Whatever happened to Benjamin Ragheb?

This looks interesting: PhiloMetron has developed a small adhesive patch which employs a variety of sensors to estimate your caloric intake. It then transmits the data via Bluetooth so you can view the trends on your cell phone.

While you’re waiting for that to become available and/or affordable, you might be interested in FatWatch, an app for your iPhone that also estimates your caloric intake, although it requires you to step on a scale and make a note of the number once a day.

(P.S. I found the above news via The Skeptical Hypochondriac. Recommended if you’re interested in health news without the hysteria.)

Apple has apparently updated the iTunes App Store, specifically with regard to ratings and reviews.

First, you may now rate an application without writing a review. Previously, you had to write something, unless you were using Apple’s “rate on delete” feature. I hope this will restore some balance by making it easier for people in a hurry to provide a positive rating, although it is still up to developers to direct satisfied customers to the app’s review page. ;-)

Second, and I think this is a big deal, reviews are now tagged with the version of the software being reviewed. Average ratings are computed for both the current version and across all versions. Thanks to this change, I was able to compile following table for FatWatch:

(In case you think I’m cooking the books, version 1.2 was never released to the public.)

iTunes reports that FatWatch’s average rating of 3 stars is based on 50 ratings but only 22 reviews. With some algebra I can determine that the remaining 28 reviews have an average of 2.32 stars. If those are all from “rate on delete,” that’s seems pretty good.

I think this paints a more favorable (and honest) picture: FatWatch got off to a rough start, but its grades have been steadily improving. I’m relieved, because two of the negative reviews about version 1.0 were voted as Most Helpful and used to appear on the main page.

I’m happy that Apple has improved the App Store in this way. A lot of developers are quick to criticize them, but I know they aren’t out to get me, and that running a huge operation like the iTunes Store isn’t easy.

Anyway, you’re probably wondering what I’m up to and when the next update to FatWatch will be released. I have been dividing my time between FatWatch and consulting, and lately the divide has not been as even as I’d like. I have several pages of ideas sketched out, however, and I’m eager to work on them. The next update will probably focus on improvements to the Trends feature, specifically on making the calories per day number easier to interpret and apply to your goals.

Wow, that was fast. I submitted FatWatch 1.4 on Wednesday and two days later it is available in the store. Other developers, I’d love to share my secret but I have no idea what I did. I was actually hoping I’d have a few more days to update the website.

Anyway, if you’re curious about what’s changed since FatWatch 1.3, here is a complete list of changes in FatWatch 1.4, minus some under the hood stuff that is only interesting to me.

Big New Feature: Body Mass Index (BMI) Monitoring

To enable, go to the More tab, switch it on, and select your height. Afterward BMI will be displayed in various places around the app, using the following color scheme: red for obese, yellow for overweight, green for normal, and blue for underweight. Classifications are based on the World Health Organization’s guidelines. Think BMI is bunk? Don’t turn it on, and you won’t have to look at it.

Log

• Added a control to toggle between displaying Variance (your scale weight’s distance from the moving average) or your BMI (if enabled).
• Improved drawing of long notes.
• Added a “hint” cell at the top of the table.
• “Go To” screen has larger buttons.

Weigh-in

• Visual update, changed background color and tweaked control layout.
• If BMI is enabled, weight picker cells are colored according to BMI zone.
• Note field is larger (easier to tap), supports multiple lines of text, and has sexy rounded corners.

Trends

• Added overeating and undereating labels to the energy surplus/deficit field.
• Added total weight gained or lost during trend period.

Goal

• Goal weight picker uses whole numbers, regardless of selected scale precision.
• If BMI is enabled, start BMI is displayed, and you can set a goal by selecting a BMI value in addition to selecting a weight.
• Added an info button to explain how start weight is computed (its the moving average, not your scale weight).

More

• Added a switch to enable BMI monitoring.
• Added a button to open FatWatch’s page in the App Store.
• Removed unnecessary section titles and added a hint referring to the Settings app.

Chart

• Now offers several preset zoom levels: Past Month, Past Quarter, Past Year, All Time, and Browse (the original scrollable view).
• If BMI is enabled, chart regions are shaded to indicate BMI zone.
• If database is empty, displays an empty chart (instead of a boring-to-look-at message).
• Browse mode scrolling is linked to Log: start position is determined by current Log position.
• Label text is drawn using Unicode encoding, making better international support.

Settings

• Renamed “Scale Increment” to “Scale Precision” — the latter sounds more precise, don’t you think?
• Added a switch to disable Bonjour, in case you don’t want to publish Wi-Fi Import/Export’s web address when you turn it on.
• Shade Weekends is now enabled by default.
• Added “Shade BMI Zones” in case you don’t like so much color in your chart.

Miscellaneous

• Added a startup image.
• When you quit FatWatch, it remembers which tab you had selected (i.e., Log, Trends, Goal, or More) and returns to it when you next launch the app.
• Setup screen respects existing preferences.
• Added a cancel button to the Set Passcode screen (that never should have been left out in the first place).
• Wi-Fi Import/Export displays device name (“iPhone” vs. “iPod touch”) as appropriate.

I hope you find it worth the wait.