Consumer Electronics Show Day 1: Health and Fitness Technology

I spent the entire day in Tech West and focused primarily on Health and Fitness Technology. I will have videos posted on four of these and more to come, but here's a rundown of the things I found interesting and a few comments on each before I head over to the show for Day 2:

GameRunner

GameRunner Productions

This is my second best find so far this show. The best is a flying machine that will literally blow your mind and it's just too much to get into right now. Let's just say it's as cool as this only instead of running you are flying. So stay tuned and check out the coolest new game controller that just happens to come with a treadmill and literally makes you run for your life.  Run for Your Life with GameRunner and CEO Joy Garner

Fitbit

Fitbit

Fitbit is generally recognized as the brand leader in wearable fitness tracking and their new Blaze smart watch was drawing quite a lot of attention. I just bought the Surge. My focus was on the differences between the two and the best I came up with is that it Surge has a GPS and the Blaze is lighter, cheaper, has more style options but does not have a GPS. Please do not be too concerned about the lack of a GPS, it will use the one in your smart phone. Watch this and check back for more specifics on this feature.  FitBit Blaze v. Surge (To GPS or not?)

iFit

iFit

About the only problem I have with Fitbit is that I use an iPhone and they do not support Apple's HealthKit which makes it inconvenient to use other fitness devices.  Why Fitbit? Why? iFit supports Healthkit and generally works and plays well with others including personal trainers who want to go beyond just knowing how many steps you had on a given day. Their software provides detailed recommendations on the interrelationship between these analytics and your diet, sleep etc. and what's even more impressive is that they have a certification program for Personal Trainers who prescribe iFit products to their clients and gives them a portal to administer customized diet, training and lifestyle regiments for their clients.  This is smart. People who hire trainers are serious about their fitness and do what their told. Personal Trainers are exactly the kinds of Mavens everyone in this product category should be courting. What Makes iFit Special

iHealth

iHealth

iHealth makes great products for blood pressure, glucose, pulse and oxygen saturation monitoring and more. I own and use several of their products personally and I had to stop by and hear the latest from them.  Listen as their Marketing Manager Molly Ortiz talks about their new products and some innovative applications in public safety.  Watch iHealth

I am outta time for now, so check back and I will try and get caught up what I learned at booths of: 

• Under Armour
• ICAROS
• WonderCube
• SIGFOX
• VideoStitch
• ShotTracker

iOS 8's Highly Opinionated Autocorrect

The Autocorrect that came with iOS 8 has me a little confused. 

Why correct "laying the ground work," "to laying the foundation" in real time while I type? Who the heck are you and what's it to you? It would have been enough for you to have recognized that it should have been 'groundwork' (one word instead of two) and I don't mean to sound like a brat about it.  Truly my iPhone 5 is a masterpiece that does wonderful things for such a small handheld device.  

But does it know something I do not when I type the word could and corrects it to couldn't?

Why does it correct Were to We're? Seriously? 

Why does it have such a strong opinion about whether I mean Ahhhh instead of the Shhhh that I typed. 

Why does it think I mean Marie and not Mario?

The 'e' is on the other side of the keyboard and I text Mario all the time and don't know anyone named Marie.

I mean I get typos and unrecognized slang and correcting it to the wrong thing. But it once changed grateful to fearful.  

Anyone? 

Thank You Time Warner for the FAST Internet Speeds

Catch me on the wrong day and I will have a mouthful for you on things wrong with Time Warner Cable. But right now I just can't think of anything. Check this out:

speedtest.net from deep in the heart of NoHo Arts District

That's pretty sick. Especially the upload speeds.  I have their Ultimate Internet 200 service; for $10 more a month I could get 300 Mbps down but I exercised restraint. The fast upload speeds require a modem that complies with the new DOCSIS 3.0 Standard like this one:

The Motorola / Arris SurfBoard SB6183 Cable Modem

Like most people, I cannot make sense of my cable bill and it's bundled with my ACTUAL cable service and so I have no idea how much I am paying for it over all but this upload speed is priceless.  

See: ARRIS / Motorola SurfBoard SB6183 DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem on Amazon.com

http://www.TimeWarnerCable.com

iTunes Snubs Daily Show Multi-Pass Subscribers

Episode Available for Purchase

iTunes has begun punishing those who pre-pay to watch their content

Consider this. I went to view last night's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart this morning and saw that it was available for purchase to everyone but me and apparently anyone else stupid enough to purchase their Multi-Pass.

See? For $1.99 you can purchase, download and watch. 

Unless you are an idiot like me stupid enough to pre-pay with their Multi-Pass.  What's up with that people?  

Prices Drop on 4TB, 5TB and 6TB SATA Drives, but 3 TB Remains King of the Hill in Cost Per Gigabyte

Prices just dropped on Seagate Barracuda 4TB, 5TB and 6TB drives but for overall cost-per-gigabyte the 3TB remains the overall champ. There is a general consensus that the largest/newest size available is more likely to fail than the "tried and true" options, so I'm staying with 3TB for now, but it is not hard to imagine a day very soon when your 5 bay NAS will sport a 24 terabyte RAID 5 volume. So let's be careful out there.

Quick Primer on Encryption

Encryption as Fast As Possible

For a concise primer on data encryption, check out this video from Tech Quickie. Blink and you will miss a fleeting reference to events depicted in the awesome new movie, The Imitation Game, in theaters now, run don't walk!

Microsoft Employee Scott Hanselman's Blog is Dope

Yes Dope. You heard me. Get past it.

Then do yourself a favor and check it out. While careful to disassociate his blog from his employer, he claims to have "written software you have used," which is a pretty bold statement but entirely possible if you work for Microsoft and were around twenty years ago in the right place at the right time. Scott brags, "I speak, code, write, empower, promote, braid, learn and listen - usually not in that order."

Scott Hanselman

I found it while looking for help installing Plex on my Synology NAS and it was not hard to tell this fellow has a gift for grasping highly technical concepts and communicating them clearly and interestingly. Check it out: www.hanselman.com. My favorite post is 32 Ways to Keep Your Blog from Sucking. I am happy to say I already do three of those things.