1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to tex Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:14,760 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:14,920 --> 00:00:17,840 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 4 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:21,320 Speaker 1: and I love all things tech. It's time for another 5 00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:25,360 Speaker 1: classic episode. This one is titled tech Stuff Gets Fit. 6 00:00:25,520 --> 00:00:28,960 Speaker 1: It's all about activity trackers. Back then, I think I 7 00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:32,640 Speaker 1: was just starting to use them. And this episode originally 8 00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:37,839 Speaker 1: published on May two thirt enjoy. We want to talk 9 00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:41,159 Speaker 1: about what these devices are, what they do, how they 10 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:43,920 Speaker 1: do it, and whether or not they're actually effective if 11 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:47,000 Speaker 1: you want to do something like lose weight or get fit. Yeah. 12 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:48,600 Speaker 1: Just I mean, you know, not that that many people 13 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:50,880 Speaker 1: are interested in that kind of thing. Yeah, you know, yeah, 14 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:53,560 Speaker 1: there's just like maybe two right, Okay, So the last 15 00:00:53,600 --> 00:00:55,800 Speaker 1: few times I've gone to C E S I have 16 00:00:55,960 --> 00:00:57,880 Speaker 1: noticed it really was I think it was two years 17 00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:03,040 Speaker 1: ago where that it was dramatically apparent that fitness tracking 18 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:05,360 Speaker 1: and activity tracking is a real thing. I mean, it's 19 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:08,000 Speaker 1: it's huge, huge, booming industry. Yeah. Well, I mean, you know, 20 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:12,800 Speaker 1: as as between circuitry getting smaller and uh sinking, technology 21 00:01:12,840 --> 00:01:15,880 Speaker 1: improving and the software improving and just all of these 22 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:20,160 Speaker 1: things have been coming together to create these smaller, sleeker, 23 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:23,520 Speaker 1: you know, better devices that can really help people out 24 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:27,360 Speaker 1: things that are things like interoperability to where it can 25 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:31,720 Speaker 1: interact with computers or smartphones. Not not every device does that. 26 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:34,040 Speaker 1: Let's be clear about that. There are a lot of 27 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:37,240 Speaker 1: devices out there that have kind of a limited use 28 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:39,160 Speaker 1: like that. Maybe they just sink with a computer, or 29 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:41,399 Speaker 1: maybe it's just a standalone device, but a lot of 30 00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:44,760 Speaker 1: them do sync up with more than one device. You 31 00:01:44,760 --> 00:01:47,600 Speaker 1: can do it with a smartphone application or or a 32 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:50,040 Speaker 1: computer or other things as well, and they'll let you. 33 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:53,200 Speaker 1: They'll let you port port whatever data you record into 34 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:55,680 Speaker 1: different apps, so that if for example, you're into this 35 00:01:55,760 --> 00:01:57,720 Speaker 1: kind of thing and you have a favorite app, you 36 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:00,240 Speaker 1: can you can use that one to crunch your numbers 37 00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:03,840 Speaker 1: rather than whatever other proprietary thing they have created. Right, right, 38 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:06,600 Speaker 1: So this gives you a chance to, uh, to really 39 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:09,280 Speaker 1: keep a good look, you know, get a really good 40 00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:13,200 Speaker 1: look at how much activity you are you have throughout 41 00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:15,480 Speaker 1: a given amount of time, like a week or a day. 42 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:17,760 Speaker 1: So you might say, all right, I want to set 43 00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:21,200 Speaker 1: a goal for myself and this device will help me 44 00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:23,880 Speaker 1: measure up against that goal and decide, you know, am 45 00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:26,120 Speaker 1: I am I meeting my goal. Do I need to 46 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:28,520 Speaker 1: uh to crank up the activity. Do I need to 47 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:31,920 Speaker 1: maybe you know, do a three mile jog in the 48 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:33,920 Speaker 1: morning in order to hit what my goals are? Do 49 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:37,720 Speaker 1: I need to um to scale back? Or for for 50 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:40,880 Speaker 1: for hardcore trainers, am I running my heart rate too hard? Yeah? Yeah, 51 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:43,800 Speaker 1: So it all depends on what device you have, whether 52 00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:46,120 Speaker 1: or not you can actually do these things, because, like 53 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:50,920 Speaker 1: we said, not every device does everything. In fact, depending 54 00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:53,120 Speaker 1: upon what you want, that's going to really guide your 55 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:56,040 Speaker 1: choices when it comes to picking an activity tracker. If 56 00:02:56,120 --> 00:02:58,880 Speaker 1: you're interested in something like that, absolutely, and there's there's 57 00:02:58,880 --> 00:03:01,200 Speaker 1: a lot of really terrific reviews out there on the internet. 58 00:03:01,320 --> 00:03:04,200 Speaker 1: We'll mention at least one good site to go to 59 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:07,200 Speaker 1: later on in the podcast. Yeah, there's I came across 60 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:09,440 Speaker 1: lots and lots of them. And it's interesting too because 61 00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:13,400 Speaker 1: you can see where the different preferences come into play, 62 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:16,880 Speaker 1: because one reviewer might say, well, you know, X is 63 00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:20,480 Speaker 1: the best activity tracker because it does things this way, 64 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:22,120 Speaker 1: and someone else to say, no, no no, no, why is 65 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:24,359 Speaker 1: the best activity tracker because it does things in this 66 00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:26,920 Speaker 1: other way? And it's just because it appeals to that 67 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:31,120 Speaker 1: particular person a very personal choice. Right So, so that's 68 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:32,880 Speaker 1: one thing you can get you can walk away with 69 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:34,840 Speaker 1: right now, is that we're not gonna at the end 70 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:36,840 Speaker 1: of this podcast. It's not like we're gonna say the 71 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:39,880 Speaker 1: best activity tracker is blah blah blah, because it all 72 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:43,320 Speaker 1: depends on what you want to get out of it now. Frankly, 73 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:45,680 Speaker 1: I think if you are looking at one of these things, 74 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:47,119 Speaker 1: the thing you really want to get out of it 75 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:50,680 Speaker 1: is is making sure that you are living a healthy lifestyle. 76 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:53,600 Speaker 1: And most of the ones that are on the market 77 00:03:53,720 --> 00:03:56,800 Speaker 1: right now will help you do that depending on how 78 00:03:56,920 --> 00:03:59,440 Speaker 1: you use it. It's it's not a magic device that 79 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:04,080 Speaker 1: automatic turns you into a fit pro athlete right now. Now. 80 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:05,320 Speaker 1: You have to you have to have your own a 81 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:09,680 Speaker 1: personal sense of motivation about exercising first. Probably obtaining a 82 00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:12,000 Speaker 1: fitness tracker is going to be one of the steps 83 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:15,360 Speaker 1: that you're you know, carrying out in this motivation UM 84 00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:19,159 Speaker 1: and and study studies have shown um that that that 85 00:04:19,320 --> 00:04:21,960 Speaker 1: just mindfulness about this kind of thing can really help 86 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:26,520 Speaker 1: you out from lots lots of different corners of health 87 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:29,600 Speaker 1: and fitness. When when you are given the power to 88 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:32,720 Speaker 1: track your own data and to kind of take it 89 00:04:32,760 --> 00:04:34,680 Speaker 1: into your own hands like that, maybe gamify at a 90 00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:38,640 Speaker 1: tiny bit you it really helps you out right. There's 91 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:42,280 Speaker 1: an expert. Her name's Dina Bravada. I'm sure you ran 92 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:45,360 Speaker 1: across her name several times as well, because it's all 93 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:49,880 Speaker 1: over the place in the research on activity tracking, and 94 00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:53,599 Speaker 1: she has said that there there is a bit of 95 00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:57,279 Speaker 1: a bias that's present with activity trackers in the sense 96 00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:00,760 Speaker 1: of the people who are interested in them. She says 97 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:03,760 Speaker 1: that here's a quote. Often those kind of programs have 98 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:07,600 Speaker 1: been criticized because they attract people who are already physically active. 