… Technology firm Fitbit is undertaking other initiatives that are expected to pull out the company from slow growth. These steps include offering a streamlined set of products, improving software and services to offer more personalization to customers, and achieving greater integration into the healthcare ecosystem.
Introducing Garmin Coach, where users have access to free training plans to help beginner to intermediate runners reach their 5K goal while adapting to suit their performance. Through Garmin Connect™, users can choose from three race goals before selecting one of three running coaches – Jeff Galloway, Greg McMillan and Amy Parkerson-Mitchell – to guide and motivate them. From there, step-by-step workouts can easily be synced to a compatible Garmin watch and will adapt based on the user’s performance in the plan.
Who knows where you ran last week? If you’re privacy-minded, perhaps just you…and your running app. But our fitness apps often share more information than we realize. The Strava app, and now Polar Flow, have released maps that gave away potentially sensitive military locations.
It’s not just militaries that should be worried. A lot of us—women in particular—are wary of letting the world know where we live. (If you write things on the internet that sometimes make people mad, you may be especially wary.)
Garmin has announced Edge Explore, an easy-to-use bicycle computer that comes with a touchscreen and features to help cyclists increase awareness in busy roads. The gizmo comes bike-specific maps, route suggestions and GPS that tracks how far, how fast, how high and where you ride.
Georgia Institute of Technology, Research Horizons from
By integrating the design of antenna and electronics, researchers have boosted the energy and spectrum efficiency for a new class of millimeter wave transmitters, allowing improved modulation and reduced generation of waste heat. The result could be longer talk time and higher data rates in millimeter wave wireless communication devices for future 5G applications.
The new co-design technique allows simultaneous optimization of the millimeter wave antennas and electronics. The hybrid devices use conventional materials and integrated circuit (IC) technology, meaning no changes would be required to manufacture and package them. The co-design scheme allows fabrication of multiple transmitters and receivers on the same IC chip or the same package, potentially enabling multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) systems as well as boosting data rates and link diversity.
While exhibiting at Sensors Expo, June 27-28, at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, CA in the MEMS Pavilion, booth #542, Bosch Sensortec announced the BHI260 and BHA260, the first two members of a new generation of smart sensor hubs. The devices are optimized for 24/7, always-on sensor processing and feature ultra-low power consumption.
With the help of an integrated sensor coprocessor and MEMS sensors, the BHI260 and BHA260 can handle sophisticated sensor processing tasks and data buffering without waking up the main application processor, and can even run entirely standalone. Their low power consumption translates into significantly extended battery lifetimes in wearables, hearables, AR/VR devices and smartphones.
Have you ever found your perfect running shoe sole mate? Have you ever crossed your fingers and hoped that your favorite shoe stays the same forever? You’re not alone! With every shoe update, our Brooks footwear team must ride the fine balance between bringing runners something new and innovative while also maintaining the experience they’ve come to trust. We sat down with Zach Boteilho, Brooks senior footwear developer, to learn more about the latest update to the popular Ghost 11 and Glycerin 16—the introduction of our new DNA LOFT cushioning. Read on to learn more about our evolving footwear technology – don’t worry, we’ll break down the lingo for you!
A team of researchers from Tufts University, Harvard Medical School, and Purdue University, have presented academia’s latest take on the smart bandage. Recently described in the journal Small, the novel wound dressing is flexible, monitors the wearer’s wound in real time, and can administer a drug either on demand or in accordance to individual treatment protocols.
“We’ve been able to take a new approach to bandages because of the emergence of flexible electronics,” Sameer Sonkusale, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Tufts University’s School of Engineering and corresponding co-author for the study, said in a statement. “In fact, flexible electronics have made many wearable medical devices possible, but bandages have changed little since the beginnings of medicine. We are simply applying modern technology to an ancient art in the hopes of improving outcomes for an intractable problem.”
Directa Plus plc, a producer and supplier of graphene-based products for use in consumer and industrial markets, is pleased to announce that Oakley®, in collaboration with Bioracer, a designer and manufacturer of innovative, customised clothing for cycling teams and individuals as well as for other sporting activities, have launched the G+ Graphene Aero Jersey containing the Company’s graphene-based products. Unveiled on Monday at the EUROBIKE 2018 trade show in Friedrichshafen, Germany, the new jersey is designed to leverage the unique properties of Graphene Plus (G+) to dissipate heat from the rider’s body enabling them to focus less on the conditions around them and more on performance. For more information see the IDTechEx reports on wearable technology materials and graphene
UC’s Nanoworld Laboratories collaborates with the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Army and NASA to investigate new uses for carbon nanotubes in military uniforms and fabric that can double as batteries.
Dr Olly Farley is used to having to justify his career choice. Combining his passion for surfing with sports science raised eyebrows from the beginning, with many questioning what he intended to do with it. With masters research which received international attention, and a PhD completed at the high performance training base of Surfing Australia, Olly feels that just like a good wave, timing is everything. “There’s a revolution happening in board sports at the moment,” he says. “They are becoming more demanding, and athletes are starting to see that in order to stay on tour, they need to increase their physical abilities.”
