WakeMates are ready(blog.wakemate.com)
blog.wakemate.com
WakeMates are ready
http://blog.wakemate.com/2010/12/18/wakemates-are-ready/
132 comments
> b.) No direct link to the product website
Except for the one in the sidebar that says "WakeMate Homepage". It's under a big white header labeled "Links".
> Since I'm on an iPad, it's orders of magnitude easier to simply hit the back button and write this comment...
This is Hacker News. It self-selects for just hitting "back" and leaving a critical, half-accurate comment.
Except for the one in the sidebar that says "WakeMate Homepage". It's under a big white header labeled "Links".
> Since I'm on an iPad, it's orders of magnitude easier to simply hit the back button and write this comment...
This is Hacker News. It self-selects for just hitting "back" and leaving a critical, half-accurate comment.
You realize that this is a site full of entrepreneurs, who are here to talk about the business aspects of these links, right? If not, I'd recommend re-reading my comment in that light.
As a product company, having somebody actually on your website and interested in finding out about your thing is extremely valuable. It doesn't matter that it's technically possible to find a link to the homepage. The fact that it's not trivial, as in linked from the logo, is what we're discussing here.
If you have a blog about your product, every post needs to contain a way to ensnare random visitors who stumbled in from wherever. The ideal way to do this is a prominent sidebar or header with the product name, a 5-word description of what it does and why you need one, and a big shiny button labeled with your call to action.
That's the "product blogging 101" bit that I mentioned above. That's why these guys need to fix their blog. They're bleeding interested visitors, and that's a big deal.
As a product company, having somebody actually on your website and interested in finding out about your thing is extremely valuable. It doesn't matter that it's technically possible to find a link to the homepage. The fact that it's not trivial, as in linked from the logo, is what we're discussing here.
If you have a blog about your product, every post needs to contain a way to ensnare random visitors who stumbled in from wherever. The ideal way to do this is a prominent sidebar or header with the product name, a 5-word description of what it does and why you need one, and a big shiny button labeled with your call to action.
That's the "product blogging 101" bit that I mentioned above. That's why these guys need to fix their blog. They're bleeding interested visitors, and that's a big deal.
I completely agree with you: the blog should be better linked and branded. I run into blogs every day that have absolutely no way to get to the main site without changing the URL, and it's incredibly frustrating. I wasn't trying to disprove your overall argument regarding "product blogging 101", merely point out that your specific claim of having to change the URL is false (even if it is clearly non-trivial, relatively speaking, to find said link) and likely had no bearing on your decision to write your initial comment rather than investigate further.
Frankly, your comment came off a bit snarky and holier-than-thou, which is what I was responding to in the first place. The basic merits of proper blog-site interlinking and branding were not meant to be brought up for debate. I take no issue with your points, merely the manner in which you chose to deliver them. Your follow-up here was much more thorough and useful.
Frankly, your comment came off a bit snarky and holier-than-thou, which is what I was responding to in the first place. The basic merits of proper blog-site interlinking and branding were not meant to be brought up for debate. I take no issue with your points, merely the manner in which you chose to deliver them. Your follow-up here was much more thorough and useful.
And yet both he and I went through these steps:
get intrigued, look around the page for a link to a product description, get frustrated, hand edit the url to just 'wakemate.com'.
There is no sidebar for me reading in firefox. Maybe it is some fancy script that got binned by my various anti-junk plugins.
get intrigued, look around the page for a link to a product description, get frustrated, hand edit the url to just 'wakemate.com'.
There is no sidebar for me reading in firefox. Maybe it is some fancy script that got binned by my various anti-junk plugins.
this is not Entrepreneur News
I can reproduce this problem on my iPhone--there's no link sidebar. So he's not the "half accurate" comment in this thread right now.
The blog post itself has no links sidebar. You have to click on the blog header, and then search for the links sidebar, where there are very small links.
Make some more prominent links, and it'd be great if you had a sidebar with an image of the product and a short description of what it was.
Make some more prominent links, and it'd be great if you had a sidebar with an image of the product and a short description of what it was.
I'm looking at the blog (in chrome) and definitely am not seeing a link to the homepage. I came to the comment section to make the same suggestion jasonkester already made (I manually went to www.wakemates.com to find out what the heck it was)
Congrats on shipping on a hardware product! The product seems great.
A couple of questions...
The site says the product is scientific. But the first paper I found after a bit of digging points to the use of Actigraphy which seems to be just a method of collecting data (even though you say it is a "clinically proven science").
The second pdf containing the excerpts does not answer the following questions.
The questions
1. Is waking up at the optimal time (light sleep before alarm) shown to reduce daytime grogginess rather than just wake-time grogginess?
2. Is the continued waking up at the optimal time free of any adverse effects in the long run ? I did some googling to find answers to the above, but couldn't find anything layman readable or substantial. If I have to pay $60 for a product, it is really a pain to do the research myself.
Some excerpts
"subjects were presented a word list 1 min after arousal from different sleep stage ..."
"The most important finding from this study is that sleep inertia reduces decision‐making performance for at least 30 min."
If it makes me feel good just after waking up for an hour or so, then is it really that useful?
(Edit: Read the second pdf)
The questions
1. Is waking up at the optimal time (light sleep before alarm) shown to reduce daytime grogginess rather than just wake-time grogginess?
2. Is the continued waking up at the optimal time free of any adverse effects in the long run ? I did some googling to find answers to the above, but couldn't find anything layman readable or substantial. If I have to pay $60 for a product, it is really a pain to do the research myself.
Some excerpts
"subjects were presented a word list 1 min after arousal from different sleep stage ..."
"The most important finding from this study is that sleep inertia reduces decision‐making performance for at least 30 min."
