Mobile Phone | Evolving Consumer

iPhone Shows Can Do App Spirit with ANT+ from Abvio

Earlier this year Abvio previewed its 5.0 version of its trio of iPhone apps, which included a Runmeter, Cyclemeter and Walkmeter. Now the developer has announced the 6.0 version that includes advanced support of the Wahoo Fitness ANT+ system. These three GPS fitness apps deliver the power of an expensive bike computer or GPS watch to a user’s iPhone by tracking workouts with a host of features designed to help you improve performance and fitness.

Post workout, users can utilize the social sharing features, which include support for Twitter, Facebook and dailymile.com. This functionality can provide extra motivation with a fun twist: where your friends, family and coaches can reply to your posts on these social sites, their replies are then spoken using text-to-speech technology during your workout. Continue reading iPhone Shows Can Do App Spirit with ANT+ from Abvio

Bianchi Launches Android App

Bianchi Bicycle owners can be a dedicated bunch, and we don’t blame them for loving their finely crafted Italian made machines. Now they can share their joy with a new app for Android mobile smartphones that follows the release of the iPhone and iPad launches – and don’t worry a BlackBerry version is also in the work.

The free to download app offers users the ability to surf the whole Bianchi range of products with itemized images and technical features, news and updates from the official Bianchi website and geolocation search so users can easily find the closest Bianchi dealer. And what would a Bianchi app be were it not highlighted in Celeste green?

Bianchi App on the Android Market

iPhone app maximizes cardio workouts

httpv://youtu.be/ZsCYc1bXi7Y

Love it or hate it, cardio workouts are a must if you’re trying to tone up or lose weight. But if you’re like most people, the thought of spending 30 minutes on a treadmill is a motivation zapper. Fortunately for iPhone users, there’s an app that can help.

Created by Beau Taillefer, Forumla 55 ($4.99) is an iOS-based app designed to keep your cardio sessions fresh by pushing you out of your comfort zone. Formula 55 workouts incorporate squats, sprints, hills, and more to ensure you never get stuck in a cardio rut. Just plug in your measurements, select your goals, and the app automatically does the rest.

The app also lets you import playlists so you always workout to your favorite tunes, and once you’re done you can blast your workouts through cyber space thanks to the app’s built-in Facebook integration.

Formula 55
[via ABC Action News: Group of amateur athletes get ripped using unique app]

Interbike 2011: Wahoo Packs a Lot in Bike Pack

“And that’s not all,” is sort of the feeling we had when Wahoo announced its new Bike Pack that features the Wahoo Bike Case along with the Wahoo Fitness Speed and Cadence sensor. These items are now offered together as a combo pack that might make iPhone users ditch their cycling computers.

Wahoo Fitness instead allows users to wirelessly connect the iPhone to an ANT+ fitness measuring device and includes the bike case to ensure the mobile smartphone can survive a spill on the road, while mounting the handset on the handle bars! The case fits iPhone 3G, 3GS and 4 in both Verizon and AT&T versions.

Videos after the jump Continue reading Interbike 2011: Wahoo Packs a Lot in Bike Pack

The FDA to Regulate Apps

If you have a pulse and are familiar with Apple’s iPhone, you’ve heard the slogan “there’s an app for that.” With the number of apps exceeding 350,000 for just the iPhone and iPod Touch iOS platform, and ten of thousands of apps for the Android, BlackBerry and other smartphones, there are countless medical apps available. And just like Apple’s well known modern slogan, there is also another phase which is much older, scientia potentia est or “knowledge is power” – this is the phase that worries the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA is now proposing guidelines to regulate a small number of medical apps and oversee those that they deem could be dangerous to the general public if the information presented is wrong. All of these apps are medical related and will only be regulated if the information presented could put an individual at risk if the apps does not work as intended.

The policy advisor to the FDA, Bakul Patel, states that some of the apps have a simple goal of helping consumers manage their own health and wellness, for example the National Institutes of Health’s LactMed app, which gives nursing mothers information about the effects of medicines on breast milk and nursing infants. While there are other apps help health care providers improve and facilitate patient care – the Radiation Emergency Medical Management (REMM) app gives health care providers guidance on diagnosing and treating radiation injuries. Continue reading The FDA to Regulate Apps

VEA Sport Watch Does More

We’ve seen a lot of watches, and it isn’t that uncommon to have a device strapped to your wrists that can tell time, include alarms and even have a calculator (how 1980s is that). Much of this technology can now be included in mobile phones, so many people have stopped wearing high-tech watches altogether. That is until you want to work out, then the phone becomes the hassle and the watch is more useful – especially with the calorie counting and heart rate monitor functionality.

But now French-based VEA is rolling out a fitness watch that could make you want to ditch the mobile phone when you workout. The VEA Sportive Mobile Watch actually features a built-in MP3 player, pulse rate monitor, camera and even basic phone functionality. It is Bluetooth compatible, offers 8GB of storage and has an SOS button should you need to call for help.

However, you’ll have to run to Europe to get one. It will be released later this month for €399, but that price will reportedly run up to €499 in September, so if you’re a gadget connoisseur you might want to act now.

VEA Digital Official Website
[Via Engadget: VEA’s Sportive mobile watch is for those with money, calories to burn]

Surfboard That Catches Waves and Rays

Surfers like to catch waves, and typically do so where there tends to be a bit of sun. There are times that people surf in less than sunny locations, but not a new innovation will want them to catch waves, and catch some rays of the sun as well.

Tony Jones of Coral Reef Wetsuits essentially added a solar panel to his custom board, and it adds power to the deck, enough to just up cameras, flashlights, mobile phones and portable radios. So while he’s out riding the waves, the solar power charges a 2200 mA lithium battery. The solar panel doesn’t even need direct sunlight to charge efficiently, but with the board on the roof it could even trickle charge the car’s battery.

