…a “power ring” that gives the user great control over the physical world as long as the wielder has sufficient willpower.

Great. So for 2007 I decide that you all start behaving. Ok? No more hitting each other in the head or taking things from each other. And start sharing stuff, ok?

You are Green Lantern

Green Lantern 70% Superman 65% The Flash 65% Iron Man 65% Hulk 60% Supergirl 56% Robin 55% Spider-Man 50% Catwoman 45% Wonder Woman 41% Batman 30%

Hot-headed. You have strong will power and a good imagination.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

Update I’m in the “Green Lantern Club” with Michael Arrington, Jason Calacanis and Robert Scoble (who really doesn’t like memes like this – I think that’s what he’s trying to say).

And if you do, do you think it’s important that “normal” media – meaning radio, tv, newspapers and magazines – covers gaming? Why?

What are your reasons for playing games? And what reasons are there for media to cover caming?

Use the comments below!

At this stage in development, the encounters are very carefully placed. Sometimes that means you’re in frantic firefights (on a significantly bigger scale than in Halo 2, although all I will confirm numerically is at least one more Grunt.) but there’s also time for exploratory reflection and the, “Oooh, maybe I can climb up there and check that thing out,” sort of play.

If this holds true, I may have to buy a 360 after all…

The comments at Joystiq has this gem from “existonfile”:

I am all for it feeling like Halo 1′s “beach assault” or “midnight sniping” stage, but if you give me another GD “Library” stage I will kill all of Bungie’s employee’s with my bare hands.

LOL. And so true. One more “Library” stage and I’m selling the 360 again.

I understand what “LordMinogue” talks about too:

Halo had a dark atmosphere (think Battle of Helm’s Deep) while Halo 2 is almost giddy (think the Ents taking Isengard and Orthanic)

Great new ad from Coca-Cola. Truly a brilliant idea. Turn something completely around. When will we see the next ad doing this? Doom monsters sharing Mentos? Hitman dancing in the park with his iPod nano?

This is the revolution

I think this is the start of a revolution in the way people measure what their bodies do. Yes, there are already heart rate meters, pedometers etc. on the market. But the iPod is a cultural icon, something that everybody has. In my country Norway, I can easily count 20 iPods on the bus in the morning. Apple has sold millions and millions. This is the start of something big.

But – I can see a future where I want to use the data from different training devices together. To merge the data from a GPS, from a heart rate monitor, from an iPod+Nike. And maybe take it further: To use the devices that collect data (iPod+Nike, GPS, heart rate monitor) to control other devices: Game consoles, PCs and Macs.

And finally: All this data should be in a format that is easy to move: From the devices that collect them, to devices that are controlled by them, and to devices and applications that store them.

Three phases if you like: Collection. Use. Storing.

Collection

The new Nike+iPod Sport Kit is an example of a device that collects data. Itconsists of two parts, a sensor for the shoes and a receiver for the Nano. The sensor with will measure your steps and report them back to the Nano. Information on time, distance, calories burned and pace is stored on the Nano and displayed on the screen. You also get real-time audio feedback like “your average pace is 7:10″, “Three kilometers to go” and “You completed in 24 minutes and 4 seconds.” Brilliant! This will of course make running much more fun, and the audio feedback will work much better than having to watch the screen when running.

You can make special playlists for your workouts, and if you press the center button while running, the Nano plays your special “power song”, for that extra sprint or the steep hill.

Again, Apple proves that the secret is in the details. It’s simple and amazing at the same time. And it certainly is right in the face of everyone writing about “iPod killers” on their sites every day.

Heart rate

The Nike+iPod Sport Kit does not contain a heart rate monitor. Apple used Lance Armstrong on the iPod+Nike press conference. I know that Lance, like most other top athletes, use a heart rate monitor when training. There are several brands out there, but Finnish Polar is a market leader, with products for lots of different sports: Running, cycling, outdoor, weight management etc.

If I have data on time, distance, pace and calories burned, I would also like to know my heart rate. It makes training much more efficient and you don’t run too hard (like many of us tend to do when we finally drag ourselves away from the computer). Now, Nike already has a whole range of heart rate monitors.

“Nike+iPod creates a better running experience. We see many more such Nike+ innovations in the future.”

