Outdoors + Tech newsletter – April 21, 2020

Outdoors + Tech news articles, blog posts and research papers for April 21, 2020

 

bracelets


Garmin Swim 2 watch review – Tri-tech

220Triathlon, Jack Sexty from

Garmin’s original Swim watch was launched back in 2012, and finally eight years later they’ve introduced a far more advanced sequel. Our previous review of the Swim 1 lamented the basic feature list – the lack of GPS or open-water swim mode – and this is an issue that the Swim 2 addresses, and then some. It’s one of the sleekest Garmin watches to date, weighing just 38g, available in white or black, and is USB-rechargeable.


Apple Watch 6 rumors: Sleep tracking, blood oxygen levels and a kids edition

CNET, Vanessa Hand Orellana from

The next Apple Watch (likely a Series 6) is still months away from making its grand debut alongside the rumored iPhone 12, 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max. But there’s still plenty of speculation surrounding a Series 6 smartwatch to hold us over in the meantime. We’ve compiled a roundup of plausible and compelling new features for the Apple Watch Series 6 based on the latest leaks, rumors and Apple patents.


non-wrist wearable


A Sweat Sensing Patch Aimed at Athletes Takes on COVID-19

IEEE Spectrum, Tekla S. Perry from

Just a few months ago (what seems like an eon in the time of COVID-19), executives at the startup Epicore Biosystems expected the first consumer market for the company’s sweat-sensing microfluidics patch would be athletes. The so-called Gx, developed in partnership with Gatorade, has been in beta testing since early this year and Gatorade parent Pepsi expects to release it to consumers in the second half of this year.

It turns out, however, that Epicore’s sweat-sensing technology may have several roles to play much sooner in the response to the coronavirus pandemic, including monitoring patients’ electrolyte levels and fatigue and non-invasively measuring their sweat cytokine levels. Physicians could use that information to predict cases in which COVID-19 will become life-threatening. And—if the technology were built into an N95 respirator mask—it could also track the health and fatigue of medical staff.


WVU is using smart rings, apps and algorithms to identify COVID-19 infections before symptoms occur

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Don Templeton from

For three years the West Virginia University Rockefeller Neuroscience Center has equipped 30,000 people with smart rings and smartphone apps to determine, before any signs of illness, whether they had influenza.

So it required only some computer algorithm adjustments to launch a pilot project in March to monitor 200 front-line healthcare professionals for COVID-19 and determine the presence of infection and potential for contagion 24 hours before flu symptoms emerge.

Within a week, 1,000 healthcare workers will be wearing the rings and using the apps with expectations that in a month participation will grow to 10,000 in West Virginia, Philadelphia, New York, Florida and elsewhere to determine how effectively the system provides early warning signs of infection.


Can a Wearable Detect Covid-19 Before Symptoms Appear?

WIRED, Gear, Lauren Goode from

The first thing you might notice about Michael Snyder is just how many gadgets he has strapped to his hands and wrists on any given day—an Apple Watch, a Fitbit, a Biostrap. The second is his enthusiasm for such devices. For more than a decade, Snyder, a biology researcher at Stanford University, has been using consumer wearables to determine whether these kinds of biosensors—and the data collected from them—can help track the onset of infections or illness.

Now Snyder and his team are launching a new research project. It’s one that he hopes will eventually alert people that they might have viral illnesses, including Covid-19, up to two to three days before symptoms of the virus show up. The team of about a dozen researchers has just started soliciting participants for the study, after what Snyder described as a fast-tracked approval process through Stanford’s Institutional Review Board. They’re using software algorithms that have been trained on health patterns shared during a previous study, and they’re opening this new study up to data from different brands of consumer wearables—Fitbit, Apple Watch, and more.


software


Virtual races embraced by endurance athletes during coronavirus pandemic

ESPN Olympic Sports, Tom VanHaaren from

Social distancing and stay-at-home orders amid the coronavirus pandemic have impacted the endurance sport industry and event companies. To help combat that and engage its community, IRONMAN has created a virtual racing series that consists of weekly races conducted online and at home.

Athletes can sign up through IRONMAN’s virtual club for free and participate in the races through connected devices, wearable technology, app trackers, smart bikes and treadmills to log results. The series has leaderboards and Facebook Live look-ins.

So far, the company has held two virtual races, the most recent attracting 23,000 participants from all 50 states and 130 countries.


How to create custom run or ride routes with Garmin Connect

Pocket Lint, Chris Hall from

Garmin Connect is more than just a place to view the data gathered by your Garmin watch. It’s a portal to a whole world of features and functions, including creating custom routes for running or riding.

If you’re bored with always heading out along the same roads, then it’s a quick step to create a new route and get that sent over to your Garmin device.

Here’s how to get yourself out and discovering new routes.