Olly has launched Farley Performance Training (FPT), specialising in sports-specific training for surfers, snowboarders, skateboarders, wakeboarders and other extreme athletes. His years of research into the physical demands and requirements of surfing has equipped him to apply his expertise to related disciplines. “Many of the fundamental aspects of board sports all correlate,” he explains. “There are obvious differences – surfing is back foot-generated, whereas snowboarding is front-foot – but all athletes tend to demonstrate classic mobility issues with ankles, knees and hips. Having done all of these sports myself, I know how to translate my research to the specific aspects of these sports.”
Go ahead and flex your bicep. Even though that seemed simple, there’s an incredibly complex mechanism behind all your movements, involving the corporation of all of your muscles and your central nervous system. This image shows a spot where the muscular system and the central nervous system meet. When you thought about flexing your arm, nerves (pictured in green) carried the message to your arm to these receptors (pictured in yellow). Then the muscle fibers made their move.
If there’s one thing we’re grateful for on Shots, it’s our passionate, engaged audience. Our stories often prompt a lively response from readers and people who hear us on the radio. This was definitely the case with Monday’s look at the use of permethrin-treated clothing to prevent tick bites, which can cause a lot of nasty diseases.
Permethrin is a synthetic pesticide that’s similar to natural compounds found in chrysanthemums. When you spray permethrin on your clothes, a study published in May found, it incapacitates ticks quickly, rendering them unable to bite.
It didn’t take long for emails to come flooding in. Most were from concerned cat owners.
“Permethrin is very toxic to cats,” wrote Charles Fischer, who lives in Chapel Hill, N.C. “Suggesting that people spray their garments with permethrin to prevent tick bites without a cat disclaimer is very dangerous.”
Bontrager has added to its popular line-up of Daytime Running Lights with three new options, including an all-new Flare RT rear taillight. Flare RT is an update to Bontrager’s original Daytime Running Light, the Flare R. Weighing in at 23g, the all-new Flare RT is ‘36% smaller and 30% more powerful while also featuring run times up to 20% longer over the previous generation.’
Flare RT uses a specific interruptive flash pattern that is visible to drivers, pedestrians, and other cyclists ‘from 2km during daylight’. Also introduced are the all-new Ion 200 RT and Ion Pro RT, both front Daytime Running Lights that are visible from 2km in day flash settings, in addition to their steady settings intended for use after dark.
Four years of research with Clemson University provided insights on how best to equip cyclists to be seen and recognized on the road by drivers. Results of the research directly informed the design of better products and helped shape many aspects of the new lights. The interruptive flash pattern of Flare RT now features a more powerful 90 Lumen lead pop in the interruptive flash pattern to further capture attention. The flash pattern was further scrutinized to provide maximum impact while staying as efficient as possible to deliver more battery life.
The Tour de France starts Saturday on the west coast island of Noirmoutier, but today about a dozen women gathered at the starting line to embark on their own 2000-mile journey.
“We consider it a sporting adventure but also an activist and human adventure,” rider Claire Floret told NPR in an interview published Thursday. “We’re trying to get our message out about the need for a women’s tour, so we ride together.”
Unlike in soccer or a host of other sports, cycling’s most prestigious race does not have a women’s competition. So for the last few years, a group of women have biked the same course as the men, one day before them, to draw attention to the issue. They climb the same mountains, endure the same bumpy cobblestone streets, and push through the same three-week course—only without the road closures and other benefits that make the men’s race a little easier.
Away from the Olympic pool and its exhilarating sounds of splashing, clapping, and whistle-blowing, swimmer Michael Phelps was living a separate life.
Despite racking up 28 Olympic medals — an unparalleled achievement that made him the most recognized Olympian in US history — Phelps was fighting powerful episodes of depression that led him to contemplate taking his own life.
“I straight wanted to die,” Phelps told CNN’s David Axelrod on a recent episode of The Axe Files podcast.
Phelps’ personal struggle with depression and suicidal thinking spurred him to join the board of a 23-year-old company called Medibio. The group has a bold goal: to create a tool that can detect mental illness objectively, without relying on mercurial measures like questionnaires.
… An international team of researchers, led by Achim Kramer of the Institute of Medical Immunology (IMI) at the Charité University of Medicine in Berlin, has been able to identify biomarkers in the blood that are tantamount to characteristic features of the internal clock. First, the scientists measured the activity of all 20,000 genes in a given type of blood cell from multiple subjects over the period of one day. Using computer algorithms, the researchers were able to isolate 12 genes that reliably display the internal clock.
With this new circadian clock blood test, the biomarkers of a single blood sample can provide information as to whether you are an evening or morning person, even if you are being woken up by an alarm clock early in the morning in dissonance with your biological rhythm.
Faculty and students at the University of Michigan have partnered with Flint city officials to help them with data analysis and data-driven decision-making after the revelation of the Flint water Crisis. The group’s latest paper will be presented at KDD 2018. From researcher Arya Farahi, “We estimate these developed and implemented algorithms would save ~11% in funds per successful lead-pipe replacement.”
Arthur Lupia, Professor of Political Science at the University of Michiganhas been appointed head of the National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences. Lupia has a decidedly quantitative background.
Python is not a government, but it is kind of like its own dictatorship, so I am sharing the news that Guido van Rossumhas stepped down as Benevolent Dictator for Life (BDFL). He has been in that position for ~25 years. After pushing out PEP 572 van Rossum noted “I don’t ever want to have to fight so hard for a PEP and find that so many people despise my decisions.”
