By Hiawatha Bray
Globe Staff / January 13, 2011

That snow’s going to melt someday, but your New Year’s resolution to get in shape will still be there, eating at your conscience. Time to begin thinking up new excuses, or finding new incentives to begin an exercise regimen — and maybe these gadgets will help.

At last week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, I came across a host of digital health and wellness products. I tried out a headphone designed for vigorous workouts, a device that turns a smartphone into a heart rate monitor, and another gadget that records a user’s physical state around the clock.

Lots of us want music when we go for a jog, but the familiar white earbuds that come with Apple Inc’s iPod fall out, and larger headphones are uncomfortable. We need earbuds that will stay put, even during vigorous exercise.

And here they are. They’re called Yurbuds, and were developed by a triathlete/engineer in Missouri. Yurbuds, which sell for $49.99, deliver full, rich sound. But what really matters are the innovative rubber earpieces that fit over the buds. They painlessly but firmly lock into your ear canal, and stay put. I took a set of Yurbuds out for a jog, and they didn’t budge.

Each pair of Yurbuds comes with two sets of earpieces made to fit most human ears. If yours don’t feel right, take a photo of your ears and send it to Yurbuds; they’ll mail you a correctly-sized earpiece and charge only for shipping.

With Yurbuds and a smartphone, you can listen while you sweat. Meanwhile, the phone can be listening to your heartbeat, thanks to Wahoo Fitness LLC of Gainesville, Ga.

Until last week, I’d never heard of ANT+, a short-range radio technology similar to the Bluetooth system used in wireless cellphone headsets. ANT+ has been specially designed for wireless medical gear. At the electronics show, there were ANT+ blood pressure monitors and bathroom scales that could relay readings to a doctor’s office.

Wahoo Fitness makes the Fisica Fitness Sensor Key, a $79.99 ANT+ radio that plugs into an iPhone’s recharging port. Add a free software app, and the phone can now receive signals from other ANT+ devices, like Wahoo’s $59.99 Fisica heart rate belt. Just strap it around your chest, and it tracks your heartbeat, flashing the data onto the iPhone’s screen. Other Wahoo Fitness sensors can measure a runner’s stride or a cyclist’s speed and pedaling rate.

I settled for the heart rate strap, some nice tunes, and a free Fisica app that used the iPhone’s GPS chip to measure my running speed and distance. It even displayed a Google map to show my location. Users can keep a record of all this data by uploading it to online fitness services, like MapMyFitness.com or TrainingPeaks.com. Over time, a runner should see faster speeds and a slower heart rate, all instantly recorded in a digital diary that provides one more reason to keep it up.

And speaking of digital diaries, I’m testing one that never quits. Instead, it measures your physical state 24 hours a day — except when you plug it in for a recharge.

BodyMedia Inc. of San Diego makes wearable medical devices that track a host of physical variables — body heat, walking or running speed, or the electrical conductivity of the skin, which changes as you sweat. The $199.95 BodyMedia FIT monitoring device, which you strap to an arm, constantly records that information. The data is then fed to a smartphone or the BodyMedia website, a fee-based service which provides a day-by-day record of the calories you’re burning, the time you spent exercising, how hard you pushed yourself, and even how many hours you slept. Tell the website what you’re eating, and it’ll estimate your daily calorie intake and help you figure out a plan for losing weight. The Internet-based tracking service costs $6.95 a month for a full year.

The FIT unit that I’m testing may have a problem with its Bluetooth radio; it had trouble pairing up to both an iPhone and an Android phone. Luckily, it also plugs into a computer’s USB port. With free BodyMedia software on the PC, I made some disturbing discoveries about my lifestyle. I need more sleep, and I can stand to shed a few pounds, too. Can the FIT help? I’ll find out in a month or so.

Of course, I’ll have to hit the gym, like it or not. I’m not sure if these gadgets will really melt fat, but they’ve already destroyed my last excuses.

Hiawatha Bray can be reached at bray@globe.com .
© Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper Company.

Source: http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2011/01/13/gadgets_that_really_get_you_going/