Thursday, September 27, 2007

Interbike, Cool New, Shinny Toys


Everything you ever wanted to know, see, play with, ride, demo, experience is in Las Vegas, at least for everything biking or outdoor fitness.
You can look at the Interbike Blog or Wired's Blog to get complete coverage of what is going on. There is everything from Ceramic Bearings to Off Road Skates. It is truly amazing to see what changes or new additions that companies make. Orbea Bikes has a amazing redesigned triathlon bike that we will see highlighted at Ironman Kona, they have completely change the layout of the frame from the headtube to the integrated seat clamp.
ORDU
"Ordu is totally new for 08, every aspect of the new model was evaluated in wind tunnel testing, resulting in a 7% improvement in aerodynamic efficiency over the 07 Ordu. The new headtube is uniquely designed to reduce frontal area. The new seat mast, bottom bracket shell, integrated seat clamp, and aero dropouts show that nothing has been left untouched in making the fastest bike on the road."

The show is made up of curious people to small business owners, independent shops bloggers and whoever is left over fro the night before.
Check it out! INTERBIKE..

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Hitachi, Biometric Wristwatch


Thanks to Gear live

Hitachi, better known for TV's, DVD's, Projection, etc, is now taking a leap into the (ACE) fitness market. The Biometric watch will work 24/7 for 10 straight days, thats some good data. It is roughly the size of the Garmin 305 but weighs less.
"Based on a prototype they developed two years ago, the watch now has a lighter weight of 40 grams and is half the size at 43 x 35 x 15 mm. You only need to connect to your PC (wirelessly) to read the data. We think that we are already nervous about a device that tells us that we eat too much and exercise too little. Expect it to hit the market in 2008. "
Check it out! Gear Live: Hitachi Biometric watch

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Exergaming, keeping or getting kids active


Well this blog and most of the post are about getting you out and exercising. Well one of this countries biggest problem is Obesity, and with ideas like this, we might have a chance (I am still in favor or getting your butt and kids butts outside). Xrkade is taking all the interactive games and putting them into an environment that is condusive to exercising, not ot mention competition.

"The XRKade club is a new and exciting destination created for the Millennials and Generation G (“Gamers”). It is a cutting edge environment focused on offering the tech-savvy an immersive sensory based experience complete with the most advanced interactive games, exergaming, and entertainment systems. The XRKade club resembles a virtual reality type arcade with a futuristic, urban, and X games twist that is motivating and exciting. It is an experience offering entertaining and physical challenges that completely submerges the user in the XRKade games and activities. It motivates the user to be active with each activity and game they play while receiving the benefits of being physically active"

Not sure it will take off, but with winter coming it is a good time to launch and open places around the country. They should just rent space in areas for the winter then move to resort towns during the summer, so when it is raining or cold, kids have something to do. Give me a call we can work out the marketing of this offline.

You have something great. Xrkade

Thursday, September 13, 2007

See in the Dark: Street Runner LiteVest


GOMOTION a new company that is making running in the dark easy and risk free. The product, depending on your use, is a variation of itself.

The Trail Runner LiteVest features a low-profile, lightweight, breathable mesh pack with 3-Watt LED mounted at chest level for maximum trail visibility and comfort, and a hydration cell option. Adjustable features include shoulder strap adjustment from the lower back area and a LED chest-strap slider more maximum chest comfort and fit. The CoreBeam™ chest-mounted LED technology includes:3-level brightness control, wide range and adjustable beam width control via rotary dial, and barrel-mounted FluidDrive vertical-pivoting light. Fitting out the pack are two red tail-lights, 4 zip pockets for cell phone and other accessories, a compartment for a standard hydration pack and a low-battery signal light to alert the runner well in advance of low battery life.

The Street Runner LiteVest features a super-lightweight, adjustable mesh harness with padded straps, a 1-Watt LED at chest level for maximum trail visibility and comfort. Adjustable features include shoulder strap adjustment from the lower back area and a LED strap slider more maximum chest comfort and fit. CoreBeam™ chest-mounted LED technology includes: 3-level brightness control, wide range and adjustable beam width control via rotary dial, and barrel-mounted FluidDrive vertical-pivoting light. Other features include two red tail-lights, 1 center pocket for cell phone and a low-battery signal light to alert the runner well in advance of low battery life. The Street Runner can also accept the GoMotion™ re-chargeable battery.

And last the Sport Runner LiteVest features a contoured, waist-level running belt designed as a lightweight solution for walkers and recreational runners with breathable mesh construction. It features a 1-Watt LED with the same CoreBeam™ functions as the LiteVest including: brightness control, beam width and light direction adjustment. Two rear tail-lights, two zip pockets for cell phone and accessories, and has a low-battery signal light round out this easy-to-use LiteBelt™.

I have not found a price for them yet but rest asured I will have one now that we are running out of daylight.
Cheers

Saturday, September 08, 2007

Body Sensor give real-time monitoring


This is big news for anyone that is looking to progress to the next level without having to wear sensors glued too you. e-AR Sensixa has come out with a wearable device that can monitor, sports, wellbeing, healthcare and for gaming.

I don't think that I can say it as well as BSN:

The last decade has witnessed a rapid surge of interest in new sensing and monitoring devices for healthcare and the use of wearable/wireless devices for clinical applications. One key development in this area is implantable in vivo monitoring and intervention devices. While the problem of long-term stability and biocompatibility is being addressed, several promising prototypes are starting to emerge for managing patients with acute diabetes, for treatment of epilepsy and other debilitating neurological disorders and for monitoring of patients with chronic cardiac diseases. Despite the technological developments of sensing and monitoring devices, issues related to system integration, sensor miniaturization, low-power sensor interface circuitry design, wireless telemetric links and signal processing have still to be investigated. Moreover, issues related to Quality of Service, security, multi-sensory data fusion, and decision support are active research topics. To address general issues related to using wearable/wireless and implantable sensors and to bring together scientists from computing, electronics, bioengineering, medicine and industry, the term BSN – Body Sensor Networks was coined by Prof Guang-Zhong Yang of Imperial College in 2002 and after much preparation, the first International Workshop on BSN was launched in 2004. Some of the key research focuses of the BSN community includes the latest technological developments and clinical applications of:

  • Novel bioelectrical, biochemical, biophysical, and mechanical sensors
  • Hardware considerations: low power RF transceiver, energy scavenging, battery technology, miniaturisation, system integration, process and cost of manufacturing
  • Biocompatibility and materials
  • Context awareness and multi-sensor data fusion
  • Data inferencing, knowledge discovery, and prediction
  • Quality of service, trust and security issues
  • Autonomic sensor networks
  • Standards and light-weight communication protocolsIntegration with ambient sensing with applications in smart dwellings, and home monitoring
  • Wearable and implantable sensor integration and development platformsClinical applications of body-sensor networks
Check it out! e-AR Sensixa

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

easyglider, Get out and Get Around!


Hey sometimes fitness can include a motor! easyglider a company out of Bern, Switzerland, has come up with a great alternative to the Segway, plus it is faster. Yes it uses gas but those are some of the trade-off one has to make, to be stylish. It won the Best Invention and the Industrial Design Award, cool, and as they say "We are very proud to say that we have won them all."
They have 3 products:
easyglider X6
easyglider KIDS
easyglider ECO
and two in the works
easyglider WATER
easyglider X7

So this is really sidewalk surfing. Glide anywhere to the beat of your own drummer. The best part of this is getting you outside. I am all in favor of any product that gets people outside, the could however make one that is rechargeable, might not take so many hits from the environmental crowd if they had one in their stable.
Check it out! easyglider