If it makes me feel good just after waking up for an hour or so, then is it really that useful?
(Edit: Read the second pdf)
Your initial questions:
1. The optimal wake feature reduces daytime grogginess only in the sense that it puts you in a better mood in the morning. Attacking daytime grogginess is something we address with the analytics portion of our product.
2. Yes it is very unlikely to have adverse effects. You are just waking a little bit earlier at a point where your body feels more inclined to wake up.
Your last question:
The optimal wake portion of our product is addressed towards people who don't particularly like waking up in the morning. If that isn't you then no, it probably isn't that useful. The other part of our product, the analytics portion, is addressed to those who want to improve their sleep quality so they can feel better rested throughout the day. It sounds like that is more what you are looking for.
tl;dr The WakeMate wakes you up at the optimal time so you feel refreshed and provides sleep analytics so you can maintain that fully rested feeling throughout the day.
1. The optimal wake feature reduces daytime grogginess only in the sense that it puts you in a better mood in the morning. Attacking daytime grogginess is something we address with the analytics portion of our product.
2. Yes it is very unlikely to have adverse effects. You are just waking a little bit earlier at a point where your body feels more inclined to wake up.
Your last question:
The optimal wake portion of our product is addressed towards people who don't particularly like waking up in the morning. If that isn't you then no, it probably isn't that useful. The other part of our product, the analytics portion, is addressed to those who want to improve their sleep quality so they can feel better rested throughout the day. It sounds like that is more what you are looking for.
tl;dr The WakeMate wakes you up at the optimal time so you feel refreshed and provides sleep analytics so you can maintain that fully rested feeling throughout the day.
Your answer to the second question should show a little less certainty unless you have a study to link to. I think the original commenter gets that you're just waking up a little earlier, but consistently doing that every day isn't natural. Sure, neither are alarm clocks in general, but there are probably studies about those. This is a special case of alarm clock that could, in theory, have different long-term effects.
There are probably legal issues with your claim as well. I'd just say that it's very unlikely to have adverse effects instead of "it is completely free of adverse affects".
There are probably legal issues with your claim as well. I'd just say that it's very unlikely to have adverse effects instead of "it is completely free of adverse affects".
I agree that it is not a good idea to make blanket statements. I have edited my original comment.
The WakeMate wakes you similarly to how you would wake if you did not set an alarm. That is why it is very unlikely to have adverse effects.
Regarding your comment: "I think the original commenter gets that you're just waking up a little earlier, but consistently doing that every day isn't natural." It may just be because I'm familiar with the product but it doesn't seem to me that setting your alarm for 9:00am and waking at 8:55am can be construed as unnatural.
The WakeMate wakes you similarly to how you would wake if you did not set an alarm. That is why it is very unlikely to have adverse effects.
Regarding your comment: "I think the original commenter gets that you're just waking up a little earlier, but consistently doing that every day isn't natural." It may just be because I'm familiar with the product but it doesn't seem to me that setting your alarm for 9:00am and waking at 8:55am can be construed as unnatural.
If the product works really, really well and users end up waking up at the optimal time the vast majority of the time, that may (or may not) be different from the conditions in which we evolved and the various adaptations we've made since then that are better studied. It could have some sort of adverse effect. It's very unlikely.
What is the confidence interval for the size of the effect that wakemate produces on percieved grogginess vs waking without wakemate?
What is the size of the effect in the research?
What is the size of the effect in the research?
Kinda going off the rails here. We get it: WakeMate is not rigorous peer-reviewed science.
I disagree. He makes two unsupported claims that reek of cargo-culting:
"1. The optimal wake feature reduces daytime grogginess only in the sense that it puts you in a better mood in the morning. 2. Yes it is very unlikely to have adverse effects. You are just waking a little bit earlier at a point where your body feels more inclined to wake up."
Two claims. No data from either published literature (from other studies) or their own data. How do they even know it works? Why should we treat it any differently than claims of magnets improving your sleep? A free pass shouldn't be granted just because they are YC.
"1. The optimal wake feature reduces daytime grogginess only in the sense that it puts you in a better mood in the morning. 2. Yes it is very unlikely to have adverse effects. You are just waking a little bit earlier at a point where your body feels more inclined to wake up."
Two claims. No data from either published literature (from other studies) or their own data. How do they even know it works? Why should we treat it any differently than claims of magnets improving your sleep? A free pass shouldn't be granted just because they are YC.
Sleep scientist here. Actigrams based on 3way accelerometers are very common to measure sleep in a very non invasive way and they give a resolution good enough for having an idea of sleep amount and even roughly sleep pattern. I have no idea how well wakemate works, I would love to try of course (wink).
The research-grade equivalent of wakemate is called actiwatch ( http://actiwatch.respironics.com/ ) and it costs a lot more.
The research-grade equivalent of wakemate is called actiwatch ( http://actiwatch.respironics.com/ ) and it costs a lot more.
"If it makes me feel good just after waking up for an hour or so, then is it really that useful?"
If I retain my daytime alertness, I think so :) Morning grogginess is pretty much the worst part of my day and I think $60 to make it go away is a pretty good deal.
If I retain my daytime alertness, I think so :) Morning grogginess is pretty much the worst part of my day and I think $60 to make it go away is a pretty good deal.
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I was one of the beta-testers of the WakeMate, so it's been a part of my life for about a month now. Prior to using the WakeMate, I had two choices regarding sleep: establishing a strict routine by retiring at midnight every night and waking up at 7:30 on the dot, or keeping other hours and feeling groggy all day regardless of the total amount of sleep. Since I have friends and an unpredictable work schedule, I've never been able to stick to fixed sleeping patterns for a prolonged period of time. With the WakeMate I still need about 7 hours of sleep each night, however, I can take those 7 hours whenever it is convenient for me, and wake up feeling about as great as I ever feel in the morning.
