It does seem as though the headphone jack on your smartphone is not there to just hold a pair of headphones – as there seems to be more and more companies and small start ups coming up with extension hardware to plug into said headphone jack, introducing a slew of capabilities in one way or another. This particular extension that is known as DO-RA happens to be a personal dosimeter-radiometer that is capable of measuring background radiation. Of course, the average man on the street would most probably not need this particular attachment, but considering how the quantified self/health tracking trend looks promising, who knows, there might just be enough to kick off this potential market for those who want to know just much background radiation they bask in every single day?
DO-RA’s creators were spot on in saying that Japan will be a key target market whenever it enters production. Apart from that, there are two other major targets – namely the US as well as Europe, although I do wonder whether Russia would be the top purchaser in Europe. It is tipped that DO-RA devices will be shipped at a rate of approximately 1 million each year into these three markets, and we do expect to see the DO-RA device enter into commercial production later this autumn.
Intersoft Eurasia is the Russian startup behind DO-RA, and they claim to have picked up 1,300 pre-orders for the device already over the course of the past few months, all without having to perform any kind of high profile or dedicated advertising. Most of the pre-orders were made by male iPhone and iPad owners, which goes to show just which demographic would fall for such a device. Expect the DO-RA device to retail for approximately $150, which happens to be a whole lot more affordable than rival portable dosimeters that tend to cost anywhere from $250 to $400. Would you pick up one of these puppies for yourself?
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[ DO-RA can measure background radiation copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
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