We want to give you credit for doing any form of exercise. The catch is that we must rely on data collected from a reliable source (i.e. non-human). It’s not that we don’t trust people, it’s just that we know that the lure of rewards creates the temptation to exaggerate how much exercise you’ve done. It’s only natural. In order to do away with such temptation altogether, we will have to rely on technology to collect the data for us.
Fortunately we are at the beginning of a growing trend known as “The Internet of Things.” While the concept is much larger, it implies that our daily activities will soon be trackable and managed the same way all data is. The world of exercise has a plethora of such devices, many of which are made possible by the iPhone.
Examples of devices that are currently on the market which could potentially feed us data on your exercise include:
- Nike+ sensor
- Adidas miCoach
- Garmin heart monitors
- Garmin GPS watches
- Polar heart monitors
- RunKeeper iPhone app
- MapMyRun iPhone app
- EveryTrail iPhone app
- FitBit
- BodyBugg
- and many more!
Eventually we would also like to tie-in with gyms so that you get credit for every time you visit the gym.
At the beginning we will use only Nike+ data because they have an open API that allows us to collect that data without a formal agreement with them. Of course we will still need someone’s permission and Nike+ login info in order to retrieve that data.