The WakeMate costs as much as a week of coffee from a café – try it out.
The WakeMate costs as much as a week of coffee from a café – try it out.
So what exactly does the WakeMate enable you to do to get refreshing sleep on an irregular schedule?
When you're on a regular schedule, your body gets in a rhythm where you'll usually end up waking up at the exact same minute every day, even without an alarm.
When you don't maintain a regular schedule (or you're in sleep debt), your body can't do that. So your alarm may start buzzing in the middle of "deep" sleep, and you get stuck with sleep inertia.
Smart alarms like this try to compromise by waking you up in "light" sleep, or ideally in moments of wakefulness that you'd otherwise pass up and go back to sleep.
(If you're not familiar with the concept of sleep cycles: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Sleep#Sleep_s...)
When you don't maintain a regular schedule (or you're in sleep debt), your body can't do that. So your alarm may start buzzing in the middle of "deep" sleep, and you get stuck with sleep inertia.
Smart alarms like this try to compromise by waking you up in "light" sleep, or ideally in moments of wakefulness that you'd otherwise pass up and go back to sleep.
(If you're not familiar with the concept of sleep cycles: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Sleep#Sleep_s...)
Your website needs to have a one sentence explanation of what it does, e.g. measure sleep and wake you up when you're in a light sleep. You pretty much have to read the FAQ to figure out that's what it does. Not saying this makes it seem like a quack magnetic bracelet or something. Just a suggestion.
We made the assumption that the average purchaser would not be interested in details like what phase of sleep you are woken up in. That is why those details are provided, but not prominently displayed.
Thank you for your suggestion though.
Thank you for your suggestion though.
The average purchaser is probably not interested in the details, but they are most certainly interested in a sentence describing what it does.
All that I knew about it when I clicked the link and skimmed the page was: - They're ready - I skipped some stuff about pre-orders - I might not be able to get one before Christmas - When you make them, they're all arranged in a big tray, are charcoal and light blue - The manufacturing process somehow involves baking and cutting.
I had to click in my url bar and type in "wakemate.com" before I got anything useful. It's a fuzzy bracelet, it has something to do with waking you up and making you feel better, a few platforms like iPhone, some video I don't have time for, and I finally read "Wake up at the optimal time in your sleep cycle."
That sentence should be the first thing I read.
All that I knew about it when I clicked the link and skimmed the page was: - They're ready - I skipped some stuff about pre-orders - I might not be able to get one before Christmas - When you make them, they're all arranged in a big tray, are charcoal and light blue - The manufacturing process somehow involves baking and cutting.
I had to click in my url bar and type in "wakemate.com" before I got anything useful. It's a fuzzy bracelet, it has something to do with waking you up and making you feel better, a few platforms like iPhone, some video I don't have time for, and I finally read "Wake up at the optimal time in your sleep cycle."
That sentence should be the first thing I read.
I cannot upvote this enough, had the exact same experience.
How about even just a link to your main site at the top of your blog?
But at least I couldn't quickly find any info about what it is (by looking through the page). There really should be a link "What is a WakeMate?".
I've been using WakeMate in beta for a couple months. As an engineer, I love checking the sleep analytics and comparing tags to try to determine factors that affect my sleep.
At first I was dubious that I'd be less groggy when waking up with the device, but now I'm absolutely convinced. I even bring the WakeMate when I travel, to ensure I wake up in a fresher state (which also revealed to me that my sleep quality is better from hotels).
At first I was dubious that I'd be less groggy when waking up with the device, but now I'm absolutely convinced. I even bring the WakeMate when I travel, to ensure I wake up in a fresher state (which also revealed to me that my sleep quality is better from hotels).
Do you wear the WakeMate all day?
I loved sleep activity graphs in Brain&Behavior bio in college, wish I had heard about this earlier.
Also, have you identified anything that benefits your sleep schedule? The site hints at things like exercise to benefit and alcohol to disrupt, but do you have any anecdotes for me?
And one more: Can you identify different phases of sleep on your nightly graph?
Thanks!
I loved sleep activity graphs in Brain&Behavior bio in college, wish I had heard about this earlier.
Also, have you identified anything that benefits your sleep schedule? The site hints at things like exercise to benefit and alcohol to disrupt, but do you have any anecdotes for me?
And one more: Can you identify different phases of sleep on your nightly graph?
Thanks!
You only wear the wakemate when you're sleeping.
You can identify different phases of sleep (REM, etc.)
And the tagging is indeed the sweetest thing IMO, but you probably need a lot of the data before making a good conclusions. I found that I actually sleep really well when I'm sick or when I'm sleeping on the left side of the bed. Weird stuff like that.
You can identify different phases of sleep (REM, etc.)
And the tagging is indeed the sweetest thing IMO, but you probably need a lot of the data before making a good conclusions. I found that I actually sleep really well when I'm sick or when I'm sleeping on the left side of the bed. Weird stuff like that.
I add tags before I go to bed. Based on these, my sleep score is highest when I go to bed stressed, tired (duh), have a snack in the evening, or sleep in a hotel. It's lowest when I go to bed early, fall asleep hungry, or go to bed with my wife (huh?)
Hey Wakemate team... I haven't got an email from you since April 1st (amusing with the first line "WakeMate's are shipping"). What's the deal?
International pre-order, I sent paid my paypal deposit on 24/nov/2009, the refund came through -- but I'm not getting any emails. (Doesn't seem to be in gmail spam either)
International pre-order, I sent paid my paypal deposit on 24/nov/2009, the refund came through -- but I'm not getting any emails. (Doesn't seem to be in gmail spam either)
In the process of sending out the emails.