Nike CEO Mark Parker at the iPod+Nike press conference. I’ll eat this webpage if there isn’t a iPod-ready heart rate monitor from Nike within a year.

Steps vs GPS

The sensor inside +Nike shoes senses when you make a step. I would think that it simply sends “a step count” back to the Nano. This is how most pedometers work: You program your step length, and the pedometer just counts how many steps you take. If you take shorter or longer steps, it will be inaccurate.

But with a GPS, you can take as funny steps as you like. The GPS will know precisely how far you have run, no matter the length of your steps.

The Garmin Forerunner 305 (buy from Amazon) is one of the best solutions out there. It is (quite) small, has a heart rate monitor and a GPS right on your arm. I hope Apple picks more partners for their Nano sports line, and Garmin and Polar should be the next ones after Nike.

Or?

Different devices, different data

Wouldn’t it be so much better if all these devices talked to each other? Buy a Nano from Apple, a pair of shoes from Nike, a heart rate monitor and GPS from Garmin, or a heart rate monitor from Polar. And they all sing together.

And when you go to a gym that uses the Technogym Wellness System, your gadgets pick up the data from the machines at the gym. And when you leave, your Nano knows how much you lifted, pulled, pushed and ran. And your heart rate.

You come home, and sync your iPod. Since the data is in a common format for training, you decide yourself which site you want to load up your data to: Nike, Garmin, Polar (all these have webbased services for training data for their gadgets). Or any other site that uses the common format for training.

From real world to virtual world

The final step is to merge this with the wonderful world of gaming. Since all machines now use a common format, it’s no problem for the Xbox 360, the PS3 or the Wii to make use of your gadgets or your data. You can bring out your dance mat and start dancing. The Xbox or the iPod keeps track of your exercise. Grab the Wii controller and start playing tennis in your living room. The iPod still keeps track of your movements. And when you meet your tennis instructor the next day, you can log on to the site you use for your data and have a look at your progress together.

And when it’s raining cats and dogs, and even an iPod full of your favourite tunes can’t pull you out of the warmth of your apartment, you step up on the treadmill, turn on your Xbox or PS3, and start running in the streets of Sydney from PGR, the hills surrounding Hogwart, or the upper decks of Titanic. All rendered in beautiful 3D on your new 42″ LCD screen in front of you.

While running, two of your friends come online too, and you race each other until Ross in Melbourne wins, but you manage to squeeze ahead of Kevin from Buffalo.

A new dataformat for training data

I’m quite sure Apple (or Nike, Garmin, Polar, Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo) will never make an open standard training data unless they really have to. So we better start making it ourselves. And start pushing them to open things up when we have a dataformat that is useful, versatile and ready to be implemented.

How do we do it? Anyone?

Previously on Brilliantdays.com

Computerized gyms
Running and training online
More Africa in your computer
Use your body to control the computer

Dunechaser does it again. This time he has made a set of co-called minifigs with “Geek Luminaries”. The above is of course Steve Jobs with a first generation iPod (BTW, this demonstrates the beauty of the iPod design: What other gadget could be immediately recognized as itself with just one simple piece of Lego…?)

See also the corresponding post on his blog.

Others include Bill Gates, Linus Torvalds (with a penguin), Larry Wall, Steve Wozniak, Charles Babbage, Tim Berners-Lee and Jeff Bezos – on a Segway!

Custom made Lego

And here’s an idea for Lego: Start making a total list of all bricks you make. Every single one. Put it on a web page.

And when people like Dunechaser make models like these, make an easy system for people to tag their pictures with the names of all the bricks they have used. Example: The Steve Jobs model is 5 pieces, or bricks. The hair, the head, the upper body, the legs and the iPod. And I guess you could say that the hands are changable to other colors to, so then it’s 7 pieces.

If all these had a number, one could add these numbers in the description of the drawing, and put it in some kind of format that was clickable. And which set me right to the “Custom Lego” webpage. A form was automatically filled in, and all the little pieces were picked up by a robot in a Lego storage somewhere, and sent to me.

Imagine the coolness of this: There are thousands or millions of Lego figures that people have created and put on the web. But unless you – like Dunechaser – have collected a huge number of Lego bricks and pieces, you’re not able to make Steve or Bill or Linus yourself, even if you can figure out which pieces that are used in the models.

