This guide will provide you with brief info on its entire activity tracker range. If you don’t have time to read through the entire thing, lets cut to the chase. Outside its range of sports watches, the Vivoactive 3 is probably the best fitness device you can buy from Garmin right now.
I managed to wear a fitbit the entirety of 2017, this is exciting for a few reasons: one I have commitment problems, and two: it’s a lot of data that I have to play with. While fitbit’s app has some nice pretty graphs, they make it rather hard to actually dump all of your data into something nice like a csv.
Over the summer I worked on a project with Jeff Leek at the Johns Hopkins Data Science Lab to crack open this fitbit data resource and get out nice tidy csvs of your data. While we have yet to fully release what we worked on I figured this post would be a demonstration of what one can do with the data from their fitbit and perhaps inspire others to explore their own data.
Trying to get healthy in the new year? Wearable technology, like Fitbits and Apple watches, sounds like a great idea. The problem: Many users quickly abandon them.
“At least 50 percent of people drop off after the first month,” said Vibhanshu Abhishek, an assistant professor of information systems at Carnegie Mellon University who studies fitness and health technology. “People start using these devices, and very soon they don’t see too much value.”
The devices themselves aren’t the problem, he said, noting that the technology continues to improve. New sensors in Apple watches and Fitbits will soon be able to measure indicators such as blood sugar and blood pressure and to detect sleep apnea, increasingly with clinical precision. The issue is that the apps accompanying the devices don’t evolve with the user to keep him or her coming back.
In September, Apple announced that the Apple Watch would no longer need to be tethered to a smartphone and would become more of a stand-alone device. Since then, a wave of device manufacturers have tapped into the watch’s new features like cellular connectivity to develop medical accessories — such as an electrocardiogram for monitoring heart activity — so people can manage chronic conditions straight from their wrist.
A new study by Swedish researchers suggests humans can tell, through visual cues alone, when another person is battling a bacterial infection. Biometrics expert Kevin W. Bowyer tells DW whether smartphones can do better.
The maker of advanced swim apps, Swim.com, has teamed up with Spire to create the world’s first smart swimsuit.
We wrote back in November about the new Spire Health Tag. The little wearable is different from most activity trackers on the market in that it attaches to clothes you put on every day. The idea here is to provide a seamless experience so you do not need to worry about battery life, maintenance, or even to put it on! It comes in packs of up to 15 tags so you can stick them onto clothes you wear the most.
PLOS One; Soultana Macridis, Nora Johnston, Steven Johnson, Jeff K. Vallance from
Consumer physical activity tracking devices (PATs) have gained popularity to support individuals to be more active and less sedentary throughout the day. Wearable PATs provide real-time feedback of various fitness-related metrics such as tracking steps, sedentary time, and distance walked. The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence and correlates of PAT ownership and use among a population-based sample of adults. A representative sample of adults ≥18 years (N = 1,215) from Alberta, Canada were recruited through random-digit dialing and responded to a questionnaire via computer-assisted telephone interviewing methods in summer 2016. Questionnaires assessed demographic and health behaviour variables, and items were designed to assess PAT ownership and usage. Logistic regression analysis (odds ratios) was used to assess correlates of PAT ownership and use. On average, participants (N = 1,215) were 53.9 (SD 16.7) years and 50.1% were female. Of the sample, 19.6% (n = 238) indicated they currently own and use a PAT. Participants who owned a PAT wore their device on average 23.2 days within the past month. Currently owning a PAT was significantly associated with being female (OR = 1.41, CI: 1.10 to 1.82), being <60 years of age (OR = 1.86, CI: 1.37 to 2.53), having at least some post secondary education (OR = 1.88, CI: 1.36 to 2.60), having a BMI ≥25 (OR = 1.52, CI: 1.16 to 1.99), and meeting physical activity guidelines (OR = 1.45, CI: 1.12 to 1.88). Similar correlates emerged for PAT use. Correlates significantly associated with PAT use and ownership included being female, being less than 60 years of age, having a post-secondary education, meeting physical activity guidelines, and being overweight/obese. This is the first study to examine characteristics of PAT ownership and use among Canadian adults.
Today Wahoo announced their latest device – the Wahoo TICKR FIT. The TICKR FIT is simply an optical heart rate sensor that transmits ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart. Basically, it’s like a Scosche Rhythm+ or to a slightly lesser extent like a Polar OH1 sensor. All three of which are generally designed to be worn on the upper arm, which has the benefit of generally giving quite a bit more accurate readings than optical HR sensors worn at the wrist.
In any event, this $79 sensor is priced identical to that of the Scosche Rhythm+ as well as the Polar OH1. I’ll get into the nuanced competitive differences down below though, as there are some things worth noting.
