SleepHQ

[SuperSleeper]

SleepHQ's code is entirely hidden on their private server - it's not being publicly distributed to end-users (like OSCAR is), so technically they don't have to make their code available under GPLv3.  Therefore, the only way to absolutely prove that they've stolen used the OSCAR code would be for them to admit it, and so far, they've refused to answer a point-blank direct question about that [in this thread], which to me, means that they likely did use OSCAR code as a base for SleepHQ - otherwise, why wouldn't Adam respond with a simple "No, we don't use any OSCAR code in our product"?    Instead, all we got was Nicko publicly calling Apnea Board members a bunch of " Fuckwits ".  That's what he thinks of you... keep that in mind if you pay him for his service.

Experienced coders have seen the way in which SleepHQ works, and have stated that it's almost certain that they used the OSCAR code.  If they had any integrity, they would give attribution to the OSCAR Team, which is the right thing to do.  That lack of integrity (what I would call 'corruption') will come back to haunt the SleepHQ guys - and it will infect everything they do.   If they don't even have enough honesty to admit their use of OSCAR code, what else are they not going to be honest about in the future?  Would you trust such people with your money?  I sure wouldn't, which is why I would never pay for their service.

I'd have to at least give Nicko and Adam credit - they are very crafty and cunning.

In the end, by using SleepHQ, you're entrusting your data to them, and hoping that they don't simply decide some day that SleepHQ just isn't profitable enough, and close down the whole thing.  I personally think it's still in the "proof of concept" stage, and if enough people don't sign up for their paid versions, they'll scrap the whole project.  At least with OSCAR, it's open-source and anyone can pick up where previous developers left off - so it doesn't have to die on the vine if key developers stop working on it.  When SleepHQ dies, no one can pick up the pieces unless they had previous access to the private SleepHQ server.

Their whole business model is contrary to the way Apnea Board operates.  We stand for patient empowerment and the power behind free, open-source software, and we never charge for anything on Apnea Board - it's all FREE.  The funding for keeping the doors open comes primarily from voluntary member donations plus a few Google ads - and we never "send a bill" to anyone - for anything... ever.  Members here can get a lifetime of free software, free software support and access to a wide variety of very knowledgeable people who can help them fine-tune their therapy - again, all for FREE. 

The SleepHQ model is profit-based and run by people lacking in integrity.  Profits are fine of course, but not when those seeking the profits have no integrity and love their profits more than the people they serve.  A wise person once wrote "the love of money is the root of all evil".  That is the Truth.  The Apnea Board model is based upon unpaid voluntarism and free access to literally everything.  That's a huge difference, in my opinion - and it makes all the difference in the world.

[outasleep]

Instead, all we got was Nicko publicly calling Apnea Board members a bunch of "Fuckwits".  That's what he thinks of you... keep that in mind if you pay him for his service.

I'd be interested to see where "Nicko" said that, very unprofessional. Personally I like the information from his videos but find he repeats himself, speaks a bit too slowly and condescendingly for my taste. Maybe a cultural thing. 

I'm very grateful for OSCAR and am wondering if SleepHQ offers anything over it? 

I've also ordered my own WiFi SD card and Pi Zero W and will look at sending my Airsense 10 data remotely to my Dropbox, where I can import direct into Oscar at my PC. Can't be paying $250 for that privledge! I wonder if anyone has already done that? I have a similar setup working with a Pi4 so it shouldn't be 'too' difficult.

[Davidrob]

[quote pid='482693' dateline='1691151004']

I've also ordered my own WiFi SD card and Pi Zero W and will look at sending my Airsense 10 data remotely to my Dropbox, where I can import direct into Oscar at my PC. Can't be paying $250 for that privledge! I wonder if anyone has already done that? I have a similar setup working with a Pi4 so it shouldn't be 'too' difficult.
[/quote]

I’d sure be interested in knowing more as I would be interested in the same thing… I have some knowledge of the HW and programming but don’t feel up to doing it from scratch.

[robbob2112]

Interesting thought, i have aan old wifi sd card laying around and a bunch of spare RPi as well.  I may have to fiddle some with it.  

if the wifi card can reach the current router should just be able to remote mount it.  Seems like the range was pretty limited.  So, mount on a Pi, then share the data as a NFS mount.

Currently I use the Vihealth app on the tablet with the backup to cloud option.  The with the windows O2 app I download from cloud backup and open the files in Oscar.

Robert

[LookingForACleverHandle]

As far as OSCAR moving to a web based model - Someone, somewhere would have to finance not only OSCAR development (as it currently is), but also the web server machine/cycles/time/storage. SleepHQ has to recoup those additional costs over a local-machine-based model OSCAR is currently, hence the subscription model.

As far as data safety, well, on the web it is there for all to use (or misuse). Local processing? Heck, one does not even need an internet connection at all, after OSCAR is loaded. As far as I know, OSCAR doesn't "phone home".

As far as the SleepHQ implementation, I find the link to data much more useful than a screenshot - as OSCAR and Apnea Board provides. The link allows the target user to expand the user data where the OSCAR screenshot does not. Links takes less storage in each thread than a .png file does. But again, the linked-to data has to live somewhere and someone has to finance that.

Outasleep noted "... Personally I like the information from his videos but find he repeats himself, speaks a bit too slowly and condescendingly for my taste. Maybe a cultural thing."

I find most videos are painfully slow. Everything from TV to Movies, to YouTube are painfully repetitive. Even written things with links to X or the like, say the same thing over and over (and over). With nearly every video, I raise the playback speed to 1.5x or 1.75x, sometimes even 2x. That said, I do not much like videos - they just take too much time, and one cannot skim the subject matter.

