The company has spoken up about how well they’re doing for downloads, noting their main app to be at a point where it’s downloaded once per second – though when and for how long this happened is not exactly clear. On the other hand, it can be noted that Runtastic’s community of users is above 25 million counting mobile app users and up to 10 million in registered users on their website.

The Runtastic hardware family has also been expanded with a bike mount for iPhone and Android smartphones. The full collection of hardware accessories offered by Runtastic this week have been entered into an exclusive agreement with Amazon.com – so you might not be seeing them available in your local corner shop any time soon. A Runtastic Speed and Cadence Bike Sensor rounds off the family, turning your bike into what the company says will be a “cycling computer” with Bluetooth capabilities.

“By offering hardware, apps and services that are all developed in-house, Runtastic creates an integrated experience that is easy and fun.” – Runtastic CEO Florian Gschwandtner

The company is banking on the idea of creating and offering all software and hardware in their workout ecosystem themselves. With control over all elements from top to bottom, Runtastic enters a place where they’ve got the ability to make changes to software in app form and in updates to the software embedded in each device – if need be.

Such a system has worked well for larger companies in the past – and though businesses such as this don’t often start with the software and work out to the hardware from there, Runtastic seems to be doing just that, in a big way.

Sensoria Fitness and their new Sensoria Socks is a patent-pending wearing technology that aims to do exactly that. Bring an entire new level to our fitness and daily lives, as well as help with sports athletes and injuries. Products on the market like the Nike FuelBand, FitBit, Jawbone UP and more all track steps, speed, calories, and more, but imagine a product that can track weight distribution on the foot as you stand, walk, and run. Sensoria Socks rely on sensor-equipped textile materials, as well as the accompanying band pictured below.

With more than 25 million runners in the US alone, more than half are prone to some sort of running related injury or pain, and this isn’t even counting other athletes. Instead of dealing with injury we should be looking at ways to prevent it before it happens. This is where Heapsylon come into play. Sensoria Socks can identify poor running types, then using a custom designed app to coach the runner to reduce those tendencies, thus reducing the risk of injury. Then like any other fitness apps runners can benchmark and analyze performance, limits, distance and more.

According to Heapsylon and their demo when an injury or issue does happen, Sensoria can also track patient adherence, progress and much more. The accompanying application will sync the data over Bluetooth to your smartphone, letting users track anything and everything with this new technology. The app as mentioned above will show poor running techniques, but everything else will be available too.

Their anklet tracks activity type and level, heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate, then relays this to the app dashboard to show how far, how fast you run, calories burnt and more. Even those with good technique can study and learn better habits, reach higher goals, and train harder without strain.

The idea behind wearable computing for more than just fun (read: Google Glass) and really opens the door for many different things such as Sensoria Socks. We’re hearing they’ll be available later this year and will help runners and athletes dodge and prevent injuries, and up their game at the same time.

In fact, the Flex comes in at £79.99 (in the US, it’s $99.99) complete with two sizes of wristband and a wireless dongle for your computer. Alternatively it will sync via Bluetooth 4.0 with your iOS or Android device, though you’ll currently need either a Samsung Galaxy S III or a Galaxy Note II if you’re a Google OS user.

That’s down to different implementations of Bluetooth 4.0 on Android devices, which means most of the current line-up of phones simply won’t work with the Flex. Fitbit tells us that should change in the near future, however, and at least with the USB adapter you can get your exercise data off the band whenever you’re near a computer.

We also had some issues with sleep tracking mode, with side-by-side comparisons between the Flex and the UP suggesting the Fitbit version was seriously underestimating the length of time we were asleep. Still, it’s more comfortable than the Jawbone model. Presales kick off today at Fitbit’s site and Amazon, with retail store availability from May 27.

Both the iOS app and Android app also have some new features coming their way. The Android app now includes easier methods to enter in non-GPS activities manually, such as running on a treadmill or cycling on the stationary bike. The Android version also received a new widget that you can add to your home screen, letting you start and stop activities.

As for the iPhone app of RunKeeper, more users in more countries now have access to the fitness app, thanks to additions of several new languages, including Spanish, French, German, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, and Japanese. The app’s developers note that they’re continuously adding new languages, so we can expect more to come in the future.

Other than that, the updated app comes with the usual big fixes and performance enhancements. As for the Pebble watch, we reviewed the wrist device back in February, and it’s been going out to Kickstarter backers these last few months. While the watch is somewhat cheaply made in a way, third-party support is growing, making it even more tempting to take advantage of the new device.

This announcement sets users up for a two-step update, allowing them access first to a set of apps that have already been working with iOS fitness buffs for some time, then promises the same deal this first 10 app family has for developers galore. With RunKeeper and MapMyFitness, users will be working with maps, seeing distance, information on how daily activities affect a fitness regiment, and more.

