14 Jul 2014
By Belle
Adidas releases the Fit Smart, Misfit partners with Beddit, and more: Quantified Self weekly links
Hardware
It’s not strictly a smartwatch: it’s more like an old-school heart rate monitor with a bit of modern flair.
Unlike devices such as Android Wear and the Fitbit, the Fit Smart isn’t supposed to be worn all day. It’s a pure fitness tracker with a 10-hour battery life: You put it on when you start working out, and you take it off afterwards, like a piece of gear. It measures heart rate, as well as a number of non-biometric metrics, such as calories burned, distance covered, and stride rate.
- These Two Desks Could Help You Live Longer: smart, adjustable desks
- Fitness Cubed: an under-desk elliptical device
- Sensoree: A jumper (sweater) that changes colour with your mood
Apps
Testing Automatic Link, the FitBit for Your Car
Saving a little money here and there on fuel is a nice bonus, but the real benefits that I get from my Automatic Link are the records of the trips I’ve taken and the data for my business mileage, all of which are now gathered without any extra actions on my part. That is one of the most critical elements of the quantified self movement, whether you are collecting data from your car, or how many steps you took in the day.
- HabitChamp: similar to habit-tracking app Lift, but for Windows Phone
- Journi: easy travel blogging
- Motivate: habit-building app based on pledged money, very similar to Pact
News
Misfit Beddit Sleep System slips under your mattress to listen to you breathe
We've seen Misfit wrap up a couple of partnerships now, so let's hope that means the API they promised is coming soon.
Articles
Better visualizing of fitness-app data helps discover trends, reach goals
Well, we knew that already, but nice to have it confirmed:
"Personal activity tracking is getting more robust and there are more applications to choose from, but people often don't get any value from their data, because you can't see it displayed over time or in a larger context," said James Fogarty, a UW associate professor of computer science and engineering.
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Image credits: Gigaom, The Daily Beast, CNET
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