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Week in Review–March 2nd, 2013

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The Week in Review is a collection of both all the goodness I’ve written during the past week around the internet, as well as a small pile of links I found interesting – generally endurance sports related. I’ve often wondered what to do with all of the coolness that people write, and while I share a lot of it on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, this is a better forum for sending it on to y’all. Most times these different streams don’t overlap, so be on the lookout at all these places for good stuff!

So with that, let’s get into the action!

DCRainmaker.com posts this past week:

Here’s all the goodness that ended up on the main page of DCRainmaker.com this week.

Saturday: Week in Review–February 23rd, 2013
Monday: Tacx Genius Trainer In-Depth Review
Thursday Morning: The Great DC Rainmaker 2013 Survey Results!
Thursday Afternoon: You Win–You Choose DC Rainmaker Giveaway!

Woot! Check it out!

Here’s a few places I was highlighted this week:

Triathlon Magazine Online Gear-Tech Section: They noted that if you’re looking for gear reviews, there’s only one place to go.  And no, it’s not K-Mart. (Thanks to all who sent in!)

Stuff that I found interesting around the interwebs:

Here’s a not-so-small smattering of all the random things that I stumbled on while doing my civic duty to find the end of the Internet:

1) A really well done Washington Post piece on Joe Dombrowski: Who’s Joe?  He’s a cycling phenom from Virginia that’s joined the pro ranks this year on Team Sky.  Oh, and he’s 21.  And, I took a photo of him last April.  Thus, giving me two connections to him.  Oh, and the story is unlike any other Washington Post piece you’ve ever seen (layout-wise).

2) One of the best coaches in triathlon shares his thoughts: A good piece from Joe Filliol, who’s been head coach at both Triathlon Canada and British Triathlon.  (via Simon W)

3) Armband monitors muscles, adds device control, makes you look like The Terminator: Give it a few years and it’ll be interesting to see what applications this ends up having in sport and fitness.

4) Screenings for Singletrack High: Screenings have started for this movie about a high-school cycling league.  The trainer looks pretty cool, see below. (Via BikeHugger)

 

5) Triathlon Magazine: Are you a tri dork? A worthy read, and the resultant might not be what you think…

6) An interesting mention of Quarq and their use of CRM software: For the Quarq geeks/CRM geeks – a bit of ‘behind the scenes’ on what Quarq uses to manage inventory and customers.  Quarq section starts at 5:49. (Sent in from Kurt R.)

7) A 300-foot rope swing (no, NOT zipline): I would try and explain this, but it would go something like…holy crap they’re jumping off the edge of a canyon, swinging over a lot of really painful hard rock…and holy crap.  Or, just watch the video.

8) Want the latest sports (semi-sports tech) news in a second?  A reader sent in this new site.  A bit of a consolidator, but it has an interesting blend of items.  I just stashed it into my RSS feed into case I missed something.

9) ANT+ adds encryption, increases speed: The folks behind the technology that’s in virtually every sports technology device on the market (except Polar) have added encryption functionality, speed improvements, and battery life improvements.  The encryption side primarily comes from requirements in both healthcare (which uses quite a bit of ANT+), as well as interest from Pro Cycling teams (and other pro teams).  Though, at present, none of these improvements are supported in devices available today.

10) Why weight is so important in cycling: A look at weight and (primarily) pro cycling.  Interesting perspective to help explain why the riders are as slim as they are.

11) No more yellow chalkboard motorcycle ladies?  Apparently not.  Shame.  (Side note: It’s little known that some of those woman are actually really dang good top cyclists themselves).

12) Taylor Swift Bikes Paris: A couple of scenes of Taylor cycling around my local digs.  Kinda neat to see all the places nearby.

Crowd Funded Projects of Athletic Note:

This is a bit of a new section that I’ve been toying with adding.  Most of this content used to be found within the main section, but I figured I’d just call it out up here and make it easy to find.  I regularly sift through Kickstarter and Indiegogo (plus a few others on occasion) looking for sports projects.