The Wellness System is made up of hardware, software, and cutting-edge technologies linked to exercise equipment. It enables health and fitness facilities to deliver a rich wellness experience to their members. A comprehensive, modular network, the Wellness System works with exercise equipment.

Using a special TGS key, you “log on” to the equipment you use at the gym. The Wellness System then keeps track of what you do, burned calories, how much you run, how much you lift or pull, and your progress. You can also check your progress online.

Only halfway there

As far as I know the first time you can see your progress in hard numbers, and not just what you think your progress is (and DO people fool themselves? Yes, they do.)

There are however some shortcomings:

It can store “only” 365 workout sessions. I guess that means several years of workouts for most of us, but for athletes it will soon be too little.

Is there a way to measure your pulse? I couldn’t find that on the Technogym site.

You can’t take your data with you. And you can’t use the data from the gym with the data from outside the gym. Let me explain: You run, bicycle and lift in the gym. And your data is stored in the Wellness System. Then you run and bicycle outdoors, and maybe you store your data on a Garmin Forerunner.

How do you combine the data? You can’t. There aren’t any standards. And most of the people busy making new cool standards for the online world are so busy using their computers that they wouldn’t care less if you can’t take your Wellness System data, your Forerunner data and mix them at home. Or online.

We need EMIL

A year ago, I wrote “Running and training online”:

I’m always frustrated with the lack of open standards in the computer world. So to keep up competition, we make a standard for the data that the training machines collect when we train. I call it EMIL – Exercise Machine Interchange Language. It sounds like “e mill” (electronic mill) when you say it. And it’s my little homage to Astrid Lindgren’s wonderful character Emil.

So how about it, Marc? Phil? (who had supercool “/run” but still makes cool stuff at “Make:”. Or Robert?: Your boss seem to understand that we need microformats. We need a format for training! Get people out of their chairs! Hightech training for everyone!

And finally: The view

The next version of Windows is called “Vista”:

vista

1) A distant view or prospect, especially one seen through some opening
2) A site offering such a view

(from Wiktionary)

I want something to look at when running the mill. Ok, at SATS where I workout, they have placed the step machines right in front of the running mills. But everywhere else. I would like to bicycle through Italian wineyards or downtown Sydney. I want to run the streets of Tokyo or the hills around Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Or the landscapes in Halo.

How?

Make a system that takes data from the bicycle or the mill, feed it into my Xbox (or a PS3) and give me the view. Track how fast I go, my pulse, put it online. Let me race my friends all over the world. Give me EMIL support in all chat clients: “Status: Oyvind is bicycling – race him now”. Click and your system give you the same track I see, real time and online. And it works whether I’m at the gym or at the spinning bike at home.

How cool would that be!

Summary

There are three pieces missing:

Data collection
Technogym has started to adress this, by taking data from all machines in gyms, and saving them to a personal profile. Garmin also does it with their Forerunner line, where you store both pulse, elevation, speed, GPS data etc. on the Forerunner.

There are several other areas where this could be done:

• A very light device to put on your arm while playing tennis
• A device for golfers that takes GPS data, how you swing etc. (I would guess this exists already? Anyone?)
• A device for skiers, both Nordic and Alpine. A GPS with customized software would cover most of what you need. I think lots of people would like to see their speed in the slopes, which could be done with GPS. Not too accurate, I guess but good enough. If there was a standard, the Alpine devices could talk to systems in the slopes, feeding them other metadata about the slopes (green, blue, red, black etc.)
• Swimming. Are there heart rate monitors that are waterproof?

Can you think of other useful areas?

A standard for the data
There should be an easy way to move data between devices and systems. It’s lame that my Polar heart rate monitor store it’s data in a different format than Garmin’s heart rate monitors. They should be compatible with each other.

There should be a way to put all the data from Technogym’s Wellness System on a USB stick.

Someone should sit down and define all the data possible to connect: GPS positions, heart rate, how much you lift or push, how far you run/bicycle/ski and so on. And then define a data format for it. Like MIDI for training machines and monitoring.

Using data to control other devices
And finally: When the data is in a format that all kinds of machines and gadgets can understand, it should be possible to use it to control other devices. Example: When I run on a mill, that data should be possible to send to any PC/Mac/Xbox/PS to control things. Anything. It should be built right into the OS. Yes, OS X and Windows Vista should have supoort for this. So that if I want to “disconnect” the return key on my keyboard, and the only way to get a “return” is to hit a punching ball next to my display, I should be able to do it.