Users will be able to use IFTTT, an app that texts one based on pre-set specifications and allows you to tie in with a partner for co-managing and co-motivation, so to speak. Wello is another app integrating with UP this week, bringing on a personal trainer to the wrist of the user – Withings app integration allows your UP band to tie in with your Withings scale. This UP family of apps will continue to expand, says Jawbone, especially once the open API is made real.

Above and below you’ll find the full UP Platform 10 app iOS push for the UP Platform. You’ll notice that this setup is ready for iOS at launch – Android has been promised by Jawbone to be launching really soon as well. Have a peek at our history with Jawbone for more information on this device and make sure you keep tuned to SlashGear for your expanding abilities with UP as well!

The Kickstarter campaign is launching a bit later than expected, but nonetheless, it’s now up and running, and HAPILABS is attempting to raise $100,000 in a matter of a month and a half, which shouldn’t be too difficult if enough weight-watchers want to take the initiative to actively control how fast they’re eating.

You can pre-order a HAPIfork now for as low as $89, but the price will jump to the regular $99 after 2,500 people have taken advantage of the early-bird special. The fork is expected to ship in September of this year, but you can pay $300 to get a fork early and participate in the company’s beta program, which will allow you to get your hands on a fork in July.

Essentially, the HAPIfork vibrates if it detects that you’re eating too fast, and the computer chips inside of the fork track various things such as the number of “fork servings” taken per minute and per meal, as well as the specific duration of each “fork serving” interval. It’ll also track your overall meal duration and the exact time at which you start and end your meal, which you can take a glance at with the web-based dashboard after uploading the data using the included USB cable.

An article title “Convert Anything to Calories,” which was published recently in PHP Science World, calculated the number of calories burned when clicking a mouse, and it’s said that the number is 1.42 calories burned per mouse click. The authors ended up calculating the “total volume of the muscles used to bend the index finger,” which is “10.8 cubic centimeters with a total weight of 11.7 grams.”

The authors note, however, that the calories burned per mouse click may vary, since the calculation used “assumes the muscle contracted completely, so the actual amount of calories used is a little less.” Either way, you can easily burn off that Burger King Whopper with just 450,000 mouse clicks, or a Big Mac with only 387,000 mouse clicks, since a calorie is more commonly referred to as a kilocalorie, or 1,000 calories.

The average male should burn around 2,000 calories per day, with the average female burning approximately 1,700 calories per day. Obviously with a strict exercise regiment, you would be able to burn even more, and while getting exercise purely through mouse clicks probably isn’t ideal, at least you know that you’re burning calories while making your way through your Facebook News Feed.

[via RocketNews24]

Samsung is no stranger to companion devices for its smartphones, in fact. The S Pebble, its compact music player designed as an accessory for the Galaxy S III, quietly launched in the US last December, while all the way back in 2010 Samsung was flirting with a combination stylus and Bluetooth headset for the original Galaxy Tab. What it hasn’t done, so far, is a watch.

That day could be sooner than you think, at least according to the latest batch of speculation. Samsung’s rumored “Project J” could well be a trio of hardware, not a single device, according to SamMobile‘s digging; the so-called “Project J Active Fortius” is tipped as a smartwatch-style device, at least by divining from the expected accessories. There will supposedly be an official arm band, bike mount, and pouch for the Fortius, with that – and the name -driving chatter that it’s a compact, fitness-related gizmo.

It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch, either. The slick looking timepiece shown here, complete with an interchangeable hub that docks into a wristband among other things, is the handiwork of Johan Loekito in association with Samsung Design America, and dates back to 2009.

Some of the same arguments we’ve made in favor of an Apple iWatch hold, to an extent, true for Samsung’s potential “Galaxy Watch.” For instance, we suggested that Siri could be the wildcard on your wrist, with the voice control system meaning smartwatch users would no longer have to pull out their phone or tablet in order to actually respond to an alert.

Samsung has its own speech control system, in the shape of S Voice, though initial feedback on the service was mixed. However, when combined with Google Now‘s predictive technologies as part of Android, that could make for a compelling way of interacting with digital services: a little like Project Glass, perhaps, but on your arm not suspended above your eye-line.

With estimates that the wearables market will surge by 2017, Samsung’s involvement in the segment is probably unavoidable. That health-tracking gadgets are expected to lead that surge, and that Samsung already has its S Health service up and running, only makes it all the more likely that fitness and activity monitoring will be its initial foothold. Factor in Samsung’s own work on flexible OLED, itself expected to come to fruition in 2013, and Apple might not be the only firm with a wraparound smartwatch.

To get wireless syncing up and running, all you need to do is tick the “Background Sync” option in Settings. From there, you’ll no longer need your computer to sync, which is something that many developers are moving towards as we slowly transition to being a post-PC world. The improved Bluetooth support is also said to cut down on battery life a bit, something that is certainly always welcome.

