Lance Armstrong's HP

Everyone is cashing in on Lance Armstrong's last tour. I am glad that most companies (I can't say all, because I don't know) that sponsor Lance give money to Lance Armstrong Foundation.
HP and AMD have developed the HP Special Edition L2000 Notebook PC, a one-of-a-kind consumer PC that bears the LIVESTRONG(TM) message and a reproduction of Lance Armstrong's autograph. Fifty dollars from each HP Special Edition L2000 Notebook PC will go to the Lance Armstrong Foundation to fund its public health, advocacy, research and education initiatives to help people with cancer live strong. (Photo: Business Wire)

Actively Mobile

Technology is changing the way that people do most anything. Now with chips becoming smaller and phones becoming lighter and compressed it's only a matter of time before it's the only device that people need as a MP3, organizer, calendar, phone and training log. People wear arm bands to carry their iPod.
If Actively Mobile can get a couple of issue fixed this would be great, I would use it, and it could fit into a couple of companies that I have talked about before. Polar has partnered with Nokia for Mobile Connectivity, again it is getting to a point that people feel safer taking a mobile phone while exercising.

Social GPS

Now this can be really cool as people catch up with phone technology, forget big brother, stop saying "How About Now", see where your friends are at by just looking at your phone. See where they in location to you if you are Mt. Biking, road biking, and the example that Rebecca has on her site skiing or snowboarding. Your kids can be located, without having to use Motorolas TalkAbout Radios. She has done this thesis on social gpsing. Check it out.... Rebecca Anema Social GPSing

inSENDtive

This is an idea that I had a while back and was not sure what to do with it, so I am wondering if anyone would like to develop this concept further. I am sure that we can work something out, JAY "My Pet Fat" this would be good for what you are doing...

inSENDtive
inSENDtive is a mobile phone service to assist a group of friends/gyms in meeting their personal goals. A user will choose the goals he wants to accomplish, such as regularly going to the gym, then select like-minded friends to join his support network. While at the gym he uses his camera phone to take a photo and send it to his friends to show that he reaches his goals. inSENDtive does not presume that a faceless service will be a powerful motivator; the service only connects and augments the existing motivational power of friendships.

For users, the real value of inSENDtive is as an automated and portable support for connecting friends to accomplish goals.

Using their mobile phone the user can upload a picture of themselves working out along with their results (heart rate and calories burned). A text message will send the picture and the stats to others in the group, giving inSENDtive to get to the gym and workout along with earning valuable HC points. His network on HC will show all the stats of the users in the group keeping a running total until their goals are accomplished.

Race Organizers (RFID tracking)

This is a great idea, the more that I see things like this out their I get really jazzed. I am going to do a Triathlon in June that is going to use this technology so I will give you first hand information.

ChampionChip
The world's leading timing technology for active sports events
In many sports events people compete, with one another, with themselves and with time. For active sports events the ChampionChip company has revolutionized timing. In 1994 the company introduced an automatic timing system, which can not only time the finish but also split and start times. This made net times for every individual athlete possible.

Technology in a Bottle

While reading my mountain bike magazine I can across this product called FRS® Plus antioxidant health drink they were giving a free sample away so I thought what the hey, so I went to the site www.frsplus.com and starting reading ”The company's current product portfolio includes FRS® Plus antioxidant health drink, a scientifically formulated supplement beverage designed to fight fatigue, boost performance and neutralize free radicals before they can cause cellular damage; and IntelliSoyTM, the first completely clear, 100% soluble and perfectly pure soy isoflavone ingredient with low calories and no taste.” IT IS GREAT….. I highly recommend that if you are training, try this out. For the cost of shipping or a Grande at Starbucks you can get a free 8 day trail bottle. What do you have to lose.

Linked running path

Path to fitness with sensors

Cities across Germany are being equipped with electronic jogging paths to beam runners' heart beats to a computer.

Joggers wearing a heart rate belt to send signals to solar-powered radio receivers, will have a "running account" at a computer in Munich, which will analyse their data over months or years.

"Good results" should win the runners discounts on health insurance premiums, which amount to a compulsory 14 per cent cut of salary.

Via The Telegraph.

Body Media: Health. Care. Anywhere.

This company has been on my most watched list for sometime, they are truly the leader in fitness technology to be applied in many different medians.

Health. Care. Anywhere.
BodyMedia is one of the world’s leaders in wearable body monitoring products and technologies. We’ve developed an accurate and convenient way to track the health and behaviors of people outside of a clinical setting, in the context of their everyday lives.
Our weight management, tele-medicine and research applications are a proven, innovative and affordable means for monitoring physiological and lifestyle information, such as energy expenditure, caloric intake, sleep, and adherence to clinical and fitness programs.

BodyMedia is developing state-of-the-art monitoring products in conjunction with some of the world’s top healthcare, fitness, and consumer products companies in disease management, club-based fitness, wellness, and more.

Thinking on their feet (really)

This seems like a great idea, if they can get it down to just a watch and not a phone, gps receiver and ECG sensor.

The Alive Exercise Monitoring System provides real time remote monitoring of exercise performance for medical, sports and fitness applications.
The system, which was developed by Alive Technologies, uses the Alive Bluetooth Heart Monitor, a Bluetooth GPS and Bluetooth mobile phone worn by each runner.
The mobile phone transmits all the data to a web server via GPRS over the mobile phone network
The website shows the subject's position on a map in real time, with graphs of their ECG, heart rate, speed and altitude.

The start of it all....

For as long as I can remember I have been participating in sports, it was not until I started to work at AGENCY.COM the web leader during the .com heyday. It was so technology focused that I learned how to think about innovative technology, you can have a great idea but you need to understand how it is put together. After the crash of the .com I moved to a company called Impact Unlimited, they are exhibit company that had me doing interactive solutions.

Along with all this behind me I met some really smart and bright people, Jay Jacobs the creator of "My Pet Fat", I think that its pretty inspirational, Ying Ying Wong, what a great designer and innovative thinker, Jason Hartman (Teknikos) programmer and DB Media, another great interactive company that is on the rise, Michael McEntee President of Impact Health the leading, national provider of event-based biometric health screening and education programs and JerryO a bald head to bounce ideas off.

That brings me to today, I am working on a concept that is going to change the way that we as people work out, but more on that later. This blog is about all the cool technology that is useful to the main stream public, things that we can buy and use right off the shelf, and the occasional cool technology that is coming but not yet fully in production. So enjoy and please share with all.