The Week in Review is a collection of both all the goodness I’ve written during the past week around the internet, as well as a small pile of links I found interesting – generally endurance sports related. I’ve often wondered what to do with all of the coolness that people write, and while I share a lot of it on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, this is a better forum for sending it on to y’all. Most times these different streams don’t overlap, so be on the lookout at all these places for good stuff!
So with that, let’s get into the action!
DCRainmaker.com posts this past week:
Here’s all the goodness that ended up on the main page of DCRainmaker.com this past week. Dang, 19 posts in all including this one!
3) The Hierarchy of Aero: This is a good post worth reading – especially about half-way down when you get some of the real experts into the discussion.
8) Woman steals back her bike: Pretty awesome story of a woman that met up with the person offering her stolen bike on Craigslist, asked for a test ride…and just kept on riding.
12) The best photo of the week: This clearly goes to this one that I think originated from the Ironman/WTC CEO (from Ironman Canada). Note the upper section on trail.
This is a bit of a new section. Most of this content used to be found within the main section, but I figured I’d just call it out up here and make it easy to find. I regularly sift through Kickstarter and Indiegogo (plus a few others on occasion) looking for sports projects. Note that as always with crowd funded projects, assume the project will be late and will under-deliver on features. Thus far, on the numerous products I’ve helped ‘fund’ (except a leather bike handle), that’s been the case.
Sports Technology Software/Firmware Updates This Week:
Each week I quickly highlight some of the new firmware, app, software and website service updates that I see go out. If you’re a sports technology company and release an update – shoot me a quick note (just one liners is perfect, or Tweet it at me is even better) and I’ll make mention of it here. If I don’t know about it, I won’t be able to post about it. Sound good?
Site/Firmware Updates:
Suunto Ambit2 & 2S: Pretty big update here on the Suunto Ambit 2/2s front, adding in a real trackback feature and bike power slope calibration, as well as fixing a number of other items that users have seen and improving areas like outdoor swimming.
TomTom: This update fixes a number of issues and fixes some compatibility problems with the 4iiii’s Viiiiva
TrainerRoad: If you’ve got a CompuTrainer, Wahoo KICKR or Kinetic inRide, I’d definitely recommend this update, which addresses a few issues.
ANT+ releases Android Sampler Testing Tool: This tools allows you to test out every device profile out there, as well as do things like manual ANT+ power meter calibration and display the new PM metrics that are coming from Rotor and Vector. In fact, it would even work with the new Garmin VIRB (remote control device profile). The App is open-source and available to add to other applications.
iPhone App updates this week:
iPad App updates this week:
Android App updates this week:
Windows Phone app updates this week:
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Thanks for reading!
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At least the TrueSmart is an actual smartwatch rather than a dumb display — honestly I think it would be helpful for someone to come up with consistent product category names to differentiate the two.
I suspect the somewhat new trend of trying to include cellular radios — whether strictly data, as here for 2G/3G, or for calls/data — is a mistake, though. The RF sections of these things are always going to be a big chunk of your battery budget, and cellular radios, with their much greater RF output requirements, are going want orders of magnitude more than Wifi/GPS/GLONASS/Blu/Ant+. Better just to stick to those, IMHO, and use a blu link to a smartphone for cell stuff, if you need that functionality.
The TrueSmart includes a cellular radio purely as an option, you don’t have to turn it on or enable it. You can use the Truesmart as a standalone phone, or linked to your phone with bluetooth for data connectivity and notifications, or both. I’ve got two on order, so it will be interesting to see the difference in battery life with and without the SIM installed.
Yesterday they posted pictures of the device running Endomondo and Runtastic natively, without an modification, they just downloaded from the play store and they worked. Omate TrueSmart running Endomondo and Runtastic
Now I’ll shut up about the Omate TrueSmart here, I’ve been talking about it too much, I guess I’m a bit too excited about it.