Aside from the wireless syncing, the update also comes with push notifications, as well as a new distance meter on the dashboard. You now also have the ability to create and edit silent alarms. It seems like the update is a good one for Fitbit users, but again, you’ll have to have a Galaxy S III or Note II in order to update.

As for other Android device owners, we’re not sure when Fitbit will begin to support more devices with this new update, but they say that further compatibility will be “available shortly.” In the meantime, Start saying goodbye to the old ways of syncing, because soon you won’t need your computer for it any longer.

[via Android Community]

The new interface is very similar to the iOS version, and it’s ultimately much simpler and more inviting than the previous look, which should make the app easier to use for users who are new to RunKeeper. The dev team even used Google’s official design guidelines for Android, so the app has a more-unified look that makes it fit in with the Android OS.

As for the new features, the updated app includes “in-activity splits,”
 which shows your average pace per mile throughout your workout, as well as “more robust” audio cues that improve the real-time coaching abilities in the app. There are also workout reminders, which allow you to schedule workouts to make sure you stick with your routine.

Other than that, there’s a new “Me” tab, which is a central place where you can view your progress and see how far along you are with your goals. You can also set up personal records and keep track of your improvement over time. RunKeeper is a free download, and the latest update is available now in the Google Play store.

The iOS app update is live right this minute for those of you working with a Jawbone UP and an iPhone. This update is free, of course, and includes the two bullet-points we’re having a chat about here, starting with Multiple Sleep Alarms. Where before this week your alarm system was a bit more limited, you’re now able to set up multiple Smart Sleep alarms with 10, 20, and 30 minute custom wakeup windows.

With Facebook Open Graph integration you’ll be able to share your UP events and accomplishments with all of your best Jawbone buddies. Sharing via Facebook includes data from your workout plan and action, sleep schedule, food, drink, and everything in-between. Perhaps most important of all in this situation is the fact that your sharing will be selective – only the items you want to share will be shared, this as Jawbone notes avoiding “clogging up your Timeline” as it were.

The images above and below show how your newly Facebook-friendly Jawbone UP device and iOS app will be working with you through the future. The integration you’re seeing here is all up to you, you choose how much or how little you share or if you share anything at all, and of course you can take the device off your wrist at any time – be free! And make sure you don’t sleep through that Jawbone alarm – consider wrapping it around your ear, perhaps (at your own risk!)

This bracelet offers more functionality than some of the products on the market with the ability to track specific exercises, reps, sets, heart rate, calories burned, and more. The bracelet also has gesture recognition technology that allows it to detect what exercise you’re performing and how your body is responding. The bracelet knows if you are using an elliptical machine, running, swimming, or doing squats.

The device can identify and track over 100 different activities and correlate activities with information about your body such as heart rate and oxygen saturation in the blood. The bracelet is constructed of plastic elastomers and stainless steel. The electronics are waterproof and accessories are available to customize the color.

The bracelet communicates with a smartphone via Bluetooth. The sensor can also be worn on your shoe if you don’t like things on your wrists. The bracelet is micro-adjustable allowing for a comfortable fit no matter what size your wrist is. The Amiigo is on Indiegogo right now and a pledge of $99 will get you one of the devices when they ship this June. The project was seeking $90,000 and has raised $196,443 with 35 days to go.

[via Indiegogo]

Even by 2017, activity monitors will continue to represent the lion’s share of the wearable’s market, Juniper expects. Fitness and sports wearables, combined with healthcare devices, will together hold more than 80-percent of the share, with health commanding a higher overall value despite lower sales, thanks to greater individual prices.

While Google has already shown its hand in the wearables space, other big names are expected to weigh in within the next 4-5 years. “Juniper envisages significant adoption towards the end of the forecast period, driven by the launch of augmented reality glasses and similar products from Google, Microsoft and Apple” it’s suggested; both Microsoft and Apple have flirted with AR research, at least going by recent patent applications (such as Microsoft’s live event AR and Apple’s head-mounted displays) but neither has publicly declared intentions.

Just as apps have accelerated the smartphone marketplace, so Juniper predicts the same happening in the wearables space. “The development of the smartphone/app store model has opened up new avenues for other segments within the market, such as the wearable device market, by combining mobility with an efficient method of software delivery” analyst Nitin Bhas suggests. “The simultaneous development of app-ecosystem and wearable devices will integrate technologies, such as augmented reality, into human life more seamlessly.”

That market will be worth over $1.5bn by 2014, Bhas claims, roughly double what it is today. Advanced activity trackers have already begun to edge under the $100 barrier, though wearable displays are likely to cost significantly more for some time, given the challenges of distilling compact phone technology into a body-worn device. Google’s initial Glass Explorer Edition devices, targeting developers, are priced at $1,500 apiece, for instance, while Vuzix’s Smart Glasses M100, shown off at CES last week are expected to come in at “under $500″ when they launch this year.