Here’s the projects of note that are new:

Hydrosleeve: This tiny little waterbottle (7oz) on your upper arm may be useful for some folks.  Personally, I either need no water (short 40-minute run), or a lot of it (long run), so it doesn’t really fit my bill.

Sports Technology Software/Firmware Updates This Week:

Each week I quickly highlight some of the new firmware, app, software and website service updates that I see go out. If you’re a sports technology company and release an update – shoot me a quick note (just one liners is perfect, or Tweet it at me) and I’ll make mention of it here. If I don’t know about it, I won’t be able to post about it. Sound good?

Garmin Adds Basecamp mobile updates: Looks like a small pile of updates related to being able to transfer your activities online via the app.

Elite Cycling adds new beta version, asks for testers: Click on the link to see how to sign-up for the beta version if you have an Elite Trainer.

iPhone/iPad App Updates this week:

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Android App Updates this week:

Note: I just installed a slew of apps this week to monitor, so it’s plausible some apps slipped by with updates before I installed all my apps.

Screenshot_2013-03-02-12-34-27

Windows Phone App Updates this week:

I saw no updates come in for apps that I monitor (read: Apps that I myself install and/or use).

Thanks for reading all!

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15 Comments

  1. Eli

    An interesting thing with the ant+ update is the new reference design of the Ant+ stick seems to be the same size as the tiny Suunto stick and backwards compatible with the ant2 stick. Maybe all future garmin devices will use this smaller stick (the old reference stick looks like the current garmin stick) Now I just need to find a ANTUSB-m stick

    • Ray Maker

      Yeah, I’ve got one around here. Works like normal (ANT+ branded mini-stick). Not sure on when Garmin/others will start making them, I’ll ask around.

    • Eli

      Thanks, want to get a second stick to make it easier to do programing with the Ant+ sdk, think I’ll wait till I find one of this new type.

  2. Myria

    I saw that canyon swing vid yesterday, wow. My friends think some of the things I’ve done are bloody nuts, but that makes anything I’ve done look downright sane.

    Well, less insane.

    Adding canyon swing to my bucket list…

  3. The hydrosleeve is a really cool idea – but I’m in the same boat; I’d either need 2 on each arm or none at all. I do like the concept of having “doses” of water available like that – might make it easier to reliably regulate intake.

  4. Have you seen the iOS app ConnectStats? It basically talks to Garmin Connect and shows you all your data in a useful form instead of the way the Garmin apps show them (like showing your swim info as actual paces instead of mph like the Garmin Connect app does) link to itunes.apple.com

  5. Willem Wijnans

    I see a vid of Taylor Swift… she uses the hydrosleeve in her video clip?

  6. Bobby

    Here’s where I saw the canyon swing video: link to youtube.com

  7. Do you know if any company plans to release a new smartphone with ANT+?
    The latest models are from 2011. I use the xperia active to track all my workouts. But it is time for a new one.

    • Eli

      I’m sure Ray would have more info then me but I did see this but of news came out over the weekend:
      link to thisisant.com

    • Ray Maker

      I’ve reached out to ANT+ for a list of phones with ANT+ enabled on them, specifically focusing on recent phones.

    • Fr. Br.

      Ok, thanks for this hint. But a second device is not usefull for doing sports. And If you connect the selfloop with a cable your phone won´t be waterproof anymore. It should be realized by an integrated chip.

    • Ray Maker

      No, I’m talking phones with ANT+ built into them. There have been a number of these made. No adapter required.

  8. Eli

    One thing I just learned is Firstbeat Athlete now supports the FR 310XT watch with r-r recordings. Doesn’t seem like Garmin or Firstbeat came out with any new software so seems like the function was already there just not advertised. (See Firstbeat’s facebook wall) At least I’m pretty sure that before that post on their wall they only claimed the 610 and the 910xt recorded r-r data.