SoftHeat" (made by Perfect Fit maybe?), I love them, they
are really good quality. One of the problems they have is that they are not
aware of the temperature and after a few hours usually get too hot and really
uncomfortable. When using them I usually wake up feeling too hot and have to
turn them off.

~~~
tempestn
Yep, it's a Soft Heat. And yes, the dial goes up to 10; I set it to 2ish
before bed, then turn it down to slightly less than 1 before falling asleep.
That's usually low enough that I don't get too warm in the night, but I have
occasionally woken up and turned it off. (I can't even conceive of someone
setting it higher than 3 or so...)

Given that we just got it I'll probably hold off on this project for now, but
I definitely see an upgrade in the future!

------
pdx
I love this idea. I used to use an electric mattress pad to have a nice toasty
bed to get into. Combining that low-tech device with motion sensors and wifi
connectivity is outstanding.

Just the ability to automatically log when you go to bed and when you get up
is nice, from a lifelogging perspective. Add the ability to have a much more
accurate picture of when you're asleep and when you're awake than any wrist
band could provide, and couple that with the alarm functionality. Very neat.

------
mintplant
Since I can't find it anywhere on the site or the IndieGogo page [1]: how much
of this works now, and how much is just an idea? Is there a video of the "pre-
manufacturing prototype" in action? Pictures? Anything?

[1] [https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/luna-turn-your-bed-
into-a...](https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/luna-turn-your-bed-into-a-
smartbed#shipping)

~~~
maghis
There are a few videos around showing demos we gave with pre-production
prototypes ([http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/27/luna-smart-mattress-
cover/](http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/27/luna-smart-mattress-cover/))
unfortunately, given the type of product, it's a little hard to show on video
but if you are based in SF you could swing by our office for a private demo
(bring your pajamas:)).

~~~
mintplant
Thanks! That's reassuring to see. I would definitely put that up somewhere on
one of your pages. A history of lies in Kickstarter/Indiegogo hardware
projects have led people like me to be skeptical of these things.

------
andyhnj
I need one of these in a Twin XL size.

(I can't be the only nerd who needs an 80" long bed, but doesn't have enough
room for anything wider than a twin.)

~~~
maghis
I hear you but given our stage we are trying to keep the project to as few
SKUs as possible. BTW we are about to announce Cal King and we'll definitely
expand the selection if we see demand.

Help us find more like you! :)

------
dchuk
How much does the efficacy of this device dip when you share a king sized bed
with your significant other and two 25-ish pound dogs?

~~~
ClayM
kick the dogs off! i'm sure they aren't helping you sleep :)

~~~
dchuk
ha I'll let you take that up with them directly...

------
adamzerner
This looks incredible! I've been waiting for this product for a while now. If
we had a different upvoting system
([http://www.overcomingbias.com/2015/01/trade-quarks-not-
votes...](http://www.overcomingbias.com/2015/01/trade-quarks-not-votes.html)),
I'd use all my upvotes on this article.

------
lucamartinetti
I think think of few funny ideas using their open API and data. Late night
achievement unlocked!

~~~
TheCraiggers
Please, god, no. I'm tired of this gamification craze, and the last thing I
want gamified is my damn sleep. The only achievement should be getting a good
night's rest, and if we need fake internet points to entice us to get it, then
I feel sorry for our culture.

~~~
ryanmcbride
No fun allowed huh?

------
maghis
Just started a technical AMA:
[http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2u3q93/iama_cto_of_a_s...](http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2u3q93/iama_cto_of_a_startup_building_a_hardware/)

------
Morphling
I like the idea and the price isn't too bad either on it's own, but then I
would have to get wifi lamps and a wifi coffee machine and a wifi door lock...
I think I'll pass for now

------
briansheng
A good night of sleep is invaluable to the performance of any athlete,
especially serious athletes. Extremely positive feedback from all my athlete
friends. Good luck guys!

Disclaimer: Proud investor in Luna :)

------
lazyman12345
Polyester, how wonderful. Any benefit this provides is cancelled by using
polyester instead of some good breathable material. I think I'd rather use a
"dumb" wool cover.

~~~
maghis
There are many reasons why we picked Polyester, the number one being that our
product needs to be washable.

If you look at the tech specs section on
[http://lunasleep.com](http://lunasleep.com) you'll notice from the drawings
that a mattress pad is composed of multiple layers, if we use natural fibers
for all the layers, say for the filling (batting), the product would never dry
and could grow mold (that's why ALL the heating pads on the market and most
mattress pads are made of polyester).

One thing we could do is think about a premium version with the top layer (and
maybe the bottom layer?) made of 100% cotton. Such a product would cost a
little more (about $30) and take a little longer to dry completely after
washing.

Would you guys be interested in such a premium product?

EDIT: formatting

------
woodchuck64
Tiny thing: with the first picture I see on the web page showing a bed cover,
I immediately assumed incorrectly that luna was a bed cover, not a mattress
cover hidden out of sight.