A request for the people who ordered Wakemate - I'm sure plenty of people, like myself, aren't sure whether to buy a Wakemate or not. If you bought it, we'd all really appreciate you posting a review of it in a few weeks, after you've had a chance to try it out.
Congrats
It's a bit disappointing about the international shipping. I'm not sure how this snuck up on them so late in the game.
Shouldn't this have been foreseeable? What happened to cause this mistake?
It's a bit disappointing about the international shipping. I'm not sure how this snuck up on them so late in the game.
Shouldn't this have been foreseeable? What happened to cause this mistake?
The problem might not be strictly shipping related.
Depending on the type of bluetooth radio packaged internally, the device may have needed FCC-type registration. Of course, an FCC ID is only good in the USA. In Europe, you need a CE mark. Australia sometimes insists on yet another registration for 2.4GHz equipment.
Honestly, international RF regulatory certification is a mess, and the piles of paperwork involved make it easy to miss deadlines.
Depending on the type of bluetooth radio packaged internally, the device may have needed FCC-type registration. Of course, an FCC ID is only good in the USA. In Europe, you need a CE mark. Australia sometimes insists on yet another registration for 2.4GHz equipment.
Honestly, international RF regulatory certification is a mess, and the piles of paperwork involved make it easy to miss deadlines.
Spot on.
If you guys haven't already got a relationship with TÜV, you might consider talking to them about certifying your next revision. They handled all our regulatory (domestic and int'l) with a lot less difficulty (and deadline slipping) than doing it in-house.
Do you assume that their might be any problem with customs (e.g., due to the CE marks) when importing those devices to Europe? If not I'm considering using Borderlinx (https://www.borderlinx.com/) to import the device.
I'm curious too. I'm an international user who's been very interested in this.
Yeah, I made the mistake of actually getting a bit excited again when seeing the progress reports these past weeks. The wording in this blog post and my gut feeling after a year of waiting is that shipping internationally will be very low on the WakeMate to-do list. I wish they'd just tell us up front though.
You should really have an "allow my data to be used for anonymous scientific study" option. It'd be really neat to see graphs of male vs female, young vs old, etc. similar to 23andme. I guess this is coming in the future with the "paid" wakelytics features?
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Congrats to The Wakemate team for finally shipping! The device is pretty awesome,(I've been using during the beta) can't wait to see what these guys have in store next.
Does the iPhone app needs to be running through the night for this device to work? that's what I hated about Sleep Cycle and would not want to use it if it has the same flaw.
Why do you hate that? You wouldn't be using your phone during the night anyway?
If you want the optimal wake feature to work you need to leave the app running. If you just want to collect data and wake up at a predetermined time you can background the app. Unfortunately this is a limitation imposed by iOS.
If you want the optimal wake feature to work you need to leave the app running. If you just want to collect data and wake up at a predetermined time you can background the app. Unfortunately this is a limitation imposed by iOS.
> Why do you hate that? You wouldn't be using your phone during the night anyway?
I can't answer for the original poster, but for me...
At night is when I charge my phone and there isn't always a plug near where I sleep.
Having my phone have to run at night without a charge will mean it's not fully charged at the beginning of the day, which is a very big deal breaker for me. My phone will last the entire day, but only if it's fully charged when I get up in the morning.
I can't answer for the original poster, but for me...
At night is when I charge my phone and there isn't always a plug near where I sleep.
Having my phone have to run at night without a charge will mean it's not fully charged at the beginning of the day, which is a very big deal breaker for me. My phone will last the entire day, but only if it's fully charged when I get up in the morning.
yeah. I have exactly the same reason. I had to connect iPhone to charger through the night and leave the app on, so it was emitting light. Another big reason is that using iPhone alarm I can just set it very easily. With SleepCycle I had to connect iPhone to power plug, open SleepCycle app, make sure the light does not interfere with my sleep etc..
So with Wakemate, if it could run in the background with no need to be plugged in and screen shut down , relying on notification, that would be a great improvement.
So with Wakemate, if it could run in the background with no need to be plugged in and screen shut down , relying on notification, that would be a great improvement.
Oh I see. We did a lot of work to make the product use minimal battery on the phone so hopefully that helps.
> We did a lot of work to make the product use minimal battery on the phone so hopefully that helps
As a person who pre-ordered the phone, that is appreciated very much:)
As a person who pre-ordered the phone, that is appreciated very much:)
> Why do you hate that? You wouldn't be using your phone during the night anyway?
I wanted to chime in on this. I may not use my phone at night, but it is certainly receiving notifications and SMS messages throughout the night. This means that with any iPhone alarm, I have to go through numerous close dialogs just to get to my alarm in order to turn it off. A minor annoyance, but the wrist band helps. Otherwise, I'd have to go through my settings and disable notifications prior to going to sleep so as not to disturb me. <-- Heavy sleeper
I wanted to chime in on this. I may not use my phone at night, but it is certainly receiving notifications and SMS messages throughout the night. This means that with any iPhone alarm, I have to go through numerous close dialogs just to get to my alarm in order to turn it off. A minor annoyance, but the wrist band helps. Otherwise, I'd have to go through my settings and disable notifications prior to going to sleep so as not to disturb me. <-- Heavy sleeper
How does the iPhone app work? Do you need to have it attached to you all night?
Another flaw I would think is the potential risk of radiation of having it on you all night.
Another flaw I would think is the potential risk of radiation of having it on you all night.
