The Newest Tech for Getting Fit

One thing that has been totally buggin me this year is the lack of time and energy I have to work out. In high school I played sports year-round and got plenty of daily exercise, but with work and school taking up so much time, it's been harder to stay motivated.

This week I'm going to focus on all the newest toys that may help me get back into field hockey shape, and some that are just for fun...

One can't talk about technology in fitness without bringing up Nike+. It's the type of innovation that I love: seamless integration of technology and human activity. Until a couple weeks ago, I couldn't get my self to buy it since you had to have an iPod nano to use it; but (probably thanks to the iPhone) Nike realized that not everyone owns a nano and created a nice alternative. This new sports band keeps track of number of steps, calories burned, length of run and more; and also gives you access to the Nike+ website which allows you to track every workout. The website acts as a personal trainer by tracking your progress, setting up challenges, and keeping you motivated to do more.

Nike has decided not to stop at that though, and recently announced plans to add a slew of features to the band including a monitor for heart rate, body temperature, and hydration level; and possibly a gps tracker that will allow you to map out your runs. Rumors are that this will take a quite a long while to materialize, but I will certainly be looking out for it.

Another product that allows you to focus on other things while working out are these Everlast Talking Dumbbells. They count your reps and calories burned for you, so that if you tend to get engrossed in the latest episode of Top Chef while working out, you don't have to worry about losing count. The only downside is their shrimpy four pound weight, but I'm hoping they upgrade that size soon.

For everyone who likes to hit the water for their workout, H2O Audio has come out with a line of waterproof cases for almost every version of the iPod. Normally I roll my eyes at the insane amount of products created for the king of mp3 players, but this one seems purely functional and has no tacky design additions. Yay!

Now for some of the strange:

One Swiss engineer dreamed up shoes that actually toned your muscles for you and helped get rid of cellulite, so a new fitness fad was born. MBT "Physiological Footwear" has become extremely popular in the last few months, with talk shows featuring them and celebrities wearing them around the town. Physicians seem to be skeptical of any real fitness benefit other than maybe new, expensive shoes will force people to be more active. I am unconvinced but open to being proved wrong on the hopes that a wonder shoe will improve my legs.

Now I am all for multitasking, but this net product is just ridiculous. I am not totally against the idea of being able to walk while I'm on my computer, but the fact that NetRunner is selling these velcro straps for $99 is just wrong. If you're going to come up with a solution for being able to exercise while on the computer, then go all the way. The picture below shows the homemade solution in action (computer and treadmill not included). Again, they are charging $99.

I hope you are all ready to go spend some money on workout gear now!

Or maybe just go for a run. Could be cheaper. =-)

Earth Day Fun

Since it is Earth Day this week, I thought I'd share some of the newest, environmentally-friendly technologies that can be used in your everyday life.

There have been outdoor lights that are solar powered for a few years now, but there are many more innovative products that harness the sun's energy instead of using up our (environmentally and monetarily) costly power.

This patio umbrella has a solar panel hidden at the very top which provides power to LED lights along the inside. If anyone has tried to hook up lights outside for entertaining or just enjoying dinner outside, I think you can appreciate the ease of this umbrella: no more wires on the ground or extension cords to the house, just one piece that you can leave outside and not have to worry about.

There are lots of solar powered chargers out there, but there is one that seems to be the most useful so far. The Power Monkey charger allows you to save enough power to fully charge your cell phone, mp3 player, digital camera, and other devices; and has some useful extras to boot. An LCD display on the front tells you exactly how much power is left in the charge so that there's no guessing games involved. It comes with a small, folding, water resistant panel that can be either left outside at home or attached to a backpack during travel. I'm going abroad this summer, and its small design and extra international wall socket adapter makes it perfect for travel.

One other fun solar gadget that is more interesting than useful (except when you're as ghastly pale as myself) is the UV Card. This small wonder tells you the temperature outside as well as the strength of the sun's UV rays, all while being powered by the sun. That way I know when it's time to break out the SPF 65 sunscreen or when it's OK to just stick to the usual 15 in my lotion.

College students have had many brilliant ideas in the past and, despite its qestionable design, I think this solar-paneled purse from the mind of an Iowa State University student should be added to that list. Sure, it's not perfect yet, but I think this has amazing potential. Almost every woman carries a purse outdoors on most days, so why not take advantage of that space? A USB cord on the inside allows the user (male or female; usefulness should bridge the genders) to charge any electronics that they are carrying. Again, not quite right yet, but I think it's a great idea.

There are hundreds of solar powered gadgets out there that I could talk about, but there are other earth-friendly products and ideas that I thought I'd give some face time to as well.

This hand-crank powered mp3 player gives you 1GB of storage and lots of musically inspired hand exercise without requiring any power whatsoever. Not quite an iPod touch, but it does a lot less damage on your checking account and you never have to worry about running out of battery mid - Michael Jackson's Thriller again. (Yes!)

I've always wanted to have living plants around my apartment, but my gardening skills have caused every attempt of this to end in brown leaves and one very sad girl. However, there may still be hope now that there are self-watering planters so that even I can pretend to have a green thumb. All you have to do is keep the resevoir at the bottom of the pot from getting empty, and the plant only takes the water that it needs. No more wasting water only to drown your pretty plants. And they come in an array of colors for anyone's designing pleasure.

If any of you have some fun eco-friendly products, feel free to post them here so that we can all be a little greener.

Have a happy EARTH DAY!

DVD Crazy!

