The Nike+ sensor, safely hidden away in my shoe

If you haven’t noticed already through the post I’ve made or the new section on the right sidebar with the numbers, I’ve been running. Tonight (well, last night), was my third official run, and it’s been a blast.

However, something that’s really helped (besides running with Rachel), was this little gadget I picked up while at the mall the other day. I had to pick up some running shoes if I wanted to get into the hang of it and I already had an iPod nano which I got for free with a Mac for their back-to-school program, so I decided to go for the Nike + iPod dealie. Installation was a snap– put the little sensor in the shoe, plug the transmitter into the bottom of the iPod, put said iPod in the armband, and run.

My first run was without any music whatsoever. That run passed as follows:

• Ran for 3 minutes.
• Walked for 3 minutes.
• Ran for 3 1/2 minutes.
• Walked for 5 minutes.
• Ran for 5 minutes.
• Walked for 5 minutes.
• Ran for 10 minutes.

While it was indeed impressive for me, I think the most impressive part in the end was my improvement after I had the iPod gear on me. Here was my next run:

• Ran for 15 minutes (1.75 miles).
• Walked for 3 minutes.
• Ran for 15 minutes (1.7 miles).

Neat.

Once you’re done with your run, you plug your iPod in like you always would, and it automatically uploads the run data to the Nike+ website. Then, it gives you cool graphs, showing you how fast you ran and when. You can also add and join challenges with other people to try and race (or work together) to some goal you set. I’ll make a challenge for which to invite people to if there are people reading this who are interested. Leave a comment with your Nike+ username, and I’ll add you into it. I’m not really expecting anybody to bite, though.

This stuff makes a nerd like me more excited to run. Hell, I even have my run data embedded in the sidebar now.

Originally I thought that Rachel and I should get separate receivers/sensors, but then I thought of the ingenious plan to tether us together while running by using a splitter. That way, we could each listen to the same music and get super pumped up by the same stuff. So, a splitter hangs down from my armband, and two cords come out from there, one heading to me, and one crossing the space between us and into her ears. It works surprisingly well.

But, we’ve decided to run at night. We’d be… quite the site in daylight.

Clint is a professional moped rider & fixer-upper

My buddy Clint got in contact with me the other day, asking me to ride mopeds with me on Friday. It didn’t take me long to respond, “of course! sounds like fun.”

Clint’s got this awesome apartment in downtown Milwaukee which he’s affectionately dubbed “The Fortress.” An old shoe company, The Fortress is a lofted building with lots of room, old wood plank floors, and an excellent old elevator, complete with aging lights and buttons. However, we didn’t touch the elevator yet– that was for things that couldn’t get up or down stairs– we walked up. Needless to say, my newly-toned calves were more than ready for the task.

Entering his apartment revealed a few colorful old hair dryer chairs, a fridge in the middle of the room, a bunch of cool technology projects, a lighting kit, and his prize possession: a total of four mopeds– one for each color of the rainbow. A red Sachs, an orange Honda Express, a green older bike for which I didn’t get the model name, and a blue Tomos; all vintage scooters from the 1970s. See, what Clint does is buy these beautiful mopeds at cheap prices as they’re beaten up and usually not working. He then takes the time and effort to repair them into working condition, spending anywhere between $5 and $600 in total (initial purchase & reworking) for each bike.

After an in-depth discussion on technology and hacking the Milwaukee Transit TV System, it was time to head out. Our destination? South-side Milwaukee. Clint and I took “the most legit” ‘peds: the red Sachs and the orange Honda Express, respectively. Using the ancient elevator, we headed out and I experienced what Clint explained earlier as “riding a barstool at 25 miles per hour.”

Continue reading XTreme Mopeding AKA Why You Should Wear A Helmet »

Note: the f8 features are actually online already, but you have to visit http://f8.facebook.com to see it.

While I might have thought that Facebook Gifts were going to be the end of the ‘book as we know it, something new and more threatening is on the horizon for the site famous for stalking. Actually, for most of you reading this, it’s probably too late.

In about 6 hours from the time I’ve posted this, Facebook will have released something they call “f8.” I was invited to the keynote in San Francisco where they announced it only a couple hours ago, but due to the circumstances (I don’t care that much), I didn’t attend.

But really, the question is, what is f8? Well, in a nutshell, f8 is a platform in which developers can make “widgets” of sorts for Facebook users’ profiles. This can include audio, video, images, and basically whatever else. Remind you of anything?

Well, I guess it’s not that bad. Unlike MySpace, developers for these products on Facebook have to go through their development process to output applications. So far, lots of companies have been jumping on board, and some of them seem pretty good and/or cool.

(Check out some captures: One, Two, Three, Four)

But, again, this could easily mean infiltration by extremely annoying sources (music players, video players embedded in users’ profiles just like Murdoch’s devilish lovechild). I can’t say yet whether or not this means Facebook is on its way out, but I sure hope they’ve made this development process clean for those not wanting much to do with it, because I very well might be one of those people.

For those interested, Facebook has already released a website for f8 development. Photos courtesy of Matt McNamara.

My running path.

It’s something I thought I’d never do. I talked about it frequently and the iPod + Nike thing was catching my eye, but I just never had the willpower to actually get out of my chair, put on a pair of sneakers and shorts, and go running.

But, thanks to the help (read: peer-pressured convincing) of a pretty little lady, I did it. I ran and walked and ran and walked for a grand total of 2.6 miles. Doesn’t sound like much, but when you’re… athletically challenged, it means quite a bit.

What would I say in the end? It was fun. The last time I had run more than a block was probably four years ago in Sophomore high school gym class. With that as my last memory, I wasn’t too excited in the beginning, but after I had gotten a hang of it, I had a good time– it helped to have a friend with me. Aches and pains suddenly appeared on my body within the first 20 minutes or so, but even that felt good. It was nice to know my muscles were still alive (but for how much longer, we don’t know).

Whatever the case, it feels all the more excellent lying in bed to go to sleep whilest typing away on the laptop. I think I may try this again sometime soon.