iPad-compatible smart scale gets a tasty new update

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promo_scale_app_logo
The weight for a major update is over! (I apologize for the awful pun.)
Photo: SITU

Attention, foodies and nutrition-istas! Successful Kickstarter SITU, a smart scale for iPad, has just added a couple of neat new features for its iOS app — while also getting a reduction in prices ahead of Black Friday.

Given that ex-Apple employee creator Michael Grothaus credits Cult of Mac readers with making the invention a reality, how could we not cover it?

Grothaus talks SITU in Portugal.
Grothaus talks SITU in Portugal.
Photo: Michael Grothaus/SITU

Regular Cult of Mac readers may remember that I previously covered Grothaus’ SITU project back in its crowdfunding days. Grothaus says that it was the response to this article which helped push his project over the Kickstarter finish line.

“It was the single-biggest source of traffic to the project’s Kickstarter page,” he says. “So many readers became backers and, I hope, satisfied customers. We really couldn’t have done this without Cult of Mac readers.”

Eighteen months on, and Grothaus has now shipped SITU scales to all backers, is busy selling the product, and has even had the opportunity to visit places like China and Portugal to talk about the device. Having had time to absorb feedback, he is currently in the process of releasing two major updates for the accompanying iOS app: one which has already hit the App Store, and one of which will go live any day now.

The goal of both of these is to make the SITU hardware more responsive to the needs of individual users.

“I was an overweight guy,” Grothaus says. “I designed the app for how I wanted to use it. That worked really well for me, but once we started shipping the device to users, we started hearing all this feedback and different use-cases.” These use-cases, some of which can be read here, include everything from tracking salt and sugar to building muscle mass — none of which Grothaus had ever focused particular attention on himself.

A look at one of SITU's new features.
A look at one of SITU’s new features.
Photo: SITU

The first update (“My Dishes”) is the ability to add completed meals to the SITU smart scale, which means that users can now save completed recipes, rather than having to piece them together every time. The second, which Grothaus says is now waiting for approval from Apple, will let users add completely custom foods to the database — entering their nutritional values from scratch to make the scale even more universal.

I first interviewed Mike back in 2012 for my book The Apple Revolution, and it’s definitely great to see his Kickstarter dream become a reality. I’ve used SITU myself, and I’ve been very impressed by many of its features.

If you’re interested, SITU is getting a 25 percent discount on its regular retail price of $119.99/£79.99/€109.99 from today through Saturday November 28 for customers who use the code BLACKFRIDAY at checkout. More details can be found here.

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