Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Dancing to better health - XBox One Just Dance




Although not as prevalent as earlier dance games, Just Dance is still chugging along on XBox One and this MS guy hired outside of the Microsoft Store can be seen grooving up a good sweat in the middle of Destiny USA in Syracuse, NY.  This mall also has a Dave & Buster's with it's dance game In The Groove with its five button design.

VR Jogger

When I saw this VR game in the Android Play store it actually looks like our old classic Frogger game, but instead it's called VR Jogger

In Jogger, you are the controller! Stand up and jog on the spot to move forward in the virtual world, giving you the most immersive traffic dodging experience around.


How willing are you to stand up and game?
How safe is your playing area?
Are you willing to get sweaty?

Available now for Gear VR, and Android.

Thanks to Eelke for the heads up. https://twitter.com/vrmersive

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Monday, February 27, 2017

Pokemon then (Pikachu) & Now (Pokemon GO)

This is what Pokemon looked like as an exergame many years ago

and this is what Pokemon Go looks like in 2016-2017 it looks like now thanks to Niantic. I actually liked Ingress a lot and you can really see the similarities between them.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokémon_Pikachu

CES 2017 - Health, Fitness & Wellness Technology - RunIQ (part 7)

In covering CES 2017, the amount of booths and technology to cover was overwhelming but so much fun at the same time. In this post, you can see the RunIQ system from New Balance and Intel team. This time the video is from the treadmill demo and once again you can see the real-time stats display.





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Friday, February 24, 2017

CES 2017 - Health, Fitness & Wellness Technology - Kuai, UA, AiQ (part 6)

CES 2017

UnderArmour had a great panel in the middle of their booth with Natasha Hastings (sprinter) and Mikaela Mayer (boxer)

  • U.S. National Team Boxer Mikaela Mayer will share her journey to peak performance. January 7th at 2PM PST
  • World Champion Sprinter Natasha Hastings will present on the pivotal role that recovery plays in her training. January 7th at 2PM PST




Smart earbud manufacturer Huai had a display for their successful Indiegogo project which looks to be the best fitting pair of sports earbuds/headphones for the active athlete.


 AiQ Smart Clothing also had a big display featuring their smartfabric meshed with high quality stainless steel fiber. They position themselves "...where electronics merge with textiles to create fashionable, functional, comfortable solutions to meet your everyday needs; whether it’s in sports & fitness, outdoor & leisure, home & leisure, home care & health care. We have the drive and capability to make Smart Clothing concepts into reality."



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Thursday, February 23, 2017

CES 2017 - Health, Fitness & Wellness Technology - PIQ (part 5)

CES 2017 in Las Vegas was an amazing experience and a test of wills. From being patient for shuttles, waiting in Vegas traffic, dodging convention goers and people recording (Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, etc...)

Technology embedded within sporting equipment has been on the rise and PIQ had some need applications with Everlast and Babolat.

With a hand sensor ($99) and and a new boxing AI app to help analyze and interpret your boxing skills and training sessions.

#PIQ has its sensors in other sporting equipment including tennis racquets, golf, kite surfing, and skiing.

 Let's hit the bags!











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Wednesday, February 22, 2017

CES 2017 - Health, Fitness & Wellness Technology - Intel & New Balance RunIQ (part 4)

I spent a good amount of time at the Intel & New Balance booth at CES 2017 looking over their
collaboration in producing the RunIQ system for both the bike and runner. They had parallel demos going on and had a great transparent display to show real-time stats of heart-rate, RPM, power, cadence, distance, and time.

Now this was by no means the only fitness tracker on display at CES but this was probably the best explained and demonstrated that I saw.  Check out the video I captured to see the real-time data displayed.

We had this discussion in class about the utility of such devices, however some still don' t think that technology will replace humans. They will assimilate!









Monday, February 20, 2017

Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) - Mini-Doc

This is the arcade game that got me interested in the world of technology and fitness, so when I saw this video on Arcade Heroes, I had to put it up here as well.

One sentence stood out to me was "DDR saved the arcade industry in Japan." I wonder what facts led the filmmaker to that conclusion and how many others also believe this?

I agree with the face that DDR is extremely social in nature, but it can also be intimidating to people who are apprehensive about "performing" in front of others....which is why it is important to have good coaches/teachers to guide them through the learning and improvements stages.




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Sunday, February 19, 2017

CES 2017 - Health, Fitness & Wellness Technology - Sensoria (part 3)

On my 2nd day of CES 2017, I got a chance to spend some time at the Sensoria booth with an eye on all of their products and their upcoming "pod" which will require a new "2 prong" attachment, which coincidentally the previous version of the snap-in attachment was universally accepted with other sensors (Polar, Suunto, etc...). 
The big hit was the Sensoria Sock 2.0 and Smart Shoe and I also got a chance to hold the newer "peanut" sensor which is incredibly lighter, more versatile, and easier to attach to various body parts. Many people wonder if having all this technology and information will actually improve performance and maybe even require less human coaching. Essentially will technology replace humans?





Friday, February 17, 2017

CES 2017 - Health, Fitness & Wellness Technology - Onitor (part 2)

CES presented a lot of new experiences to this conference-hound, but I never anticipated the sheer scope and volume of exhibits, presentations, demonstrations, and hungry entrepreneurs out there. I've been to AAHPERD, IHRSA, GDC....but this was something completely different!

Some of the booths were easily $1M to design, manufacture, ship, and send to Las Vegas in time for the show.

A new company that I had not heard of before is Onitor which displayed their activity tracker and new fitness app. With heart rate sensing and triaxial accelerometer, it has the same basic features as the other dozens of fitness trackers at CES.
I was most interested in how their new app will have customized workouts and meal plans based on user inputs and health and fitness goals.

I was told they have their product in a university-lab to do some validity studies - and I mentioned to them that I would gladly entertain future collaborations for usability or validity projects.

More information can be found at:
http://onitor.com/specifications.html





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CES 2017 - Health, Fitness, & Wellness, Technology (part 1)

Attending the CES has been a bucket list item as I would usually be watching events stream live from my computer, but this year I had the chance to spend two days at the largest consumer electronics expo in the world in Las Vegas.

One of the booths that was showcasing at CES was Peleton Cycle which is promoting itself as "Indoor cycling: reimagined for the home."

I like to classify these platforms more as a bike simulator with some gaming components built-in. including social networking, and responsive bike settings (elevation, intensity, pace). What I worry about most is the biometric feedback that could be collected and fed into algorithm to ensure exercise safety (but I understand that may open many companies up to liability and negligence claims).









We've featured exergaming bikes for a long time on this blog including a (at the time) comprehensive review of exergame bikes)
  1. http://www.exergamelab.org/2015/06/virtual-reality-fitness-latest-fitness.html
  2. http://www.exergamelab.org/2014/03/fivis-bicycle-safety-simulator-exergame.html
  3. http://www.exergamelab.org/2013/11/cyberbike-smart-tv-exergaming-on.html#more
  4. http://www.exergamelab.org/2012/04/mario-kart-exergame-bike-mod.html
  5. http://www.exergamelab.org/2012/05/exergaming-co-play-friends-with.html
  6. http://www.exergamelab.org/2010/01/get-your-bike-on-exergaming-bike.html
  7. http://www.exergamelab.org/2010/06/heart-rate-and-perceived-exertion.html?spref=tw
  8. http://www.exergamelab.org/2009/10/hondas-bicycle-simulator-for-safe.html
  9. http://www.exergamelab.org/2011/06/exergaming-heart-rate-and-perceived.html
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