Smartphone App Counts Calories from Photos
Baku, November 13 (AZERTAC). Diners in Japan will soon be able to determine the number of calories in their meals by using a smartphone to take a photo of their plates.
Tokyo-based NTT Communications, the telecom company that developed the app, said that its program uses recognition software to match the colors and shapes of foods to a database of more than 100,000 different foods stored on a server.
The software then sends back caloric information -- adjusting for portion size -- and includes an option to display the data in the form of a timeline and share the meal and diet data with friends.
"People can see how many calories their friends have eaten, which may make them try harder," said a spokeswoman for NTT. "It basically helps keep people from feeling that they`re dieting completely alone."
Diet apps have existed in the past, but they required users to manually enter food and calorie information.
"Ours does it all by taking photos, which helps people keep on using it -- and keep up their diet," said a spokeswoman for NTT. "We hope this will enable people to understand the calories they eat and help them with their diets."
NTT, which is still testing the program in-house, plans to will release a free beta version from January. It is also working on additional features, such as the ability to suggest changes to meals and exercise routines to help users burn off calories and maintain a healthy weight.