99 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:10,240 Speaker 1: In general, there are two categories of people who use 100 00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:12,640 Speaker 1: these trackers, those who are told to wear them by 101 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:15,640 Speaker 1: a doctor because of an underlying health problem and those 102 00:05:15,640 --> 00:05:17,800 Speaker 1: who are really active and just get a kick out 103 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:21,479 Speaker 1: of knowing their data. Now, none of that is a 104 00:05:21,839 --> 00:05:25,080 Speaker 1: smack against these activity trackers and whether or not they 105 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:28,280 Speaker 1: are effective in what they do. She is simply saying 106 00:05:28,279 --> 00:05:30,920 Speaker 1: that this is the person side of that equation, not 107 00:05:31,040 --> 00:05:34,200 Speaker 1: the technology side of that equation. So let's assume that 108 00:05:34,279 --> 00:05:36,360 Speaker 1: at least some of you guys out there listening are 109 00:05:36,839 --> 00:05:39,960 Speaker 1: very much interested in this kind of stuff, and you 110 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:42,480 Speaker 1: are either interested in just knowing how they work in general, 111 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:44,520 Speaker 1: or you're actually thinking, hey, I would kind of like 112 00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:48,839 Speaker 1: to look into one of these. How do they track activity? 113 00:05:49,279 --> 00:05:52,720 Speaker 1: What exactly is being tracked? And what other features might 114 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:54,800 Speaker 1: I be interested in if I want to get one 115 00:05:54,839 --> 00:05:57,320 Speaker 1: of these things myself. So I thought we'd talk a 116 00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:00,919 Speaker 1: little bit about some of the basic technology cheese that 117 00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:04,560 Speaker 1: you find inside some of these trackers, right, because these 118 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:08,800 Speaker 1: little these little bitty watch sized or bracelet sized or 119 00:06:09,320 --> 00:06:12,080 Speaker 1: clips clips. You know, you have very very small devices 120 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:16,719 Speaker 1: these days. You can pack a lot of tracking devices 121 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:20,200 Speaker 1: into them. Yeah, the sensors that are available now really 122 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:22,360 Speaker 1: boggle the mind. And like we said, I don't think 123 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:24,400 Speaker 1: there is a device out there that has every single 124 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:26,360 Speaker 1: version of what we're about to talk about. But I 125 00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:29,440 Speaker 1: have not seen one. Yeah, but many of them have several, 126 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:32,040 Speaker 1: some of them only have one or two some And 127 00:06:32,560 --> 00:06:34,520 Speaker 1: it may be that the way that they're packaged is 128 00:06:34,640 --> 00:06:38,080 Speaker 1: very attractive, but they but from a technological point of view, 129 00:06:38,360 --> 00:06:43,479 Speaker 1: they are comparatively simple. But I think one very basic 130 00:06:43,640 --> 00:06:46,599 Speaker 1: technology we can talk about that you can find, and 131 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:48,520 Speaker 1: in fact, some people will argue that this is really 132 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:50,280 Speaker 1: all you need if you just want to track some 133 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:53,680 Speaker 1: basic activity is a predometer, right, and these have been 134 00:06:53,880 --> 00:06:56,960 Speaker 1: mechanical predometers. I believe it's been around since the nineteen sixties, 135 00:06:57,279 --> 00:07:01,760 Speaker 1: and they hypothetically this is this is tenuous, tenuous reportage. 136 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:04,039 Speaker 1: But but some people say that the da Vinci or 137 00:07:04,080 --> 00:07:07,840 Speaker 1: Thomas Jefferson came up with the idea many many moons ago. Yeah, 138 00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:11,200 Speaker 1: that's a pretty big spread in years, if I know 139 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:15,280 Speaker 1: my history. But yeah, and I do. But yeah, a 140 00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:19,720 Speaker 1: podometer today it takes a pretty basic form. Usually you 141 00:07:19,800 --> 00:07:22,160 Speaker 1: have some sort of display that's going to tell you 142 00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:24,880 Speaker 1: how many steps you have taken. That's what a podometer does. 143 00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:27,000 Speaker 1: It's supposed to measure how many steps you take. So 144 00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:30,440 Speaker 1: how does it do that. It's essentially counting the number 145 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:33,520 Speaker 1: of times your foot makes impact with the ground. And 146 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:37,640 Speaker 1: really that means it's just measuring various shaking of your body. 147 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:40,400 Speaker 1: So if you are in a car and you're on 148 00:07:40,440 --> 00:07:43,160 Speaker 1: a pathicularly bumpy road, it's going to start registering that 149 00:07:43,240 --> 00:07:47,240 Speaker 1: as footsteps if it's particularly bumpy, right, or or if 150 00:07:47,240 --> 00:07:48,960 Speaker 1: you hold it in your hand and sway your arm 151 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:51,560 Speaker 1: back and forth, you would totally fool the device, right, 152 00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:54,960 Speaker 1: Not that I know that from prior get fit corporate 153 00:07:55,200 --> 00:07:57,840 Speaker 1: um programs that I have cheated a tiny bit on. Right, 154 00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:01,520 Speaker 1: If you're not benefiting any one at that point, let's 155 00:08:01,600 --> 00:08:05,040 Speaker 1: let's stop the cheating. Hey, Lauren, aren't you the team 156 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:10,320 Speaker 1: captain of our own departmental cheating. I was demonstrating to 157 00:08:10,400 --> 00:08:13,400 Speaker 1: people how the device worked, and I was accused of 158 00:08:13,920 --> 00:08:17,840 Speaker 1: using that as a way of boosting your numbers. All right, 159 00:08:17,880 --> 00:08:19,760 Speaker 1: team captain, Now I've learned a little more about you. 160 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:23,120 Speaker 1: So anyway, what's what's going on here is inside the 161 00:08:23,120 --> 00:08:27,800 Speaker 1: pedometer you have a system that essentially forms a switch. 162 00:08:28,120 --> 00:08:30,720 Speaker 1: All right, You've got you've got a weight, and when 163 00:08:30,720 --> 00:08:34,960 Speaker 1: that weight moves it can make a connection that closes 164 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:37,360 Speaker 1: a switch and counts as a step. And then when 165 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:40,560 Speaker 1: it moves away that and hits it again, that counts 166 00:08:40,600 --> 00:08:43,720 Speaker 1: as another step. So every time this weight disconnects and 167 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:49,160 Speaker 1: then reconnects with a contact, a step is registered. And uh, 168 00:08:49,360 --> 00:08:50,880 Speaker 1: you know, it used to be that these were pretty 169 00:08:50,880 --> 00:08:53,760 Speaker 1: big mechanical things where you had a weight suspended on 170 00:08:54,120 --> 00:08:57,120 Speaker 1: like a spring or a pendulum or a small ball 171 00:08:57,200 --> 00:08:59,240 Speaker 1: that could roll back and forth across a tiny track. 172 00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:02,280 Speaker 1: Right now, we're talking about things that are on the 173 00:09:02,280 --> 00:09:06,600 Speaker 1: the micro structure level. But it's still this basic mechanical 174 00:09:06,679 --> 00:09:10,720 Speaker 1: motion of making a contact breaking a contact, and that 175 00:09:10,840 --> 00:09:12,839 Speaker 1: every time you do that break is what counts is 176 00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:16,080 Speaker 1: a step. Yeah, so uh, it's still still the same 177 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:19,640 Speaker 1: mechanical approach. It's just now it's much much, much, much 178 00:09:19,679 --> 00:09:22,080 Speaker 1: smaller than what it used to be back in the 179 00:09:22,120 --> 00:09:26,720 Speaker 1: sixties or earlier. If we are to believe that some 180 00:09:26,840 --> 00:09:30,679 Speaker 1: of our our genius ancestors came up with this idea, 181 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:34,160 Speaker 1: it was probably Tesla, yeah, and it always ends up 182 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:37,679 Speaker 1: being Tesla, although his probably would also bring down an airplane. 