And when I’m running on a tread mill, in a gym or at home, I should be able to control any game I have. Or much better: The game developers should make special versions of the games, with “only” the landscapes and buildings, letting users run or bicycle them.

Update
There is a device for alpine, showing vertical speed etc.

Update
I’ve written Training microformat after Apple and Nike presented iPod+Nike in May 2006.

7779-01,
originally uploaded by CountBlockula.

Batman and Batwoman never looked this cute!

Roosevelt: o this fockin sucks i got a depression!
benny-tow: haha america sux
Stalin: hey hitler you dont fight me i dont fight u, cool?
Hitler[AoE]: sure whatever
Stalin: cool
deGaulle: **** Hitler rushed some1 help
Hitler[AoE]: lol byebye frenchy
Roosevelt: i dont got crap to help, sry

Read the rest here. (MMORPG what? See MMORPG at Wikipedia).

Also check out Walker, Brokeback Ranger on YouTube…

From the left, Mao Zedong, Kim Jong Il, Marx & Engels and Stalin.

While you’re at it, solve Rubik’s clock in less than 10 seconds.

More Rubik stuff at Speedcubing.com.

Live broadcasts of gaming on national tv will be huge in 2006..

Yes, tv channels will air live games, with the top gamers of the world playing. With commentators, experts, statistics and interviews.

There are so many reasons for this:

1) Some of the best customers for advertisers play games: Males in the age 15-45, and lately also lots of woman in the same age. Which will make advertisers wanting to have their advertising around these shows.

2) The quality of the games are so good that “normal” people could watch this and enjoy. I can understand that my dad in the early 80s couldn’t figure out which of the tiny pixelated figures on the screen were us, and which were the bad guys.

But now: HD and glorious surround sound. Xbox 360, highend PCs, PS3 and games like Project Gotham Racing 3 makes this very close to the real world (not quite but close).

Add to that: Amazing replays and camera views you never get in “real life”.

3) The way the games are built fit with the way sports are made today: You have tons of statistics, you have people playing games for a living, and thus becoming very good at it.

There are of course some hurdles too: The geek factor, the quality and the development of new tools to make gaming better for tv.

1) The geek factor. The production I’m watching now is quite geeky. They use looots of special words only known to gamers, and try too little to inform normal people about the concepts of the game. The three guys in the studio are the ones you would playing games everywhere: Guys in t-shirts, not too fit, and 2 of 3 had glasses. Heh! But they knew what they were talking about!

2) The quality. This was lowcost production. Two static cameras and the game. If one produced it like an NBA final or a Champions League final it would something else of course. Lots of cameras, replays of crucial points in the game, experts on all strategy commenting moves (bringing in people from tha army and the air force commenting the game in Battlefield 2 would be cool), live cameras on the gamers gaces as they play, lots of on-screen statistics presented in a readable way. All the data on the gamers screens are made to be watched quite closely to the screen. People are not sitting that close to the tv so it needs to be bigger to be readable for television.

Game servers for broadcasters
3) Special servers. I think the developers of the games will start making special server software just for the tv broadcasts. When NBC airs the world finals in Project Gotham Racing 3, they would like to have access to all views and cameras in the game in their control room. All. So the tv producer can produce this like any normal Indy 500 or Formula 1 race.

Same with Battlefield 2: Several times during the game they missed important things because the guys in the studio happened to be on another camera when it happened. And they didn’t have replays. With special server software for tv companies, they could replay any event in the game, from any angle, not missing a thing.

As for now, this is quite geeky stuff. But still so mainstream that the website of Norwegian Broadcasting almost chrashed during the web-tv transmission. Over 15 000 streams were sent out, and 6 000 unique users were watching it live, making it the most popular live webcast in Norway ever. Even NIX (Norwegian Internet Exchange), the hub of all net traffic in Norway, had problems because of this. See the graph and read about it at NRK.no o (in Norwgian).

(picture by NRK)

The final is still available in NRK’s web-tv here (Windows Media streaming). So have a look and see what you think. How long do you think it takes before a major US or European airs a game live in primetime? My guess, within two years or before.