I too have been in a race where a bear tried to compete (Edge 2 Edge in Ucluelet (Canada!)), I didn’t see it, it was far behind me, but they announced at the finish line that it was DQed for being a bear.
With respect to the Ambit, I still get software updates on my Gen 1. I remember a bit of a hullabaloo about this a while back. In what way are they not supporting it?
The final Ambit1 update went out back in June. They weren’t planning on release any further updates for it prior to that, but enough folks complained that they relented. That was the final one though now.
Any other updates you’re seeing are actually for the device agent uploader, and not the watch itself.
Interesting video on the technology behind the Garmin Vector. The presenter doesn’t clarify clear enough though whether the Vector uses normal strain gauges (8 I think?) or the Resonant string type. He seems to indicate the Vector uses both technologies, which obviously isn’t right. Any idea Ray?
Sorry, i didn’t mean to confuse you. This was mainly in response to people asking how Swedish Adrenaline’s new Resonate String Gauges work. I just figured I’d explain how Garmin made theirs work and why Swedish Adrenaline will need to change the design shown in their picture.
Garmin actually uses a new technology called “Piezoresistive strain gauges”. Like normal strain gauges but they are solid state. They are very sensitive to strain but also very thermally sensitive. They are the only ones working with Piezoresistive gauges that I know of.
Look uses normal foil based strain gauges with an near identical setup.
Hi DC!! I just met you – when I was online looking for an explanation on how the heck to program my new Garmin 210. YOU ARE A GENIUS…BRILLIANT, and FUNNY! And you could be a professional writer, too (maybe you DO write ‘technology’ stuff for work (?) Anyway, I LOVE your Blog!
Ant is making it a bit easier to figure out how to connect ant+ devices to phones: link to thisisant.com
Seems like they’ve really been expanding the sdk for Android recently
They are slowly improving and adding features to the software. So can track your resting heart rate, and has a time line of your sleeping that shows snoring and the depth of your sleep.
Doesn’t seem like anything new has come out about Withing’s Aura. So outside of the light that is trying to be a sunrise/sunset simulator that the Aura has hard to tell which will be better as not enough info is out. Beddit is still adding features and plans to have cloud functionality with an API for 3rd parties to work with the cloud.
I swim, bike and run. Then, I come here and write about my adventures. It’s as simple as that. Most of the time. If you’re new around these parts, here’s the long version of my story.
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FAQ’s
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You probably stumbled upon here looking for a review of a sports gadget. If you’re trying to decide which unit to buy – check out my in-depth reviews section. Some reviews are over 60 pages long when printed out, with hundreds of photos! I aim to leave no stone unturned.
I travel a fair bit, both for work and for fun. Here’s a bunch of random trip reports and daily trip-logs that I’ve put together and posted. I’ve sorted it all by world geography, in an attempt to make it easy to figure out where I’ve been.
The most common question I receive outside of the “what’s the best GPS watch for me” variant, are photography-esq based. So in efforts to combat the amount of emails I need to sort through on a daily basis, I’ve complied this “My Photography Gear” post for your curious minds (including drones & action cams!)! It’s a nice break from the day-to-day sports-tech talk, and I hope you get something out of it!
Many readers stumble into my website in search of information on the latest and greatest sports tech products. But at the end of the day, you might just be wondering “What does Ray use when not testing new products?”. So here is the most up to date list of products I like and fit the bill for me and my training needs best! DC Rainmaker 2023 swim, bike, run, and general gear list. But wait, are you a female and feel like these things might not apply to you? If that’s the case (but certainly not saying my choices aren’t good for women), and you just want to see a different gear junkies “picks”, check out The Girl’s Gear Guide too.
At least the TrueSmart is an actual smartwatch rather than a dumb display — honestly I think it would be helpful for someone to come up with consistent product category names to differentiate the two.