183 00:09:38,120 --> 00:09:41,960 Speaker 1: So uh. Anyway, the old predometers, if you would actually 184 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:43,440 Speaker 1: pick one up and shake it, you might hear a 185 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:46,720 Speaker 1: clicking noise, and that's the little switch that's inside it. Again, 186 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:48,800 Speaker 1: it might be that little ball if it's using that 187 00:09:48,840 --> 00:09:52,679 Speaker 1: particular kind of technology. The newer ones, again are all 188 00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:55,640 Speaker 1: chet based. They don't have those little those. They don't 189 00:09:55,679 --> 00:09:57,920 Speaker 1: have things large enough to make that kind of clicking 190 00:09:57,960 --> 00:10:00,600 Speaker 1: noise unless you've been shaking it way too hard, in 191 00:10:00,640 --> 00:10:02,680 Speaker 1: which case something is probably loose and it may not 192 00:10:02,760 --> 00:10:06,360 Speaker 1: be working at all anymore. But anyway, that's your very 193 00:10:06,360 --> 00:10:10,760 Speaker 1: basic pedometer, so it's not terribly accurate. In the sense 194 00:10:10,840 --> 00:10:14,920 Speaker 1: that it can't it can't distinguish between different kinds of 195 00:10:14,960 --> 00:10:17,120 Speaker 1: impact and say, oh, well that was definitely a step 196 00:10:17,240 --> 00:10:20,320 Speaker 1: versus that was just a bump, right. Um. But they 197 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:23,520 Speaker 1: are getting a little bit more technologically advanced in that. 198 00:10:23,559 --> 00:10:27,280 Speaker 1: Originally you had to use the counter and combine that 199 00:10:27,360 --> 00:10:29,800 Speaker 1: with a calculation of how long each of your steps 200 00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:31,960 Speaker 1: were in order to calculate distance. These days, they can 201 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:34,719 Speaker 1: do that for you with onboard computers. Sure. Oh so 202 00:10:34,760 --> 00:10:37,480 Speaker 1: instead of saying like, oh, my stride is this many 203 00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:40,600 Speaker 1: inches long, therefore this many steps and having to get 204 00:10:40,600 --> 00:10:42,480 Speaker 1: a little bit of math. Right by the way, I 205 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:45,520 Speaker 1: said inches, and I would say miles because I live 206 00:10:45,559 --> 00:10:48,200 Speaker 1: in America and that's what we do. But centimeters meters 207 00:10:48,240 --> 00:10:50,800 Speaker 1: that kind of thing, right, it would It does the 208 00:10:50,840 --> 00:10:54,760 Speaker 1: math depending on what scale you're using. The more advanced 209 00:10:54,880 --> 00:11:00,080 Speaker 1: version of this sort of approach is the accelerometer. Right now, 210 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:02,760 Speaker 1: an accelerometer is different. It's not got a little switch 211 00:11:02,880 --> 00:11:08,080 Speaker 1: that's just registering a change. Yeah, it's not just like 212 00:11:08,480 --> 00:11:13,320 Speaker 1: that was a shake. It's actually detecting changes in velocity. Uh. Now, 213 00:11:13,400 --> 00:11:18,719 Speaker 1: velocity is speed plus direction, So if you alter that velocity, 214 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:23,280 Speaker 1: then you are talking about an accelerating force. So, for example, 215 00:11:23,280 --> 00:11:26,080 Speaker 1: when you start, when you start from a standstill and 216 00:11:26,120 --> 00:11:30,199 Speaker 1: you start moving into a run, that's accelerating. You're accelerating 217 00:11:30,200 --> 00:11:32,000 Speaker 1: into a run. Now, once you hit top speed, you 218 00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:34,440 Speaker 1: are no longer accelerating. You may be maintaining a speed. 219 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:39,120 Speaker 1: But accelera arometers are all meant to detect these changes 220 00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:43,360 Speaker 1: in velocity. And you've got two basic categories of accelerometers. 221 00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:45,920 Speaker 1: There are many types of accelerometer rometers, but they fall 222 00:11:45,920 --> 00:11:50,280 Speaker 1: into two basic categories. They're static accelerometers. Now, these measure 223 00:11:50,360 --> 00:11:57,319 Speaker 1: a static uh form of acceleration. For instance, gravity. Gravity 224 00:11:57,600 --> 00:12:01,360 Speaker 1: is static, it's not change when you are on the 225 00:12:01,360 --> 00:12:03,520 Speaker 1: surface of the Earth. It's going to remain the same. 226 00:12:03,960 --> 00:12:07,920 Speaker 1: And so you might wonder why would you need a 227 00:12:07,920 --> 00:12:12,280 Speaker 1: stack accelerometer. It's so that you can determine the rotation 228 00:12:12,480 --> 00:12:15,200 Speaker 1: of a device in respect to the surface of the Earth. 229 00:12:15,559 --> 00:12:18,880 Speaker 1: Very important for something like a smartphone. Where you are 230 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:21,000 Speaker 1: holding the smartphone, you move it from portrait to landscape, 231 00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:26,240 Speaker 1: the static accelerometer is what tells it, oh, the the 232 00:12:27,320 --> 00:12:30,439 Speaker 1: attitude of this phone has changed, not that you're giving 233 00:12:30,480 --> 00:12:34,560 Speaker 1: off attitude necessarily. You might be texting I usually am 234 00:12:34,600 --> 00:12:37,960 Speaker 1: this is fair, but rather the position in relative to 235 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:39,480 Speaker 1: the surface of the earth. So if you were to 236 00:12:39,559 --> 00:12:43,480 Speaker 1: turn it into the landscape mode, the screen would would 237 00:12:43,559 --> 00:12:48,880 Speaker 1: change to reflect that. That's why a stack accelerometer is useful. 238 00:12:48,880 --> 00:12:53,360 Speaker 1: For dynamic accelerometers, they measure changes in motion of the 239 00:12:53,360 --> 00:12:57,000 Speaker 1: accelerometer itself, so the accelerometer is part of the larger device. 240 00:12:57,480 --> 00:13:00,360 Speaker 1: So this is to measure the changes in accel oration 241 00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:02,680 Speaker 1: of that device, not in respect to the ground, but 242 00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:06,560 Speaker 1: just within that device itself. So you might have both 243 00:13:06,600 --> 00:13:09,959 Speaker 1: types in a fitness tracker. If the fitness tracker has 244 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:12,559 Speaker 1: some sort of screen that will rotate depending upon how 245 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:15,280 Speaker 1: you're holding your arm. Let's say it's a it's a 246 00:13:15,400 --> 00:13:18,000 Speaker 1: screen that's on a wristband or something that's like a watch, 247 00:13:18,800 --> 00:13:20,800 Speaker 1: and then it might have a stack accelerometer and a 248 00:13:20,880 --> 00:13:23,880 Speaker 1: dynamic one. The dynamic one would be more useful for 249 00:13:23,960 --> 00:13:27,920 Speaker 1: it to detect changes in velocity and thus translate that 250 00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:32,800 Speaker 1: into motion that the user is moving around and that 251 00:13:32,840 --> 00:13:36,560 Speaker 1: means that the user is burning calories and is there's 252 00:13:36,679 --> 00:13:39,760 Speaker 1: there's activity going on, So that's part of the data 253 00:13:39,840 --> 00:13:44,920 Speaker 1: that this device will gather and analyze to translate that 254 00:13:44,960 --> 00:13:47,880 Speaker 1: into This is what your body is doing right right, 255 00:13:47,920 --> 00:13:49,560 Speaker 1: and we should we should add at this point that 256 00:13:49,960 --> 00:13:53,560 Speaker 1: that a lot of the actual output of data that 257 00:13:53,679 --> 00:13:56,680 Speaker 1: these devices are giving you is not UM. Is not 258 00:13:56,720 --> 00:13:58,880 Speaker 1: the actual data that these sensors are taking in a 259 00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:02,600 Speaker 1: lot of it is UM really fancy algorithms. And and 260 00:14:02,640 --> 00:14:04,680 Speaker 1: thank you to Peter on Facebook for writing in and 261 00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:06,920 Speaker 1: telling me that I totally say that wrong sometimes because 262 00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:10,360 Speaker 1: I do UM. You know, it's it's it's approximating more 263 00:14:10,440 --> 00:14:14,320 Speaker 1: complex technology, or it's gathering together a bunch of these 264 00:14:14,640 --> 00:14:18,240 Speaker 1: little tiny numbers and figuring out something useful that I 265 00:14:18,280 --> 00:14:21,280 Speaker 1: can tell you in return, exactly taking this raw data 266 00:14:21,320 --> 00:14:24,320 Speaker 1: and making it meaningful to us, because otherwise we really 267 00:14:24,360 --> 00:14:27,000 Speaker 1: what an accelerometer would tell you is how much voltage 268 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:29,680 Speaker 1: it was generating, which doesn't help us at all. That 269 00:14:29,720 --> 00:14:32,760 Speaker 1: doesn't that's not meaningful to at least it's not meaningful 270 00:14:32,760 --> 00:14:35,800 Speaker 1: to me, and I suspect not to Lauren. Uh. Some 271 00:14:35,920 --> 00:14:38,680 Speaker 1: of you electricians out there might say, no, I totally 272 00:14:38,680 --> 00:14:40,560 Speaker 1: get it, but the rest of us are thinking, no, 273 00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:42,840 Speaker 1: we need this translated into something that makes sense, like 274 00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:44,840 Speaker 1: how many calories did I burn or how many steps 275 00:14:44,840 --> 00:14:47,480 Speaker 1: did I take? Or how far did I go? So 276 00:14:47,560 --> 00:14:53,280 Speaker 1: that's that's the basic uh two kinds of accelerometers. The 277 00:14:53,280 --> 00:14:57,960 Speaker 1: the types underneath those are how they detect these changes 278 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:00,960 Speaker 1: in velocity. UH. And there's a lot there's there are 279 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:05,080 Speaker 1: capacitive ones, there's piece of electric, there's piezo resistive, there's 280 00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:09,360 Speaker 1: magneto resistive, there's heat transfer. There's lots of different types. 281 00:15:09,400 --> 00:15:12,360 Speaker 1: There's some that use light. But the one that I think, 282 00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:15,040 Speaker 1: the type that's used the most in electronics as far 283 00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:18,400 Speaker 1: as I can tell, is the capacity of type. And 284 00:15:18,480 --> 00:15:21,160 Speaker 1: so you might wonder how does this work. You've got 285 00:15:21,280 --> 00:15:25,480 Speaker 1: some micro structures within a chip, all right. One of 286 00:15:25,480 --> 00:15:29,560 Speaker 1: them is you've got a housing which is mounted directly 287 00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:33,320 Speaker 1: to whatever the devices on a substrate. So this housing 288 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:37,520 Speaker 1: will move in uh, the same way that the device 289 00:15:37,520 --> 00:15:41,880 Speaker 1: itself moves. It's it's dependent upon that. Then you've got 290 00:15:41,920 --> 00:15:47,120 Speaker 1: a little micro structure inside of it that can move freely, 291 00:15:47,800 --> 00:15:51,520 Speaker 1: uh in respect to the housing. So if you were 292 00:15:51,520 --> 00:15:54,320 Speaker 1: to shake the device, the micro structure would lag a 293 00:15:54,400 --> 00:15:56,680 Speaker 1: little bit and then pick up that motion, just as 294 00:15:56,680 --> 00:15:58,800 Speaker 1: if you had a spring with the ball on the 295 00:15:58,880 --> 00:16:00,600 Speaker 1: end and you started moving the top of the spring 296 00:16:00,600 --> 00:16:01,920 Speaker 1: and then the ball would start to move. It's this 297 00:16:01,920 --> 00:16:04,680 Speaker 1: whole momentum thing that's coming up. You've also got these 298 00:16:04,720 --> 00:16:07,800 Speaker 1: other little bitty structures, these micro structures inside this this 299 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:10,840 Speaker 1: tiny little chip, and I'm talking about teeny tiny. We're 300 00:16:10,920 --> 00:16:14,080 Speaker 1: we're tug on the level of microns, right. These are 301 00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:17,200 Speaker 1: all called a microelectro mechanical systems. Yeah, they're they're so 302 00:16:17,240 --> 00:16:19,800 Speaker 1: small that you have to have an automated system to 303 00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:23,440 Speaker 1: etch them onto chips because there's no human with the 304 00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:28,360 Speaker 1: precision necessary to make these things so super tiny. But 305 00:16:28,800 --> 00:16:31,560 Speaker 1: as the microstructure moves, it starts to move between these 306 00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:34,880 Speaker 1: plates that have capacitance. That changes the capacities. It causes 307 00:16:34,920 --> 00:16:38,000 Speaker 1: current to flow, and measuring the current tells you how 308 00:16:38,080 --> 00:16:41,840 Speaker 1: much this device is moving. And by putting these chips 309 00:16:41,920 --> 00:16:45,600 Speaker 1: in different arrangements within a device, you can track different 310 00:16:45,680 --> 00:16:48,920 Speaker 1: types of movement because you can only detect movement along 311 00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:52,760 Speaker 1: one axis with it with a very simple accelerometer. That 312 00:16:52,840 --> 00:16:57,120 Speaker 1: means that you can detect movement along one line of 313 00:16:57,480 --> 00:17:00,760 Speaker 1: one one vector. Really you can't anything beyond that. It 314 00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:04,240 Speaker 1: wouldn't detect. So let's say left right versus up down. 315 00:17:04,880 --> 00:17:07,640 Speaker 1: If you had three of these accelerometers or to two 316 00:17:07,680 --> 00:17:10,960 Speaker 1: axis accelerometers that were at right angles to one another. 