Related: The best gamers in the world channel

Jeff has been raving about his ever since. I asked him “has it crashed?” He says he hasn’t had a single crash yet in dozens of hours of play. He says it’s the best device he’s ever purchased.

What? When did playing for dozens of hours without chrashing become a sign of quality? I’m suspecting someone isn’t used to things w-o-r-k-i-n-g…

I’m putting my standards high above that! I want quality games and machines not chrashing at all.

“Lots of PSP games and movies are being made. This is good news when it comes to activities for passengers on Widerøe flights, says marketing manager in Widerøe Trude Erlandsen.”

Widerøe’s press release states that they are first in Europe. Which airline were the world’s first?

Update: Engadget has picked up the story. And I didn’t even tip them. They forgot to link to my site, but cool anyway! The reader comments are full of crap though. Swedish meatballs, SNES fanatics, airline prices 20 years old and the usual Norway/sweden fighting. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s like USA/Canada, or Great Britain/France: Making silly jokes and insults about each other all the time.

It’s so nice that they have made the party in my site’s color scheme! Thanks, Xbox team! But I somehow can’t find the invitation to the party? Could you please resend it?

BTW, head over to Flickr and have look at both the group and the tag “zerohour” for the event.

The next logical step would is to let people watch the real games on their game consoles as they happen. Let me play WRC with Solberg and Loeb live as they drive. Let me sail the Volvo Ocean Race with the boats – live. Let me cycle the Tour de France with Lance.

Picture from Stepmania.

Seems like quite a few has started dancing already. Also, here’s a list of dance pads that works.

I think it shows quite a sense of humour to make a game out of the theft of one of the most famous pictures in art history. And a case that isn’t solved – the picture has not been found yet. There are of course people who don’t like this, but I give the Munch museum and the Munch family a big thumbs up!

The game can be bought from the creators, Aschehoug.

Update: The game is no longer sold at the museum, but is available online and at bookstores.

But that’s not what this is about. But the ability to watch the best gamers in the world race anytime inside the game:

“Enter Gotham TV—here’s were things get interesting. Inside this mode you’ll find the Heroes Channel, your Friends Channel, a gallery of your snapshots, and also your recorded replays. The Heroes Channel (…) provides you with viewing access to the Top 50 racers in the world (on Live). If you’re watching a race you can hop in and out of the perspectives all of the cars that are racing, utilizing the different view modes and camera options available. The Heroes Channel has tested up to 300,000 viewers watching a single race.”

The Heroes Channel will be very popular. People will want to watch the best players in the world driving. It will compete with “normal” tv-channels.

And after watching amazing races in PGR3, with cameras everywhere, what will happen when you watch normal races? They need to be TOP quality. Lots of cameras. Superslows. Inboard cameras. Everything you got used to in the games. Same goes with other sports. People will of course want to see the real thing. But the games will compete more and more.

The next logical step would is to let people watch the real games on their game consoles as they happen. Let me play WRC with Solberg and Loeb live as they drive. Let me sail the Volvo Ocean Race with the boats – live. Let me cycle the Tour de France with Lance.

Let me watch replays from games on the game console. With my own choice of camera angles. Let me see Superbowl on the Xbox 360 or PS3. Whenever something happens, I can use the console to see the situation from every possible angle. Add some microchips in the shoes, gloves and t-shirts of the players. And the ball. FIFA is already doing tests with a ball with a small chip inside to signal to the referee when it is a goal. So the technology is already there.

My bet: Superbowl 2007 will be live on Xbox and Playstation.

Also read my article about running and training online – on how to make it possible to compete with Lance Armstrong and Sebastian Loeb with your Xbox or PS3.

Sponsors:

“Early in the game it is often best to get out as soon as possible so as to have more opportunities to buy property. Later in the game, it is best to stay in jail as long as possible to avoid landing on an opponent’s property.” – Truman Collins.

pluto

Originally uploaded to Flickr Brandnewbrain.

For several years my name will be flying through space on a CD on a NASA spacecraft. I like the idea.

The winner was a surprise…!

Attack mode!

Originally uploaded to Flickr Eirik Newth.