… If you are not getting enough water in your diet then you should seriously start looking for ways to increase your daily intake. Changing old habits is never easy but here are some gadgets that may help.
… Regardless of your goals—weight loss, improved performance, or just better health—incorporating a nutrition app into your fueling plan can be effective, says Sarah Koszyk, a San Francisco sports nutritionist. “It’s a convenient way to build awareness about what you’re eating and allows you to make smarter decisions, so that you can reach your goals in a measurable way,” she says.
But not all apps are created equal. These five nutritionist-approved picks help you create sustainable changes in your eating habits and are best suited for high performers looking for more than just an easy way to count calories.
For the most part, “it’s relatively simple data that these devices are collecting,” says Matthew Beitz, an assistant research scientist in the Department of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine. Most trackers rely on accelerometers and altimeters, limiting them to gathering info about movement (or, for many of us, the lack thereof).
When you use a device with GPS sensors, however, things get dicier. Suddenly your data shows not only when and how much you’re moving, but where. Beitz says that, at least in theory, companies could use these numbers to figure out exactly where to put that recovery protein shake billboard, or to figure out when most athletes tend to dock themselves in front of their TVs—and thus, when to run commercials. They could even extrapolate your socioeconomic status by figuring out whether you sit or move all day for work and what kind of hours you tend to log at your job.
While Beitz stresses that there’s no evidence that companies are currently selling personal fitness data to advertisers, Michelle De Mooy, director of the Privacy and Data Project at the Center for Democracy and Technology, is less confident. “Device companies rely on user data to make money, regardless of if they say they don’t directly sell or share user data—which some do, just depends on the device,” says De Mooy. For one thing, “they are using it for device optimization purposes and for new product development,” says De Mooy. In other words, your data is free R&D that’s building the next generation of devices.
A fresh startup made up of recent MIT student-athletes is developing a smart system that uses camera vision and machine learning in the gym to create connected workouts and aid athletic development.
When integrating biometric sensors in a hearable or wearable, the project team may come across a number of challenges that have the potential to slow down the product development cycle. Whether it’s mechanical, electrical, software, or testing procedures, let’s take a look at common questions from an engineering point of view that may arise during the product development process and how solving potential issues early can minimize setbacks and get your product to market successfully.
Leading Italian knitted fabrics producer Eurojersey is inviting visitors to explore the potential and performing innovation of its Sensitive Fabrics at the ISPO Munich international trade fair for sporting goods and sports fashion, which takes place from 28-31 January 2018.
The Sensitive Fabrics range is said to allow the creation of garments that are suitable for every occasion. The brand is offering a winning combo of versatility and performance interpreted in a vast range of Sensitive Fabrics suitable for sportswear, “to unleash your potential and boost your energy, no matter what your favourite sport is.”
Cycling has taken off in the American capital. Nearly 17,000 cyclists regularly rode their bikes to work in Washington, D.C. in 2016, according to Census estimates, which is about 5 percent of the city’s commuters. That’s nearly triple the “mode share” it had in 2006, putting it in second place on the list of top biking cities in the U.S., just behind famously gear-friendly Portland, Oregon.
In absolute numbers, D.C. is still a dwarf compared to, say, New York, where 48,000 people pedal to work every week (which is only one percent of commuters there). But D.C.’s growth has exploded since the city piloted one of the country’s first modern bikeshare programs, and started building an ambitious network of bike lanes.
… Healthy eating and exercise go hand in hand, and it’s important to make the right food choices both before and after. So for healthy eating and exercise, what should you have, and when?
“A lot of people assume they have to eat like Michael Phelps, and for most of us that’s not true,” says Leslie Bonci, R.D., owner of Active Eating Advice, which offers nutritional counseling to professional athletes and regular folks. “But if you’re going to be exercising fairly vigorously for about an hour, and you haven’t eaten for about 4 hours, don’t do it on an empty stomach. And you want a little something post exercise, too.”
The human body makes tens of thousands of cellular proteins, each for a particular task. Now researchers have learned to create custom versions not found in nature.
… Coach Jay Johnson, author of Simple Marathon Training, agrees. “So many injuries can be traced to weakness and dysfunction at the hip,” says Johnson. “By doing some leg swings prior to the first steps of a run, you give yourself a better chance to run with symmetric hips, which decreases the risk of injury.”
Richard Hansen, sports chiropractor and coach of the elite Roots Running Project in Boulder, CO, adds to the list of benefits. “Leg swings create a pumping mechanism, helping move fluid in and out of your joints while stimulating blood flow in the surrounding tissue to improve not just flexibility of the joint capsule, but also of the tissue that you’re going to be using for performance—whether that’s running, walking, or going up and down stairs.”