DailyDirt: Exercise The Right Way

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

There are countless exercise videos and gadgets to help people exercise more effectively. Every fitness guru seems to have his/her own unique (and hopefully not patented) method for getting better results from physical activity. If you believe the infomercials, you can lose more weight in less time, just by following a few simple instructions (your mileage may vary). Here are just a few links on how you might improve your daily activity in some small ways.

• Is there a perfect technique to running? In 1874, the "100-Up" method was created and could be the best way to run. You don't need fancy five-toed shoes, and you should really avoid landing hard on your heels. [url]
• Just one minute of strenuous effort repeated about ten times (over about 20 minutes per day) seems to offer some significant health benefits. Studies of variations of high-intensity interval training techniques could help people optimize their exercise routines. [url]
• A lot of people are walking incorrectly with bad posture. Bending your elbows at a 90 degree angle might not sound like a big deal, but apparently, if you're not doing it, you're walking wrong. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: 100-up, exercise, fitness, interval training, posture, running, walking

Apple Trying To Patent Not Letting You Use Your Nike+iPod With Non-Nike Shoes

from the this-raises-some-questions dept

I know plenty of folks (including my wife) who have purchased the Nike+iPod device to use with non-Nike sneakers. The device puts a sensor in your shoe, which communicates with a separate dongle connected to your iPod (or built in to the new iPod Touch), and tracks your running stats, which you can then upload. Many Nike sneakers have a little cutout underneath the insoles where you can stick the sensor, but you can buy (or make) a little pouch and connect it to shoelaces on non-Nike shoes. However, not only is Apple thinking about ways to stop this -- it's trying to patent those ways. It's got a patent application in for smart garments which would create basically a DRM for devices -- forceably pairing a device like the Nike+iPod sensor to a specific shoe.

This seems odd for a whole variety of reasons. First, it seems positively silly for Apple to do this, as it severely limits the market for the devices, and lessens the value of the iPod. You can see why Nike might ask for it, but it's hard to see why Apple would implement it. Second, however, is that this seems highly questionable as a patent. I mean why would you patent something that makes your product less desirable? Would Apple actually sue someone else (say, Microsoft) for doing the same thing? That would (oh no!) force Microsoft to make its product more useful and more valuable. Finally, as a patent, how is this not "obvious"? It seems like a bad idea to implement, but that doesn't make it non-obvious. If any engineer wanted to create such a system, it wouldn't take much thought at all. The whole thing seems rather pointless.

Filed Under: drm, ipod, nike+ipod, patents, running, sneakers
Companies: apple, nike