DanCooper
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Fitter, Happier: an eight-week exercise in using technology to help lose weight
For 27 years he ate what he wanted and avoided exercise like the plague. Can an arsenal of fitness gadgets make this human healthier in just eight weeks? From the snake oil salesman to the Thighmaster(TM), science and technology have promised the end of obesity, ill health and lethargy for centuries. Today, weight loss gadgetry is all around us, with affordable commercial systems available from Nintendo, Nike, Adidas and countless other manufacturers, all promising their technology will turn us into paragons of healthy virtue. How is it then, that for all of this, we live in an age where a quarter of the American population is obese? Do any of these seemingly endless health aids actually work? Will a $200 wristband or a $100 pedometer cause you to banish microwave dinners and saturated fats, take up regular exercise at the gym at least three days a week and sleep well with no bad dreams? Or has the health industry made technology another ineffective distraction that only provides you with a vague sense that you're doing something positive? Is the real answer what it's always been: go for a walk in the trees and eat your greens?
IRL: Logic3 PowerSleeve, HP Folio 13 and a trio of Nintendo handhelds
Welcome to IRL, an ongoing feature where we talk about the gadgets, apps and toys we're using in real life and take a second look at products that already got the formal review treatment. This week's IRL is a bit of a mixed bag, with tales of gadgets well-used and those deployed for pure pseudo-science. In two paragraphs, Mat Smith sums up his experience with three generations of Nintendo DS handhelds, while Dan Cooper attempts to explain why he's still using a gadget he obviously hates. And Dana, our resident laptop reviewer, tries leaving the 'ole six-pounder in the office and going home to an Ultrabook instead.