Lucky you, Eirik! Playing with the new Roboraptor. I have to hide this post for the kids…

Technorati Tags: games, robots

His main points: Parents have been dragging kids away from whatever the kids were into since the dawn of civilization. Why should kids playing video games be worse than kids playing Monopoly?

And: “most of today’s games force kids to learn complex rule systems, master challenging new interfaces, follow dozens of shifting variables in real time and prioritize between multiple objectives. In short, precisely the sorts of skills that they’re going to need in the digital workplace of tomorrow.”

Right on the head.

Steven mentions that violence among kids have dropped, and that crime in the youngest age groups is the lowest today since the study started in 1975. Duke Ferris takes a closer look at the numbers at Bolt.com.

This is too easy. When some politicians claim that videogames are to blaim for violent kids, it’s wrong. And it’s also wrong to think that videogames make kids LESS violent. Steven writes “explore the theory that violent games function as a safety valve, letting children explore their natural aggression without acting it out in the real world.” Maybe. I think this needs to researched much better before jumping to conclusions.

But then again, as a friend of mine says: “Nothing cleans the air better than shooting some colleagues in Halo once in a while.”

Steven’s only concern with videogames is this: “Kids don’t get physical exercise when they play a video game, and indeed the rise in obesity among younger people is a serious issue.”

UPDATE:: Steven also has post on his blog about this, where answers this question from one of his blog readers:

“I would say you are either among the many uninformed people I know or you are brilliant in feeding the masses random statistical data that leads to no conclusions to no end other than to sell more of your books. There is an overwhelming body of medical research linking violent media to increased aggression in kids and teens.”

The first number has articles like “How Fast Can an Imperial Star Destroyer be Built?”, “The World’s Largest LEGO® Train Layout” and the amazing “The Ships of 2001″. With instructions on how to build the Discovery and Leonov ships. That is – if you have 3296 grey bricks…

The game for Harry Potter 4 is in production, and the trailer for it is out now. Not much too see though.

The leaky Cauldron has more about the game, which is out in November.

Previously: Harry Potter 4 – the first trailer is out

Technorati tag: games / halflife

Technorati tags: games / gaming

The rumours of new improved Macs at WWDC this summer is not weakened by this. These processors are good for other things than gaming too.

Technorati tags: mac / xbox / 360

Also see my post about online training, and leave your comment if you think this is something that could happen.

The national day of Norway, 17th of May, is a celebration of the constitution of 1814. When not online in WoW, people normally parade the streets in their best clothes, cheering and waving flags.

The parade starts at 17:00 Central European Time. Bring your flag.

Categories: games / fun

Technorati tags: games / world of warcraft / fun

What if it was MUCH more advanced?

I love my Xbox. Once in a while I hurdle through the streets of Sydney, Chicago, Stockholm, Edinburgh and Moscow in the game Project Gotham Racing 2, beautifully rendered in 3D, with stereo and superb surround sound. Great fun.

Now, all these cities have marathons too: Sydney, Chicago, Stockholm, Edinburgh and Moscow.

Wouldn’t it be great if I could run the same beautiful tracks from PGR2, as I drive on my Xbox?

Combine treadmills with game consoles

Here is how it could work: I sign up for an Xbox live account. And some kind of Technogym (or other manufacturer of training machines) account. When I’m at the gym (or even at home), I use a digital ID to log on. It could be a small wireless keychain or an USB dongle.

When stepping on to the treadmill, my favourite tracks/cities/landscapes (set up on my Xbox or computer at home in advance) pop up on a LCD screen in front of me. It could be a city like in PGR2, or landscapes, which I think most people would prefer. I could run the French Alpes one day, and the treadmill would raise the angle with the terrain. And play the sounds of the landscape; small rivers, birds singing, wind in my hair. Oh, it’s almost as being there. Almost.

Since all machines are online, I could also run with other people at the same track, in real time. I could put on headset (if I’m not too tired too talk) and talk to other runners in other locations all over the world. I could beat Joi in quick run through Ginza. Or race Jason through Central Park. Easy!

My Polar pulse belt would of course send its data to the machines in the gym, and I would be able to see it all on theTechnogym or S.A.T.S. site from home. And see my progress.