317 00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:13,639 Speaker 1: You could then detect things like along the x axis, 318 00:17:13,680 --> 00:17:16,640 Speaker 1: the y axis, and the z axis. So three axis 319 00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:19,479 Speaker 1: accelerometers what we call those, and those are that those 320 00:17:19,520 --> 00:17:21,040 Speaker 1: are the popular ones and in all of the new 321 00:17:21,080 --> 00:17:22,920 Speaker 1: devices coming out these days. Yeah, and it's also the 322 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:25,320 Speaker 1: kind of stuff you find in things like video game controllers. 323 00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:27,360 Speaker 1: Uh and it's you know, some of them. You hear 324 00:17:27,359 --> 00:17:30,480 Speaker 1: about six axis, which is really just getting more specimilar, 325 00:17:30,920 --> 00:17:33,800 Speaker 1: more precise. Um. Yeah, And so this will detect those 326 00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:37,080 Speaker 1: changes in motion and be able to translate that into 327 00:17:37,160 --> 00:17:40,640 Speaker 1: again meaningful data once you run those raw numbers through 328 00:17:40,720 --> 00:17:44,480 Speaker 1: whatever software you've got. Uh. So those are your two 329 00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:49,679 Speaker 1: basic ways of detecting motion from a purely like this 330 00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:52,120 Speaker 1: device is moving kind of perspective. There are other things 331 00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:55,080 Speaker 1: that will also detect motion, which we'll talk about as 332 00:17:55,080 --> 00:17:57,200 Speaker 1: well in a little bit. Before I get to that, though, 333 00:17:57,240 --> 00:17:58,680 Speaker 1: I do need to say there's a couple other things 334 00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:01,720 Speaker 1: that are important about accelerometer. One is that sensitivity of 335 00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:06,840 Speaker 1: an accelerometer is extremely important. The more sensitive and accelerometer is, 336 00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:11,359 Speaker 1: then the more it will generate a larger charge in 337 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:14,440 Speaker 1: our larger change in signal rather for a given change 338 00:18:14,440 --> 00:18:19,120 Speaker 1: and acceleration compared to a less sensitive chip. So these 339 00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:22,000 Speaker 1: bigger changes are easier to measure, and that gives the 340 00:18:22,040 --> 00:18:25,639 Speaker 1: device a better idea of the actual changes in acceleration. So, 341 00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:28,280 Speaker 1: in other words, if you if you make it so 342 00:18:28,320 --> 00:18:31,440 Speaker 1: that these changes are are huge, uh, it can really 343 00:18:31,560 --> 00:18:34,439 Speaker 1: narrow down the parameters of what that change means, and 344 00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:38,359 Speaker 1: it can be more precise in thinking this is more 345 00:18:38,520 --> 00:18:42,440 Speaker 1: likely an actual step versus something just bump their knee 346 00:18:42,480 --> 00:18:45,000 Speaker 1: on their desk and went out, Yeah, yeah, the technology 347 00:18:45,040 --> 00:18:46,960 Speaker 1: is getting a lot better at um weeding out those 348 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:49,719 Speaker 1: false positives exactly. And then there are other things you've 349 00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:52,520 Speaker 1: got to keep in mind, like what's the maximum swing 350 00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:56,399 Speaker 1: of your accelerometer that's telling you how much force it 351 00:18:56,480 --> 00:18:58,800 Speaker 1: can measure or how much of a change in acceleration 352 00:18:58,800 --> 00:19:01,320 Speaker 1: it can measure. Uh. This is really more important if 353 00:19:01,359 --> 00:19:04,399 Speaker 1: you are designing something that moves really really fast and 354 00:19:04,440 --> 00:19:07,760 Speaker 1: comes to really fast stops, like a jet, not so 355 00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:10,200 Speaker 1: much with a person, because while you feel you might 356 00:19:10,240 --> 00:19:13,640 Speaker 1: be fast compared to other stuff, you're really slow less 357 00:19:13,760 --> 00:19:16,000 Speaker 1: less fast in the jet. And then you have bandwidth, 358 00:19:16,040 --> 00:19:18,000 Speaker 1: which is how many times a second you can take 359 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:21,840 Speaker 1: a reliable acceleration reading. Uh, and we don't need anything 360 00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:25,000 Speaker 1: too precise for human activity because again, we're not moving 361 00:19:25,080 --> 00:19:27,399 Speaker 1: that quickly. But these are things that are important in 362 00:19:27,440 --> 00:19:31,520 Speaker 1: accelerometers in general. Guys, we gotta take a quick break 363 00:19:31,560 --> 00:19:33,440 Speaker 1: from this classic episode so I can get some more 364 00:19:33,480 --> 00:19:44,159 Speaker 1: steps in, but we'll be right back. All right, we're back. So, 365 00:19:44,160 --> 00:19:46,760 Speaker 1: so we've talked about accelerometers and presometers, there is one 366 00:19:46,800 --> 00:19:49,040 Speaker 1: other way the device can track whether or not you've 367 00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:52,840 Speaker 1: moved around, right, Because accelerometers are really great. Fear for example, 368 00:19:52,840 --> 00:19:56,240 Speaker 1: on a treadmill, Yeah, fantastic because it doesn't have to 369 00:19:56,280 --> 00:19:59,119 Speaker 1: track your location. It just has to track what you 370 00:19:59,240 --> 00:20:01,960 Speaker 1: are doing. But if you have a GPS receiver in 371 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:04,960 Speaker 1: your activity tracker, and some of them do with them, 372 00:20:05,320 --> 00:20:09,320 Speaker 1: you can actually track where you are in relation to 373 00:20:09,560 --> 00:20:11,840 Speaker 1: I don't know anything else on the planet. But these 374 00:20:11,880 --> 00:20:14,840 Speaker 1: are not so useful if you're just running on a treadmill. No, 375 00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:17,679 Speaker 1: but but they are very much more accurate for calculating 376 00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:21,240 Speaker 1: the distance that you have gone. Right. Yeah, So GPS 377 00:20:21,280 --> 00:20:24,880 Speaker 1: in general, this Global Positioning system, Uh, what what's going 378 00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:27,200 Speaker 1: on is You've got the satellites that are beaming down 379 00:20:27,200 --> 00:20:30,000 Speaker 1: information here to the planet and network of twenty four 380 00:20:30,040 --> 00:20:34,880 Speaker 1: of them. Yeah, so your GPS receiver receives this these 381 00:20:34,920 --> 00:20:38,639 Speaker 1: signals from the various satellites. Now, each satellite is sending 382 00:20:38,680 --> 00:20:41,600 Speaker 1: its own unique signal down that has essentially a time 383 00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:44,639 Speaker 1: stamp on it, right, and they're all synchronized, right, So 384 00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:47,480 Speaker 1: you're getting these different signals all at the same time 385 00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:52,240 Speaker 1: from at least usually at least three satellites. Four works best, 386 00:20:52,320 --> 00:20:55,119 Speaker 1: four works best, and and so your device gets these 387 00:20:55,160 --> 00:20:58,480 Speaker 1: different signals from these different satellites. And by measuring how 388 00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:01,440 Speaker 1: long it took the signal from each satellite to get 389 00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:05,080 Speaker 1: to that uh, that device it just compares that against 390 00:21:05,119 --> 00:21:09,400 Speaker 1: its own its own little internal clock. It can tell 391 00:21:09,480 --> 00:21:11,120 Speaker 1: you where you are in the surface of the Earth. 392 00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:13,840 Speaker 1: Technically you could be in one of two places, but 393 00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:17,000 Speaker 1: that second places inside the Earth. So we pretty much 394 00:21:17,080 --> 00:21:21,040 Speaker 1: just say that's not yea, it cuts that right out. Yeah, 395 00:21:21,119 --> 00:21:25,080 Speaker 1: And this was originally military technology, I believe in the seventies, 396 00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:28,080 Speaker 1: in the eighties and nineties. In fact, when when we 397 00:21:28,119 --> 00:21:34,800 Speaker 1: first started getting consumer access to the Global Positioning System, Uh, 398 00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:39,760 Speaker 1: the accuracy of that system for consumers was limited on purpose, right, Yeah, 399 00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:42,560 Speaker 1: They they put limitters into the devices to say like, yeah, 400 00:21:42,640 --> 00:21:44,280 Speaker 1: we don't really want you to know this thing. We 401 00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:49,880 Speaker 1: can say you are somewhere within feet here is here ish. 402 00:21:49,920 --> 00:21:52,879 Speaker 1: But now they're very very accurate. It's eventually gotten to 403 00:21:52,920 --> 00:21:55,520 Speaker 1: the point where, uh, you know, it's it's just the 404 00:21:55,520 --> 00:21:58,200 Speaker 1: way technology works. It's kind of creepy accurate. Yeah. Yeah. 405 00:21:58,240 --> 00:22:01,960 Speaker 1: So the GPS, for seever, will track where you are 406 00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:04,480 Speaker 1: by by taking all this information from the satellites and 407 00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:08,879 