New Armband Firmware

If you have uploaded your armband in the last few days you probably got a message about a new firmware version, then were walked through a seamless process to upgrade your armband to the newest version. Firmware refers to the program or set of programs that are running on and controlling your GoWear Fit.

I am happy to see that BodyMedia is actively updating their firmware, we have also seen at least one upgrade of the Activity Manager software. But this upgrade prompted me to contact customer support to see if I could find out anything about it. Asking a question(creating a case) was as simple as could be on the website. And my question was a simple one: "Do you have a list of Armband Firmware versions and the release information(changes) for each version?" Their response was quick - within an hour; but it was also an easy answer: "We do not have a public distribution list of firmware upgrades." Not the answer I wanted, but fully the answer I expected. I understand the reluctance to publicize the change log for firmwear upgrades, but as a user, knowing that information can be very useful.

There are many changes that would have no functional impact on me as a user or on my data. For example if they upgraded the firmware to better conserve battery life, or to pack the data smaller so it could last longer without an upload. They may have just fixed some very rarely encountered bugs, or done something to make the upload process more reliable(I have heard some recent complaints of failed uploads). But there are many things that I would like to know if they change. If they would tell me what was changed I could determine if it was something that would have any meaning to me. If they changed any algothrims that the GoWear uses it would be great to know there is a reason tomorrow's data might look a little different than yesterday's, be it calorie burn, steps counted, or sleep sensing.

For now, I will be happy knowing that they are actively improving the product and putting our subscription fee to good use. I will continue to update my bug and feature request list and see if they ever take notice. I know that someone from BodyMedia has visited my blog before.

GoWear Fit Armband Firmware: Bugs and Feature Requests

Firmware is the code(software) that is running on the actual hardware. It controlls what the hardware is doing, runs the algothrims, and manages how the data is stored. It can be upgraded through the USB, and BodyMedia has already released a few firmware upgrades - these upgrades install themselves automatically when you are downloading data. Most firmware upgrades would require a software upgrade as will to set the option or display the new data. Bugs and feature requests that require both a firmware upgrade and web software upgrade will be cataloged here.

Bugs:

Inability to turn the sound off. This isn't a problem for me, but I have seen many users complain of the inability to turn the sound off when the GoWear Fit is put on or taken off.

Any bugs annoy you? Add a Comment!

Feature Requests:

Number of Steps should be recorded minute by minute step rate like calories burned is rather than an hourly total. I assume that this is a firmware issue and not that the armband is uploading a rate and the Activity Manager is displaying and hourly total. This feature would make Edit Off-Body much more powerful because steps could be added when an activity is cloned to indicate off-body activity. It would also allow us to see step rate when running so If I went for a 30 minute run I could see my stride rate, and If I knew my distance I could compute my stride length. This would be a very useful tool for a running athlete.

Are there any features you would like to see? Add a Comment!

Related Posts:
GoWear Fit: Bugs and Feature Requests
GoWear Fit Activity Manager: Bugs and Feature Requests
GoWear Fit Armband Firmware: Bugs and Feature Requests
GoWear Fit Armband Hardware: Bugs and Feature Requests
GoWear Fit Display: Bugs and Feature Requests

GoWear Fit Activity Manager: Bugs and Feature Requests

The web-software is the easiest piece for BodyMedia to make changes and enhancements. It is also the majority of our interaction with the device. Since the day I got my GoWear Fit the home page has had a big section announcing "NEW Site Features" but it is not dated and the new features haven't changed so there is no way to know how actively they are trying to make improvements. Since they have opted for a subscription based model for revenue generation, I think it is there responsibility to keep new features rolling out on the Activity Manager Software.

Bugs:

Edit Off-Body does not add to steps. When I clone an activity or put in 30 minutes of walking during an off body time, the step counter does not tally up any steps. I can use the Edit Off-Body feature to adjust my calorie burn and activity level, but my step data becomes very inconsistent to both reality and the calorie burn reported. I think this is in large part due to the fact that steps are only tallied hourly and not minute by minute like the calorie burn. This is probably a feature of the hardware that definitely deserves a feature request from me.

Feature Requests:

Got any Feature Requests? Add a Comment!

Related Posts:
GoWear Fit: Bugs and Feature Requests
GoWear Fit Activity Manager: Bugs and Feature Requests
GoWear Fit Armband Firmware: Bugs and Feature Requests
GoWear Fit Armband Hardware: Bugs and Feature Requests
GoWear Fit Display: Bugs and Feature Requests

GoWear Fit: Bugs and Feature Requests

No matter how good an electronic device or software program/website is, users will always want more. A popular example with the GoWear Fit was the Daily Food Logging which initially was not an option, but was added by BodyMedia do to customer demand. Improvements are normally broken down into 2 categories: bugs and feature requests. Bugs are flaws in design or implementation that prevent a piece of software or hardware from behaving as intended. Feature Requests are ideas and suggestion that could be implemented to improve the product. Since the GoWear Fit is a finished commercial product, I am going to redefine bugs to include a deviation from what a typical user might expect(basically bad design),things that can make it unusable for some(the inability to turn the sound off might be an example of this), and things that are inconsistent. Declaring something as bad design can be very subjective and vary widly from one person to the next, but I think it might make a good dividing line to separate bugs from feature requests in a commercial product.

Bugs and feature requests can fall into 3 categories on the GoWear Fit: website software, armband firmware, and armband hardware. I will also make a category for the display, but since I don't have one it will be entirely up to you to fill me in on that one. Firmware is the code(software) that is running on the hardware. It can be upgraded through the USB to change the function of how the hardware operates. Hardware bugs or upgrades could only be resolved by getting a new version. I know there are some upgrades or oprions I would like to add to the hardware, but hopefully(and very likely) all the hardware bugs have been worked out before release.