Beat Lance Armstrong (with some cheating)

When bicycling at the gym, I could also choose where to go. And I could participate live with real bicyclists. Like the Tour de France and the Giro d´Italia. If the real cyclists wore GPS units in the race (like the rally cars in WRC does, we could race them from our gyms (and the tv-viewers would get lots better statistics on screen). The real cyclists would of course beat the crap out of me. So I get an x1.5 (or rather x10) to my speed. I can bicycle in realtime when the race is on, or later when the riders are in.

Through a venture with other software makers, Technogym could release a software package where I can create my own tracks. And even upload them on the net. I can map the woods next to my house, and use GPS data to get heights and directions. Good tracks are presented on the website. People could vote for best tracks.

Or the gym could match customer data with GPS positions of tracks to give them tracks where they live. Or even make their own tracks and sell them to customers. “Buy London Marathon track, with the new museums added, only Euro 5.99″. Or “Run Central park at night. Gates included! Only US$ 9.99″.

Or places one never could run in the real life. Like the great chinese wall. Or imaginary places: Run through the castle of Hogwarts in Harry Potter. Or the upper decks of Titanic. Or the fields outside Minas Tirith in of The Lord of the rings, running through hords of orcs and other brutal beings (the nice thing is that the software make them jump away with a scared impression when you approach them!) Or flying, so that your running or bicycling translates to engine power in a small plane or some kind of manpowered flying device.

Since all machines are networked, and my digital ID tracks what I’m doing, the gym gets a very good overview of my progress. It tracks how much I have run, how much I have bicycled, lifted, pulled etc. My personal trainer can pinpoint exactly where I need to change something.

Add your favourite tunes…

Maybe I could subscribe to music streams on the machines too. So when I connect on a machine, I get streams of music according to my taste? Maybe my Last.fm stations I already bring my iPod but new music is always nice.

A bicycle or treadmill with an online Xbox system would certainly make training at home lots more fun. Just a plain version where a nice landscape follows the speed on the treadmill or the bicycle would make things much more inspiring. And the fact that I would know where I “left off” last time; “that small house near the river”, and could start off there next time.

I predict that the next big thing in training with machines is online connections. This is good for statistics, I know my progress and I can’t cheat. And it’s pure entertainment: It’s so much more fun running on Venice beach than in my dark basement with the wind howling outside.

All this would of course be connected to some kind of mail and SMS system. So I get reminders on mail or mobile when it’s time to run/lift/cycle/row again. I could make competitions with my friends. The first one to make a 10% progress in weigths. Or run a marathon. Or cycle Paris-Nice. Or increase oxygen intake or whatever. If you add online weights with the same digital IDs, people could weigh themselves at the gym (if weight loss was the issue) and have the results stored online.

Sony/Microsoft and the game producers could sell advertising along the tracks. When running the London marathon on the treadmill, I pass shops and signs with products of my taste. I just tap the panel in front of me to get the offers mailed to me back home.

Make a standard – the new “MIDI” for exercise maschines

I’m always frustrated with the lack of open standards in the computer world. So to keep up competition, we make a standard for the data that the training machines collect when we train.

I call it EMIL – Exercise Machine Interchange Language.

It sounds like “e mill” (electronic mill) when you say it. And it’s my little homage to Astrid Lindgren’s wonderful character Emil.

It defines what kind of training I’m doing (weight loss, muscles etc.), what kind of the body the exercise is for (lifting weights trains the biceps etc.), how many repetitions or how far (12,4 kms on the bicycle), and with what “weigth” (which gear on the bicycle, how many kilos lifted etc). It’s like MIDI for exercise. This way, different producers of training equipment could hook up to the same standard, and people could move their data with them. Software makers could make software that reads the data from the digital IDs or the websites, so people could use their data at home, analyze them, publish them. Companies that make “sporty” mobile phones like the Nokia 5140 and the Siemens M65 – and Garmin that make a special GPS for training – could use the same standard, so that all your training is stored in one single place. The product would be labeled “EMIL enabled”.

The same could be done everywhere else people train and exercise: Squash halls (the unit stores the number of minutes you played, and heart rate if you used a heart rate monitor/belt), ski slopes (measures how many times you did the slope etc.) and swimming (how many meters etc.).

Use the comments section to improve on the idea!

Update
I’ve posted a little update, looking at Brian Eno and StepUI from Microsoft.

Update 2
Technogym has now a system to keep track of your training progress. Read about it here.