Speaker 1: running that through its own algorithm and then determining what 408 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:11,200 Speaker 1: your location is on the Earth. And that way you 409 00:22:11,240 --> 00:22:14,760 Speaker 1: can do something like, uh, if you jog a specific 410 00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:17,280 Speaker 1: path and you really liked it, you can plot it 411 00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:20,000 Speaker 1: against a map and share it with other people. Or 412 00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:22,200 Speaker 1: you can just, you know, see how far you went 413 00:22:22,760 --> 00:22:26,399 Speaker 1: based upon some mapping program. It may be that you 414 00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:29,560 Speaker 1: could compare how far you went based from the map 415 00:22:29,840 --> 00:22:32,199 Speaker 1: compared to whatever the activity tracker says. Because some of 416 00:22:32,240 --> 00:22:35,080 Speaker 1: these have multiple sensors in them, right, some of them 417 00:22:35,119 --> 00:22:38,399 Speaker 1: might have a pedometer or some other um means of 418 00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:40,359 Speaker 1: saying this is how many steps you took, and use 419 00:22:40,359 --> 00:22:43,120 Speaker 1: these in conjunction too. Yeah, And it's funny because I've 420 00:22:43,119 --> 00:22:46,399 Speaker 1: seen somewhere they do both. They have the GPS tracker 421 00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:49,159 Speaker 1: and they have the podometer part where it tells you 422 00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:51,320 Speaker 1: how far you went based upon how many steps you took, 423 00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:53,840 Speaker 1: and you can compare the two to see how accurate 424 00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:57,520 Speaker 1: the pedometer is, and in some cases it's not so accurate. 425 00:22:57,560 --> 00:22:59,720 Speaker 1: That's why reading reviews is really important because you might 426 00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:01,680 Speaker 1: you might I'd say, well, if I go by the predometer, 427 00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:04,440 Speaker 1: it says I ran four point five miles, but when 428 00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:07,520 Speaker 1: I look at the map it says two miles. So yeah, 429 00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:09,640 Speaker 1: that is that has a large difference. Yeah, there there 430 00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:12,919 Speaker 1: was actually a review I saw that specifically said that. Okay, 431 00:23:12,920 --> 00:23:15,479 Speaker 1: so those are all the various kinds of sensors and 432 00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:19,560 Speaker 1: technologies that might be an activity tracker to relate to 433 00:23:19,680 --> 00:23:23,920 Speaker 1: motion you moving around, but there are other sensors to right, Yeah, 434 00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:25,879 Speaker 1: there's a whole bunch of them. And these these are 435 00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:29,520 Speaker 1: all the physiological sensors that are going to track things 436 00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:32,080 Speaker 1: like your sweat and your heart rate. And there's been 437 00:23:32,119 --> 00:23:34,960 Speaker 1: a bunch of different things over the years that have 438 00:23:35,359 --> 00:23:38,240 Speaker 1: that have contributed to this. The original heart rate monitor, 439 00:23:38,280 --> 00:23:40,919 Speaker 1: of course, was the electro cardiogram a k A the 440 00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:45,040 Speaker 1: e c G or e kg um, and that was 441 00:23:45,359 --> 00:23:48,840 Speaker 1: using electrical pickups in an amplifier circuit that would detect 442 00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:52,600 Speaker 1: the hearts electrical impulses through your skin. Um. And you 443 00:23:52,600 --> 00:23:54,840 Speaker 1: know when when your heart beats, it the way that 444 00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:57,280 Speaker 1: it does it is it generates these pulses. It sends 445 00:23:57,280 --> 00:23:59,760 Speaker 1: a signal out over the nerve pathways on the surface 446 00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:02,360 Speaker 1: of the heart that caused the muscle to contract during 447 00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:05,960 Speaker 1: each heartbeat. And by picking up those electrical signals, you 448 00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:09,280 Speaker 1: can you can track your heartbeat, which is really groovy 449 00:24:09,359 --> 00:24:12,480 Speaker 1: for UM, for knowing how hard your body is working, right, 450 00:24:12,520 --> 00:24:14,760 Speaker 1: because I mean, there's there are a lot of things 451 00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:16,719 Speaker 1: that are important when you're exercising, right. It's not just 452 00:24:16,760 --> 00:24:19,200 Speaker 1: how much activity you're doing, how many calories you're burning. 453 00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:23,199 Speaker 1: If you want to have really good cardio workouts, if 454 00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:24,879 Speaker 1: you want to have a good aerobic workout, then you 455 00:24:24,880 --> 00:24:27,040 Speaker 1: need to get to have your heart beating and within 456 00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:30,960 Speaker 1: a certain range for a certain amount of time. Right. Uh. 457 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:33,239 Speaker 1: And and that's I'll get into that a little bit 458 00:24:33,280 --> 00:24:36,560 Speaker 1: more and in the moment. But e c G s 459 00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:39,600 Speaker 1: are a little bit more clunky. UM. Usually they work 460 00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:42,960 Speaker 1: with a chest strap that many runners, especially because they're 461 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:45,960 Speaker 1: they're they're bouncing around moving a lot, found very uncomfortable 462 00:24:46,040 --> 00:24:50,200 Speaker 1: to wear. UM. And so a new technology that has 463 00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:53,040 Speaker 1: come out and has become the standard in non invasive 464 00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:57,639 Speaker 1: heart rate sensor sensory has been the photo platesmo graph 465 00:24:57,720 --> 00:25:00,840 Speaker 1: a k a. The PPG WOW, which may or may 466 00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:03,760 Speaker 1: not be called an optical heart sensor for people who 467 00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:06,680 Speaker 1: don't even want to mess with that entire word, Well, yeah, 468 00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:09,520 Speaker 1: photo would tell me that there's light that's playing a 469 00:25:09,640 --> 00:25:13,960 Speaker 1: role in this somehow. Yes, PPGs bounce light and most 470 00:25:14,080 --> 00:25:16,879 Speaker 1: cases from an l E ed in terms of fitness trackers, 471 00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:19,280 Speaker 1: because LEDs are cool bulbs that will not you know, 472 00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:23,000 Speaker 1: burn your skin, burn your skin, which is cool. Um uh. 473 00:25:23,080 --> 00:25:25,359 Speaker 1: They bounce light through your skin and back to a 474 00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:30,120 Speaker 1: sensor and measure the volume of blood moving through your capillaries. 475 00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:33,000 Speaker 1: And the way this works is that blood absorbs more 476 00:25:33,119 --> 00:25:36,399 Speaker 1: light than it's surrounding tissue. So the less light that 477 00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:39,439 Speaker 1: comes back to the sensor, the greater the volume of 478 00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:42,000 Speaker 1: blood is moving through those capillaries at the time. Um 479 00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:44,880 Speaker 1: And and this this volume pulses with each heart beat, 480 00:25:44,920 --> 00:25:48,040 Speaker 1: and so by tracking those pulses, a PPG tracks your 481 00:25:48,040 --> 00:25:51,399 Speaker 1: heart rate at rest and during exercise. That's really cool. 482 00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:52,960 Speaker 1: So this is the same sort of thing you get 483 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:54,760 Speaker 1: when you go into a doctor's office and they have 484 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:57,159 Speaker 1: like the little finger clamp thing that ends and it 485 00:25:57,240 --> 00:25:59,439 Speaker 1: uses it shines a light onto your fingertip. That is 486 00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:02,520 Speaker 1: exactly what that is. UM. And these these days they 487 00:26:02,560 --> 00:26:04,960 Speaker 1: have become they're they're they're getting a little bit more 488 00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:09,119 Speaker 1: sensitive and UH. And most of them will come in 489 00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:11,719 Speaker 1: watch format and it will be right against the inside 490 00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:16,119 Speaker 1: of your wrist. But you know there they can they 491 00:26:16,119 --> 00:26:18,040 Speaker 1: can be thrown off by the movement of your skin 492 00:26:18,040 --> 00:26:21,639 Speaker 1: and muscles UM, which happens during workouts pretty frequently. Be 493 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:24,760 Speaker 1: in light, I would imagine, can also cause problems. So 494 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:28,080 Speaker 1: some models are pairing a PPG with an accelerometer, sometimes 495 00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:31,480 Speaker 1: a devoted accelerometer, in order to compensate for your body's movement. 496 00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:36,840 Speaker 1: Cool and UH as also an interesting point, not entirely 497 00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:39,000 Speaker 1: relevant fitness trackers, but I thought that this was so cool. 498 00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:42,320 Speaker 1: PPG works differently with different wavelengths of light, and so 499 00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:46,960 Speaker 1: in laboratory and hospital situations, infrared radiation can sometimes be 500 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:50,080 Speaker 1: used to assess blood volume in deep tissue, whereas light 501 00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:53,760 Speaker 1: in the visible range is used in smaller, more commercial 502 00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:57,320 Speaker 1: devices like these fitness trackers. Oh excellent, awesome, So what 503 00:26:57,440 --> 00:27:00,439 Speaker 1: else Okay, so we've got we've got very ways of 504 00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:04,639 Speaker 1: tracking the how hard or how quickly your heart is beating. 