Category: Software

Macworld Expo:Abvio Brings Out the Meters

While last week’s Macworld Expo didn’t exactly bring out any big announcements – the Verizon iPhone was already old news, and it was hard to say much about updates to the iPad or iPhone anyway – fitness was in the news.

Last week Abvio previewed its 5.0 version of its trio of iPhone apps, which include the Runmeter, Walkmeter and Cyclemeter. These offer similar features yet are a tuned into – note we didn’t say iTuned in – to specific forms of exercise. The 5.0 releases have also been submitted to Apple, so now it is just time to play the waiting game before going the distance with the meters.

Each of these will take advantage of the social networking opportunities as the company has partnered with dailymile.com, a 200,000 member social network for runners and fitness buffs. This integration will allow users of the Abvio app to share workout results in real time through the website and even get responses from other users during their workout. Information can also be shared with Facebook and Twitter, or send to friends via e-mail.

The apps will also utilize the GPS capabilities of the iPhone, allowing users to trek their course and monitor the progress, complete with audio feedback about pace and distance.

The dailymile link-up will further add a new level of friendly yet Virtual Competition. Friends can import a friend’s route as well as time and progress and try to beat it. We say game on, so get going.

Abvio Official Website

SIA: Bluetooth Comes to Googles

If you’re having a working vacation on the slopes, or just think you can do serious multitasking, the Recon ski goggles with Bluetooth might be for you. The company has added the wireless technology to its latest line of Transcend GPS-powered alpine goggles, and these can connect with a smartphone to access playlists, caller ID or even to read text messages.

The new goggles, which were shown last week at the SIA (Snowsports Industries of America) trade show in Denver, can also connect to a video camera, with the LCD screen within the eyewear lens acting as a viewfinder. These Transcend goggles further feature a navigation system with buddy-tracking and even integrated trail maps.

Pricing and availability haven’t been announced, but we’ll be sure to keep an eye out for these.

Recon Official Website

Walk This Way, Walk That Way, Every Body Walk!

There is nothing exactly high tech, or even innovative about walking. But that won’t stop KineticShift.com from helping spread the word that walking 30 minutes a day, five days a week is the first step toward better health. This is the take-charge message from health advocates at  Kaiser Permanente, who announced a new public awareness project aimed at starting a national conversation about the health benefits of walking.

Every Body Walk! is an online educational campaign aimed at getting Americans up and moving, and the site www.everybodywalk.org serves as a walking hub for news, resources on walking, health information, walking maps, how to find groups and even a personal pledge form to start walking. The site even provides a place to share stories about individual experiences with walking.

According to research more than 70 percent of all adult Americans lead sedentary lifestyles and this impacts the overall health of our country as a whole.

“The aim of the Every Body Walk! campaign is to inform Americans about the tremendous health benefits of walking,” said Bob Sallis, MD, family physician at Kaiser Permanente’s, Southern California Permanente Medical Group. “Walking is an excellent form of exercise for everyone and for those with conditions like diabetes, asthma, heart disease and depression, a regular walking regimen has the added benefit of helping to manage these diseases. I’m a strong believer in the power of walking and that’s why I literally prescribe it to my patients as front line medicine — often in place of medications.”

The Every Body Walk! campaign is powered by Kaiser Permanente. Campaign partners include the American College of Sports Medicine and their Exercise Is Medicine global initiative.

Every Body Walk! Official Website

Push It, This is War

It almost seems fitting that DailyBurn would introduce an iPhone app called “Push-Up War” this month. The late Jack LaLanne still holds the world’s record for doing 1,000 push-ups in just 23 minutes – and now this app, which integrates with Facebook and Apple’s GameCenter, allows users the ability to see how they stack up on the leaderboards.

The app takes advantage of an iPhone’s camera to easily record a video of a user’s push-up session, and this can be uploaded online, where users can earn new “ranks” as they continue entering more pushups. To ensure that there is no cheating – something we know Jack would never do – a video recording of every push-ups entry is required.

The Push-Up Wars app is available for download from the Apple App Store for just $0.99, and we’re hearing word that an Android version in the works. So get ready to push it real good, because this time it means war.

