Pip Release Update, Packaging & Apps Progress

Delivery Times

Looking back over the past 7 months, we are still in awe of the amazing journey we’ve been on and that you’ve all been an integral part of, all 555 of you! We’d just like to take a moment to thank you all again for your ongoing belief and support of what we are trying to achieve with Pip! We know your passion and excitement for Pip’s potential equals ours and you’ve all been a key cog of this team throughout this project.

The journey thus far has been exhilarating to say the least, but not without its fair share of obstacles. With the ever-growing workload, our team has grown in size to ensure this dream is realized. As like most things in life, things sometimes don’t pan out as planned, but as a result we’ve learned a bunch of invaluable lessons from working through these issues and challenges that have cropped up over the past months.

We have made great progress as follows:
– Optimizing the performance of the sensor discs for maximum sensitivity and ensuring that they can be manufactured robustly in large volumes.
– Working with our global manufacturing partner on tooling, processes and testing to ensure that your Pip is built to the highest standards.
– Working through the intricacies of certifications including FCC, CE, Bluetooth, UL and IEC to ensure that Pip is fully compliant with the necessary regulations worldwide
– AND we’ve been busy with meeting potential partners from a wide ranging variety of fields, from therapy to sports, discussing the Pip’s potential applications.

It really is all going on at the moment!

So admittedly, because of the time required for dealing with these challenges, we are behind schedule. But not by much! We hope you are understanding in our delay, and that we want you all to receive a well finished reward, rather than a rushed and half polished one.

So, it’s looking like the timeline for delivery of all remaining physical rewards (pledges $79 and up) will be early April 2014, instead of February as estimated.

Again we are deeply apologetic of this delay as we know you all want to get your hands on Pip as soon as you can! We hope you can understand.

Thank you all.

Finalized Packaging.

We have signed off on the digital files of the final packaging design to be sent to the printers. The production of the boxes and inserts are expected to be given the green light at some stage this week. You will notice the packaging will remain quite similar to the previous draft mentioned in update #14. Some of the changes will be re-brushing the artwork of the hands and Pip, showing “What’s in the box” icons on the side panels and also new copy and images on the back (we wont share any pictures as we want them to keep some element of surprise until our backers receive them).

Quantified Self (QS) App Development.

So, as we promised in one of our previous updates (update #6), over the past few weeks the Quantified Self style app has been under construction and development. We are currently hashing out aspects of the app, which will provide a real time reading of your stress levels for you to watch. It will allow you to record and review key performance stats and charts.

Nothing is set in stone at the moment but here’s some examples of what you can expect of the apps functionality;

– Your live session reading will be displayed in a rolling wave-like graph

– There will be graphs and charts showing your performance and progress over time, allowing you to gain greater insights into your daily stress activity.

The goal behind the app was to provide our backers with a tool that was engaging and rewarding to use. We think the final piece will be just that!

Latest update on Relax & Race and Lie Detective Apps.

As you’ll probably agree we think the new look of the apps look very strong and engaging.

Also to note, the menu buttons and layouts for all the apps/games have been unified. So they will all look similar for Relax & Race, The Loom and Lie Detective.

Currently we are in the process of picking different soundtracks and sound effects to be layered into all the individual apps. Even though listening to hundreds of variations of lapping water and rolling paper can become slightly mind melting after the fifth/sixth successive hour, our ultimate goal here is to use these sounds to embellish the apps and to provide our users with a greater depth of experience.