I really dislike it how 'big data' is increasingly mentioned left and right these days, even when the application context doesn't call for it. Perhaphs the reporter should've sticked with the safe option of what the app creator(s) used instead, 'data science' or data analysis.
Interesting how thorough the app is. I suppose that'll set it apart from the simpler ovulation trackers.<p>What a <i>huge</i> mine of private data, however!
Can you imagine how it would feel to have someone else find a record of your sexual activity, including positions and count of female orgasms?
I think they are on to something - this part for me stood out (quote from Max Levchin)<p><pre><code> "Anything that can be measured, you record—and
it’s applied to things like managing your weight,
or deciding how likely you are to dope in the Tour
de France. But with infertility? You get a Xerox
from the 1960s.”</code></pre>
"Both men are cyclists in their spare time"<p>Anyone read this and then think of this study?<p><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/12/10/us-sperm-exercise-idUSTRE6B90CY20101210" rel="nofollow">http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/12/10/us-sperm-exercise-...</a>
It's interesting how many commenters thought (from the headline) this was Elon Musk, despite the fact that Paypal had 5 founders and Musk has his hands pretty busy right now.<p>On a related note, has there ever been anything unsuccessful from the Paypal Mafia?
How is a phone supposed to passively collect information about sexual positions?<p>"By asking about sexual positions and female orgasms, for example, the app is collecting data on oft-cited but little-researched possible factors in successful conception. The founders say that physicians have already signed on to use this data in studies. And eventually, Levchin said, they hope to make the data collection totally passive (by using a combination of phone sensors and specialized hardware) so that you don’t even have to take the trouble of entering any numbers yourself."
It doesn't bring the $1m kick-off grant for the fertility fund, but another new app in that space is <a href="http://www.helloclue.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.helloclue.com/</a>
It focuses more on tracking the monthly cycle and how it affects you personally, instead of pregnancy/ fertility and crowdsourced data on conception. Clue was actually started by a female founder - seems that could be helpful in this instance.
an idea about Elon Musk announcing a plan to fund 100 women/year to have his children through sperm banks, in 10 generations (1 generation/year), with fully paid support and tutoring for life for the kids, and regularly schedule reunions of generations / the whole group.<p>It was at attempt to re-introduce cloning style massively parallel reproduction to the human species.<p>That was what I thought this story would be about.<p>Seriously though, don't you think Snowden could get a few hundred extremely smart, civil libertarian women to agree to bear his children?