

Show HN: Nudge – Klout for healthy living - macgambill
http://www.nudgeyourself.com/index.php

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psycr
Awesome work.

I have been working on an open source API to accomplish similar things
(specifically just re: aggregation of data from disparate sources):
[https://github.com/jdjkelly/quantify](https://github.com/jdjkelly/quantify)

It's Rails + Postgres, and so far aggregates meal, weight, and sleep data from
Withings and Fitbit - but I've been focussed on building out a framework to
easily aggregate many, many more sources.

Maybe we could find a project to work on together - contact is in my profile.

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gallamine
I believe Tictrac ([https://www.tictrac.com/](https://www.tictrac.com/)) is
working on a similar system

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macgambill
Yeah there are some great platforms out there like TicTrac and Runkeeper but
the value in our platform is certainly going to be the algorithm. Aggregating
data for personal use is something those companies are doing well, but we
thought there was an interesting niche in regards to quantified selfers being
able to compare each other, independent of lifestyles or tracking
applications.

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macgambill
We are attempting to aggregate and index people's health tracking data using
our proprietary algorithm into one healthy living score. Would love feedback
on UX as well as general concept.

Thank you, Mac

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amcnett
Hey Mac - great looking stuff. The marketability of a single healthy living
score is pretty clear, but isn't it a fairly artificial and opaque approach to
making an actual measurement? The measures inherent to the donut chart-y UI
element that's part of your site's hero loop (appears to be hydration,
nutrition, sleep, activity) looks more useful to me than the single score.

~~~
macgambill
I think to an individual at the moment the segments MAY be more useful than
the metric itself; however, the value of the metric becomes more apparent when
comparing individuals or populations. I know I get really excited about the
prospect of being able to better index cities, states, etc. That is really
interesting observation though.

~~~
amcnett
The "metric" in this case is a score contrived using your proprietary
algorithm. The value I read you describing appears more relevant to you/others
interested in measuring populations. It doesn't seem especially helpful to the
individual. To imagine one person say, "hey, I'm a 41, you're a 36" sounds
like personal vanity metrics.

It's like two people comparing their BMIs - it doesn't tell a lot. I do see
your app being potentially _very_ valuable in being able to tell individuals
when their behaviors are or are not in line with vetted guidelines, or _nudge_
(heyo!) them to do healthful things at a rhythm in line with their best days.

I once worked on a payments platform whose viability depended on mass
adoption. One of the reasons we failed, I believe, was due to being more
focused on feeding data to merchants and banks vs. providing value to the
consumers who were the actual ultimate hurdle to adoption.

~~~
macgambill
Yeah that is a great point. Funny enough, the original platform we launched
about 18 months ago was geared exclusively for corporate wellness, but after
reading the market we realized there was a significant niche here in
comparison amongst friends using different tracking applications.

I say all this because I think we realized even B2B platforms need to have
consumer appeal to be successful. I think once we are able to integrate more
platform and build and more social hooks, it will be more appealing to users.
Love your feedback though - think you have some wonderful points.

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edwardrs
I like the idea and the overall design but on the 'Log' page the top circles
are a little confusing. I was trying to tap on them initially and it took me a
few minutes to realize that they just showed the status. If they were
different then the rest in some way it might make it more obvious.

I would also love Fitbit integration. I know a lot of people who have them
(myself included) and because I would still have to use two apps might prevent
me from using Nudge long term.

~~~
macgambill
Yeah, great to hear someone else mention the logging circles - will definitely
talk to the team about that.

Fitbit is definitely on our list of integrations and we are trying to
integrate as quickly as we can. Once you sign up we can keep you posted with
upcoming releases.

Thanks a lot for the feedback!

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languagehacker
This doesn't integrate with enough things, and there isn't a way to delete my
account, which I definitely want to do if you're not going to support any of
the trackers I already use.

To be honest, a lot of the tracking apps already try to become the dashboard,
and integrate with each other pretty well. I don't really see enough
differentiation here to give me a reason to log into yet another thing.

~~~
macgambill
We are focusing primarily on integrating more platforms in order to make the
metric more relevant to everyone. Some platforms DO integrate other app;
however, we are trying to aggregate data in a way that makes it easier to
compare. Nudge will become more and more passive as we continue to integrate.

We have more on the way, so keep your eyes peeled! Thanks!

~~~
languagehacker
Didn't really address the fact that there isn't a way to delete my account.
And I've already received a marketing email, so... now I really want to delete
my account.

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tomasien
Which trackers do you sync with? Could you list them here, I think that would
be helpful. I also found this helpful [http://blog.nudgeyourself.com/health-
tech-and-food-nerd-blog...](http://blog.nudgeyourself.com/health-tech-and-
food-nerd-blog/bid/369346/The-Nudge-Factor-Part-I-Just-the-Basics)

~~~
macgambill
Currently Moves, RunKeeper, MapMyRun, MapMyRide, other MapMy's... have another
coming really soon!

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daemonk
My problem with these health monitoring systems is similar to the problem the
FDA had with 23andMe. It's one thing to collect data and present them in an
easy to accessible way. But it is another to attempt to give out medical
advice based on the data. How far are you planning on taking the data in terms
of interpretation?

~~~
philbeene
That's a great question. At this stage we are certainly not interested in
becoming overtly "prescriptive" in any way. Our first focus is on providing a
cool utility to avid health trackers to aggregate data from their apps and
gadgets in one place.

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chalgo
Trying to signup it asks for my weight but doesn't say what unit of
measurement is expected.

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macgambill
Unfortunately it is only in lbs right now - metric coming later this week
though. Sorry for the inconvenience, but thanks for pointing that out!

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RossM
To give my interpretation, I assumed it was free text, and that if I put a
unit at the end it would pick it up. This could be quite neat if it set that
unit as my default unit for recording in?

Also thanks for releasing this, I've been building something similar but not
making much progress.

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ddw
Great idea, I'm on board but would really like to know which apps/devices you
integrate with before downloading. I figured if I scrolled down a bit there
would be a list. Maybe I missed it somewhere?

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philbeene
Currently Moves, RunKeeper, MapMyRun, MapMyRide, other MapMy's... have another
coming really soon!

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ddw
Add UP to that and I'm in. They've got an open API now, I believe.

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gallamine
May be a small matter, but I feel the slogan "nudge yourself" to be a little
... odd. "Give yourself a nudge" sounds better to me. YMMV

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mdoerneman
Any chance you could integrate with the Sleep Cycle app?

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philbeene
Yes absolutely, we have reached out to them but haven't heard anything back
yet unfortunately.

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ErsatzVerkehr
Do you really want to associate yourself with Klout?

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mmahemoff
I get that some people despise Klout, but it symbolises "one score to rule
them all" (aka the mother of all online map-reduce) better than any other
service I can think of, among a tech-savvy audience.

Also it's OT, but there are actually many positive aspects of Klout to
businesses dealing with multiple accounts and thousands or millions of
followers and interacting accounts. They are less applicable to individuals,
which is why it can come across as a narcissistic "social media guru" gimmick.

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allieoc
You're doing something right. I have never been so well hydrated than when I
used Nudge in an inter-office competition.

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msthomaa
Any chance of Sleep as Android integration?

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macgambill
We have actually had a few people mention that recently and I definitely want
to look more into it. How has your experience been with it?

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psycr
Fitbit has a reasonably good sleep API - as does Jawbone.

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philbeene
cool. we just started working on Jawbone, and hopefully will get around to
fitbit in short order.

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boldrikboldrik
Metric system option would be nice too.

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macgambill
Yeah, we are working on that update right now. Hopefully will be releasing
that within the next week.

Really appreciate the feedback!

