Why bizarrely cool? Forget that it’s an app-enhanced fitness gadget that sands data to your iPhone; sure, that’s neat, but there are a stack of devices out there doing the same thing.
No, Scosche’s little myTREK fitness gadget is that nifty because it tracks bio data using a method straight out of the future — it uses light beams.
Also different is the way the unit communicates with the iPhone. Most current setups need an ANT+ dongle attached to the phone, which transmits data over 2.4 GHz radio frequency; but the myTREK communicates with the iPhone via Bluetooth — no dongle to worry about losing. The accompanying app looks pretty cool too; no sign of a Mac-side desktop companion to the app though.
MyTREK is $130 and available now from Apple stores, 24-Fitness gyms and directly from Scosche.
When he was eight, Eli Milchman came home from frolicking in the Veld one day and was given an Atari 400. Since then, his fascination with technology has made him an intrepid early adopter of whatever charming new contraption crosses his path. He calls San Francisco home, where he works as a journalist and photographer. Eli has contributed to the pages of Wired.com and BIKE Magazine, among others. Hang with him on Twitter.
25 responses to “This is Scosche’s New, Bizarrely Cool iPhone Fitness Appcessory”
If you can add the Lark sleep monitor system to it, and a GPS and have all the data available from one App and then give us Mac/PC access for greater data review and manipulation, you’ll have a winner.
Sends data, not sands.
Seems the one-app-to-rule-them-all solution is the way to go, right?
tinyurl.com/2df4ccp
Thanks for calling this out. Nice to know I’m not the only reader who is exasperated by the inability of some Cult of Mac writers to spell correctly or at least proof their work. Wonder it they know that many word processing programs now include both spell check and grammar check. Quite useful, esp. for those who neglect to proof their own work.
And check out the coinage of a new word in the URL and banner heading: appcessory. [sic] Since app is short for application, is it really necessary to elide it into accessory?
To my mind, totally un-app-ceptable!
“Wonder it they know that many word processing programs now include both spell check and grammar check. Quite useful, esp. for those who neglect to proof their own work.”
Priceless!
“Wonder it they know”
The only thing more annoying than a grammar nazi is a hypocrite.
am I the only one not buying this just because it’s Scosche?
Using LEDs & photo sensors to calculate heart rate is hardly a method “straight out of the future.” It’s been around for a good 20 yrs or so.
Too bad if you have Bluetooth headphones you go running in.
http://tinyurl.com/3lr7xp2
http://tinyurl.com/3lr7xp2
Thanks for your comments.
I often edit pieces directly in our content management system, which doesn’t include grammar check; it does, however, include spell check — but since “sands” is actually a word, spell check wouldn’t have found the error.
“Appcessory” is a portmanteau of “application” (or app) and “accessory,” and refers to a gadget that interfaces with a dedicated iDevice app.
thanks for sharing it.