HAPIfork Kickstarter Campaign Officially Launches

Way back during CES 2013 in January we took a look at an interesting piece of technology known as the HAPIfork. It's essentially an electronic fork that warns you when you're eating too fast, since that's a sign that you're consuming food at a faster rate than what you're digestion system can keep up with. The company behind the fork, HAPILABS, has officially launched the Kickstarter campaign, and you can pre-order a HAPIfork now.

The Kickstarter campaign is launching a bit later than expected, but nonetheless, it's now up and running, and HAPILABS is attempting to raise $100,000 in a matter of a month and a half, which shouldn't be too difficult if enough weight-watchers want to take the initiative to actively control how fast they're eating.

You can pre-order a HAPIfork now for as low as $89, but the price will jump to the regular $99 after 2,500 people have taken advantage of the early-bird special. The fork is expected to ship in September of this year, but you can pay $300 to get a fork early and participate in the company's beta program, which will allow you to get your hands on a fork in July.

Essentially, the HAPIfork vibrates if it detects that you're eating too fast, and the computer chips inside of the fork track various things such as the number of "fork servings" taken per minute and per meal, as well as the specific duration of each "fork serving" interval. It'll also track your overall meal duration and the exact time at which you start and end your meal, which you can take a glance at with the web-based dashboard after uploading the data using the included USB cable.