Temperature, heat flux, galvanic skin response, and a 3-axis accelerometer are all squeezed inside a compact dongle that can be worn on an arm strap or elsewhere on the body. Each sensor tracks data at 5,000 records per minute, and the CORE 2 can be paired with an optional heart-rate monitor strap.

All of the data collected will be sent to the BodyMedia mobile app, using low-power Bluetooth 4.0 (on devices that support it) to keep the information up to date minute-to-minute. That’s in contrast to rival systems like Jawbone’s UP, which only synchronize when you plug them in.

Those stats will also be uploaded to the web-based Activity Manager, complete with a FIT coach which can make suggestions for exercise, diet, and other elements. That guidance will be given as easy-to-understand instructions – such as “Hop on the treadmill and walk for about 1 hour at a speed of 4 mph and you can hit your calorie burn goal today” – to reduce confusion.

What you see in our photos now, however, is going to get even smaller by the time the CORE 2 goes on sale. BodyMedia tells us that the fitness device will end up being the size of a quarter, once the company’s engineers have had their way. There’ll be interchangeable fascias, too, when the CORE 2 hits shelves in August 2013; pricing tbc.

Indeed, the user interface is a lot cleaner this time around. The team behind the app ended up cleaning up a lot of the code by scrapping the bold colors and text for a cleaner design that’s easier to read and navigate. They also wanted to design the app to showcase more of your personal fitness story, and they hope that the new look motivates its users even more.

One of the main selling points of RunKeeper is that the app makes it easy to set a goal and track your progress towards that goal, while also interacting and competing with friends right from the app. They’ve made it even easier by adding a few more features to the app, such as in-app photo features that allow you to take pictures before, during, and after workouts and share those with friends on Facebook or Twitter.

You now also enable live activity tracking, which allows friends and family to follow your progress in real-time and cheer you on as they do so. The company has more plans in the future for the app, including an update for the Android version of RunKeeper, but the company says they’ll have more features to come in 2013.

RunKeeper is a free download, and the update is available now in the iTunes App Store.

Although details on the new sensor line-up are scant, there’s still plenty of points on the body which could be tracked for health reasons and more. “They’re going to be products that help you with other aspects of your movement for health,” CEO Monisha Perkash said of the developments, “but also performance and avoiding injuries.”

For the moment, though, the LUMO team is focused on meeting existing orders of the original strap. Shipments to Kickstarter backers began last month, while new orders are promising a 1-2 day shipping time. The strap is priced at $149, and comes with a companion smartphone and tablet app which tracks your movement. A vibration sensor in the LUMOback itself warns you of poor posture if you’re not watching your phone.

Wearables and body tracking have become big business, with a number of high-profile brands entering the field. Nike has recently “gamified” its Fuelband system to encourage wearers of the tracking bracelet to compete with friends, while Jawbone’s UP made a return to the market after a disastrous first-attempt in 2011.

[via GigaOm]

The Basis watch also does far more than most health and fitness gadgets. It has an accelerometer to track movement, but it also has an optical blood-flow monitor for heart-rate tracking, a perspiration sensor to measure sweat, and skin and ambient temperature sensors. These different sensors help the Basis watch do things that other activity trackers can’t.

After it monitors and records activity, the watch takes the data and presents it to you in a useful way, allowing you to keep track of your health and fitness trends over time. The company introduced a web service to go along with the watch that lays out the data into a readable format. Users can also choose different habits related to their physical activity and sleep that they want to try and accomplish.

An interesting feature about the device is that it doesn’t track calories or anything to do with your diet. Furthermore, the device is launching with the internal Bluetooth radio turned off, but eventually Basis will enable Bluetooth syncing in the future. The watch costs $199, and it’s available now on their website.

The original UP first went on sale roughly a year ago, but Jawbone pulled it from the market after the initial units were plagued with faults and owner feedback dived. The wristband sensor was dragged back into the engineering labs and, after near 3m hours of real-world testing so Jawbone claims, is back with greater efficiency and new features.

Unlike other exercise monitors, such as Nike’s Fuelband, the UP is intended to be worn day and night. Together with its iPhone companion app – and the Jawbone cloud services – it can show you your sleeping patterns and break them down into light and deep sleep, in addition to waking you at what it believes is the “optimal point” for you to feel refreshed.

For daytime movement, meanwhile, UP tracks active and idle times, along with how intense those active times are, and calculates the usual pedometer-style number of steps, calories burned, and distance travelled.

However, the UP app also allows users to snap a shot of their meals, building up a food diary, and if you scan the barcode or search for the meal in the database, you can pull up nutritional information. There’s also room to keep a log of moods, which can then be compared with sleep and activity, and Jawbone makes “personal insights” with suggestions on how to feel better.