After reading the previous thread, I got interested in this and dug up the free ElectricSleep app for Android (http://code.google.com/p/electricsleep/). It seems to be pretty much equivalent to iPhone's Sleep Cycle app, it uses the phone's accelerometer with the phone placed on the bed. Only had time to test it one night so far, but it managed to wake me up easily from a duration of sleep that would usually have left me in zombie mode.
Problem with these things is that getting psyched about a fancy wake-up technology is likely to create a placebo effect for a while, so I'll need to stick with the thing to see how well it works in the long haul. Might look into WakeMate if the accelerometer alarm thing is still working good after a month or so.
An interesting thing to try with these things is doing the Everyman sleep schedule with a 4-5 hour nightly sleep and several 20 minute naps every day, and attacking the most common point of failure where you oversleep on the nightly core sleep with the smart alarm.
Problem with these things is that getting psyched about a fancy wake-up technology is likely to create a placebo effect for a while, so I'll need to stick with the thing to see how well it works in the long haul. Might look into WakeMate if the accelerometer alarm thing is still working good after a month or so.
An interesting thing to try with these things is doing the Everyman sleep schedule with a 4-5 hour nightly sleep and several 20 minute naps every day, and attacking the most common point of failure where you oversleep on the nightly core sleep with the smart alarm.
I struggle with placing items like my iPhone on the bed for 2 reasons: 1) althoughly likely harmless (not convinced, but it's prob true) my mind worries about having my cell phone at head level and so close while I sleep with radiation, and 2) since I know something is on the bed, it affects my feeling of space around me and contributes to poor sleep. Interesting how suggestive your own mind can be.
To address #1 at the cost of an extra step, you could turn on Airplane Mode. (That's worthwhile if only for the side-effect of disabling notifications and rings.) And maybe if that makes you think of the phone as safe and inert, not restricting your movement, #2 won't be such a problem?
A couple questions:
1. Can anyone compare WakeMakes with that clock thing that tracks your eye movement by wearing an eyemask? The name of the clock escapes me at the moment, will edit this post once I remember.
edit: it's called Zeo
2. If I know I wake up at least once a night to use the bahtroom out of habit does this disrupt the wake-up system in any way?
1. Can anyone compare WakeMakes with that clock thing that tracks your eye movement by wearing an eyemask? The name of the clock escapes me at the moment, will edit this post once I remember.
edit: it's called Zeo
2. If I know I wake up at least once a night to use the bahtroom out of habit does this disrupt the wake-up system in any way?
We have a comparison chart here:
http://wakemate.com/compare/
WakeMate is cheaper, more comfortable, and easier to use.
Getting up in the middle of the night won't affect anything. Our analytics system will, however, tell you that you woke up during the night.
WakeMate is cheaper, more comfortable, and easier to use.
Getting up in the middle of the night won't affect anything. Our analytics system will, however, tell you that you woke up during the night.
You should probably update the price column. It still says $49.99, although the price increased to $59.99.
Nice thanks. Might I suggest you make the compare chart more accessible. Even now knowing it exists I took another pass through the site to see how I overlooked it and I still can't figure out how to navigate to it.
edit: Finally found it as the LAST item on the FAQ. I still think you should make it more accesible! Cool
edit: Finally found it as the LAST item on the FAQ. I still think you should make it more accesible! Cool
is your product the only one that will determine optimal wake-up time? will fitbit do it?
can you link us to the paper you use to determine optimal wakeup time? or do you just use it on analytics based on user-generated reports.
can you link us to the paper you use to determine optimal wakeup time? or do you just use it on analytics based on user-generated reports.
Zeo actually doesn't use an eyemask: it's a headband that stays on your forehead.
Is it possible to use this if you don't own a smart phone?
Ditto. I'm quite happy with my qwerty-keyboard dumbphone, but I would love to buy one of these!
It works with newer generation iPod Touches or iPad, so if you really wanted one, you could always buy one of these devices to use it with.
The WakeMate is a comfortable wristband that you wear when you sleep. It measures subtle body movements—a scientifically proven method ([link]Actigraphy[/link]) to map dips and peaks in your sleep cycle.
I was reading through the Tour page and clicked the Actigraphy link. I supposed to get more information about it, as it matters for me a lot to see the technology which the product is based on. However, it took me to the About page and I fail to find any useful information.
Is this a mistake or am I mistaken?
I was reading through the Tour page and clicked the Actigraphy link. I supposed to get more information about it, as it matters for me a lot to see the technology which the product is based on. However, it took me to the About page and I fail to find any useful information.
Is this a mistake or am I mistaken?
I preordered for a WakeMate way back when I was a BlackBerry user. Wow.
Regardless, I'm glad they're finally shipping (for real this time?). I hope it is worth the wait.
Regardless, I'm glad they're finally shipping (for real this time?). I hope it is worth the wait.
You're missing Android 2.3 on https://secure.wakemate.com/compatibility/
I've been using the beta product for some time now. Have to say when I got it became totally worth it just to monitor my sleep.
The tagging system while sort of awkward to do right before you sleep, lets you categorize everything over time and see how things like a cough, sleeping on the couch instead of the bed or even a broken AC affects your sleep.
The price is dirt cheap for something this interesting. Get it!
The tagging system while sort of awkward to do right before you sleep, lets you categorize everything over time and see how things like a cough, sleeping on the couch instead of the bed or even a broken AC affects your sleep.
The price is dirt cheap for something this interesting. Get it!
Any thoughts on putting a buzzer in the wristband?
There may be an interesting angle for married couples in doing so. I'm interested in the sleep-tech and prospects of "feeling better," but the thing that would be really intriguing to me is the idea of something that can wake me up without an alarm blaring, which my wife hates.
