Technology is inexorably tied to progress, but when it busts into our lives and subtly tells us that we're doing something wrong -- in this case, getting some "us" time on a solo jog -- we've gotta admit to being a little peeved. Even for those who like to share their second most sweaty experience on the day-to-day, this is probably a bit of an overkill. A prototype technology called Jogging over Distance is being developed at the University of Melbourne which uses
GPS, cellphone tech, and 3D audio simulation to make it seem as if two joggers from separate cities are actually slogging it out together. The advantage over just whipping out a
cellphone is that as one runner goes faster, their voice appears to be coming from further ahead to the other runner, which could presumably help motivation. To each their own we suppose, but we'd take some loud music over the grunts of a fellow jogger any day. Or, indeed, a form of motivation that helps us -- no,
forces us -- to start jogging in the first place.
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posted May 14th 2007 7:46AM
*attaches GPS to car*......pwnt....
Conrad,
It's ok, you can ditch the 1st person plural once in a while to use the "me time" idiom. It sounds really stupid to call it "us time."
uh...thats the point- there's nu us in me time. that's why the us is in "" wowzers...
oh, and lol at "second most sweaty experience on the day-to-day" :)
The engadget editors go jogging??
I use the Garmin Forerunner (205). The Forerunners have a mode called "Virtual Partner": "Use Forerunner’s unique training tool, Virtual Partner®, to help you meet your training goals. Simply enter the distance and time or pace/speed you want to maintain during your workout. Virtual Partner appears on the Forerunner as a tiny runner that "runs" alongside of you, displaying your goal pace compared to your current pace — so you can see at a glance whether you're keeping up or falling behind. To complete your workout and meet your goal, just stay ahead of the Virtual Partner."
That is the most stupidly obvious piece of viral marketing that I have ever seen.Nice use of the registered trademark there!
I'm definitely gonna go buy "Forerunner’s unique training tool, Virtual Partner®"!
A form of motivation that forces you to start jogging in the first place? What, like rabid attack dogs? Maybe bluetooth enabled?
That's funny. Actually, I just cut-and-paste from http://www.garmin.com/products/forerunner201/ which is the third Google search result for "virtual partner garmin forerunner". So, I did use quotes but did not cite my source: my apologies. In fairness to you, I thought that my post would read "fishy" but I decided to post anyway. For further disclosure: I am a Garmin customer (Forerunner 301 and 205) but am not an employee, shareholder, nor did I receive any financial consideration for the copy-paste job above. I credit the Forerunner for keeping me interested in running, though. I started 3 years ago thanks to the metrics that I can keep track of using the device: "As an added benefit, you can analyze and store data from your workouts using free Garmin Training Center® software, which lets you analyze data with interactive graphs that chart your pace, time and distance. Overlay your run on a map so you can pinpoint specific areas and see how elevation and other factors affect your performance. Or, upload your workout data to MotionBased.com, Garmin's web-based application that provides in-depth analysis of your workouts, online mapping and route sharing that will take your training to the next level." (https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=230) I believe I purchased both of my Forerunners from Provantage where the 205 is currently selling for $197 (only $28 less than what I paid for it in March of 2005). Google Product Search shows a bunch on sale for less at other stores. How's that for viral?
I still dont see what,if anything,your comments have to do with this post.
I can think of two ways:
The post is about a technology which is a "simulation to make it seem as if two joggers from separate cities are actually slogging it out together." My original post describes a similar approach which allows you to interactively race against a "Virtual Partner."
My reply to you addresses the claim that my original post was thinly disguised marketing. While I was on the topic I address the portion of the post that reads "Or, indeed, a form of motivation that helps us -- no, forces us -- to start jogging in the first place" by explaining how the aforementioned device satisfies my need for exactly the motivation sought by the author.
This final reply is only loosely related to the topic of the post. However, I would share my experience that a threaded discussion facilitates this type of banter in a way that non-threaded discussions discourage replies and hence create an expectation of looseness with regards to the germaneness of comments.
I hope that this clarifies your confusion as to "what,if anything,your comments have to do with this post" though I would agree that the subtle satire used in my reply may have thrown the unobservant reader off track.
I used to jog, u know, long time ago, with my girlfriend, and I didn't like the idea of talking to her while jogging because I used my lungs to breathe heavily in such a workload... u know, u tend to breathe harder when u exercise, and when u breathe like that it's almost impossible to speak... while novel, I wouldn't use it...