The whole thing is clad in medical-grade rubber, is splashproof, and lasts for ten days on a charge. It’ll go on sale in eight colors and three sizes from Jawbone’s own site, and at Apple, AT&T, and Best Buy stores, from today.

The wristband tracks various fitness and health factors like how many steps you take, the number of calories burned, the distance you traveled on any given day, your diet, and how much sleep you get. It seems to be a more ambitious approach to Nike‘s or Jawbone‘s offering, and it comes accompanied with an iOS app that you can use to personalize the device.

The band is splash resistant and has a pedometer built inside, which counts your steps every day. The sleep feature is especially cool — it can tell how long you sleep each night, as well as how long it takes you to actually get to sleep each night. There’s also a vibrating alarm built into the band to wake you up each morning. As for monitoring your diet, Larklife actually doesn’t track your food intake, but the app includes a feature where you manually enter in your meals.

The band looks a little more bulkier than some of its competitors, but we’re guessing that’s because of all the added features and hardware that sits inside the wristband. Whether or not it will be comfortable to wear all the time is up for questioning. The Larklife wristband will cost $150 and is currently available for pre-order, and Lark will announced ship dates later this year.

Fitbit has a new device called the One that can be pre-ordered right now for $99.95. The One is designed to track all sorts of things so you don’t have to. During the day, it can act as a pedometer tracking your steps, distance, calories burned, and stairs climbed.

At night, the device is designed to measure your sleep cycle to help users learn how to get better sleep, and it will wake you in the morning. The device has an integrated silent alarm that vibrates to wake you in the mornings. It will give you statistics such as how long and how well you slept and how many times you woke during the night. The device syncs with the iPhone or iPad or your computer wirelessly using Bluetooth and will soon support Android devices.

The Fitbit Zip is a simpler device available now for $59.95 in multiple colors. It’s an activity tracker and is able to track how many steps you take, how many calories you burn, and the distance you travel. It’s basically a high-tech pedometer that can wirelessly sync using Bluetooth technology to your iPhone, iPod or a computer. It too will get support for certain Android devices soon.

The device claims to be the world’s first iPhone powered by trainer and promises to allow cyclists and triathletes to set resistance and accurately measure their power using app-based workouts. The device will debut in the US this November and uses Bluetooth 4.0 and ANT+ technology. While pedaling the user will be able to increase or decrease the resistance and simulate the real world bike courses while using the iPhone as the control. The resistant adjustments are instantaneous.

Users are able to replicate everything from a flat or rolling hill course to coasting downhill after a climb. The device uses a wheel off design and a flywheel to produce a realistic road feel. Wahoo Fitness promises that the device delivers a feel equivalent to the inertia of an actual rider on the road.

The system works with top cycling applications, including Trainer Road and Kinomap Trainer. The device can simulate different rides from coasting down hills to pedaling up a 15% grade. The rider can measure their power output in watts and their speed via apps. Wahoo also says that it’s one of the quietest trainers on the market. Pricing is unknown at this time.

Kinect PlayFit essentially acts as a fitness dashboard. The app will keep track of any calories you burn while playing games like Kinect Star Wars and Dance Central 2. Over time you’ll be able to check out your stats, as well as leaderboards and ranks from across the world using Xbox Live. Microsoft is saying it’s the first fitness app of its kind due to its ability to track stats over multiple games.

So, what are you waiting for? KInect PlayFit launches today in the US, and next week in international territories. Get downloading, and make sure to burn those calories to the theme of I’m Han Solo.

[via Major Nelson]

Inside there’s the same three-axis accelerometer and array of white and colored LEDs to help track your movements and keep record of your fitness. The difference is, rather than the sober black rubber of the regular FuelBand, you get so see some of the electronics as they track whether you’re a couch potato or a hot potato.

That tracking is measured not only in steps or calories, but Nike+ Fuel points. The company claims it has done fancy research into what sort of movements correspond to what sort of activity, and that allows the FuelBand to recognize exactly what you’re doing – as long as you’re moving your arm – and score you accordingly.

Hit your target, and you get a light-show on the band itself, and more congratulations on Nike’s socially-enabled tracking site to which the FuelBand synchronizes. There, you can monitor your progress, set goals, and share your successes with people on Facebook.

The Nike+ FuelBand ICE will go on sale at NikeTown locations in New York, San Francisco and London on July 27. It will also be available at London’s Boxpark, the House of Innovation at Selfridges, and New York’s 21 Mercer Street. Meanwhile regular availability will follow on come August 12 from Nike’s online store. Stocks will be limited, though Nike isn’t saying exactly how many ICE units will be made.

Nike+ FuelBand overview:

The new app allows you to sync your FuelBand data in the background by merely long-pressing the button found on the bracelet. In addition, data is saved offline so you can view all your progress and stats without needing an active internet connection, and you can view the remaining battery life for the FuelBand through the app.