There may be an interesting angle for married couples in doing so. I'm interested in the sleep-tech and prospects of "feeling better," but the thing that would be really intriguing to me is the idea of something that can wake me up without an alarm blaring, which my wife hates.
The overall UX isn't going to be as nice as with WakeMate, and there aren't currently any analytics, but if you want to take the technology for a spin you can use my app Circadian Alarm (has a silent feature):
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/circadian-alarm/id330721657?m...
Anyone wants to try it, send me an email and I'll give you a coupon code so you get it free.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/circadian-alarm/id330721657?m...
Anyone wants to try it, send me an email and I'll give you a coupon code so you get it free.
What's the problem with Android 2.2 on the Eris? All it says is "No upgrade available", this is pretty ambiguous. Do you mean that there is no upgrade to 2.2 on the Eris and that's the problem? There are 2.2 roms that run on it (I'm running one); if I have a build of 2.2 on my Eris, will it work?
That's interesting. You'd have to ask HTC why it doesn't work but I'd be curious to see if it worked on your phone. Could you send me an email?
You might've misinterpreted my question, but mail sent anyway, thanks for the response.
Great news, it a shame there are delays with the international shipping, I have had this pre-ordered the second that it was available for pre-order. I'm sure it will be worth the wait though.
I just placed an order on the site and the confirmation said you would email me. Oddly, I don't remember giving you my email address in any of the forms. Am I missing something?
Since you placed a pre-order your email address was auto-populated. You probably just glossed over the text field (it was on the first page).
Actually after looking again the fields don't show up at all. I loaded the site in an incognito browser and it's there, but in my main browser it's not. This is a new computer since the time I would have preordered so I'm not sure how you're figuring my email out at that stage.
I'll trust that you have my email address, though there is a reasonable chance that the one I gave you when I pre-ordered no longer works. Regardless, if I get a Wakemate and no email I won't really care.
Edit: Just noticed there is a logout link, which I guess means I'm logged in but again I don't remember doing that. This is all quite clever if you actually have my email address.
I'll trust that you have my email address, though there is a reasonable chance that the one I gave you when I pre-ordered no longer works. Regardless, if I get a Wakemate and no email I won't really care.
Edit: Just noticed there is a logout link, which I guess means I'm logged in but again I don't remember doing that. This is all quite clever if you actually have my email address.
I just checked and we do have your email. Spooky :-).
Well, cool. On that note, I have two questions:
1) The form I went through said $60 while the blog post says pre-order prices would be $50. From your explanations it sounds like I'm being counted in pre-orders, but it's unclear. I think I was in the paypal group that got the $5 refunded, but I honestly don't remember very well at this point.
2) Should I have received an email from you? Fyi I have not.
1) The form I went through said $60 while the blog post says pre-order prices would be $50. From your explanations it sounds like I'm being counted in pre-orders, but it's unclear. I think I was in the paypal group that got the $5 refunded, but I honestly don't remember very well at this point.
2) Should I have received an email from you? Fyi I have not.
Send us an email: [email protected] and we'll figure it out.
Any users with small children care to share your experiences? Is it even worth the bother, given that huge uncontrollable variable in your sleep habits?
I was kind of curious about this, too. If I wake up in the middle of the night to deal with a sick toddler, will WakeMate know I'm fully awake based on the fact that I'm walking around? I suppose it would be much like waking up to go to the bathroom, for those without young kids.
Obviously the alarm's only going to help if I set it for a window I know is before the kids wake up. Otherwise it's their voices that'll wake me. On work days, that would suit my usual routine. On the weekend, I'm not sure it would be worth it to forego a potential extra hour of sleep by setting the WakeMate alarm.
But it's still tempting, just to chart my sleep during the week and be able to measure the effects of caffeine, exercise, etc. I'll probably wait until there are reviews and testimonials from people who have used it for a few months.
I was tempted a couple years ago by a much more expensive product whose name I can't recall. I think it was $300-400. In contrast, it's pretty easy to take a chance on $60. Cool product, guys. I hope you're wildly successful.
Obviously the alarm's only going to help if I set it for a window I know is before the kids wake up. Otherwise it's their voices that'll wake me. On work days, that would suit my usual routine. On the weekend, I'm not sure it would be worth it to forego a potential extra hour of sleep by setting the WakeMate alarm.
But it's still tempting, just to chart my sleep during the week and be able to measure the effects of caffeine, exercise, etc. I'll probably wait until there are reviews and testimonials from people who have used it for a few months.
I was tempted a couple years ago by a much more expensive product whose name I can't recall. I think it was $300-400. In contrast, it's pretty easy to take a chance on $60. Cool product, guys. I hope you're wildly successful.
Have you compared some of your analytics/benchmarks with competing products?
I am not sure I'm interested in an optimal waking time because I tend to wake up without an alarm at pretty much the right time.
however, I'd love to view some analytics on my sleep cycles and such. It'd be nice to see a comparison of say Wakemate vs. Fitbit w.r.t the accuracy / tracking / battery life / etc.
I am not sure I'm interested in an optimal waking time because I tend to wake up without an alarm at pretty much the right time.
however, I'd love to view some analytics on my sleep cycles and such. It'd be nice to see a comparison of say Wakemate vs. Fitbit w.r.t the accuracy / tracking / battery life / etc.
I'm glad you guys are shipping, but as an international customer with a pre-order since day one, I'm disappointed (again)
I'm in the same boat. Just checked paypal, ordered on 25th Nov 2009, refunded on 4th August 2010 but with a shortfall due to currency conversion differences so I'm basically out of pocket (admittedly only a bit) due to lack of product.
As I've said previously, I actually don't even own the phone anymore that I intended to use this product with. I just hope for the sake of the company that this is the beginning of the end of their constant problems.
