… health was front of mind from the start of the watch design process, something only amplified by customers. From Hodinkee’s interview last year:
An early and significant focus was developing both the hardware and software to form the foundation for all of the health-based capabilities. One of the primary applications deeply embedded in the very first watch was to track, communicate, and encourage you in three important areas: move, exercise, and stand. While this was always a primary focus, there is nothing as motivating or encouraging as hearing directly from our customers. Their stories were so profoundly moving we even made a film of their letters to us.
While the fashion of computers and phones will change from year to year, the impact of convincing customers to strap a sophisticated health monitor to their bodies without noticing it can last a lifetime for each customer.
The rise of wearable devices such as the Apple Watch and Fitbit offer us the ability to turn our daily lives into an never-ending catalogue of interpretable data: how many steps we take, the number of calories we consume, our REM sleep cycles, and even the health of our hearts.
Now a team of researchers at Dartmouth say those wearables can serve another purpose — determining whether you’re a productive employee. The data-obsessed may be quick to embrace such an assessment, but what if an employer has access to that information as well?
The researchers say their mobile-sensing system, which consists of fitness bracelets, sensors and a custom app, can measure employee performance with about 80 percent accuracy.
… the 5 is essentially the replacement watch for the Suunto Spartan Trainer, which launched back in 2017 and we actually really enjoyed using. With the Suunto 5 we get the promise of long battery life despite its compact design, a selection of 80 customizable sports modes and something impressively called “adaptive training guidance”. It also packs in a heart rate monitor, 24/7 activity tracking and much more.
The Suunto 5’s features are far from revolutionary, with a wide range of mid-level competitors from the likes of Garmin, Polar and Coros offering impressive tech at similarly affordable price.
So, does the Suunto 5 perform better than its rivals? We’ve been putting it to the test to find out. Here’s our verdict.
Detecting and assessing an individual’s gait can be important for medical diagnostic purposes and for developing and guiding follow-on rehabilitation protocols. Thus, an accurate, objective gait classification system has the potential to facilitate earlier diagnosis and improved clinical decision-making. Systems using smart garments represent an emerging technology for physical activity assessment and that may be relevant for gait classification. The objective of this study was to assess the accuracy of one such system – comprised of commercial instrumented socks and a custom instrument shirt – for differentiating among normal gait and four distinct simulated gait abnormalities. Eleven participants completed an experiment in which they completed several gait trails on a single day. Gait types were classified using diverse modeling approaches (K-nearest neighbors, linear discriminant analyses, support vector machines, and artificial neural networks). High classification accuracy could be obtained, both when classification models were developed and tested using data from each participant separately and grouped together, particularly using the k-nearest neighbor method (>98% accuracy). Some gaits were more often “confused” with other gaits, especially when they shared underlying kinematic aspects. These results support the potential of using “smart” garments for detecting and identifying abnormal gaits, and for future implementation in diagnosis and rehabilitation.
Fitbit has finally rolled out its new-look companion smartphone app, which aims to make it easier to check out your fitness tracker and smartwatch data.
Unveiled in March, alongside the Fitbit Versa Lite Edition, Fitbit Inspire, Inspire HR and Fitbit Ace 2, the wearable heavyweight is revamping its app by streamlining the user interface and bringing new insights and tips to keep you on top of your goals.
… Welcome to Runcasts. It’s not new and has already had over 16,000 downloads, so it sort-of mostly works. Unsurprisingly, you have to create an account, choose some podcasts, download and sync the CIQ app, and then sync the podcasts themselves. After you’ve used RUNCASTS a few times, you have to pay the monthly fee to get the features you probably really want. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
… Similarly to the heart rate trackers built into most fitness wearables, apps on your phone can measure your heart rate by detecting changes in blood volume below the skin’s surface — a practice called photoplethysmography.
USA Triathlon today announced it has signed a four-and-a-half-year agreement with Wahoo Fitness, the global leader in indoor smart trainers and connected cycling computers, as a technological partner supporting the National Governing Body’s elite and amateur athletes, as well as programming and events.
As the Official Bike Trainer and Bike Computer of USA Triathlon through 2023, Wahoo will directly support the U.S. National Team, Toyota U.S. Paratriathlon National Team and the Project Podium men’s elite development squad based at Arizona State University.
The choice of marathon racing shoes can greatly affect performance. The purpose of this study is to metabolically and mechanically compare the consumer version of the Nike Vaporfly 4% shoe to two other popular marathon shoes, and determine differences in running economy. Nineteen subjects performed two 5-minute trials at 4.44m/s wearing the Adidas Adios Boost (AB), Nike Zoom Streak (ZS), and Nike Vaporfly 4% (VP) in random order. Oxygen uptake was recorded during minutes 3–5 and averaged across both shoe trials. On a second day, subjects wore reflective markers, and performed a 3-minute trial in each shoe. Motion and force data were collected over the final 30 seconds of each trial. VP oxygen uptake was 2.8% and 1.9% lower than the AB and ZS. Stride length, plantar flexion velocity, and center of mass vertical oscillation were significantly different in the VP. The percent benefit of the VP over AB shoe was predicted by subject ground time. These results indicate that use of the VP shoe results in improved running economy, partially due to differences in running mechanics. Subject variation in running economy improvement is only partially explained by variation in ground time.
To say that trail running shoes have come a long way in the past 20 years is a gross understatement. Back when off-road running was still in its nascent stage, trail running shoes were mostly either awkwardly morphed versions of road running shoes or slightly slimmed down light hiking shoes, and, honestly, not many were very dynamic or trail worthy.
