With all the iPhone 5 news last week, a few Apple announcements and releases got buried. The iPod touch and iPod nano announcements got not quite as much press as the new phone. But one thing that slipped into iTunes (a new iTunes) without much notice was BikeGearsFree. The app lets you calculate cadence and miles per hour based on the size of your chainring and sprocket. Read the rest of this entry »
The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) this week finalized standards for sports and fitness equipment using Bluetooth wireless technology sensors. The guidelines are for Bluetooth v4.0, which is a low energy technology. These guidelines are geared toward sensors using Bluetooth that measure spead and cadence for running and cycling activity. The new standard dictates specification for applications that can include running cadence, stride length, total distance or cycling speed, distance and pedal cadence. Read the rest of this entry »
When cycling, I use the Strava app on my Android phone as a cycling computer. This is great to track distance, speed, and even where I bike. However it doesn’t help me so much when my phone is in my back pocket and I can’t access that information. Read the rest of this entry »
Garmin excels in the sports and fitness category with devices that track distance, speed, heart rate and other measures of a workout. Now it’s come to market with an ANT+ adapter for the iPhone, and companion app on iPhone and Android devices. We hope the Android adapter will soon follow so we can track our workouts on our device of choice.
The Garmin Fit app lets users track metrics such as speed, pace, distance, time, calories, heart rate and cadence. Some of these metrics require connectivity to devices beyond the phone. Cadence and heart rate, for instance, require a pod on the bike and chest strap, respectively. These are measured with companion Garmin devices, and sent wirelessly via the ANT+ adapter to the iPhone. Read the rest of this entry »
