Outside TV commercials of exploding people, chipmunks with black lung gnawing you to death in your sleep and something called ‘cold turkey,’ there’s little convincing someone to squelch that smoking habit, unless they actually decide to take the necessary steps. Turns out, there’s a process, and the journey, should you muster a hacking cough to do it, is long and hard. (Insert clever reverse psychology comment here –>) You’ll fail most likely. However, the Quitbit is just the device, and the first ‘smart lighter’ with companion app, that helps you track your smoking habits to eventually kick the stick.
This smart lighter, or ‘digital conscience’ as we like to call it, can also let you set custom reduction plans and modify existing behaviors with the sole goal of helping you forge a healthier lifestyle. They look at it like this, “if you can measure it, you can manage it.” I measured an octopus one time, and I’ll tell you this, there is no ‘managing it.’ While the lighter tracks your smoking patterns, the app makes sense of all the data collected and helps you understand yourself better, because apparently you smoke too much to understand it yourself.
Once you know what your personal track is, it becomes easier to set, manage and achieve goals–like breathing, try it, wonderful thing that breathing. The display is a clever cookie, which provides you with instant feedbacks, nudging you to make a wiser choice, albeit with subtlety. On an emotional level, you can set your own pace, and customize plans so that the lighter works only when you want it to–which may actually lead to frustration and punching someone for a pack of menthols.
The personal story of the team is quite inspiring as well. Ata and Kuji are the brain behind this Kickstarter project. Ata wanted to quit smoking and was frustrated with the current smoking tracking methods. The next logical step was to build something of their own; hence the Quitbit.
Here’s how it works: the Quitbit features a heating element that is very much like the one found in car lighters. The electronics count each cigarette that is lit. The display showcases how many sticks you have been through and when you had the last smoke. The lighter syncs with the Smartphone using Bluetooth LE and, via the app, you can set realistic goals to kick the habit. Another nice thing about the app is how it helps you understand your triggers–stresses, cats, sex–once you have that under control, a lot can be done.
As is with all projects, the team went through their fair share of sketches, renderings, and 3D printing before they settled on the final form and design. After four generations of prototypes, the design has evolved from 3D printed housings to aluminum housings and custom boards. They’ve yet to meet their funding goal at this point, but you can drop in a pledge for the Quitbit here.
Details:
Size: 67 x 43 x 10 mm
Battery: Rechargeable Lithium Polymer; lasts about one week of normal use (pack a day)
Weight: 72 g
Connectivity: Bluetooth Low Energy (4.0)
Compatibility: iOS 5 and later and Android 4.3 and later