As I've said previously, I actually don't even own the phone anymore that I intended to use this product with. I just hope for the sake of the company that this is the beginning of the end of their constant problems.
Do you guys not have a fan page on Facebook?
Well done guys, shipping a hardware and a software product was never going to be easy! hopefully you can now reap the rewards though of having a hardware product, thats far far harder to replicate
pre ordered back in April so looking forward to receiving sometime in the new year I suspect, as it will be an international order.
pre ordered back in April so looking forward to receiving sometime in the new year I suspect, as it will be an international order.
FYI, the following repeats under your FAQ question "What is an 'optimal wake point?'"
An optimal wake moment can be thought of as a "semi-awake" moment – the lightest point in your sleep. Waking at these times will result in minimal sleep inertia or grogginess. More info can be found here: The Science of Waking
An optimal wake moment can be thought of as a "semi-awake" moment – the lightest point in your sleep. Waking at these times will result in minimal sleep inertia or grogginess. More info can be found here: The Science of Waking
Sounds cool! Just ordered mine. I think you guys are addressing a real problem here, hopefully it works well.
Does anyone know if this can be used effectively for power naps throughout the day? I'd love to nap, but tend to sleep for an hour plus. If I set a traditional alarm, I always feel like I'm jarred awake and a little off for the next hour or so, completely defeating the point of the nap.
How many pre-orders did you guys get? (magnitude is fine, I don't need the actual number).
I love the notion of Wakemate and even had some conversations with them early on. Unfortunately, my current financial situation puts it about $30 out of my range.
Best of luck guys! As soon as the $30 in my wallet moves up to $60, I'll be on board.
Best of luck guys! As soon as the $30 in my wallet moves up to $60, I'll be on board.
After quitting coffee, waking up became easy for me.
This feels like an over-engineered solution to a problem that's easy to fix: switch to decaf. There's a reason you feel horrible in the morning, and it's not because of "sleep inertia!"
This feels like an over-engineered solution to a problem that's easy to fix: switch to decaf. There's a reason you feel horrible in the morning, and it's not because of "sleep inertia!"
My caffeine intake is basically nil, but I still often feel drowsy when I wake up, especially from an alarm. It's usually when I haven't sleept enough, but sometimes if I've been sleeping roughly enough, waking up from my alarm leaves me very drowsy.
Sleep is very complicated. Just because dumping caffeine fixed your drowsiness doesn't mean it'll fix everyone's.
Sleep is very complicated. Just because dumping caffeine fixed your drowsiness doesn't mean it'll fix everyone's.
Maybe my comment came off too strong, but I'd not be surprised (especially given the audience for the WakeMate) if a majority of WakeMate users have a daily intake of caffeine adversely affecting their sleep cycle.
Another way to put it is this is premature optimization for those folks.
Another way to put it is this is premature optimization for those folks.
I don't drink coffee. I don't drink tea. I don't drink soda. I consume 0 caffeine and as a student I get my energy from good sleep. However, I've realized that more sleep does not necessarily mean I wake up refreshed. I've self observed with myself that if one day I sleep 7 hours or 8 or 5 and feel well rested and then I try to repeat that, I don't produce the same results. This is an excellent product that addresses this sleep issue and your comments are really not justified.
Exactly. I'm in the middle of trying to let my wrists heal from RSI, and I've noticed that my sleep quality isn't consistently good. Deep sleep seems necessary for healing to occur. I'm looking for something that will let me try out different sleep tweaks (less ambient lighting/no caffeine at all/exercise in morning/exercise in afternoon/various diets) and see which ones are actually effective for me.
Hopefully Wakemate fits the bill. I'll wait for the initial reviews to come out. I'm excited about the future of health afforded by devices like these.
Hopefully Wakemate fits the bill. I'll wait for the initial reviews to come out. I'm excited about the future of health afforded by devices like these.
I quit caffeine about a month ago as an experiment, and noted no real change in my sleep. I was drinking about a pot of coffee a day on average, plus sodas at lunchtime.
Incidentally I found the withdrawal symptoms to be nearly nil. I had some mild headaches for a few days, and that was about it.
Incidentally I found the withdrawal symptoms to be nearly nil. I had some mild headaches for a few days, and that was about it.
That might work for you, but that doesn't mean it will work for everyone.
I have a couple questions which don't seem to be answered on the website if anyone knows the answers.
1. Is the battery a rechargeable or normal battery that I have to replace?
2. Can I easily download my sleep data to my computer to mess around with?
1. Is the battery a rechargeable or normal battery that I have to replace?
2. Can I easily download my sleep data to my computer to mess around with?
1. Rechargeable. Lasts about 2-3 nights depending on how long you sleep.
2. Not yet.
2. Not yet.
The FAQ on the web site currently says 6 nights. Might want to update that.
Could you elaborate as to why it's only 2-3 nights of battery life? I'd expect much more from something like this.
Wakemate uses bluetooth, doesn't it? Thats bound to eat up power.
Bluetooth shouldn't ever be on except for when it needs to upload sleep data to your phone though (which I assume is done right when waking up).
That's putting a lot of stock into the device itself.
Conjecture: I think it's more likely that the device is something of an accelerometer paired with a bluetooth radio that can nearly continuously feed the phone/app with movement data so that the app can decide whether or not to rouse you.
Rationale: The algorithm. Assuming they want to tweak their actigraphy parameters, if the algorithm is running on the wristband you're going to need to drop new firmware on the device. Field-flashing embedded devices is to be avoided at all reasonable costs.
Conjecture: I think it's more likely that the device is something of an accelerometer paired with a bluetooth radio that can nearly continuously feed the phone/app with movement data so that the app can decide whether or not to rouse you.