Quick How-To: Garmin Wearable Heart Rate Broadcasting to Apps

Ray Maker, DC Rainmaker blog from

If you’re spending a bunch more time lately indoors using fitness apps to maintain your sanity you might not realize that you can broadcast your heart rate right from your Garmin watch straight to your favorite app – thus skipping the need for a separate heart rate strap/sensor. Garmin has long been one of the few device makers to actually allow this, but if you’ve got a COROS watch or the new Timex R300 you can also do the same. More on those details at the end of the post.


hardware


GoPro Cuts More Than 20% of Workforce, Changes Sales Strategy

Bloomberg Technology, Mark Gurman from

… The operational changes, staff reductions of more than 20% and cuts to office space will save $100 million in 2020, and reduce expenses next year to $250 million, the San Mateo, California-based company said Wednesday in a statement. GoPro said its shift to direct sales will mean a stronger focus on its website. The company said it still will use retail outlets for a small number of regions where such sales are preferred by consumers.

“We have a clear opportunity to super-serve consumers’ demand for our products in a more direct and efficient manner which can have a positive impact on the profitability of our business,” Chief Executive Officer Nick Woodman said in the statement.


Ultralight, flexible solar cell keeps tech in shape

Monash University (AU), Latest News from

… In a pair of research papers, published in the prestigious journals Joule and PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA), an international research team, involving Monash University, has developed a super-thin photovoltaic cell that has high efficiency, supreme mechanical bending and stretching capacity, and capabilities to provide a long-lasting power source.

In the Joule paper, researchers successfully developed novel mechanically robust photo-absorber materials that can make ultra-flexible solar cells. These cells can achieve a power conversion efficiency of 13 per cent with 97 per cent efficiency retention after 1000 bending cycles, and 89 per cent efficiency retention after 1000 stretching cycles.

“Power conversion efficiency considers how much solar energy can be converted into electricity. The solar energy illuminated on Earth is 1000 watts per square metre. Our device can produce 130 watts of electricity per square metre. The 13 per cent efficiency we were able to achieve is one of the highest efficiencies in organic solar cells,” Dr Wenchao Huang, Research Fellow in Monash University’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering, said.


gear


Fleet Feet Drop Shop

3D Shoes, Charlie White from

Fleet Feet has unveiled a new retail concept in Portland, Oregon, calling it the “Drop Shop.” It combines the brand’s 3D foot scanning technology and personalized outfitting experience with two-day home delivery. Fleet Feet Drop Shop carries try-on samples of the top 35 men’s and women’s shoe models from brands including Brooks, Hoke ONE ONE, New Balance, and On. Once the customer decides on the shoe, the outfitter will order the model in the color the customer chooses. They will receive the product via home delivery and free shipping in two days. Fleet Feet Drop Shop has a smaller footprint than a traditional shop location because it removed the constraints of physical inventory to maximize the customer experience. This way the customer can receive the shoe model and size in the color they want.


The Secret Ingredient for Step In Comfort at Retail

Heeluxe from

Every shoe brand wants a potential customer to think their shoe is comfortable when they first try it on in a store or after an online purchase. After all, comfort is second only to style when it comes to influencing purchases. While cushioning, fit, and features like arch support are important for comfort, most brands ignore this shoe feature when designing for step in comfort: TEMPERATURE

Not what you expected to see? We were surprised when we first observed this pattern, too.


5) Running Footwear and the 2 Hour Marathon – Wouter Hoogkamer

YouTube, Stuart McErlain-Naylor from

Lecture 5 of the Sports Biomechanics Lecture Series #SportsBiomLS [video, 55:47]


materials


Should everyone be taking vitamin D?

BBC Future, Jessica Brown from

… Despite its name, vitamin D is not a vitamin. Instead, it is a hormone that promotes the absorption of calcium in the body. The challenge is that, aside from a few foods like oily fish, vitamin D is hard to find in the average diet. But in the presence of “ultraviolet B” rays, our skin can produce its own from a common cholesterol.


Fabric that heats and cools skin with no energy input

Innovations in Textiles blog from

Imagine a single garment that could adapt to changing weather conditions, keeping its wearer cool in the heat of midday but warm when an evening storm blows in. In addition to wearing it outdoors, such clothing could also be worn indoors, drastically reducing the need for air conditioning or heat. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, say they have made a strong, comfortable fabric that heats and cools skin, with no energy input.

“Smart textiles, that can warm or cool the wearer are nothing new, but typically, the same fabric cannot perform both functions. These textiles have other drawbacks, as well — they can be bulky, heavy, fragile and expensive,” the researchers say. “Many need an external power source.” Guangming Tao and colleagues wanted to develop a more practical textile for personal thermal management that could overcome all of these limitations.