505 00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:08,160 Speaker 1: We've got the idea of position. Are there other ones 506 00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:10,439 Speaker 1: as well? Another great thing to figure out how much 507 00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:14,240 Speaker 1: you're exerting yourself is the galvanic skin response sensor, which 508 00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:16,440 Speaker 1: is a really fancy way of saying how much are 509 00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:20,359 Speaker 1: you sweating right now? Um? It attracts your perspiration by 510 00:27:20,400 --> 00:27:24,400 Speaker 1: measuring the conductivity of your skin. Um, because your skin 511 00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:27,159 Speaker 1: is a pretty good conductor of of of electricity to 512 00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:30,120 Speaker 1: begin with, but when it's wet a k A. When 513 00:27:30,119 --> 00:27:35,440 Speaker 1: you're sweating, it's an even better conductor. So um. So yeah. 514 00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:37,919 Speaker 1: The the the amount that you're perspiring relates to how 515 00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:41,480 Speaker 1: much you're exerting yourself, and so by tracking this this conductivity, 516 00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:46,120 Speaker 1: you can track your exertion. Another great way is through thermometers, 517 00:27:46,280 --> 00:27:50,680 Speaker 1: good old thermometers um, sometimes infra red, sometimes heat flux, 518 00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:56,040 Speaker 1: which just detecting the increase in temperature on you on 519 00:27:56,080 --> 00:27:58,479 Speaker 1: the surface of your skin, right yeah, as well as 520 00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:00,320 Speaker 1: I assume there has to be one to the text 521 00:28:00,359 --> 00:28:04,080 Speaker 1: ambient temperature as well. It's usually two pairent thermometers, one 522 00:28:04,119 --> 00:28:08,000 Speaker 1: tracking your body temperature exactly one. Tracking the ambient temperature 523 00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:11,399 Speaker 1: because you're higher body temperature means that you're working harder, 524 00:28:11,680 --> 00:28:16,199 Speaker 1: and you'd also be working harder in a colder ambient temperature. Gotcha, gotcha, 525 00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:20,640 Speaker 1: as opposed to it's just plain hot, right exactly right, 526 00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:24,320 Speaker 1: all right. So these are various trackers and sensors that 527 00:28:24,359 --> 00:28:26,359 Speaker 1: you can find in a lot of the activity trackers 528 00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:28,040 Speaker 1: that are out there. There are other ones as well. 529 00:28:28,119 --> 00:28:30,600 Speaker 1: Some of them are much more specific, and when you 530 00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:32,600 Speaker 1: get down to things like, well, how does it track 531 00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:35,280 Speaker 1: your sleep? Well, that's usually things you know, tracking the 532 00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:38,760 Speaker 1: changes in motion. Again, it's usually the accelerometer. If it 533 00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:41,280 Speaker 1: has something that tracks your heart rate, it will be 534 00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:43,480 Speaker 1: tracking your heart rate. Yeah, but it's basically it's usually 535 00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:46,080 Speaker 1: how much you're wiggling around? Yeah. Yeah, So so if 536 00:28:46,120 --> 00:28:48,440 Speaker 1: you you know, it'll that's all when you plug in 537 00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:51,080 Speaker 1: this device, when you sink sink it with whatever, whether 538 00:28:51,120 --> 00:28:53,680 Speaker 1: it's an app or it's your computer. Uh, and you 539 00:28:53,720 --> 00:28:55,800 Speaker 1: get the data back saying you had a really good 540 00:28:55,880 --> 00:28:58,240 Speaker 1: night's sleep and maybe because you took it off and 541 00:28:58,280 --> 00:29:02,600 Speaker 1: set it down next to you instead of war it. Um. 542 00:29:02,760 --> 00:29:04,680 Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean these are these are the basic 543 00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:08,320 Speaker 1: ways it gathers information. Now, the way it processes information 544 00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:11,520 Speaker 1: is different from one company to the next. It's all 545 00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:15,800 Speaker 1: various proprietary softwares and algorithms that take this, crunch the 546 00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:18,880 Speaker 1: data and turn it into stuff that makes sense to us. Yeah, 547 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:22,040 Speaker 1: some of them have really great onboard computers for doing that. Um, 548 00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:24,680 Speaker 1: they're very tiny onboard computers for doing that too, to 549 00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:26,320 Speaker 1: give you a little bit of a live output, and 550 00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:28,640 Speaker 1: some of them give you zero live output other than 551 00:29:28,680 --> 00:29:30,960 Speaker 1: maybe a little blinking led or something like that. Right, 552 00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:33,440 Speaker 1: I had a body media fit, for example, and that 553 00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:36,920 Speaker 1: did not have its own screen. Rather, it would you 554 00:29:36,920 --> 00:29:39,239 Speaker 1: would have to sink that either to an app via 555 00:29:39,320 --> 00:29:42,120 Speaker 1: Bluetooth or you would sink it to your computer via 556 00:29:42,200 --> 00:29:45,280 Speaker 1: a USB cable, and then you could make sense of 557 00:29:45,320 --> 00:29:48,320 Speaker 1: what information had been collecting. But you couldn't even tell 558 00:29:48,360 --> 00:29:50,840 Speaker 1: what it had been collecting until you did that. Right, 559 00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:54,000 Speaker 1: There was no uh, screen indicators, so you couldn't read 560 00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:55,720 Speaker 1: it at a moment's notice, unless you have to have 561 00:29:55,760 --> 00:29:57,720 Speaker 1: your phone they're paired with it, in which case you 562 00:29:57,720 --> 00:30:00,760 Speaker 1: could pull up the app and take a look that way. Um. 563 00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:03,280 Speaker 1: But yeah, there are other devices that have a dedicate screen, 564 00:30:03,360 --> 00:30:05,240 Speaker 1: so it's going to give you at least some information, 565 00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:08,680 Speaker 1: if not everything. And you know, it's again that depends 566 00:30:08,760 --> 00:30:11,360 Speaker 1: very highly on your personal preference and how much information 567 00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:13,440 Speaker 1: you need at the moment and how much you just 568 00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:15,160 Speaker 1: kind of want to check up on it later. Yeah, 569 00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:17,600 Speaker 1: And and some of these will give you information that's 570 00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:21,120 Speaker 1: in uh, very kind of concrete terms, in the sense 571 00:30:21,160 --> 00:30:22,920 Speaker 1: of this is how far you walked, or this is 572 00:30:22,960 --> 00:30:27,000 Speaker 1: how how much activity your heart has had today. You know, 573 00:30:27,040 --> 00:30:30,480 Speaker 1: how how how often were you in that perfect zone 574 00:30:30,560 --> 00:30:33,920 Speaker 1: when you were working out versus you weren't quite pushing 575 00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:35,520 Speaker 1: yourself as hard as you needed to, or maybe you 576 00:30:35,560 --> 00:30:37,800 Speaker 1: were pushing yourself too hard you need to pull back off. 577 00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:44,440 Speaker 1: Some of them are a little more vague, like so 578 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:48,880 Speaker 1: Nike's fuel Band, for example, everything's in fuel points. And 579 00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:51,760 Speaker 1: I know that the fuel band is very popular. It's 580 00:30:51,800 --> 00:30:56,600 Speaker 1: a gorgeous device, looks very year full disclosure. My wife 581 00:30:56,800 --> 00:30:58,960 Speaker 1: has one. She loves it. She and she has the 582 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:01,840 Speaker 1: app that it's paired up with on her iPhone so 583 00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:05,640 Speaker 1: she can see what's going on. But it's doing everything 584 00:31:05,640 --> 00:31:08,480 Speaker 1: in fuel points, and some people have said, some critics 585 00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:12,760 Speaker 1: have said that that makes it less useful because you 586 00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:16,520 Speaker 1: don't know what they mean necessarily, I I think, well, 587 00:31:16,560 --> 00:31:18,880 Speaker 1: you know, and it always reminds me of Microsoft Points 588 00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:22,120 Speaker 1: and how you're kind of sort of tricking the system 589 00:31:22,240 --> 00:31:23,800 Speaker 1: in order to make it a little bit more of 590 00:31:23,840 --> 00:31:27,240 Speaker 1: a game and less of a reality, which helps lots 591 00:31:27,240 --> 00:31:29,400 Speaker 1: of people actually, because because a lot of people don't 592 00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:31,840 Speaker 1: want to know how many steps they've taken, They're like, oh, 593 00:31:31,920 --> 00:31:34,440 Speaker 1: that was a lot of I wasted so much time 594 00:31:34,480 --> 00:31:36,320 Speaker 1: getting fit yesterday. Why did I do that? But if 595 00:31:36,320 --> 00:31:39,160 Speaker 1: you get fuel points, then you get especially especially if 596 00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:41,520 Speaker 1: it has a gamification element to it, where you are 597 00:31:41,560 --> 00:31:44,760 Speaker 1: measuring your own activity versus the activity of other people. 