As far as Uncle Nicko appearing to be condescending, it is what it is. Throw it on the "fact pile" and move on. Turn on your "personal filter" to extract information you need, and reject any snarkiness that may be there, culturally or not.

With a little work, it is easy to learn to be not offended, though being offended was also a learned response. Being offended at what someone says or does gives most people a bit of an adrenaline rush. Triggers fight or flight response. Being offended is an addicting behavior.

[SuperSleeper]

Nicko's attitude isn't really offensive to me at all, mostly because I just don't get offended by the actions or words of others-- especially coming from those who seem less than sincere, honest and open.    One's attitude, however, does reveal more of their true character (or lack thereof).  Personally, I like dealing with people who have some degree of integrity and personal character.

I use someone's attitude not as a excuse to express feigned "offense", but rather use it as a tool to judge their character and peer into what really makes them tick.  And based upon that, I decide if I'd like to cooperate with them or not.

I've privately predicted what will eventually happen to SleepHQ given the current attitude of their leadership, and we'll all just have to see if it comes to pass or not.  SleepHQ has every right to exist of course, but the fact that they refuse to deny using the OSCAR code (in spite of us asking them directly), and they instead throw out rather snarky barbs towards good people here is revealing to me.

If someone likes them, then they can use their system.  If they like OSCAR instead, they can use OSCAR.  Or use both.  There's advantages and disadvantages to both.  It's really up to the individual. 

As far as Apnea Board is concerned, it matters not which data-analyzing tools our members utilize - although most prefer OSCAR here, we're not bound to just one package or system.  Forum members have used a variety of packages and systems in the past, including RESmart, Breathcare, SEFAM, PrismaTS, WEINMANNsupport, PrismaJournal, OSCAR, ResScan, DreamMapper, EncoreBasic, EncorePro, APEX Easy Compliance, Breas Data Viewer, and the Somnetics software program.   And we provide free downloads of  most of those packages in our Private Files & Links area.

[chemmkl]

This is going to be my first post in the forum as I am fairly new to CPAP, but I ended up in this thread and I'd like to point out a few things. By the way, I am also a developer and part of what I have been doing lately is trying to decide if paying for SleepHQ or going with Oscar, mainly from the point of view of automating data import for both the CPAP machine and the O2 ring.

• If it is true (and it seems so from what you guys say and Adam's lack of response) that SleepHQ has used code from Oscar, they are in violation of the GPLv3 license just for the lack of attribution. This has been taken to court in the past, for example the Free Software Foundation sued Cisco back in 2009. Without the attribution they are in violation of the license and as such the license is no longer valid and the non-distribution of binaries stops being a part of the problem. Without the GPL license, is just them using parts of copyrighted software without permission. By the way, Cisco settled. If the developers of Oscar are interested in pursuing this, I would recommend contacting the FSF as they have the right lawyers to discuss this.
  
• On the other hand, I have not seen it mentioned enough in this thread but the part that (allegedly) uses code from Oscar is free and they even go to the extent of stating that is going to be free forever. You can upload your data files (one CPAP device only) and see the reports in the UI that they have built, as you do with Oscar. They limit the data for the last 30 days but that makes total sense since they are hosting it for free it and that costs money. The paid part of their product is actually the community, that is interesting because they are monetizing the advice that their members give away for free.
  
• By making their product web-based they have added a lot of value for many people, and I think that it has to be recognized that they are just not reselling Oscar for a fee (something that is 100% legal with the GPLv3 by the way and that many scammers make a living of with many products).
  
• My first impression after going through their "academy" and Apnea Board's wiki is that the content here seems much more rigorous but theirs is more approachable. I enjoyed having both and by the way, in one of his videos NIcko recommends Oscar.
  
• They probably should not be taking accounts from Europe with how crazy restrictive the EU privacy act (GDPR) is. I very much doubt they are compliant with the requirements for hosting europeans' PII outside of Europe.
  
• They seem to be gearing towards selling clinicians a cross-manufacturer platform for handling their patient's data. It's a smart idea and I am totally for avoiding vendor lock-ins so good for them. If they pull it off then it would probably be the right time for suing them.
  

I have decided against paying for SleepHQ for the following reasons:

• They do not have an Android app to upload the O2 ring files automatically to their cloud like they do for iOS.
  
• They have not released the script they are using on Raspbian for taking the files from the EzShare wifi-sdcard and uploading it to their cloud. I suspect they want to sell another batch of their magic uploaders consisting on a $15 pi zero wifi, a $5 power brick, a $25 EzShare card and a box for $250. Nothing wrong with it, if they could actually sell them.
  
• Price, $15 per month is too much for the value they add ONLY because Oscar exists.
  
• The community here is great and I have already seen scripts for taking the SpO2 data from the android phone app from the O2 manufacturer as well as for pushing the EzShare files to my desktop or home server. This closes the automation loop for me that they are not providing.
  

So what is left is their ability to share a link. This would be an excellent feature for Oscar to have (and I am aware of how challenging it looks now).

[Crimson Nape]

Hi chemmkl ! -

Thanks to an Apnea Board member, biorn, who developed and published the bash script for the EZ-share card's is why SleepHQ has it.

Here is the link to that thread: https://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread...todownload

-- Red

[lg2010]

Hi,
I wonder if you are open to sharing the files needed to run on raspberry pi 3, so the data can be loaded to raspberry pi and then to my drop box, from there I can easily load it to OSCAR. I have a raspberry pi 3 and will soon get the raspberry pi Zero 2 W. Your help will be greatly appreciated.  Let me know.

Thanks
Lou