I suspect the somewhat new trend of trying to include cellular radios — whether strictly data, as here for 2G/3G, or for calls/data — is a mistake, though. The RF sections of these things are always going to be a big chunk of your battery budget, and cellular radios, with their much greater RF output requirements, are going want orders of magnitude more than Wifi/GPS/GLONASS/Blu/Ant+. Better just to stick to those, IMHO, and use a blu link to a smartphone for cell stuff, if you need that functionality.
The TrueSmart includes a cellular radio purely as an option, you don’t have to turn it on or enable it. You can use the Truesmart as a standalone phone, or linked to your phone with bluetooth for data connectivity and notifications, or both. I’ve got two on order, so it will be interesting to see the difference in battery life with and without the SIM installed.
Yesterday they posted pictures of the device running Endomondo and Runtastic natively, without an modification, they just downloaded from the play store and they worked.
Omate TrueSmart running Endomondo and Runtastic
Now I’ll shut up about the Omate TrueSmart here, I’ve been talking about it too much, I guess I’m a bit too excited about it.
I too have been in a race where a bear tried to compete (Edge 2 Edge in Ucluelet (Canada!)), I didn’t see it, it was far behind me, but they announced at the finish line that it was DQed for being a bear.
With respect to the Ambit, I still get software updates on my Gen 1. I remember a bit of a hullabaloo about this a while back. In what way are they not supporting it?
The final Ambit1 update went out back in June. They weren’t planning on release any further updates for it prior to that, but enough folks complained that they relented. That was the final one though now.
Any other updates you’re seeing are actually for the device agent uploader, and not the watch itself.
Remember kids, a spike on the one yard line is a fumble.
I’m pretty annoyed about Competitor pulling elite support. I was planning on RnR Arizona but if they’re not interested in developing the sport…
Interesting video on the technology behind the Garmin Vector. The presenter doesn’t clarify clear enough though whether the Vector uses normal strain gauges (8 I think?) or the Resonant string type. He seems to indicate the Vector uses both technologies, which obviously isn’t right. Any idea Ray?
Hi Paul,
Sorry, i didn’t mean to confuse you. This was mainly in response to people asking how Swedish Adrenaline’s new Resonate String Gauges work. I just figured I’d explain how Garmin made theirs work and why Swedish Adrenaline will need to change the design shown in their picture.
Garmin actually uses a new technology called “Piezoresistive strain gauges”. Like normal strain gauges but they are solid state. They are very sensitive to strain but also very thermally sensitive. They are the only ones working with Piezoresistive gauges that I know of.
Look uses normal foil based strain gauges with an near identical setup.
Hi DC!! I just met you – when I was online looking for an explanation on how the heck to program my new Garmin 210. YOU ARE A GENIUS…BRILLIANT, and FUNNY! And you could be a professional writer, too (maybe you DO write ‘technology’ stuff for work (?) Anyway, I LOVE your Blog!
Thanks Barb! I do a lot of technical writing for work, but thankfully, I also get to speak a lot to. Appreciate it!
Gimbal for a Gopro camera (i.e. stabalize the image):
link to kickstarter.com
another iphone bike mount:
link to kickstarter.com
The Suunto fixes major connection issues; no more fiddling with USB cables and failed moves uploads.
Ant is making it a bit easier to figure out how to connect ant+ devices to phones: link to thisisant.com
Seems like they’ve really been expanding the sdk for Android recently
Shouldn’t this link be on the list?
They printed your post pretty much completely ;-)
Funny…
Wow, in reading it through (I had skimmed it a few days ago), jeez…
That beddit looks interesting. Any updates yet?
Thanks!
They are slowly improving and adding features to the software. So can track your resting heart rate, and has a time line of your sleeping that shows snoring and the depth of your sleep.
Doesn’t seem like anything new has come out about Withing’s Aura. So outside of the light that is trying to be a sunrise/sunset simulator that the Aura has hard to tell which will be better as not enough info is out. Beddit is still adding features and plans to have cloud functionality with an API for 3rd parties to work with the cloud.