11 comments

  • smusamashah 6 minutes ago
    I made my own heart rate app (using gemini at first and then Claude for lots of further edits). https://xosh.org/heart-rate/ https://github.com/SMUsamaShah/heart-rate it's all offline. UI needs more work but me and my wife are the only users therefore it doesn't matter that much.

    At one point I added the same EVM based heart rate detection but that requires sitting very still. I use it on my phone mainly therefore the common finger method is easiest one to use.

  • twodave 2 hours ago
    It’s not very accurate. Maybe because of the camera fidelity. It was about 10bpm lower than actual for me. Seems to operate off of subtle motions caused by pulse. It was even worse at detecting breathing.
    • brynnbee 12 minutes ago
      It showed my BPM at nearly half of what it really was
  • functionmouse 3 hours ago
    I feel like the primary use case for such a technology is manipulating and profiling people over video chat, maybe even autonomously. Hiring managers, HR, landlords, and police are obvious customers.

    The response I anticipate will be "But this will help doctors over telehealth and stuff!" - Please see https://calebhearth.com/dont-get-distracted

    • nearbuy 1 hour ago
      This tech (detecting pulse from regular video) has been around almost 20 years now, and this doesn't seemed to have happened yet.

      You see this type of thing in spy movies, but I'm not sure it's that useful in real life. You're basically taking one piece of data a polygraph uses, but without the most important component (skin conductance). Polygraph accuracy isn't that great to begin with. You can profile and manipulate people more effectively based on their reactions and behaviour, and their pulse will be much harder to interpret.

    • metalcrow 2 hours ago
      Can you explain how https://calebhearth.com/dont-get-distracted applies to the potential response you described? I don't get it.
      • godelski 1 hour ago
        Don't get distracted, sit down and read it in full.

        Don't get distracted, think about what he wrote.

        If you still don't get it, take a step back. Think. Process. Then take a break and read it again tomorrow.

        Slow down. Don't get distracted. You don't need to respond so fast. Take your time. There is no rush. There is no shortcut. Read it in full and you'll understand this comment says much more.

        • collingreen 1 hour ago
          This feels overly patronizing
          • godelski 1 hour ago
            Probably because I repeated "don't get distracted". But if you read the article then I think it'll take on a different context, as I'm mimicking the author, including their short paragraph style.
      • croes 2 hours ago
        They will weaponize it.
  • jmusall 2 hours ago
    May be related: Explanation of motion and color amplification in video by Steve Mould https://youtube.com/watch?v=rEoc0YoALt0

    He even shows pulse detection (around 8:30).

  • sxp 1 hour ago
    How does it work? Is it https://people.csail.mit.edu/mrub/evm/? I see the FAQ about VitalLens, but I couldn't find technical details.

    It's super cool. Thanks for sharing. I want to build a biofeedback app for meditation and this looks like a good platform to use.

  • amagasaki 3 hours ago
    Could be interesting, but allowing the webcam crashes my browser.Repeatedly

    macOS 15.7.1 (24G231) Brave 1.87.186 (Official Build) (arm64) Chromium: 145.0.7632.45

    • serious_angel 3 hours ago
      In the minified source code, we may see, it uses:

      ``` try { const l=await navigator.mediaDevices.getUserMedia({audio:!1,video:{facingMode:"user"}}); /* ... */ } catch { this.showError("Could not access webcam. Please check permissions.") } ```

      There are alternatives to verify mediaDevices support as https://addpipe.com/getusermedia-examples/

      • echoangle 1 hour ago
        But even a missing check shouldn’t be able to crash the browser.
  • hluska 3 hours ago
    I would prefer some kind of privacy statement or even some kind of explanation about what is going on before I just randomly turn my webcam on. This might be great and I’m proud of you for launching but I don’t do things like that. Heck, videos can make a person’s heart race - I had my first attack at 39 and that’s a hell of a lot of risk.
    • serious_angel 3 hours ago
      I haven't dug deeper due to time availability, but for the same sake of privacy, I've found:

      1. `/api/event` endpoint mentioned in the `/stats/script.js` file;

      2. There's `/parties/lobby/main/telemetry` in a minified JavaScript chunk asset;

      3. There's VitalLens mentioned, and there's an error string in the same asset: "A valid API key or proxy URL is required to use VitalLens. If you signed up recently, please try again in a minute to allow your API key to become active. Otherwise, head to https://www.rouast.com/api to get a free API key."

      • hluska 3 hours ago
        This is really kind of you - I appreciate this. Thank you for taking that time!
  • trothamel 1 hour ago
    There's a version of this built into the Google Fit application for Android.
  • abakker 2 hours ago
    It registered in the low 40s for me, while my watch was saying 72-75. I guess YMMV
  • gumboshoes 3 hours ago
    Worked for me on Android. Love the simplicity.