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.
Stuff that I found interesting around the interwebs:
Here’s a not-so-small smattering of all the random things that I stumbled on while doing my civic duty to find the end of the Internet:
1) Adidas Sues MapMyFitness/UnderArmour, world looks and giggles: Seriously Adidas? Look, you’ve been doing some good new firmware stuff lately on the Smart Run GPS unit. But suing MapMyFitness in 3 documents totaling 700 pages of legal garbage is sorta silly. First off, the vast majority of the stuff you’ve complained about in your filing…you don’t actually do. In fact, almost all of it everyone else in the industry does and has for years, but you don’t. Be it Garmin, Strava, Nike, Polar, or Suunto.
Why not sue them? Well, because those companies have fought off silly functionality suits like this for years – and in every case – won. Those companies pull in experts from around the industry and typically bury the suing entity with evidence showing they’re clueless. In the past those lawsuits have come from IP vultures. Except this time – it’s a company actually making a device + service. Which, makes your long term predicament more difficult. Do you think that companies like Training Peaks, Strava, or Wahoo Fitness, or any of the others are going to want to work with you now? Nope – of course not. Because all the above companies hate these types of suits. Just ask them. I’ve asked them. They despise it.
So now you sorta look like the loser kid on the playground that’s throwing pine cones at other kids. Yes, pine cones. Mainly, the tiny ones. Not even big manly cones. Just sayin’… (Hat tip to Luke for sending the above initial link over)
7) More rumors leak out on Apple’s iWatch: Clearly trending towards being more of a fitness focused device, plus a fitness platform around it. It would be interesting to see how Apple-friendly devices like FitBit’s and others that are sold at the Apple store would fair should such a device pop out.
14) Really cool data maps of where people run: Even cooler is that I’ve already spotted a few routes I wasn’t aware of here around Paris that I’ll be hitting up soon. Sweet! (via Mark, and many others)
Crowd Funded Projects of Athletic Note:
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.
Nanotips – Make all gloves smartphone compatible: I initially didn’t feature this last week, but then after futzing with some gloves on my phone this week, I decided I’d give this a whirl, and ended up going for it. So I figured I’d thus share it here.
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?
Grrr…my new Android phone got held up in customs, should be able to untangle it with FedEx Monday.
Windows Phone Apps:
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Thanks for reading!
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Thanks for the mention of NanoTips. Just got some new wind/waterproof biking gloves yesterday that don’t work with my phone. Spent a couple hours yesterday looking for a fix. AnyGlove is a similar product but reviews are mixed. I’m not going to sew in capacitive thread through my nice gloves. :) Hopefully NanoTips works well enough.
With all due respect, it’s probably best to not comment on the validity of court claims, particularly with respect to patent law. Popular opinion can’t even comprehend simple claims like self defense, let alone patents which can be much more complex.
Given I actually can comprehend the lawsuit, and what they are saying (or attempting to), it seems like a pretty logical reason for me to comment. I’m not sure why it’s “not best” for me to comment. Given I’m probably one of the few people out there that can debunk and understand the complexity of many of these claims, I’d be curious who would be a better person? A lawyer for one side or the other that only presents evidence they see fit?
After all, the blog is my opinion – not legal advice. In other words, I’ll kinda say what I want.
Some folks have approached me a bit in the past asking if I’d be interested, but honestly, I’m not. I know of many others that I work with closely in the industry though who have (who work at various companies).
For me, I’d prefer not to be a witness because then I’m basically siding with one company, and I don’t want to be put in the position where I’m seen as working for X company. I prefer to be as neutral as possible and instead let the reviews of their products speak for themselves.
Just wanted to give you a big congrats for being named to the short list for the best running blog. Nice. FYI – You’re actually the only blog my trihubby reads on a regular basis and now I do, too.
Just got an email that Kickstarter project Switch Aerobars and Seatposts would be shipping within the month, if that’s worth noting.
Original date was August, so yeah.
Their reasoning for most of the delays were things most engineers would have expected and planned for outright.