I have a core set of movies, probably around 25, which I pretty much stick to and are the only ones I own. They all fit in their cases in my clear coffee table so that everyone can see my Adam Sandler obsession right when they sit down. It's extremely convenient having them there since I can see all the movies I have, they don't take up any extra space in my apartment, and it's right in front of the TV. So this works beautifully for me, but most people I know have many more dvds than could fit in my modest IKEA coffee table.

For example, both my roommate and my boyfriend own hundreds of dvds. When I first saw both of their collecions, I was overwhelmed and had my usual urge to organize the madness.

My roommate's dvds all had their cases and arrived in a huge media cabinet that we keep in our entry way. I ended up spending a day sorting the movies by genre within the shelves and writing up alphabetized lists on the inside of the doors so that we can find movies faster. Not ideal since it's far from the TV and takes up a ton of space in our apartment, but it has sufficed.

My boyfriend's dvd collection is monstrous; we recently wrote up a list and it came to just under 600. He no longer has cases, but keeps all of them in big binders that you have to flip through to find anything. True, the binders are smaller than a media cabinet and can be kept under the couch for easy access, but they certainly have their downsides. Flipping through page after page of three huge binders is tedious, and keeping them alphabetized is almost impossible when your collection is still growing. Most importantly, many of his dvds have become scratched or worn down just from being stored in the binders for so long. Imagine finally finding the movie you want to watch, only to have it skip during the most edge-of-your-seat moment: not fun.

So recently, we've been trying to find a safer way to store his never-ending collection. First we looked into filing his movies since it would keep them from being smashed together and would be much easier to alphabetize. The cabinet below holds 600 cds/dvds:

It would probably work well, but I have a few hang-ups about it:

• It's pretty big and doesn't exactly blend into many spaces very easily (If you want it at eye level you have to keep it on a table, which would just be a waste of space and not very appealing)


• The folders are paper, which really isn't ideal for keeping them in good shape


• It's not portable at all

After that, we found these media storage devices that are really cool and I'm almost really excited about. Each unit holds 100 cds/dvds and is hooked up to your computer. It comes with simple software which allows you to search for and choose a dvd on your computer and it will pop out of one of the units. No need to dig through cabinets or flip through binders, and it keeps all of them safe from ruins.

But again, it's not perfect yet. We would need six of these stacked on top of eachother to hold all of the movies. Not something that I want to look at everyday. Also, many people don't have computers near their TV, which makes it less convenient.

So we haven't decided on a solution yet, although I know I will keep looking. Now I'd like to share one idea I've thought of after all of this: A computerized media storage coffee table.

• This coffee table would allow storage of all your dvds without adding an extra piece of furniture to your living room.


• It would utilize the same technology as the smaller units above, but would store hundreds of cds out of site within the table.


• A touch screen on the top of the table would allow you to search through the movies you have.


• Once you have chosen the dvd, one touch will pop the movie out for instant gratificaion

This super coffe table would allow everyone to have the same convenince I do with dvd storage, even if they they own 30 times the dvds that I do.

I'll leave you with a couple fun coffee tables that are actually available now:

Foosball Coffee table

James Bond Pinball table

Enjoy and Have a wonderful day!!

Digital Decorating

I've been internally debating the digital picture frame boom for quite a while now, and thought that I'd share my thoughts with the world today.

This past year at CES (consumer electronics show), the tech savvy crowd was bombarded with new digital picture frames and, judging from the reviews that I've read, not many were impressed. Maybe it has to do with the fact that many people who attend CES tend to be men who have had absolutely no desire to put together a photo album or hang a picture frame without the help/pressure of a woman. However, it could also just be that the boxy, dull frames are just not eye-catching enough to draw attention away from shinier things.

Either way, I haven't been persuaded to buy one just yet either. I love the idea of not having to print out pictures and that I can update them as often as I get new photos, but I can't help but feel that they could be better.

Some of my hang-ups about current offerings:

• They tend to be bulky and boring; often only available in black, silver or white
• Many need to be plugged in, making it difficult to hang them or even place them anywhere you'd like
• They are yet another gadget that sits on all day, sucking up more energy

Some things I'd like to see in the future:

• Thinner, wireless frames which can be easily hung
• A more interesting variety of shapes and colors of the physical frame, perhaps with the ability to customize the frame with you're own words or designs
• An offering of "bundled" frames, which are all linked to your computer and can be modified from there (which also allows frames to be skinnier since photos are not stored in the actual frame)
• A feature which allows the user to set timers for when the frames should be on or off throughout the day (as well as manual on/off button)
• Picture frames that are directly linked and controlled by your digital camera
• Digital touch frames with photo editing software so that pictures can be edited directly on the frame

Despite the fact that I'd still like to see some innovations from the designers of these frames (and perhaps a price drop =-), I thought I'd share one of the best they have so far:

Kodak's week-old Easyshare line of digital frames are wireless, high definition, touch screen enabled, mp3 - playing monsters starting at $200 each. Definitely the most innovative out there so far, but still are pretty bulky and not quite economical for decorating an entire house with.



In May, Pandigital will release PanTouch which allows you to scroll through your photos by touching the screen. The thing that sets it apart from other touch frames is that it simulates a turn of the page between each photo.

There is also an interesting product from Smartpart that combines a digital photo frame with a printer. Could be cool if a friend wants a copy of a picture you have, but the quality of the prints are really low and are pretty expensive as compared to just ordering them online. Better luck with the next generation maybe...