I am terrified of birds. As in, irrationally scared to the point where I scream when I see a bird flying anywhere near my general direction. Walking through places like St Mark’s in Venice causes panic, and the thought of feeding pigeons so they land on my arms and legs is enough to induce hyperventilating.

This fear was borne out of an incident where a blackbird flew at me and hit me – with its beak – just above the eye and drew blood. This happened about fifteen years ago and since then, I have had a theory that the avian world is conspiring to hurt me. There have been many other occurrences, all of them chilling and disturbing. This phobia is a source of great amusement to my family, who mock me every time I wail and bury my head in fear when there are birds around.

The Hitchcock film The Birds is more documentary rather than a work of fiction, as far as I am concerned.

So, birds and me: not great mates.

Diabeto1

Gorgeous design!

But, I have found a little bird that I think I am going to love and it’s called Diabeto.

Diabeto is a soon-to-be-launched hardware device which wirelessly transmits BGL readings from a meter to a smartphone. Using a specially designed app, data can then be analysed and, being cloud based, is securely stored and can be accessed by HCPs for analysis. Other data – insulin doses, physical activity, carb intake, mood etc. can also be tracked and stored.

Diabeto is currently compatible with 25 meters (with more being added all the time) which means that most people with diabetes will be able to use this technology.

There is lots to like about this little bird, and for some it’s a great way to keep track of the multitude of numbers that are part of diabetes management. On the Diabeto management team is Shreekant Pawar whose parents have had diabetes for 25 years. He GETS diabetes, which means that this is a product that works and makes sense. (Plus, Shreek has really good taste in music and is fun to converse with on SoMe!) 

Diabeto is now available for pre-order and this stage is actually part of their crowd-funding strategy. The hope was that the Indiegogo campaign launched last week would provide the cash needed to enter the manufacturing stage.

The great news is that the $10,000 target was reached after only a few days, suggesting that there are a lot of people willing to invest $59 (or $49 if you get in quickly!) to get their hands on one of these cute little birds.

You can read all about Diabeto here and support the campaign by pre-ordering your little birdie here. (Most important information – it comes in blue and pink. If, like me, you’re having trouble deciding, order both.)

Need more of an incentive to check this out? From 27 January to 3 February, $5 from each Diabeto sold will be donated to T1 International.