Australian Football Players Train Under Big Brother

The heart rate monitor and GPS device is no longer personal for world football players. Australia’s World Cup players are picking up data via satellite for each player’s workout. Teams get competitive data on their own performance, and their competitors, according to “Socceroos go high-tech to gain an edge over rest of the world,” an article published in The Sydney Morning Herald.

Players down under were able to compare their training to that of their Russian counterparts. Team coaches also use the data to provide support for their players. “We’re analyzing the players’ volumes of sweat and composition so we can accurately predict how much fluid they’ll lose during a game and at training,” Australia’s strength and conditioning coach Darren Burgess told the paper. “We want to have a rehydration strategy for each player.”

It will be interesting to see what other teams and leagues pick up this method of training. Will it lead to real-time data access to personal workouts instead of uploading details upon return from a run?

GPS Tracks Pace During Run, Not Turns

Garmin Forefunner 110 tracks progress on your workouts so you can keep your eye on pace.

When your feet hit the road, you have different demands on GPS than in your car. You don’t need turn-by-turn directions, you need data. Speed. Distance. Devices for runners are sometimes bulky, sometimes difficult to use. Garmin is about to release its Forerunner 110. This GPS device is a watch, and just about the size of an average sport watch or heart rate monitor. It’s packed with featuers.

Forerunner 110 has GPS and a heart rate monitor. Once you set it at the beginning of a run it tracks where you go on your run and your heart rate. From this data it calculates your pace, distance run, calories burned, and stores the information until you upload it to your profile on Garmin Connect. You can track your training progress, look back on a whole season of running, or just see where you’ve been by keeping data on your profile. This is one addition to the standard heart rate monitor we like.

Garmin Web site

Garmin Forerunner 110
Garmin Connect

Cameras with Geo-Tagging

Add geo-tags to your digital photos with Samsung HZ35W.
Add geo-tags to your digital photos with Samsung HZ35W.

You were on a hike. You took a picture of the view from the summit. When people ask, you can give them the general vicinity of the photo, or you can give the exact coordinates via GPS technology built into the camera. Samsung’s HZ35W has GPS technology built in so adventurers can geo-tag digital images. Photos are tagged with longitude and latitude and post the city, state, and country and even reference a map on the camera’s active-matrix OLED (AMOLED) screen.

A 12 megapixel camera with a 24mm wide-angle lens and 15x optical zoom, the HZ35W will snap some impressive pictures as you travel hike the nation’s parks or travel abroad. Back at home you can upload photos with their geo-tagging to show your friends where you’ve been.

More info: Samsung.com


Know Where You Are Going With the GH-561

Getting there they say is half the fun. We say not getting completely lost is the rest of the fun! The GH-561 makes pre-planning your treks all the easier – whether they be around the neighborhood or around the world. This fully sealed, water resistant device offers GPS navigation with route planning, waypoint and GPS positioning. It can be used to locate and track points anywhere you choose to go, and it can be used with Travel Manager software so you can plot out your trip. It is rugged enough for outdoor travel, including climbing and hiking. And best of all, it will save you from ever saying, “where are we?”

Product Page: Globalsat GH-561