Push-Up Wars Leaderboards

Browse While Getting Your Workout

Last year we saw a few goofy ideas like the treadmill desk, which is something we praised but in all truthfulness knew was a crazy idea. But yet, every time we hit the gym somewhere we see people checking e-mail, looking at apps or even trying to surf the Web on their mobile smartphones.

So with that in mind, we love the idea of the newly announced ProForm TrailRunner 4.0 treadmill, which features a 10-inch touch screen monitor with Web browser powered by Android. This allows users to put in the distance while still watching news, sports highlights or accessing social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Users can further check and send e-mail while treading the time away. Continue reading Browse While Getting Your Workout

Nokia Pushes Ahead with Burton

How was the run you might be asked at the bottom of the slope? Now you can tell how it was, while using your Nokia N8 to offer the details. Last week Nokia and Burton Snowboards announced a new partnership that will create a new way to visualize snowboarding with the Nokia x Burton: Push Snowboarding.

With sensors on the rider and snowboarder to detect a snowboard’s orientation, downward pressure exerted by the rider, as well as heart rate and Galvanic skin response – factors used in lie detector technology – riders can get post run data, which is sent to a Nokia N8 mobile phone. While GPS technology can further clock a rider’s speed down the Galvanic skin response actually monitors biofeedback that can detect elevated emotions, such as fearing for one’s life. So anyone who says, “It was nothing” will have to mean it. Let’s see if this technology pushes riders to new extremes.

Nokia Push Blog

FitnessClass is in Session with PumpOne

PumpOne, a mobile personal training tool, just introduced its FitnessClass App for the iPad. Available in the App Store, this FitnessClass offers on-demand, streaming fitness workouts on the Apple tablet, provided you have an Internet connection.

The program starts with 230 full-length workouts and plans to add more from well-known fitness instructors including Kathy Smith, Cathe Friedrich, Chris Freytag, Ellen Barrett, Iliara Montagnani, Michael Olajide Jr., Patricia Moreno and Patrick Goudeau. Classes cover a variety of modalities such as bodyweight bootcamp, med ball core, hip-hop dance, yoga, Pilates, kettlebells, dumbbells, Swiss ball and TRX sessions.

Two pricing options make the FitnessClass App easy to work with for many iPad users using In App transactions. Preview workouts for free using the App. Then purchase an on-going subscription to a series, or purchase individual workouts. You can access any purchased, or subscription-based, workouts any time as long as you have an Internet connection. Continue reading FitnessClass is in Session with PumpOne

Fitness Journal: Wearing the BodyMedia Fit

Trade shows, especially for journalists, are a time for getting work done. Meeting exhibitors and seeing product. It’s easy to lose sight of your fitness routines. As the Consumer Electronics Show approached and the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (Bluetooth SIG) approached me to wear an activity meter and compete for the journalist who takes the most steps, I was intrigued. There are a few shows including CES and the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) where I know I log a lot of steps because I’m running (sometimes literally) back and forth between several spread out halls to get to appointments and to see the show. I’ve always been curious just how many steps I’ve taken and calories I’ve burned at these shows. Now I had the perfect tool to give me the answer. Not only that, but immediately after CES I was headed to the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit, and was curious to see how that show compared in steps and energy output. Continue reading Fitness Journal: Wearing the BodyMedia Fit

Master the Shot with SHOT Master

Whilst not everyone can become a master of the fairways and dominate the greens, every golfer can probably improve their technique and with it their overall game. That’s the idea behind SHOT Master, an interactive golf guide and e-tutorial that helps golfers improve their skill. It features carefully organized and detailed game improvement tips and easy-to-follow videos that can be conveniently used wherever the golfer goes. 

SHOT Master is the brain child of independent developers Charles Casteel, Jr. and Charles Casteel, Sr., an Information Technology expert, and professional golfer and golf instructor Willie Roberson. SHOT Master specializes in those rough shots, such as being stuck behind a tree in the rough or trapped in a bunker. It is a great tool as a golfer finding themselves in these “rough” situations can simply take out their iPod touch or iPhone and find out in a nice detailed tutorial how to get the best shot from where they are stuck.