If you’re really keen, you can download the free Nike+ Running iOS app that will keep a map of your runs. The app, previously known as Nike+ GPS, was redesigned last week to make it easier for joggers to commence runs, at the same time dropping the $1.99 price tag. If you’re interested in all of the above, head on over to the relevant app stores to get the updates.

The watch has been designed to be as small as possible while still providing the necessary information, minimizing drag and resistance in the water. The Swim automatically knows what strokes the swimmer is using and tracks them accordingly, as well as monitoring variables such as distance and pace. Swimmers can also start timed sets, and everything is controlled via six buttons on the watch.

As for battery life, Garmin say it should be good for up to one year. It’s user replaceable too, so the watch doesn’t need to be sent away to have the battery replaced. The Garmin Swim is available starting from today, and will cost $149.99.

After you’ve run, there’s a summary broken down by mile and compared to the last seven times you exercised. A bar chart shows side-by-side progress, and you can tag your shoes so as to better track when you need to replace them.

Meanwhile there’s also Facebook integration, with the app able to automatically share with your friends on the social network that you’ve started exercising. Nike’s own Nikeplus.com site can be used to sync and track runs, view maps of where you’ve been, and see new potential routes in the same area.

The app includes a homescreen widget to show when you last ran last and your total mileage, and both the Android and freshly-updated iOS versions of the software use a new UI that’s better for on-the-go usability. Nike+ Running for Android is a free download from the Play Store.

Exact hardware details for the Joule haven’t been revealed, though it wouldn’t be the first fitness sensor for the Xbox 360. EA released Sports Active 2 last month, complete with a wireless heart monitor that gamers wear to feed extra metrics to their console.

Microsoft’s system is likely to be something along the same lines, with the Kinect sensor itself able to track gamers in three-dimensional space in the manner of the Nike+ Fuelband. However, it won’t be essential to use the new health functionality; that will apparently continue tracking users even if they don’t splash out on the hardware.

Exactly when Kinect Play Fit will arrive on the Xbox 360 is yet to be confirmed, though it’s believed to be on track for the next significant 360 Dashboard upgrade. With E3 2012 fast approaching, it’s likely we’ll hear more about it – and the Joule – there.

Players will be able to delve into more than 400 different exercises, get feedback, track progress, and remain committed through the motivation of virtual coaches. And because it is part of the Adidas miCoach suit, players will be able to integrate the data from the game with other parts of their exercise lives. That is what will set this title apart from the myriad other fitness video games out there.

Athletes Kaka, Dwight Howard, Manuel Neuer, Jessica Ennis, Jose Mourinho, Ana Ivanovic, Will Genia and Eric Berry all appear in the impending game. The miCoach brand isn’t gaining popularity just among regular consumers. Adidas has engineered “trackable” sportswear for professional sports teams so that coaches can monitor real-time player data to help with their coaching decisions. It’s pretty cool stuff.

[via News10]

Those games, like Farmville on Facebook, encourage piecemeal play throughout the day, in the hope of encouraging people to exercise more frequently. Challenges between Striiv users can be set up, such as increasing your daily walking by a certain amount, and then the Striiv pedometers automatically work out who was the winner and assigns prizes such as chore forfeits for the losers.

Meanwhile, more long-term stats over the lifetime use of the device are also collected, with an online leaderboard that’s socially-enabled as well. Striiv has a Farmville-esque game called Myland, in which players can earn new characters, plants and buildings by exercising.

According to Striiv, the average user is now walking 90 minutes or the equivalent of 3 miles every day, as well as checking the pedometer “dozens” of times. The new Striiv goes on sale today online, and will show up in Best Buy stores on April 29, priced at $99.95.

The scales can handle up to eight different registered uses, capable of identifying which person is using them automatically. Setup is said to take under five minutes, and can be done on a smartphone so you don’t even need to bring the scales out of your bathroom and to your computer.

By default, the data collected is set as private; users can optionally choose to share it within the household or externally. The Fitbit site tidies it all neatly into graphs and charts, with optional goal-setting and badges to motivate you. If you have a Fitbit Ultra then it can factor in activity and sleep data, too.

The Fitbit Aria is priced at $129.95 and available in black and white both online and in Best Buy and Brookstone stores in the US. It’s priced at £119.99 in the UK.

The newly expanded partnership brings Humana’s existing HumanaVitality program to the Xbox 360 games Your Shape: Fitness Evolved and Your Share: Fitness Evolved 2012. By playing through the games, players will earn points in their HumanaVitality account, which act similarly to credit card or customer loyalty reward points. The integration will happen with an in-game update on March 26.