It’s a tough one to be honest. The Girl has one of the older ones as well, but honestly, it works perfect for her, so I don’t anticipate we’ll purchase a new one for her. She doesn’t need any of the other features that others folks might (such as swapping rings, left/right estimation, etc…). To each their own…
Seems good. My only worry is how easily would they fall out as there is no wire to keep from losing them but do love the tech they claim to have fit in it
I think you are the #1 blog hands down, but isn’t that website just an email address harvest?
Their “privacy” policy gives them the right to sell your email address (protecting only the secrecy of who you voted for!) and while you can opt out of their emails, not so much for the companies they sell your email address to:
QUOTE
We don’t share or sell your voting data.
We will occasionally send you email updates but you can opt-out of these at any time.
Interesting. There appears to be a tie-in with Virgin records as a sponsor, unclear how that plays out. I didn’t actually click vote, since, well, it seemed odd to vote for myself. :)
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Thanks for the mention of NanoTips. Just got some new wind/waterproof biking gloves yesterday that don’t work with my phone. Spent a couple hours yesterday looking for a fix. AnyGlove is a similar product but reviews are mixed. I’m not going to sew in capacitive thread through my nice gloves. :) Hopefully NanoTips works well enough.
In link number 14 I found the Venice map interesting. Apparently people are using RunKeeper to track boat rides.
I think the NanoTips product would be awesome if it works reliably. Thanks for pointing it out!
With all due respect, it’s probably best to not comment on the validity of court claims, particularly with respect to patent law. Popular opinion can’t even comprehend simple claims like self defense, let alone patents which can be much more complex.
Given I actually can comprehend the lawsuit, and what they are saying (or attempting to), it seems like a pretty logical reason for me to comment. I’m not sure why it’s “not best” for me to comment. Given I’m probably one of the few people out there that can debunk and understand the complexity of many of these claims, I’d be curious who would be a better person? A lawyer for one side or the other that only presents evidence they see fit?
After all, the blog is my opinion – not legal advice. In other words, I’ll kinda say what I want.
well said Ray
Wow! I’m curious have you ever been a paid expert at trial?
Personally, I’m glad mapmyfitness is getting hit.
Some folks have approached me a bit in the past asking if I’d be interested, but honestly, I’m not. I know of many others that I work with closely in the industry though who have (who work at various companies).
For me, I’d prefer not to be a witness because then I’m basically siding with one company, and I don’t want to be put in the position where I’m seen as working for X company. I prefer to be as neutral as possible and instead let the reviews of their products speak for themselves.
Re no 12. I read on BBC link to bbc.co.uk that the Russian opposition claim 2/3rds of the cost has “disappeared”
Just wanted to give you a big congrats for being named to the short list for the best running blog. Nice. FYI – You’re actually the only blog my trihubby reads on a regular basis and now I do, too.
“Would someone please explain to me how a ski hill with temporary stadium seating costs over $2 Billion!?!”
I’m not saying Russian contractors are corrupt, but . . .
Just got an email that Kickstarter project Switch Aerobars and Seatposts would be shipping within the month, if that’s worth noting.
Original date was August, so yeah.
Their reasoning for most of the delays were things most engineers would have expected and planned for outright.
…original date was August 2013…
Is the Quarq deal too good to pass up if I have an older Quarq S975? I don’t have too many issues with my current one.
It’s a tough one to be honest. The Girl has one of the older ones as well, but honestly, it works perfect for her, so I don’t anticipate we’ll purchase a new one for her. She doesn’t need any of the other features that others folks might (such as swapping rings, left/right estimation, etc…). To each their own…
Maybe this will catch your attention for the next weeks review – kickstarter:
link to kickstarter.com
Seems good. My only worry is how easily would they fall out as there is no wire to keep from losing them but do love the tech they claim to have fit in it
they do look very good.
I think you are the #1 blog hands down, but isn’t that website just an email address harvest?
Their “privacy” policy gives them the right to sell your email address (protecting only the secrecy of who you voted for!) and while you can opt out of their emails, not so much for the companies they sell your email address to:
QUOTE
We don’t share or sell your voting data.
We will occasionally send you email updates but you can opt-out of these at any time.
Interesting. There appears to be a tie-in with Virgin records as a sponsor, unclear how that plays out. I didn’t actually click vote, since, well, it seemed odd to vote for myself. :)