Vessyl, a smart cup designed by Yves Behar, is designed to measure and track any drink poured into it in real-time. Using sensors, Vessyl is able to detect drinks that are poured in to it, from water and soda to homemade smoothies, alcoholic beverages, coffee, tea, and more.
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When a drink is poured into Vessyl, an accompanying iPhone app displays all of the relevant nutritional information about the drink. Vessyl is able to track many pre-bottled drinks, but it is also able to determine the nutritional content of handmade beverages, such as smoothies or mixed drinks. The Verge was able to test Vessyl and has a detailed piece on the cup, including notes on its accuracy.
Let's cut to the chase: while I only had an hour with a Vessyl prototype, I tried nearly a dozen beverages in it -- and it successfully identified all of them. Within 10 seconds, the device, which currently resembles more of a Thermos than a finished product, recognized Crush orange soda, Vitamin Water XXX, Tropicana orange juice, Gatorade Cool Blue, plain-old water, and a few other beverages, all by name. Yes, this cup knows the difference between Gatorade Cool Blue and Glacier Freeze.
Vessyl can tell the difference between strong and weak coffee, Lee says, noting caffeine disparities. It can even measure the sugar, protein, calories, fat, and caffeine inside any beverage you pour into it, mass-produced or homemade.
Along with displaying nutritional information, Vessyl also keeps track of what a user drinks during the day, tallying statistics like calories consumed, caffeine levels, hydration, and more. Users can set goals within the app, tracking all of these metrics and more. Vessyl also tracks and estimates a person's real-time hydration needs based on how much they drink, which is measured through the liquid level in the cup.
Vessyl, which holds 13 ounces of liquid, has a built-in display, a spill-proof lid, and a non-stick interior. It connects to an iPhone using Bluetooth 4.0 to upload nutrient data to its accompanying iPhone app, which also integrates with popular activity trackers. The cup lasts for five to seven days on a single charge and uses wireless charging.
Vessyl can be pre-ordered for $99, but will later retail for $199. It is available in three different colors (Shadow, Snow, and Steam) along with several accent lid colors, and it is expected to begin shipping in early 2015.
Top Rated Comments
(View all)another useless invention.....
Not at all. For $99 I can get a reading of nutritional info for homemade smoothies and juices.
Useful and fairly costed. I'll take two please.
would find it most comical if this was sync'd to siri: i can imagine buying a bevereng and siri springing to action: "this coke is watered down like piss - enjoy" or "burger king milkshakes suck"
Finally a real-world use for siri - thanks Vessyl,
However, the fact that it will apparently generate nutritional information for anything you put in it--including things that are not mass-produced--makes it a very, very cool bit of home nutritional science. (Assuming, of course, that it's accurate.)
Leaving health aside, just for the raw science of it, I'd be highly interested, for example, in what the actual caffeine content of the strong konacha that I have at dinner is compared to, say, kukicha or regular green tea. It's easy to find people saying how much caffeine green tea is supposed to have, after all, but that doesn't necessarily tell you anything realistic about how much is actually in that cup you just brewed.
Likewise, if I'm making my own smoothies or fruit or vegetable juice, knowing nutritionally what I've just mixed up would be at minimum interesting, and depending on how closely I watch my intake of various things could be quite valuable.
I'd almost buy one just for the chemical analysis fun of it.
I wonder how well it would work on homogenous soups... (if it does sodium, that could actually be pretty useful for homemade soup for people with high blood pressure).
Seeing as most people overeat their calories, I don't see the point of this. It's a fashion accessory and another thing that needs to be charged. Fat people can now pretend they are dieting by watching what they drink while shoving cookies down their chomper.
Well, if the 'judgmental cretin' crowd hates it, that must mean it's a good idea.
a nanny cup to remind me i shouldn't be having another gin drink? no thanks.
Your biggest problem here is not knowing that gin is rubbish.
A good whiskey will get you there quicker and without the reek of juniper. :p