~~~
maghis
One of our first design goals was to build a product that would disappear in
the bedroom and that did not require any active input from the user (you never
HAVE to pull out your phone to use it). The mattress cover form factor served
our goal so well that we realized it was hard to show a product designed to be
invisible. That definitely poses some challenges, we have to show it on top of
a mattress and make sure people understand that we are not selling a mattress
for example...

------
indlebe
The cover itself is made entirely out of synthetic materials which has
implications for quality of sleep. I love the idea but the cover portion needs
to be natural fibers IMHO.

~~~
ryanmcbride
What implications does synthetic materials have on sleep quality? Are you
referencing some study or is this just anecdotal arguing from nature?

~~~
indlebe
It's mainly the thermal component, which synthetic fibers aren't very good at.
As far as studies go there are many on the effects of thermal regulation on
sleeping, which synthetic fibres are very poor at. Wool in particular vastly
increases sleep quality for these reasons and is used in the medical industry.

------
stefanobernardi
I've seen this come up from just an idea to full-on production and these guys
know what they're doing.

Was pretty impressive to see them hacking and soldering stuff in their
apartment!

------
draugadrotten
I hope this can also be available in Euro bed sizes. We can't get King & Queen
here in Nordics but rather 160x200, 180x200 or 180x210 (as people are tall)

------
yawz
Pity I didn't hear about it before it came on Hacker News. King size is sold
out! :(

Anyone knows about other similar initiatives?

~~~
maghis
Just the early bird is sold out, you should be able to get the regular
indiegogo price (still 20% off retail).

------
LesZedCB
I need to get one of these for my casper to have a fully start-up sourced
smart sleeping system

~~~
maghis
We are also really good friends of the Casper guys, they are awesome!

------
suyash
Anyone cares to explain how the 'alarm' works? The website doesn't say much.

~~~
maghis
The alarm is part of the mobile app and it works in a similar way to the stock
alarm clock app only informed by your current sleep phase.

Here's the difference.

Say you set your alarm for 7 am. The app starts looking at the sleep phase you
are in from 6:30 am (this is configurable), if you enter a light sleep phase
(N1) at 6:45, the alarm goes off and wake up without feeling groggy. If you
don't enter a light sleep phase, the alarm goes off regardless at 7 am so you
don't miss meetings and such.

~~~
suyash
Ok well that's not what I expected. It would be cool if the mattress
inherently has the alarm, so maybe it can be in the form of temperature change
- it gets colder to wake you up or subtle vibration. This more seamless
experience than a jarring alarm on the phone.

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UrMomReadsHN
How does the sleep phase sensor work? I'm assuming it can't read brainwaves...

~~~
maghis
We use ballistocardiography (aka a big less sensitive microphone) to pick up
movements, breathing and heart rate through the bed sheets.

~~~
agotterer
Are the sound waves sent to the cloud for processing?

~~~
maghis
Nope, it's all filtered and processed locally.

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zz1
Really a great idea! Unfortunately, you lost me at "proprietary technology"…

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diegolo
In this way, they'll be able to know how many times you have sex per week ;)

~~~
maghis
That is something you can see by looking at raw data, before having them
aggregated in sleep stages.

Raw data never get uploaded to the server but a 3rd party app using the device
API can get access to them asking permissions to the user.

(you thought you were the only one to have that idea right? :))

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faragon
Amazing idea. It could be used for addressing many respiratory system illness.

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ruben94
Find it hard to believe a mattress can track sleep quality accurately, and in
order to aggregate information about your day gathered from other sources and
do something useful with it they would need a very complex ML backend, which I
doub a mattress company has.

~~~
maghis
That's why we are NOT a mattress company.

Look at my background, I happen to have been working in big data for the past
10 years. My last job was to run the data platform team of Upsight (former
kontagent) the largest analytics and marketing platform for mobile.

Talking about the rest of the team: their background is much better than mine.

We are also being helped by our scientific board:

\- Jessa Gamble
[https://www.ted.com/speakers/jessa_gamble](https://www.ted.com/speakers/jessa_gamble)

\- Clete Kushida [https://med.stanford.edu/profiles/clete-
kushida](https://med.stanford.edu/profiles/clete-kushida)

\- David Rapoport
[http://www.med.nyu.edu/biosketch/rapopd01/](http://www.med.nyu.edu/biosketch/rapopd01/)

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falconed
Will body temperature be available as a metric graphed over time?

~~~
maghis
Body temperature is really hard to tell in an accurate way, even if we have
some temperature sensor very close to your body: the sensor would be
influenced a lot by the type of mattress.

The interesting one for circadian cycles is the "Core Temperature" but it's
rather uncomfortable to measure (see
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_body_temperature#Core_tem...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_body_temperature#Core_temperature)),
what we can do instead is measuring your heart rate at rest that is something
typically constant for a healthy person: if that varies from the usual value
more than about 5bpm it usually means you have been exercising A LOT or that
you are sick.

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fudged71
Finally a well marketed connected product for colder climates!!

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jpetersonmn
Great, now my mattress can get hacked.

~~~
maghis
Haha, hopefully by you! We are giving security a very high priority and we
hope the community will try as much as possible to break it to send us
feedback and suggestions.

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spiritplumber
What, no My Little Pony references? Oh wait, this is HN, not reddit...