As for the nitty gritty details, users will be able to earn 15 points every day they play the game and burn at least 200 calories, as calculated by the game. “Through this program, we are offering a total health solution that combines gaming, rewards and self-tracking by creating a motivating, personalized experience,” said HumanaVitality CEO Joe Woods in a statement.

The research is tipped via a patent filing called “Interfacing Portable Media Devices And Sports Equipment.” The patent surfaced this week in the trademark and patent office database, but was filed on October 12, 2011. Interestingly, one of the names on the filing is Apple engineer Donald Ginsberg. Ginsberg heads up that Apple Made for iPod program.

The patent outlines a way the workout data from your Apple device can be shared in real-time with your friends who may be working out with you or on similar equipment. Apparently, if you and a friend are in the gym, and you are both on the treadmill, you would immediately be able to share data on things like speed and time so you can compete to see who can go the furthest the quickest. The coolest part is the patent claims you can share this data with people next to you in your gym or friends around the world who are working out at the same time using Wi-Fi or cellular network connection.

[via 9to5Mac]

Pair the FR70 with an optional Garmin foot pod, however, and it can track your speed and distance while walking, jogging or running. There’s also a speed and cadence sensor that will work on your bike, or you can use ANT+ to wirelessly connect to compatible treadmills, spin bikes, elliptical trainers and other gym equipment that want to tattle on your performance. However, there’s no GPS integration.

Meanwhile, used with Tanita’s BC-1000 body-composition platform – basically a very fancy set of scales – your  weight, body fat, body water, muscle mass, metabolic age, bone mass, visceral fat and other intimidating-sounding measurements can be collected. Those can be shared using Garmin Connect, the company’s socially-enabled online tool, so that others can coo in an impressed way or gasp at how unfit you are.

The Garmin FR70 will go on sale in November, priced at $129.99. Both men’s and women’s versions will be on offer, though that basically means you can have the FR70 in either blue or pink.

The miCoach SPEED_CELL is designed to help improve individual performance for athletes in a broad range of sports, including soccer, football, basketball, tennis, and running. It lets each user track their unique stats such as average speed, maximum speed, number of sprints, distance at high intensity levels, steps, and strides during play. Up to seven hours of data can be stored onboard the SPEED_CELL to be wirelessly transferred later to a smartphone, tablet, or PC.

The device fits in a specially designed cavity in the outsole of compatible Adidas footwear. The company intends to introduce a full range of compatible sneakers for basketball, football, and tennis starting later this year through 2012. The device itself will cost $69.99 and will launch with a series of apps, starting with miCoach Soccer and miCoach Running, on December 1.

[via Engadget]

With the adapter in place, Garmin Fit can monitor heart rate and cadence using the company’s various wireless accessories; without it, the app alone can measure speed, pace, distance, time and calories burned. There’s also music playback control from within the app, as well as support for answering calls and text messages without losing track of your workout.

Once you’ve finished – or, in our case, staggered to a halt, gasping and wheezing and wishing you’d never got out of bed that morning – you can then tell the app what the weather was like and add any relevant notes, and then it gets automatically shuttled off to join your online Garmin Connect record. That allows you to track your routes, as well as compare them with those recorded from one of Garmin’s GPS watches.

Although the documents don’t reveal a whole bunch, it does suggest that Garmin is aiming to more tightly integrate its other fitness gadgets with the iPhone. The company recently launched a new sports watch called the Garmin Forerunner 910XT GPS watch as well as the Garmin Vector and Edge 200 Cycling GPS devices that target pro cyclists with advanced fitness metrics.

From the looks of the adapter, it should be compatible with the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and possibly the iPhone 4S, by attaching to the bottom of those devices. Garmin will probably have to come out with a free app to work in tandem with the adapter as well.

[via Engadget]

That gizmo – described as an “all-in-one fitness and music personal fitness device” – coupled GPS tracking, fitness monitoring and media playback in a compact form-factor, which could be snapped onto a wristband. At the time it was suggested that it could launch as the “MotoActive” though so far there’s no sign of a trademark for that name.

“ELECTRONIC NON MEDICAL PORTABLE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY MONITOR AND FITNESS DEVICE FOR MEASURING MOVEMENTS, INDIVIDUAL’S ENERGY EXPENDITURE AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY LEVEL AND ACCESSORIES THEREFORE, NAMELY, HEADPHONES; SOFTWARE FOR DEVELOPING AND MONITORING PERSONAL ACTIVITY AND EXERCISE PLANS, TRAINING PLANS, TRAINING GOALS AND GIVING FEEDBACK ON THE ACHIEVED RESULTS” Motorola trademark description

The KORE is accompanied by another Motorola trademark registration (along with domain registrations) for ENERGIA, which has a similar health-focused description. It’s unclear how the two fit together, whether they are different hardware options or inter-compatible components of the same system.