Rationale: The algorithm. Assuming they want to tweak their actigraphy parameters, if the algorithm is running on the wristband you're going to need to drop new firmware on the device. Field-flashing embedded devices is to be avoided at all reasonable costs.
Field-flashing isn't that bad as long as it can safely be done over bluetooth, and I'd be willing to take that risk to have reasonable battery life.
So, again, I don't know anything about the device in question, so this is all conjecture... but:
Even given that OTA flashing is possible, why bother? The device has no means of waking the user without a phone in bluetooth range, so what's the upshot? I don't know that battery life falls into that category because the device would need some pretty serious upgrades, and cost would obviously increase:
- More RAM. Lots more. Enough to contain an entire firmware image during OTA and an entire night of sleep/movement history.
- More MIPS. Actigraphy isn't going to be as cheap as store-and-forward.
- A reliable RTC so that the device can ping the phone at the right wakeup time.
- etc.
If I was in their position, I'd build the device to be as dumb a peripheral as possible. Push the complexity out of expensive hardware and into software. I'd also probably have built in a sweet inductive charging pad, too, but I'm a sucker for shiny things.
Even given that OTA flashing is possible, why bother? The device has no means of waking the user without a phone in bluetooth range, so what's the upshot? I don't know that battery life falls into that category because the device would need some pretty serious upgrades, and cost would obviously increase:
- More RAM. Lots more. Enough to contain an entire firmware image during OTA and an entire night of sleep/movement history.
- More MIPS. Actigraphy isn't going to be as cheap as store-and-forward.
- A reliable RTC so that the device can ping the phone at the right wakeup time.
- etc.
If I was in their position, I'd build the device to be as dumb a peripheral as possible. Push the complexity out of expensive hardware and into software. I'd also probably have built in a sweet inductive charging pad, too, but I'm a sucker for shiny things.
The front page of your site says it costs $60, but your "Comparison Matrix" says it costs $50. Maybe I'm overlooking something. But chances are that if I'm overlooking it, lots of people are.
Congrats on shipping.
Congrats on shipping.
Does the FAQ mean to have collapsing text chunks? I see the arrows, and they point right -> down -> right if I click them, but nothing happens. Everything is always expanded.
Chrome 10.0.612.1 dev
Chrome 10.0.612.1 dev
I've never looked into WakeMate before as sleeping is one thing I can do really well, but I thought it shipped earlier this year? I only see one product listed, is this really new?
There have been several schedule slips. A previous rant of mine details a few: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1758288
Addendum: I'm totally still buying it.
Addendum: I'm totally still buying it.
This looks really good. My wife and I only have one smart phone (a HTC Desire) between us - would we be able to run 2 wakemates off one phone or would we need two phones?
Congratulations to the team, it's a big day!
I currently use the Sleep Cycle app, which uses the iPhone's accelerometer to detect motion while asleep.
How does WakeMate stack up against that app?
I currently use the Sleep Cycle app, which uses the iPhone's accelerometer to detect motion while asleep.
How does WakeMate stack up against that app?
WakeMate uses a science called actigraphy to monitor your sleep patterns by measuring the movement of your body (via your wrist). Actigraphy has been used in sleep labs for decades and is a widely standardized metric of sleep in humans (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actigraphy). The Sleep Cycle app, because it is not attached to your body, does not use actigraphy, and therefore cannot provide the same granular level of data measurement as a device using actigraphy, such as the WakeMate. Furthermore, Sleep Cycle is susceptible to false data collection since it can be easily influenced by the presence of others in the bed, such as a partner or pet.
If you're willing to attach an iOS device to your body while you sleep (between two socks works great, or with an armband) you can try an actigraphy-accurate smart alarm with my app:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/circadian-alarm/id330721657?m...
It's a dollar in the store but email me at michael at programmablelife dot com and I'll give you a coupon so you don't have to pay.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/circadian-alarm/id330721657?m...
It's a dollar in the store but email me at michael at programmablelife dot com and I'll give you a coupon so you don't have to pay.
I'm curious about this too. The sleepcycle app never worked too well for me, but I'm assuming that's because it can't be as accurate as a wristband.
You have to actually sleep with your phone? My phone charges while I sleep, so you'd have to sleep with the cord?
For Sleep Cycle, you just leave the phone on the mattress so you can charge at the same time. For something like Circadian Alarm you need to plug in for 20 mins before bed to get enough juice for the night.
Excellent news, thanks!
Any ETA on international pre-orders (I'm UK based), notice I haven't received an email asking me to pay yet.
Any ETA on international pre-orders (I'm UK based), notice I haven't received an email asking me to pay yet.
I haven't gotten an email yet, and I'm in Delaware, US. So I think they haven't sent them out yet (or at least haven't finished)
WakeMate's website look very good. Elegent with only the information needed and good copywriting.
it appears you can order a replacement sensor for the myZeo. Has anyone looked into hacking it to see if you can build something cheaper than $250 which will use the sensor?
Congratulations on shipping! I'm curious if after the setbacks, do you feel that YCombinator was the right model for a hardware start-up? I wonder if the exuberance and rapidity of the single web-app start-up lent itself towards overconfidence in your time schedules and understanding of time to market given the various manufacturing and design challenges?
a.) No description of what the product is
b.) No direct link to the product website
So now, after visiting that site, I know that Wakemates are ready. But I have no idea what a Wakemate is, and short of manipulating the URL by hand, I have no way to get to a website that will tell me anything about them.
Since I'm on an iPad, it's orders of magnitude easier to simply hit the back button and write this comment, before forgetting about whatever this product was forever.