World’s most complex microparticle: A synthetic that outdoes nature’s intricacy

National Science Foundation, Research News from

The researchers believe that the tactics they uncovered can help scientists engineer particles that improve biosensors, electronics and the efficiency of chemical reactions.

“Producing these synthetic microparticles in large quantities and with high quality requires scalable nanomanufacturing approaches such as the one studied here,” said Khershed Cooper, a program director in NSF’s Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation.


stories


The importance of cadence in running

Technogym from

Increasing running cadence can bring many advantages, but there is not “magic number” that fits everybody. Each athlete has a cadence which varies with speed, these are the numbers to start from to improve running speed and to lower the risk of injuries. Testing athletes on the treadmill is the best way to obtain solid data to define training program.


To Run My Best Marathon at Age 44, I Had to Outrun My Past

WIRED, Backchannel, Nicholas Thompson from

After 20 years of long-distance competition, I ran my fastest. All it took was tech, training, and a new understanding of my life.


3 Ways Your Hydration Needs Change as You Age

Women's Running, Andy Blow from

… Although training (especially lifting weights) can help to reduce the loss of muscle mass with aging to a certain degree, it’s basically impossible to halt it altogether. With this loss of muscle you also lose a significant chunk of your “reservoir” of fluids as you age, meaning that dehydration when you’re sweating a lot can occur more rapidly than it can for younger athletes.


biking


5 Tips for Maintaining Your Indoor Training Setup

Bicycling from

While ending a trainer session in a puddle of sweat may be gratifying, your perspiration can spell disaster for your bike. The salt from it will corrode metal parts like handlebars, headsets, seat posts, pedals, and cleats. As Bicycling’s head mechanic and a former competitive roadie, I’ve seen just how gross a trainer bike can get during an off-season (or any extended bout of indoor riding). Turn to these best practices—and recommendations for some of my preferred equipment and supplies—for keeping sweat off of and maintaining your bike.


High-Vis Clothing Only Matters if Drivers Pay Attention

Outside Online, Joe Lindsey from

… Over the past ten years, on-road fatalities among cyclists have steadily risen to 25-year highs, accompanied by an increasing sense of danger that’s led many recreational riders to to wear more more fluorescent high-visability clothing and start using daytime running lights. Even famously core brands like Castelli and Rapha, which favor simple and often dark-hued designs, now make items in bright yellows, oranges, and pinks. The advent of LEDs and improving battery densities have also made lights brighter, more compact, and more affordable than ever. They’re available from more companies, which are increasingly open about selling visibility as a safety aid.

This trend has come about courtesy of a line of scientific research known broadly as conspicuity.


Cycling cadence: how fast should you pedal?

road.cc, Ric Stern from

Study after study finds that lower cycling cadence is more efficient. So should you stop trying to pedal at 90+ revolutions per minute and instead diesel along at around 60rpm? Maybe it’s not quite that simple.


data


Permanent Tattooing Has No Impact on Local Sweat Rate, Sweat Sodium Concentration and Skin Temperature or Prediction of Whole-Body Sweat Sodium Concentration During Moderate-Intensity Cycling in a Warm Environment – PubMed

European Journal of Applied Physiology from

Purposes: This study investigated the impact of permanently tattooed skin on local sweat rate, sweat sodium concentration and skin temperature and determined whether tattoos alter the relationship between local and whole-body sweat sodium concentration.

Methods: Thirteen tattooed men (27 ± 6 years) completed a 1 h (66 ± 4% of [Formula: see text]) cycling trial at 32 °C, 35% relative humidity. Sweat rate and sweat sodium concentration were measured using the whole-body washdown and local absorbent patch techniques. Patches and skin-temperature probes were applied over the right/left thighs and tattooed/non-tattooed (contralateral) regions.

Results: Local sweat rates did not differ (p > 0.05) between the right (1.11 ± 0.38) and left (1.21 ± 0.37) thighs and the permanently tattooed (1.93 ± 0.82) and non-tattooed (1.72 ± 0.81 mg cm-2 min-1) regions. There were no differences in local sweat sodium concentration between the right (58.2 ± 19.4) and left (55.4 ± 20.3) thighs and the permanently tattooed (73.0 ± 22.9) and non-tattooed (70.2 ± 18.9 mmol L-1) regions. Difference in local skin temperature between the right and left thighs (- 0.043) was similar to that between the permanently tattooed and non-tattooed (- 0.023 °C) regions. Prediction of whole-body sweat sodium concentration for the permanently tattooed (41.0 ± 6.7) and the non-tattooed (40.2 ± 5.3 mmol L-1) regions did not differ.

Conclusion: Permanent tattoos do not alter local sweat rate, sweat sodium concentration or local skin temperature during moderate-intensity cycling exercise in a warm environment. Results from a patch placed over a tattooed surface correctly predicts whole-body sweat sodium concentration from an equation developed from a non-tattooed region.


How far should joggers be when they run past you?