598 00:31:45,560 --> 00:31:47,560 Speaker 1: If you set your if you have a way of 599 00:31:47,600 --> 00:31:50,000 Speaker 1: setting a specific goal using one of these trackers, and 600 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:53,280 Speaker 1: the tracker can keep track of that so that it 601 00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:56,280 Speaker 1: will tell you, hey, you met your goal today. That's 602 00:31:56,280 --> 00:31:59,160 Speaker 1: a reward system, right you you merely get that reward, 603 00:31:59,520 --> 00:32:02,640 Speaker 1: that sense of satisfaction that you have met your goal 604 00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:06,040 Speaker 1: for that day. Then you have the added satisfaction if 605 00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:10,920 Speaker 1: there's a gamification level, they're beyond just just just getting 606 00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:12,760 Speaker 1: the badge for yourself. If you can share that badge 607 00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:14,400 Speaker 1: with your friends and say, hey, guys, check what I 608 00:32:14,480 --> 00:32:16,160 Speaker 1: did Did you do it? You didn't do it? Suck 609 00:32:16,200 --> 00:32:19,160 Speaker 1: up right? Yeah. So if you're all using like fitbits, 610 00:32:19,160 --> 00:32:21,520 Speaker 1: for example, I know people who are using fitbits as 611 00:32:21,560 --> 00:32:24,120 Speaker 1: a way of challenging each other to see how many 612 00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:26,680 Speaker 1: steps they could take. Uh, and they would. You know, 613 00:32:26,760 --> 00:32:30,280 Speaker 1: there'd be groups of friends who were trying to walk 614 00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:33,600 Speaker 1: out walk each other, which is great. I mean, you know, yeah, 615 00:32:33,600 --> 00:32:36,520 Speaker 1: if that gives you the motivation to get exercise, that's great. 616 00:32:36,680 --> 00:32:40,120 Speaker 1: You know, there's there's nothing wrong with using the desire 617 00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:42,840 Speaker 1: to rub your friends faces and your achievements in order 618 00:32:42,840 --> 00:32:45,200 Speaker 1: for you to get fit, as long as you, you know, 619 00:32:45,960 --> 00:32:49,760 Speaker 1: practice some restraint a little bit hypetically, I can tell 620 00:32:49,760 --> 00:32:51,800 Speaker 1: you that a punch to the face is not good 621 00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:53,960 Speaker 1: for your physical fitness. You know, there's been a lot 622 00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:56,280 Speaker 1: of activity on this podcast. I think it's time for 623 00:32:56,360 --> 00:32:58,680 Speaker 1: us to take a quick break to thank our sponsors. 624 00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:09,560 Speaker 1: There's some devices out there that have games built into 625 00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:12,440 Speaker 1: the software of the device or on the computer that 626 00:33:12,520 --> 00:33:15,040 Speaker 1: you play so that as you use the device, as 627 00:33:15,080 --> 00:33:18,880 Speaker 1: you move around, you generate like online currency to play 628 00:33:18,920 --> 00:33:21,400 Speaker 1: in a little online game. To Strive has that there's 629 00:33:21,440 --> 00:33:24,560 Speaker 1: a little online game where you can as you walk around, 630 00:33:24,560 --> 00:33:28,000 Speaker 1: you generate coins, and using those coins you can buy 631 00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:31,840 Speaker 1: stuff in the game world of little bit like sonics, 632 00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:36,280 Speaker 1: rings or something like that. Yeah, but it's using this 633 00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:39,360 Speaker 1: you generate the currency just by moving around, so that's 634 00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:42,520 Speaker 1: the incentive. Yeah. Or an office favorite for a while 635 00:33:42,640 --> 00:33:44,480 Speaker 1: was a Zombie Run I think is the name of 636 00:33:44,480 --> 00:33:47,200 Speaker 1: the app? Which which which? I think it's run Zombie 637 00:33:47,240 --> 00:33:50,240 Speaker 1: Run something like that, something like that. Yes, that that 638 00:33:50,520 --> 00:33:53,280 Speaker 1: gave you. It was hooked up to a GPS related 639 00:33:53,280 --> 00:33:55,720 Speaker 1: system on your cell phone, and I would would give 640 00:33:55,720 --> 00:33:58,000 Speaker 1: you these little like are you out running the zombies 641 00:33:58,080 --> 00:34:00,360 Speaker 1: or are you totally dying? Right? Yeah? I used to 642 00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:02,400 Speaker 1: have In fact, I had the beta version of that 643 00:34:02,440 --> 00:34:04,680 Speaker 1: app back when it came out in the beta form 644 00:34:04,760 --> 00:34:06,920 Speaker 1: for Android. And the way I don't know if it 645 00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:08,840 Speaker 1: still works this way. I haven't used the app in 646 00:34:08,880 --> 00:34:11,160 Speaker 1: a long time, but the way it originally worked was 647 00:34:11,200 --> 00:34:13,680 Speaker 1: that you would be somewhere and you would tell it 648 00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:15,279 Speaker 1: where you wanted to go. You would open up a 649 00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:18,399 Speaker 1: map program and this zombie app and say, all right, 650 00:34:18,440 --> 00:34:21,160 Speaker 1: here's you know, based on my GPS location, this is 651 00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:23,200 Speaker 1: where I am, this is where I want to go. 652 00:34:23,520 --> 00:34:27,200 Speaker 1: It would then generate these virtual zombies on the map 653 00:34:27,280 --> 00:34:30,680 Speaker 1: that could actually move, so the little blips would start 654 00:34:30,680 --> 00:34:32,759 Speaker 1: moving toward you, and your goal was to get to 655 00:34:32,800 --> 00:34:35,560 Speaker 1: your destination without being intercepted by one of those little 656 00:34:35,640 --> 00:34:38,480 Speaker 1: zombie blips. So you might have to find a different 657 00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:40,520 Speaker 1: route than the one you had intended, and you may 658 00:34:40,560 --> 00:34:42,960 Speaker 1: have to book it, and yea, yeah, you might have to. 659 00:34:43,040 --> 00:34:45,240 Speaker 1: You might have to speed up and slow down, which 660 00:34:45,320 --> 00:34:47,880 Speaker 1: in running terms is is actually really great for training. 661 00:34:48,080 --> 00:34:50,839 Speaker 1: So and there were also, as I recall, there were 662 00:34:50,880 --> 00:34:53,440 Speaker 1: story elements to that game as well that that were 663 00:34:53,440 --> 00:34:55,200 Speaker 1: added in later. I had it where it was just 664 00:34:55,239 --> 00:34:56,960 Speaker 1: the game mechanic, but I know and it may not 665 00:34:57,080 --> 00:34:59,000 Speaker 1: even be that app and maybe a similar one, because 666 00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:00,520 Speaker 1: there were a few that came out had the same 667 00:35:00,520 --> 00:35:02,640 Speaker 1: sort of theme. But there was one where there was 668 00:35:02,719 --> 00:35:07,600 Speaker 1: an overall progressive storyline and as you participated, you would 669 00:35:07,840 --> 00:35:12,040 Speaker 1: unlock more of the story. I got eaten. I couldn't 670 00:35:12,040 --> 00:35:14,120 Speaker 1: get from I couldn't get from the train station to 671 00:35:14,239 --> 00:35:17,319 Speaker 1: my house because there was really there was only one 672 00:35:17,320 --> 00:35:19,680 Speaker 1: way you could go by foot, and it kept wanting 673 00:35:19,680 --> 00:35:22,680 Speaker 1: me to cut through the woods. I kept wanting to 674 00:35:22,760 --> 00:35:26,279 Speaker 1: not run into barbed wire fences that are hard to see. Look, 675 00:35:26,280 --> 00:35:28,640 Speaker 1: if you don't bring your bolt cutters to the zombie apocalypse, 676 00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:30,400 Speaker 1: then I don't think you're gonna get very far. And 677 00:35:30,600 --> 00:35:33,359 Speaker 1: I'm no longer allowed to bring my bolt cutters to work. 678 00:35:33,560 --> 00:35:35,800 Speaker 1: That was the problem, right, because this was my commute 679 00:35:35,800 --> 00:35:39,640 Speaker 1: back home, and so I already had that limitation set 680 00:35:39,680 --> 00:35:42,320 Speaker 1: on me. I tell you, you you make one silly mistake 681 00:35:42,400 --> 00:35:46,439 Speaker 1: with a with an internet line, and they just never 682 00:35:46,520 --> 00:35:48,880 Speaker 1: let you forget it. It's crazy. We're very unforgiving here 683 00:35:48,880 --> 00:35:52,040 Speaker 1: and how stuff works. But the game of vacation obviously 684 00:35:52,120 --> 00:35:54,359 Speaker 1: plays a big part. Yeah, I mean, you know, it's 685 00:35:54,360 --> 00:35:58,080 Speaker 1: it's the recommended target number of steps per day for 686 00:35:58,080 --> 00:36:01,800 Speaker 1: for healthy human people. It's about ten thousand and um 687 00:36:01,840 --> 00:36:04,360 Speaker 1: and that's that equals out to maybe about five miles 688 00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:06,720 Speaker 1: and uh and and yeah, so so anything that helps 689 00:36:06,800 --> 00:36:09,960 Speaker 1: people get to that. And and in fact, Dina Bravada, 690 00:36:10,040 --> 00:36:12,120 Speaker 1: the person I mentioned that at the top of the podcast, 691 00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:15,480 Speaker 1: who you know. She's she's a specialist in health matters 692 00:36:15,600 --> 00:36:18,800 Speaker 1: and has expressed some skeptic skepticism as to whether or 693 00:36:18,840 --> 00:36:23,360 Speaker 1: not these activity trackers are really you know, a huge benefit. 694 00:36:23,440 --> 00:36:25,640 Speaker 1: I mean, they helped the people who are already interested. 695 00:36:25,880 --> 00:36:27,880 Speaker 1: But she did notice. She did a study or she 696 00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:31,440 Speaker 1: was part of the study where uh, they gave pedometers 697 00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:36,120 Speaker 1: to a group of participants in a randomized trial where 698 00:36:36,239 --> 00:36:38,840 Speaker 1: some some participants didn't get a pardometer, some did, and 699 00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:41,880 Speaker 1: they were all asked to kind of track their activities. 700 00:36:41,920 --> 00:36:43,840 Speaker 1: And it turned out that the people who had the 701 00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:48,359 Speaker 1: pedometers increased their physical activity by about two thousand three 702 00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:52,080 Speaker 1: steps per day over the baseline. And uh and so 703 00:36:52,280 --> 00:36:55,200 Speaker 1: that ended up being a twenty seven percent increase in 704 00:36:55,280 --> 00:36:59,719 Speaker 1: physical activity. And that's Bravaded said, well, that's significant. So 705 00:37:00,400 --> 00:37:02,839 Speaker 1: if you have if you're actually using one of these 706 00:37:02,880 --> 00:37:05,600 Speaker 1: things and you're paying attention to it, then you are 707 00:37:05,719 --> 00:37:09,120 Speaker 1: more likely to actually engage in more physical activity and 708 00:37:09,160 --> 00:37:13,600 Speaker 1: thus exercise more and be have a healthier lifestyle. Um. 709 00:37:13,600 --> 00:37:16,600 Speaker 1: And that's that's the chief argument for these activity trackers 710 00:37:16,640 --> 00:37:19,680 Speaker 1: is the idea that with this information you can really 711 00:37:20,760 --> 00:37:24,239 Speaker 1: be more mindful of what you are doing and how 712 00:37:24,280 --> 00:37:27,759 Speaker 1: it's affecting you. A lot of these activity trackers come 713 00:37:27,800 --> 00:37:30,759 Speaker 1: with software that also have as part of it a 714 00:37:31,040 --> 00:37:34,839 Speaker 1: way of keeping a a food journal, which is also 715 00:37:34,960 --> 00:37:37,359 Speaker 1: very important because you could be exercising, but if you're 716 00:37:37,360 --> 00:37:40,440 Speaker 1: not eating well, then that's not gonna help you can 717 00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:43,640 Speaker 1: be sabotaging yourself certainly. So for example, the body media 718 00:37:43,680 --> 00:37:46,960 Speaker 1: fit device, I had uh part of the software that 719 00:37:46,960 --> 00:37:48,880 Speaker 1: you would have once you had to subscribe to it. 720 00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:50,920 Speaker 1: So you you'd have to buy the device and you 721 00:37:50,960 --> 00:37:53,120 Speaker 1: had to subscribe to the service. But once you subscribe 722 00:37:53,160 --> 00:37:55,919 Speaker 1: to the service, you could track your meals. And every 723 00:37:55,920 --> 00:37:57,359 Speaker 1: meal you would track, it would tell you how many 724 00:37:57,400 --> 00:38:01,160 Speaker 1: calories you've consumed. It would break it down, I what 725 00:38:01,320 --> 00:38:05,080 Speaker 1: type of calories they were, etcetera. And then the the 726 00:38:05,120 --> 00:38:07,280 Speaker 1: information from the device would tell you how many calories 727 00:38:07,280 --> 00:38:09,319 Speaker 1: you had burned. And so that would give you an 728 00:38:09,360 --> 00:38:11,720 Speaker 1: idea like did I burn more calories than I consumed? 