I’m working on Peak Flow Meter Diary, a simple app to help people with asthma record peak flow readings more easily, then combine those records with environmental data to provide earlier warnings about possible triggers.
In the UK alone, around 7.2 million people have asthma. Globally, WHO estimates that asthma affected 363 million people in 2023 and caused 442,000 deaths.
Peak Flow Meter Diary is not meant to detect every possible trigger. It will not warn you if someone suddenly sprays perfume nearby, or if a dusty bag is opened in the same room. But it could help with risks that can realistically be monitored ahead of time, such as weather, pollen, pollution, cold air, storms, and similar factors.
The aim is to make daily tracking easier, show simple visual warnings and notifications, and make it easier to share useful records with clinicians.
I’m also trying to build it in a way that reduces paper, plastic, and electronic waste. If funding allows, I would like to make the project carbon-negative.
That is the bigger dream: to make a small example of how even modest start-up can think about environmental impact from the start, and use it as a practical showcase.
Feedback welcome, especially from anyone with asthma, clinicians, carers, or people who have worked on health tracking tools. By now I know that my kickstarter is not going anywhere, so I would value any input was the idea that bad, or lack of marketing and accessing appropriate groups etc. I think this community has a lot of experience so I would like someone to share what could have I done better. Do not be shy to tell me if you think idea was waste of time.
I am kind of late to comment, but let me try anyway.
Can we have a day off? Yes and no, or yes, but at your expense.
The problem is system design. If a company earned money for its contributors/workers, then each gain would be shared across the company, from the board to its employees. But a company earns money for its shareholders, and you, as an employee, are in the expense column.
Therefore, a day off is either a mandatory legal right meant to help you rest so you can be more productive, or it is just additional unproductive time that does not create more value or maximize profit.
Therefore, this is where the argument for a 4-day working week collapses. To get a 4-day working week would mean yes, but with less "expense", or a lower salary.
For the same reason, taxing the rich would not help "the people" much, as it goes to the wrong pocket.
I am so tired of this type of tech, it does not solves anything, but it looks like further pushing and intrusion into privacy, but it is not anymore just reading what we like and want, but trying to push us to do things and sell us things, lately from time I get that urge just to smash all my electronics and go somwwhere in woods (I know it is romantic dream and I would not survive more than 3 days it is just a feeling) ... Travel was interesting when you heard about exotic places and colors and smells, and then you go to experince nowadays they supply you with full pamper plan of what you going to see and experince it is not fun anymore, and all I see is like that Ghibli no-face monster, but instead of giving you money just asking you give-us-money give-us-money, money, moneeey ... then you arrive to destination and there all you get pushy salsmen, fake smiles and all you see give us money money money ...
Edit 1: When I was growing up, a started with tech not because of money but because I belived we will endup in StarTrek society, solving real problems expanding civilisation, older I am all I see is money worshiping cult
This is somehow inverse logic. Does rape victim needs authority to voice raping in order to validate it?
What is there that is not solid, CoPilot is using community code that is under GPL licence therefore Microsoft should not be able to charge for CoPilot but give it for free, or not create another revenue stream.
I would like if author could read this, as I am writing this with deep compassion so I hope it won't be understood in the wrong way.
I am sorry, but everything dies, and some ideas do not make it. In our fear of death, we are trying to make a dent in this world, portraying our selves in a bigger light. Truth is even big ideas, and great work dies... Imagine, there was how many people since the beginning? Give or take ~110 billion, out of that there is around 130,000,000 (130 million books). How many books do average person reads over the lifetime? It is said that super readers read about 80 books a year, equal max ~8000-10000 books, which is a 0.0076% of all books.
So out of:
110,000,000,000 people
Truly remembered are how many writers, scientists, inventors? How many names of famous people and their ideas average person really knows?
Million? Hundred thousand? Thousand? Maybe hundred or more likely ten-ish?
Einstein, Tesla, Plato, Aristotle, Shakespeare, Dickens, Twain, Mozart, Goethe ... forgive me for this random list, how many names could you write on the list?
And this is for educated people, what about those who are not?
I am trying to say that our ability to absorb ideas is the bottleneck, so over time many good ideas will simply die, and then maybe, just maybe they may re-appear after some time.
Ideas the same way as businesses will only succeed if authors find a way, the compelling story, so they become simple enough to become viral and start spreading independently. But like with everything live, it will need fertile ground, energy and bit of luck... actually great portion of luck ;/
In the UK alone, around 7.2 million people have asthma. Globally, WHO estimates that asthma affected 363 million people in 2023 and caused 442,000 deaths.
Peak Flow Meter Diary is not meant to detect every possible trigger. It will not warn you if someone suddenly sprays perfume nearby, or if a dusty bag is opened in the same room. But it could help with risks that can realistically be monitored ahead of time, such as weather, pollen, pollution, cold air, storms, and similar factors. The aim is to make daily tracking easier, show simple visual warnings and notifications, and make it easier to share useful records with clinicians.
I’m also trying to build it in a way that reduces paper, plastic, and electronic waste. If funding allows, I would like to make the project carbon-negative.
That is the bigger dream: to make a small example of how even modest start-up can think about environmental impact from the start, and use it as a practical showcase.
The pitch and full project explanation are here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/why5/peak-flow-meter-di...
Feedback welcome, especially from anyone with asthma, clinicians, carers, or people who have worked on health tracking tools. By now I know that my kickstarter is not going anywhere, so I would value any input was the idea that bad, or lack of marketing and accessing appropriate groups etc. I think this community has a lot of experience so I would like someone to share what could have I done better. Do not be shy to tell me if you think idea was waste of time.