The Globe and Mail, Alex Hutchinson from

New research from Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands and KU Leuven in Belgium suggests that the reader may have a point: when you’re breathing hard and moving fast, droplets linger in the air over a longer distance, meaning that anyone directly behind you should leave a generous gap.

The research team was led by Bert Blocken, who is cross-appointed at both universities and studies urban physics, wind engineering, and sports aerodynamics. He and his colleagues used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to model the movement of droplets of various size, building on earlier work by researchers in Asia after the SARS epidemic.


Garmin data reveals how the world is working out during the lockdown

Wareable (UK), James Stables from

With over a quarter of the world’s population now in lockdown, our activity habits are changing. But it seems that the world isn’t quite ready to sit on the sofa and get out of shape, according to data released by Garmin.

Our habits have changed dramatically, and we’re embracing home workouts and relishing the chance to take exercise within the guidelines set by the government. And unsurprisingly, the data from Garmin sports watches and wearables, is showing how our lives are changing.

It’s published data from March 2020, showing the effects of the Covid-19 lockdown – and compared it with 2019 for good measure.


public lands


Coloradans heading to mountains, trails for outdoor recreation with mixed messages

Fort Collins Coloradan, Miles Blumhardt from

Give outdoor-starved Coloradans an inch and they’ll take a mile — on the trails.

Despite Gov. Jared Polis’ plea for residents to stay away from the mountains and despite the state’s national forests and state parks closing facilities, stir-crazy residents are packing parking lots and taking to the trails.

Hiking in the national forest and state parks is legal, although it might be discouraged, which is sending mixed messages. So many Coloradans are making the decision to enjoy the outdoors, even if they have to drive.


Park closures have unequal costs

High Country News, Jose Gonzalez from

As the COVID-19 pandemic takes hold across the country, residents are called to practice public health measures in our parks and the outdoors. This includes practicing social distancing and avoiding outdoor recreation towns that cannot afford the risk of caring for infected visitors.

The message has been straightforward: Stay away from these towns and public lands; if you’re irresponsible, we’ll close the trails and parks down. At the same time, suggestions and guidelines are offered on how we can still get outdoors safely: Stay close to home, engage with nearby nature, and hike in your neighborhood. These instructions are necessary, but they are based on the assumption that everyone has the privilege of outdoor access and will be affected the same when it is taken away.

As the founder of Latino Outdoors, a Latinx-led organization that connects the diversity of Latinx communities with the outdoors, and someone who has spent years working to make the outdoors a more equitable space, I think it’s important to keep frameworks of equity and inclusion in mind, especially during times when inequalities are being amplified.


What Can Greater Yellowstone Learn From Africa?

Mountain Journal, Garth Owen-Smith from

The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is globally heralded as a benchmark for thinking about large landscape conservation. Often, parallels are drawn between Greater Yellowstone and sub-regions of southern Africa, along the belt of nations and tribal homelands stretching from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic.

The comparisons are many. For instance, long distance wildlife migrations involving elk, mule deer and pronghorn are touted as akin, though smaller in scale, to the vast movements of wildebeest, zebra and other megafauna across the Serengeti Plain. Greater Yellowstone’s full complement of major predators—bears, wolves, cougars and coyotes— has similarities to the assemblage of lions, cheetahs, leopards, hyenas and wild dogs.

Eco-tourism here and there is a common engine for commerce. As in the American West, small rural communities, though for different reasons, struggle to survive.


energy


Seeing ‘Under the Hood’ in Batteries – Technique adapted at Berkeley Lab X-ray facility finds growing use for next-gen battery R&D

Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, News Center from

From next-gen smartphones to longer-range electric cars and an improved power grid, better batteries are driving tech innovation. And to push batteries beyond their present-day performance, researchers want to see “under the hood” to learn how the individual ingredients of battery materials behave beneath the surface.

This could ultimately lead to battery improvements such as increased capacity and voltage.

But many of the techniques scientists use can only scratch the surface of what’s at work inside batteries, and a high-sensitivity X-ray technique at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) is attracting a growing group of scientists because it provides a deeper, more precise dive into battery chemistry.


Untwisting plastics for charging Internet-of-things devices

Nagoya University Research Achievements from

… [Hisaaki] Tanaka worked with colleagues in Japan to understand the thermoelectric properties of a highly conductive thiophene-based polymer, called PBTTT. They added or ‘doped’ the polymer with a thin ion electrolyte gel, which is known to improve conductivity. The gel only infiltrates the polymer successfully when a specific electric voltage is applied.

They used a variety of measurement techniques to understand the polymer’s electronic and structural changes when doped. They found that, without the electrolyte gel, the PBTTT chain is highly twisted. Doping it with a critical amount of electrolyte untwists the chain and creates links between its crystalline parts, improving electron conductivity.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published.