While the video recording capabilities of the iPod nano 5G are creating the most headlines, the new PMP also has an integrated pedometer for sports use.  According to the Nike+ user guide Apple have published, only this fifth-generation nano will be compatible with the upcoming receiver – sold separately from the iPod itself – and it will use the pedometer to keep track of steps and track milestones such as running distances.

Other features of Nike+ on the nano will include listening to the FM radio now integrated with the PMP, playing “PowerSong” playlists and reviewing workouts.  Any Nike + iPod compatible gym equipment will also transmit its data to be incorporated into the fitness review, which will flag up steps, cardio workout results and calories burned, among other things.

Meanwhile Nike’s online portals have also undergone some changes, pulling together nikeplus.com forum with nikerunning.com, a site with route challenges, weather details, terrain guidance and more.  There are also professionally-designed coaching programs, and you can now publicize your completed workout to Facebook and Twitter.  Nike say there’s also an iPhone-formated site in the works.

The Nike+ SportBand can also be used as a watch, and has a new white background to make the display more easily read.  It will launch in the US on July 15th, priced at $59, and be available in grey with an interior pink band, anthracite (dark grey) with a yellow interior band, and black with a red interior band.

Press Release:

Nike Introduces New Nike+ SportBand and Enhanced Digital Running Destination

NikePlus.com Merges with NikeRunning.com to Create Ultimate Running Site

BEAVERTON, Ore.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Today NIKE, Inc. (NYSE: NKE) introduced the new Nike+ SportBand, giving runners real-time performance feedback on their distance, pace, time and calories burned with just a glance at their wrist. Nike also redefined the online running experience by merging the successful site nikeplus.com and its close to 2 million members together with www.nikerunning.com.

Nike+ SportBand

The Nike+ SportBand features a new screen with a white background to enhance visibility and a welded seal to improve water resistance. It will be available in grey with an interior pink band, anthracite (dark grey) with a yellow interior band, and black with a red interior band. Runners who enjoy listening to music may continue to hear their run details through the Apple iPod nano, iTouch or iPhone systems. The Nike+ SportBand will be available in the U.S. on July 15, with a suggested retail price of $59 USD.

“We’re giving runners a seamless, comprehensive, one-stop online destination for all their needs,” said Leslie Lane Global Vice President and General Manager for Nike Running. “From finding the right gear, the latest event details, tracking progress and connecting to friends through Nike+, we’re helping runners hit a new stride.”

NikePlus.com

Nike has merged the popular nikeplus.com website and its close to 2 million members with www.nikerunning.com to give users a one-stop running destination online. In addition, nikeplus.com has added many new features and social media opportunities including:

Personalization – The new navigational system includes a customizable homepage for members providing at-a-glance views of your training, progress in goals and challenges, and your Nike+ Mini. Now runners can personalize every run to illustrate their mood, weather, terrain, route and more.

Find Your Friends – Runners will now be able to search for like-minded and similarly-skilled runners, accept new friend requests and initiate challenges in conjunction with their favorite social media platforms. And because no good run should go unpublished, runners can broadcast their own successes beyond Nike+, with automatic updates to Facebook status, Twitter feeds and much more.

Upgraded Challenges – Once runners tap into their own personal running network, Nike+ will now recommend challenges from the gallery to help inspire a little healthy competition with other runners who have similar running styles or profiles.

New Shoe Finder – This feature asks runners to answer a few simple questions in order to receive a customized shoe recommendation based on the latest shoe technology.

Improved Goals and Challenges – In addition to helpful news, training tips, and event details, the newly redesigned site also features new professional coaching programs from some of Nike’s top running coaches and athletes. Runners can choose from a pre-set coaching program, or personalize their own routine and goals with more flexibility.

Lastly, Nike is launching a Nike+ iPhone mobile site to give users access to Nike+ data anywhere.

About Nike

NIKE, Inc. based near Beaverton, Oregon, is the world’s leading designer, marketer and distributor of authentic athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for a wide variety of sports and fitness activities. Wholly-owned Nike subsidiaries include Cole Haan, which designs, markets and distributes luxury shoes, handbags, accessories and coats; Converse Inc., which designs, markets and distributes athletic footwear, apparel and accessories; Hurley International LLC, which designs, markets and distributes action sports and youth lifestyle footwear, apparel and accessories; and Umbro Ltd., a leading United Kingdom-based global football (soccer) brand. For more information, visit www.nikebiz.com.

The biggest update to the Wii Fit franchise here is that you can move in one more direction than you could on the old version. This way, you can make a workout program that suits your preferences and abilities.

You can pair up yoga and strength activities for a custom workout that achieves the goals you desire. This allows you to make routines that can last for 20, 30 and 40 minute intervals. 15 minigames will be added, some of which include skateboarding and juggling. There is also a minigame that uses Mario elements to create a platforming level where you are Mario himself.