“We are pleased to fill a void for the avid golfer to get help in real time. We know there are some very difficult golf shot and we wanted to create a coach that can be with the golfer at all times”,  said Charles Casteel, Sr., SHOT Master part-owner and developer. “Golfers all over the world can improve their game by mastering some of golf’s most changeling shots by using our Golf App while on the golf course from the convenience of their iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad.” Continue reading Master the Shot with SHOT Master

CES: Nike and TomTom Partner Up for SportWatch GPS

CES maybe over but we’ll be posting about all the cool stuff all week long.

Some partnerships just seem like a match made in heaven, and we’re not talking about Peanut Butter Cups either. Last week at the Consumer Electronics Show we heard an announcement that frankly was more earth shattering than the Apple iPhone for Verizon deal. Nike and TomTom are collaborating to create the Nike+ SportWatch GPS, which will now utilize TomTom’s GPS functionality.

This will provide athletes with the ability to know where they’re going as well as how much they ran, plus all the usual information including calories burned, pace, distance and time. The Nike+ SportWatch GPS will feature the same simple and intuitive user interface as the past models with a mere three buttons and tap screen for navigation. Continue reading CES: Nike and TomTom Partner Up for SportWatch GPS

Fitness on the Brain(Waves)

Some people just have fitness on the brain. We like those kind of people, but we understand that not everyone has mental concentration to get in the mindset to workout. But now B-Bridge International has unveiled the first brainwave athletic trainer. It is powered by NeuroSky, a maker of mass-market Brain Computer Interface technology.

The BrainAthlete system is designed to help consumers track their athletic level of concentration, and find the “zone.” It is built into a standard golf visor, and contains three non-invasive contact points in the headband. These monitor the EEG electrical activity from the wearer’s brain and determine the mental state, allowing users as well as trainers to track concentration levels during a workout activity. This can be later analyzed and to help training.

“When it comes to expert level players or athletes, the difference between win or lose, gold or silver is often the athlete’s mind,” says Dr. Lee, NeuroSky’s CTO.

NeuroSky has been already working with the technology with the USA Olympic Archery team for more than four years, and now the partnership is looking to take a swing at the golf market. Time to concentrate on the game, and see if your mind was really there when it counted.

NeuroSky Official Website

B-Bridge International Official Website

CES 2011: The Gymbox Goes for Free the TV Challenge

Last August Samsung kicked off its “Free the TV Challenge” to spur development of new connected TV content, and developers from across the country were invited to submit their best ideas for 2D and 3D TV applications across a range of categories. Finalists were selected from this range of submissions and the winners of the challenge will be announced this week at the Consumer Electronics Show.

We found there to be some very interesting finalists, but we’re pulling for Gymbox, which provides weekly, full-length workouts on demand. These include Step Aerobics, Kickboxing, Yoga, Pilates, Core Strength, Treadmill, Cycle, Strength Training, and Stretch. New classes are added weekly so you never have to repeat the same workout twice.

Free the TV Challenge: Gymbox

CES 2011: BodyMedia Measures Each Step at CES 2011

This year several companies and organizations are giving pedometers to attendees of the Consumer Electronics Show to settle the curiosity that is, how much walking did I actually do? The answer for many people at trade shows, especially CES, is a lot. The folks at BodyMedia are giving select attendees a BodyMedia FIT Armband BW that measures activity and logs it via Bluetooth to the BodyMedia FIT mobile app.

BodyMedia is an online and mobile application that watches your activity and calories to help you achieve your select goals such as weight loss, maintenance, and increasing your activity level. At registration, the application asks you a few questions on vitals, and then lets you set your goals. If weight loss is your plan, you can set the goal of how quickly you want to lose and it gives you a date on when you can expect to reach your goal. For instance, if you plan to lose a total five pounds and choose half a pound a week, then it will set the end goal for two and a half months. Continue reading CES 2011: BodyMedia Measures Each Step at CES 2011