I have had my GoWear Fit long enough to note some bugs that I find very annoying and some enhancements that I could find very useful. I would love for some input from you about the bugs you precieve and the features that would like to see. Just add them to the comments of this post, or the specific post for what your bug/feature is related to. I will add them to the posts to compile a list of ideas and maybe BodyMedia will also take note.

I have just gotten started on this, but these poste will be under constant update, espically if I get feedback from you.

Related Posts:
GoWear Fit: Bugs and Feature Requests
GoWear Fit Activity Manager: Bugs and Feature Requests
GoWear Fit Armband Firmware: Bugs and Feature Requests
GoWear Fit Armband Hardware: Bugs and Feature Requests
GoWear Fit Display: Bugs and Feature Requests

Lose Weight in the Dancing Revolution

I've had DDR Hottest Party 2 in the box since Christmas. I am a terrible dancer and have horrendous rythem. I've played some version of Dance Dance Revolution a few times before for a song or two and the results were what you would have expected: Boos from the croud. But since it was bad weather outside, and I didn't want to go to the gym and do anything too heavy because of my back, I decided it was finally time to break this out. I am as bad as I remember.

Is It Fun?
I played for over an hour and was entertained and simotaneously frustrated to the max throughout. There are 4 levels of difficulity: beginner, basic, difficult, and expert. I started on beginner and scored a few C's and D's, then switched to basic where D's were the norm but I worked to a C on most songs after a few tries. The harder the difficulity the faster and more complex the steps are. I think these types of games are much more fun when playing with others, but even though I was playing alone, I enjoyed it the entire time.

Is It Exercise?
I averaged 3.4 METs playing on the easy side of the difficulity settings. For me, that means buring 272 calories an hour versus the 80 I would burn sitting playing solitare for an hour. I haven't gone for a walk in my GoWear yet(I will update this when I do), but the ExerciseCalculator in BodyMedia's Activity Manager rates walking at 3 mph at 3.3 METs. Based on that, Playing DDR on basic difficulity is slightly better for weight loss than a 3 mph walk, and in my opinion, lots more entertaining and probably doubly so when done with a friend or your kids!

And that is just on basic difficulity. Get better and increase the difficulity and the calorie burn will go up. I accidently started one song on the expert mode, and the arrows(step indicators) were flying up the screen faster than I could reckognize them. Keep up with that and it would not surprise me if you were well over 5 METs.

Does the Research Agree?
University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, conducted a study using DDR Extreme 2 on the PS2 using participants that were proficient or at least praticed the game. For the Adults, aged 20-25, they reported the following results:

	Cals/hour		Heart Rate(bpm)		VO2(ml/kg/min)
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
Light	372	±95	117	±12	17.7	±2.68
Standard	462	±152	128	±12	21.3	±3.75
Difficult	564	±155	144	±16	26.7	±5.18

Read more about it here.

West Virginia University & West Virginia Public Employees Insurance Agency conducted a 24 week study with 50 children 7-12 years old with a BMI in the 85th percentile. Participants played DDR for at least 30 minutes, 5 times a week. Many measured health risk factors improved; and while weight loss was not demonstrated, a decrease in BMI was observed(remember these are growing 7-12 year olds).

So break out your Wii and get to dancing the weight off.

Who Didn't See This Coming, Yo-Yo Sleeping?

After a huge night of oversleeping, Sunday's night of sleep was a whopping 5 hours. On average, the total is about right for 2 days worth of sleep, but I don't think you can borrow and trade sleep like that. I ignored the 5:30 wakeup call, but my sore back would not have allowed any "real" training and more sleep was way more important than a very light workout would have been.

Sleep, Sleep, Sleep
It is one thing I need to do better, but so far it has also dominated the content of my blog, my training, health and fitness, and weight loss blog. Partially because it is the first thing that jumped out at me after looking at a weeks worth of data from the GoWear Fit, but also largely due to my injured back which has regulated training to rehab. Don't worry though, things will get more exciting around here.

Woe Is Me

Being sidelined sucks. I did almost nothing Saturday. I was up past 1:00 AM working Friday night, but got a decent sleep. I got up at 8:30 and scrambled to get the rest of my work done before noon. Once that was done, I went to watch a local rugby game. A few hours of standing made my back ache as if I was out on the field getting knocked around. I paced around at about a whopping 600 steps an hour, and that is about all I did on Saturday.
In my 9 hours of being up, I averaged 1.81 METs. Putting me well under my target activity level and therefor target calories.

Why Only 9 Hours With Activity?
I got up at a decent time for a Saturday, 8:30; but after standing up watching a few hours of rugby, I came home sore and not wanting to do anything. I watched a bit of TV, then forced myself to get up and do something. I worked around the house for about an hour, but then laid back down and quickly fell asleep. This was at 6:00 PM. I woke up around 10:00 PM but didn't really feel like getting up and doing anything. So I watched some TV till I fell back asleep, pretty intermittently till I woke up for about an hour at 7:00 AM then on and off till about 9:30.

I got over 10 hours of sleep over a 15.5 hour period. So Saturday I was up only 9 hours, and now it is late Sunday night, but I am not tired and need to get up at 5:30 Mondy morning. In my last post about sleep, I mentioned getting more consistent. I utterly failed this weekend, and hope it doesn't take me too long to recover. The only good thing is that it won't hurt my traing since I am taking some time off to heal my back and hip.