This is certainly an interesting twist on getting positive energy!

[Via Earth Techling: Solar Surfboard Lets You Catch Waves, Power]

Near Field Communication Used to Track Sleep

This week iMPak Health announced the launch of its new SleepTrak, the first such product to use Near Field Communication (NFC). The enabled mobile health and wellness application will launch on Nokia’s Symbian platform, including the Nokia C7 Smartphone, where users can download the free app from the Ovi store.

“NFC and Cypak technology enable SleepTrak to bring many aspects of a professional sleep assessment session to the consumer market for a fraction of the price,” says Per Nathanaelson, iMPak Health President and CEO. “With iMPak Health’s provider expertise from Meridian Health, the SleepTrak data will be useful when presented to a trained medical professional.” Continue reading Near Field Communication Used to Track Sleep

Carbon Fiber Headset Offers Style and Balance

We at KineticShift love carbon fiber. It is the space age material that just makes everything better, lighter and stronger. OK, maybe not everything can benefit from carbon fiber, but we like it with bikes, tennis racquets and other sports and fitness gear. We also see that what works for fitness is translating into other sectors as well.

We also like Bluetooth, the wireless technology that is great for near area communications. So this week we saw something that turned our heads, namely a Bluetooth carbon fiber headset!

At the Hong Kong Electronics and Global Sources Fair this week Bluetrek Technologies introduced the CARBON, the world’s first Bluetooth headset made of carbon fiber. It promises to be equipped with the best in class audio enhancement technology so both the user and receiver can have crystal clear audio. . In addition, the patented mechanism embedded in the carbon fiber tube allows extended talk time, yet reduces weight to less than 6grams while retaining a slender aesthetic to the ear piece, warranting long time wear with superb comfort.

While CARBON might not be the most ideal fitness headset, we hope that this will just be a proof of concept. Bluetrek are you listening? If you had CARBON as a headset we think you’d hear us loud and clear.

Bluetrek Official Website

iPhone App to be Black Box for Bikes

We’ve long heard about the importance of the black box for airplanes – even if the box isn’t technically black. And we’ve been hearing that following Toyota’s ongoing accelerator problems that there could be a move to put black boxes in cars, but what about bikes?

Well, don’t look for a fancy piece of hardware in the frame, but our friends at BikeRadar.com are reporting that a new iPhone app has been released that works much like the airplane version of a black box, which in the unfortunate event of a crash could store video footage of the collision and other data.

The iCar Black Box app from 21pixel is available now in the UK, with a free download for trial. It can be used to monitor speed, location and g-force. It isn’t mean to be a training aid or even a video camera, because while it does film on a loop it only records in the event of an impact. Like a black box for planes it is something you likely hope you’re never going to use, and this is where we see a small problem.

There are many iPhone apps available as training aids, and unless the mobile handset can do double duty we feel most riders aren’t going to want to put the app on their bike when it could be used for something else instead.

[via BikeRadar.com: New iPhone app works like black box for cyclists]

Pixel21 Official Website

Map to Better Fitness and Nutrition

There is no one route to better health, but MapMyFITNESS hopes to help guide the way. The maker of online and mobile health and fitness-related software applications announced a partnership with Humana to launch Humana fit, a Web-based and mobile social network designed to help users live healthier and more active lives.

This includes an online nutrition center, as well as an app that lets users map out their daily activity including walking, hiking and biking. And since there is always strength in numbers users can interact in a dynamic social network to share progress and serve as motivation.

This partnership also includes integration with companion Human fit iPhone, Android and BlackBerry apps, where it can take advantage of built-in GPS to allow members to record and share their exercise routes, and data for all fitness activities can be synced and saved for a training log to monitor performance.

“Humana fit is a powerful platform, as it leverages the entirety of our Web and mobile technologies to deliver Humana an innovative, multi-faceted health and fitness application with a built-in thriving community from day one,” said Robin J. Thurston, chief executive officer of MapMyFITNESS.

Humana fit Official Website

MapMyFITNESS Official Web site

SporT on With New Tracking App for iPhone

This week SporTracker announced the release of its new app for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. SporTracker is designed to help users track and analyze their body parameters for everyday sport activity, while providing a virtual personal fitness instructor to help main good physical condition.

The app can be used with a range of activities including walking, running and cycling, as well as wind surfing and even kayaking. It relies on the built-in iPhone GPS and motion sensors, which can track location and measure progress in real time. Users can further track speed, distance, cadence, height, climbing rate and time among other characteristics. This activity can be broadcast as LiveTrack Session to the SporTracker website or shared in real time to Facebook and Twitter.

“Our team has been working hard on delivering a great application supported by very informative website,” said Daniel Neaman, president of SporTracker Ltd. “We are convinced that our users will find the application effective and user friendly.”

The app is available now for $4.99 via the Apple App Store in the Healthcare & Fitness category, for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad – requires iOS 3.1.3 or later as well as 5.1MB.

SporTracker Official Website

Virtual Trainer Gets Smartphone App

Tracking a workout will soon get a little easier, as Life Fitness recently announced the Life Fitness Virtual Trainer smartphone app that will sync with the company’s popular Virtual Trainer Website. This will allow users to update workout results on both the site and to their mobile devices.

Through the free app, users will be able to track workout progress via a smartphone, including both cardio and strength results. There will also be a library of training features available as add-ons for purchase.

“Today, internet content is shaping the workout experience and new technology, like apps, further enhances a fitness program,” said Chris Clawson, president of Life Fitness. “This smartphone app is the natural next step for Life Fitness and will support our users by allowing them to maximize their workouts on our equipment.”

The smartphone app will be available soon as a free download.

Life Fitness Virtual Trainer Website

Life Fitness Official Website