Tag: monitor

Smart Shirt Helps Workouts

A shirt can arguably “look smart” but now a team of engineering and graphic design students from Northeastern University has used their collective brain power to develop a truly smart shirt. The SQUID is in essence a wired shirt that can track and monitor muscle output and efficiency during workouts.

Working with an Android app, and connected to an interactive website, the shirt can track biofeedback and monitor a workout in real-time. While heart rate monitors and other devices can track results, such as calories burned and heart rate, this shirt can also track muscles during a workout, which in turn can help wearers fine tune their workouts and possibly even correct the form as necessary. About the only thing it seems that technology can’t do at this point is workout for you!

[Via Ubergizmo: SQUID smart shirt monitors your workout for improved performance]

Avoid Bang-ups with the HeadsUp System

You are driving home after a long road trip and all that is on your mind is a plate of food and a hot shower. As you turn down your street and push the button for your garage door opener, you zip into the garage just like you would any day after work…but this time you hear a crunch and have that horrible, sinking feeling in your stomach. Your $3000 bike now looks like a metal pretzel and you could literally cry.

Roof racks on cars is such a convenient way to transport your bike, but sometimes really bad and costly accidents occur that could easily be avoided through the use of a small reminder to ‘stop’ before entering your garage. A new wireless visual and audio system is shipping in July to help you avoid this type of situation. The HeadsUp System, founded by two cyclists in Colorado, is designed as a complete solution to avoid the dreaded ‘crunch’. Continue reading Avoid Bang-ups with the HeadsUp System

Sleeptracking the Night Away

Ever have those times where you know you need to get up around a certain time, and sometimes you drift out of a deep sleep, wake up and avoid that sudden jarring of the alarm clock from a total dead sleep? According to some sleep experts, that is actually the best way to wake up and feel actually refreshed. The problem however is that your body actually isn’t the most reliable alarm clock, and for that reason you typically need an alarm to wake you. The next problem is that if the alarm sounds when you’re in a deep state of sleep it can be completely jarring, causing you to feel anything but refreshed.

Instead of using a traditional alarm clock, you could use the SLEEPTRACKER Elite (MSRP: $179, Sleeptracker.com), which is a watch that works much like a monitoring device. But instead of monitoring your calorie burn and activity, it – as the name suggests – monitors your sleep. You don’t set an exact time to wake up, but rather a range. The SLEEPTRACKER then detects the movements associated with light sleep stage and wakes up at this time.

The wearable device can even connect to a PC via USB each morning so you can further track your activities, allowing you to see what might have had a negative effect on your sleep cycles, whether it was a late night, too much alcohol or just a bad bed. With this helping you get a good night’s sleep you can wake up refreshed, hit the gym and not feel worn down by the afternoon.

Sleeptracker Official Website