Fortunately, the evolution of trail running shoes has resulted in lightweight, agile, cushioned, protective and grippy models that can—and should—be chosen based on the types trails you run most often and the features you like best in a shoe. The challenge is that those design variables can’t easily be isolated—they can only be valued as part of the sum of an entire shoe—and that means there’s some give and take when it comes to trying to figure out which shoes to buy.
For the past several seasons, Performance Days has chosen Focus Topics that are deeply involved with the advances in sustainability in the sports clothing sector. Now, the Performance Forum will only feature fabrics and accessories that have proven to be sustainable.
The trade fair for functional fabrics and accessories for the sport and fashion sector has long been committed to sustainability. This is evidenced by several of the recent Focus Topics, which have included subjects like recycling, biodegradability, responsible use of water in textile production, and renewable functional materials such as wool. However, the decision to show only sustainable fabrics in the popular Performance Forum is a “drumbeat for the future of the industry”, according to the organisers.
Porcher Sport, the Sports and Leisure Division of Porcher Industries and a leader in high-performance fabrics for aerial and nautical sports, has unveiled new innovations for the outdoor equipment and apparel sectors at OutDoor by ISPO 2019 in Munich this week.
… Pieter Bauwens, Paula Veske and Tom Sterken, respectively a postdoc researcher, doctoral student and R&D engineer at CMST, an imec research group at the University of Ghent (UGent), tell us more about these sensors and the way they are incorporated into smart cycling apparel. Joke Schuermans, another postdoc researcher into physiotherapy and rehabilitation sciences at UGent, explains the link between fitness, fatigue and incorrect posture on a bicycle. But first and foremost: discover how cyclewear with sensors can make a world of difference for (amateur) cyclists.
As out-of-control wildfires in the West grow more frequent and more intense, fire departments in Southern California are looking to big data and artificial intelligence to enhance the way they respond to these disasters.
The marriage of computing, brawn and speed, they hope, may help save lives.
“In Los Angeles, with our population density, a fire is going to be burning houses down right away,” said Ralph Terrazas, the chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department. “There’s smoke, there’s fire, there’s sirens, and we have to make decisions in just minutes.”
To an outsider, there isn’t much difference between road cyclists and triathletes. After all, they both ride bikes – that basically makes them the same, right? But if you identify as one of those camps, that statement probably raises your hackles a bit: How dare you? After all, triathletes and cyclists have long given each other good-natured grief on everything, from aero bars to climbing abilities and even sock choice (or lack thereof).
But an interesting new study says this may be more than simple athletic tribalism – cyclists and triathletes really are wired differently. The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, compared the psychological profiles of cyclists and triathletes, only to discover significant differences between the two groups.
Utilizing a measurement tool known as the Psychological Characteristics Related to Sport Performance, professional and amateur athletes alike were ranked on their responses to 55 statements related to their mindset in sport, such as “When I fail, it’s hard to me to refocus on what I have to pay attention to,” or “My motivation depends on receiving recognition from others.” Each of these statements correspond with certain subscales of personality: stress control, influence of performance evaluation, motivation, and mental skills.
MSR, The Summit Register blog, Laura Lancaster from
… I had been dreading this stretch of the Oregon Coast Trail that ran between Manzanita and Tillamook since we started weekend thru-hiking (or section-hiking) it in chunks back in 2017. Heading south from Tillamook, the OCT follows Highway 101—the main artery for the Oregon Coast—for over 10 miles until the trail hits the beach again just north of the town of Garibaldi. Ten miles of road walking isn’t what most expect when they think: Oregon Coast Trail. Photos of endless stretches of flat, sandy beaches, pine-needle-cushioned trails snaking up misty, wooded headlands, a cafe in a picturesque beach town. That’s what you’re here for.
Town selectmen recently shelved a vote on allowing REI to hold mountain biking lessons in Whitaker Woods, saying they are apprehensive about private companies using public spaces without oversight.
Sandia National Laboratory, Sandia Labs News Releases from
Homeowners and businesses may now have an easier time getting solar panels on rooftops thanks to software developed at Sandia.
The new software can run a detailed, second-by-second simulation, known as quasi-static time series analysis, that shows utility companies how rooftop solar panels at a specific house or business would interact with a local electrical grid throughout the year.
Matthew Reno, Sandia National Laboratories
Utility companies need the analysis because they must deliver electricity at the standard voltage used to run everything from refrigerators to phone chargers. Large amounts of solar generation in one section of a city can lead to extreme voltage fluctuations, which can damage household electronics.
… there is an inherent contradiction between protecting species and habitats and investing in non-biodegradable, pollutant-full devices to help reach that objective. Forget plastic straws, this is the really bad stuff. Hazardous chemicals and heavy metals are involved. LCD screens contain mercury, computer circuit boards contain lead and flame retardants, without mentioning the plastic used to bind it all together. Producing these tools and running the data centres and telecommunications networks to use them also entails fast rising energy consumption.
In 2016, 44.7 million tonnes of electronic waste (e-waste) was generated, and only 20% of this is documented as being collected and recycled properly. The rest often ended up illegally exported to emerging countries, waiting in dumps to be taken apart in a rudimentary way, with toxic materials seeping into the air, soil and water in the meantime, affecting people and wildlife. Alarming quantities of flame-retardant chemicals used in electronics have for instance been detected in birds’ eggs in North America and China.