729 00:38:11,800 --> 00:38:14,240 Speaker 1: If I did, then I'm on the road to losing weight. 730 00:38:14,400 --> 00:38:17,080 Speaker 1: I mean that's a that's a very basic way of 731 00:38:17,200 --> 00:38:20,600 Speaker 1: figuring it out, calories out. But it also meant that 732 00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:23,279 Speaker 1: you were much more mindful when you started doing things 733 00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:25,000 Speaker 1: like you sat down for a meal. You'd think, oh, 734 00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:26,480 Speaker 1: wait a minute, you know, if I want to if 735 00:38:26,480 --> 00:38:28,600 Speaker 1: I want to be on track and I don't want 736 00:38:28,600 --> 00:38:32,080 Speaker 1: to have to go home and run five miles, I 737 00:38:32,080 --> 00:38:35,640 Speaker 1: probably shouldn't pig out on that deep fried onion. Even 738 00:38:35,640 --> 00:38:39,360 Speaker 1: though it's super tasty. Now, there is a flip side 739 00:38:39,360 --> 00:38:41,600 Speaker 1: to this coin of course, we're talking all about keeping 740 00:38:41,600 --> 00:38:43,880 Speaker 1: all this data and and really looking at and making 741 00:38:43,920 --> 00:38:47,359 Speaker 1: something meaningful. Uh, there can come a point where too 742 00:38:47,400 --> 00:38:49,799 Speaker 1: much data is actually harmful, where you're just you're just 743 00:38:49,960 --> 00:38:53,160 Speaker 1: overwhelmed by all the information and you can't really see 744 00:38:53,200 --> 00:38:55,080 Speaker 1: a way of using it in a in a way 745 00:38:55,080 --> 00:38:57,600 Speaker 1: that makes sense. That can happen. I don't know that. 746 00:38:58,040 --> 00:39:01,440 Speaker 1: I think most activity trackers are pretty good where you're 747 00:39:01,480 --> 00:39:04,240 Speaker 1: not going to get that much unless you're really digging 748 00:39:04,280 --> 00:39:05,719 Speaker 1: down and you want to see Oh, no, I want 749 00:39:05,719 --> 00:39:07,520 Speaker 1: to I want this in pie chart form. No, I 750 00:39:07,520 --> 00:39:10,719 Speaker 1: wanted in line graph form. But that is one of 751 00:39:10,719 --> 00:39:12,640 Speaker 1: those things that we're going to be looking into later 752 00:39:12,680 --> 00:39:14,319 Speaker 1: in a in a later episode of Tech Stuff. We've 753 00:39:14,320 --> 00:39:17,359 Speaker 1: already planned on recording this. We haven't recorded it yet, 754 00:39:17,360 --> 00:39:18,919 Speaker 1: but we want to do an episode where we're talking 755 00:39:18,920 --> 00:39:21,920 Speaker 1: about kind of that anxiety you get when you have 756 00:39:22,560 --> 00:39:25,560 Speaker 1: so much information that you know, you start to think, 757 00:39:25,680 --> 00:39:29,640 Speaker 1: is my life being boiled down to data points and charts? Yeah, 758 00:39:29,640 --> 00:39:31,239 Speaker 1: and how much of that is healthy? And you know 759 00:39:31,440 --> 00:39:34,000 Speaker 1: it's it's yeah, whether whether or not it's okay that 760 00:39:34,080 --> 00:39:37,440 Speaker 1: we know so much about ourselves at any given second. Yeah, 761 00:39:37,680 --> 00:39:40,200 Speaker 1: I've I know more about me than I'm comfortable with. 762 00:39:40,719 --> 00:39:43,040 Speaker 1: But uh, and that's for a later episode. And I 763 00:39:43,080 --> 00:39:45,440 Speaker 1: really do think that most of these physical activity trackers 764 00:39:45,480 --> 00:39:48,760 Speaker 1: aren't quite at that level. It is a little interesting 765 00:39:48,800 --> 00:39:51,040 Speaker 1: to you know, sit there and say, oh, look at 766 00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:54,160 Speaker 1: my sleep patterns. What can I do to make these better? Uh, 767 00:39:54,200 --> 00:39:56,640 Speaker 1: There's really only so much you can do. And you know, 768 00:39:56,680 --> 00:39:58,960 Speaker 1: you can try and make sure that the environment you're 769 00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:02,960 Speaker 1: in is conducive to sleep and rest, but there are 770 00:40:02,960 --> 00:40:04,680 Speaker 1: a lot of little things that you can that you 771 00:40:04,719 --> 00:40:06,919 Speaker 1: can work on that a lot of people might not 772 00:40:07,040 --> 00:40:10,279 Speaker 1: be completely aware of. Um. And and again a lot 773 00:40:10,320 --> 00:40:14,399 Speaker 1: of this is just about awareness. And along those lines, um, 774 00:40:14,440 --> 00:40:16,279 Speaker 1: you know, these these fitness trackers that we were talking 775 00:40:16,320 --> 00:40:19,640 Speaker 1: about can run from fifty fifty dollars on the low end, 776 00:40:19,640 --> 00:40:22,440 Speaker 1: I guess, you know, ten dollars for the pimometer, up 777 00:40:22,440 --> 00:40:25,360 Speaker 1: to two for some of the super fancy ones, or 778 00:40:25,560 --> 00:40:28,360 Speaker 1: or even more for the really high level performance triathlon 779 00:40:28,480 --> 00:40:30,840 Speaker 1: kind of things. So there's a huge I mean or 780 00:40:30,960 --> 00:40:33,440 Speaker 1: down to free apps that you can download for your 781 00:40:33,480 --> 00:40:36,400 Speaker 1: smartphone right which is mostly using GPS tracking to figure 782 00:40:36,440 --> 00:40:39,440 Speaker 1: out how far you've gone exactly, keeping in mind that 783 00:40:39,440 --> 00:40:43,040 Speaker 1: that's not necessarily going to translate into a very accurate 784 00:40:43,080 --> 00:40:45,640 Speaker 1: measure of how much how many calories you burned, but 785 00:40:45,680 --> 00:40:47,120 Speaker 1: you at least give you an idea of how far 786 00:40:47,239 --> 00:40:51,200 Speaker 1: you went. Uh, you know, it's It's definitely something that 787 00:40:51,719 --> 00:40:53,719 Speaker 1: I've been interested in the past. And you know, we're 788 00:40:53,719 --> 00:40:56,359 Speaker 1: about to do this exercise thing here at work where 789 00:40:56,400 --> 00:40:58,080 Speaker 1: we all have predometers, so I'm sure we're going to 790 00:40:58,360 --> 00:41:01,520 Speaker 1: I'm in a group with Holly Fry who is a 791 00:41:01,520 --> 00:41:03,560 Speaker 1: marathon runner, so I know my group is going to 792 00:41:03,680 --> 00:41:06,960 Speaker 1: do really well. Yeah, so I don't plan on moving 793 00:41:07,360 --> 00:41:14,120 Speaker 1: for most July. That's the spirit. But but you know, 794 00:41:14,200 --> 00:41:16,799 Speaker 1: it really depends on what you want the device for, 795 00:41:17,000 --> 00:41:20,000 Speaker 1: how you're going to use it, and also, like we said, 796 00:41:20,080 --> 00:41:21,960 Speaker 1: read reviews, because some of the ones that are really 797 00:41:22,000 --> 00:41:24,759 Speaker 1: expensive may not have all the features you want and 798 00:41:24,840 --> 00:41:28,320 Speaker 1: may not perform better than than less it's right, and 799 00:41:28,560 --> 00:41:30,840 Speaker 1: they might just be, you know, for a different subset 800 00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:33,040 Speaker 1: of human person than than you happen to be. And 801 00:41:33,520 --> 00:41:35,279 Speaker 1: not yet, not all of these are for everybody. If 802 00:41:35,280 --> 00:41:38,600 Speaker 1: I may make a personal recommendation. D C. Rainmaker has 803 00:41:38,680 --> 00:41:41,840 Speaker 1: a blog that is brilliant. He's a triathlon runner, but 804 00:41:41,960 --> 00:41:48,360 Speaker 1: um or triathlon athlete who who's just triathlete, Yes, that 805 00:41:48,360 --> 00:41:50,080 Speaker 1: would be that would be the technical term for that 806 00:41:50,800 --> 00:41:54,359 Speaker 1: who has just reviewed all of the devices, all of them, 807 00:41:54,600 --> 00:41:58,240 Speaker 1: get all of them, and he does and he gets 808 00:41:58,480 --> 00:42:01,600 Speaker 1: very highly technical, which I'll love, um and but but 809 00:42:01,680 --> 00:42:04,600 Speaker 1: also tends to put his his kind of final thoughts 810 00:42:04,600 --> 00:42:09,799 Speaker 1: in an extremely succinct package. Excellent, excellent, good recommendation. Yeah uh, 811 00:42:09,840 --> 00:42:14,000 Speaker 1: and you know again, take a look. Find out what's 812 00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:16,280 Speaker 1: going to work, right, you know, work well for you. 813 00:42:16,280 --> 00:42:17,719 Speaker 1: You know, if if you have one that's going to 814 00:42:17,719 --> 00:42:19,920 Speaker 1: sync up with a smartphone, make sure that it's compatible 815 00:42:19,960 --> 00:42:21,920 Speaker 1: with which you're with your smartphone. Make sure that your 816 00:42:21,960 --> 00:42:25,000 Speaker 1: smartphone has the type of Bluetooth that the device wants 817 00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:27,319 Speaker 1: to sync up with, because that can be very very messy. 818 00:42:27,480 --> 00:42:28,879 Speaker 1: Right you can say, well, it was supposed to work 819 00:42:28,880 --> 00:42:32,279 Speaker 1: with an iOS device, and technically this iPhone three G 820 00:42:32,840 --> 00:42:36,400 Speaker 1: is an iOS device, right you know, Yeah, that's obviously 821 00:42:36,440 --> 00:42:39,760 Speaker 1: something you want to make sure is all all working 822 00:42:39,800 --> 00:42:43,600 Speaker 1: before you you die in guys, That wraps up this 823 00:42:43,680 --> 00:42:46,839 Speaker 1: classic episode of tech stuff. Hope you enjoyed it, and 824 00:42:46,880 --> 00:42:49,840 Speaker 1: if you have any suggestions, for future tech stuff topics. 825 00:42:49,880 --> 00:42:51,600 Speaker 1: Get in touch with me, let me know what you 826 00:42:51,640 --> 00:42:55,160 Speaker 1: are thinking. Otherwise it's just gonna leave it up to 827 00:42:55,200 --> 00:42:57,840 Speaker 1: a random chance, and that's those are not good odds. 828 00:42:58,440 --> 00:43:01,279 Speaker 1: You can reach out on Twitter or on Facebook, and 829 00:43:01,360 --> 00:43:03,880 Speaker 1: I use the same handle for both. It's text stuff 830 00:43:04,120 --> 00:43:08,640 Speaker 1: H s W and I'll talk to you again really soon. Y. 831 00:43:12,920 --> 00:43:15,960 Speaker 1: Text Stuff is an I Heart Radio production. For more 832 00:43:16,040 --> 00:43:19,440 Speaker 1: podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, 833 00:43:19,560 --> 00:43:22,720 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.