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Hacking a $200 Under Desk Exercise Bike

codaris.github.io

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Re: Hacking a $200 Under Desk Exercise Bike

#61

Post by iso1631 »

gumby wrote: post #38
Grustaf wrote: post #13

> "my desk is actually the perfect height for peddling" Why is it so hard even for native speakers to spell the verb "pedal"? I mean it's spelled exactly like the noun, which most people seem to be able to spell properly. It's a genuine question, I see this all the time, maybe most of the time actually. It's strange because typically people tend to over-generalise, not the other way around.

"Peddle" is a legitimate homophone for "pedal". Some people hear the words while they read/write so make this class of mistake. Such errors always confuse me momentarily as I don't hear the words, but it doesn't make me think there's something wrong with the author. They can also come from autocorrect guessing, though probably not this case. (FWIW Reading poetry doesn't work for me and I have long assumed it is only…

> FWIW Reading poetry doesn't work for me

How about Oxford poetry? Or Maidenhead?

Re: Hacking a $200 Under Desk Exercise Bike

#63

Post by novok »

randcraw wrote: post #44
dundarious wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For longevity, AFAIK you don't need that degree of cardiofitness, and walking is sufficient. It's possible to reduce longevity through running too fast, for example. Cultures that have noted longevity are not known for having an exercise culture either, rather they are moderately active throughout/several times a day. Unfortunately I can't find my sources right now, so take that as just something some guy said on the…

Two guys. I've seen a lot of confirmation from medical researchers that moderate rate walking (easy to converse meanwhile) does provide some aerobic benefit as well as improve strength and balance. Faster walking (difficult to converse) delivers more aerobic benefit still, to the extent that for folks over 55, it's suggested that fast walking is sufficient to get aerobic benefits. And if that's not enough, you can al…

Walking up hills is the gentle-to-the-body challenge increaser, and makes sense since even tribesmen of 50k years ago needed to walk up hills and mountains regularly.

Re: Hacking a $200 Under Desk Exercise Bike

#64

Post by pacman83 »

novok wrote: post #60

I've tried desk treadmills with a standing desk, bike desks which are designed for a laptop and under desk pedalers like this. I end up ditching them all in the end because the movement is distracting enough to not let me get into the zone. Whenever I need to focus on something I instinctually stop moving to 'free up' brain power to execute whatever I'm doing better, be it a computer game, writing or coding. Also you…

My experience was the same. I ended up standing on a balance board at my stand-up desk. This strengthened my core and helped me to be more alert without actively distracting me.

And yes, this should be a supplement and not a substitute for outdoor activity, normal cardio and strength training, stretching, etc.

Re: Hacking a $200 Under Desk Exercise Bike

#65

Post by nradov »

smithza wrote: post #10

Lastly, I very much did not want all my workout data locked away in this app. This is a great example to demonstrate the simplicity of modern "smart" products. I think of the Tim Berners-Lee next generation web product that never got off the runway: just of common and understandable interfaces for gleaning data from interconnected devices. The workout domain is a great candidate for standardizing data-types to pull h…

The workout domain has already standardized on the FIT file format. Pretty much all fitness trackers and bike computers use it for recording activities. It isn't fully open but anyone can license the SDK.

https://www.thisisant.com/developer

There is free open source software like GoldenCheetah which can read those comes so you don't have to depend on proprietary online services.

https://www.goldencheetah.org/

Re: Hacking a $200 Under Desk Exercise Bike

#66

Post by Shmebulock »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #51
marshmallow_12 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the obvious problem is that exactly no one in the industry has ever devoted more that 3 brain cells and 5 seconds working out a universal standard to present their data. Stuff competitors! And why shouldn't they? They have minus zero interest in making life easier for their broader (and probably narrower also) consumer base.

Nothing will change until interoperability and full end-user access to data become legally mandated. As it is, everyone has every incentive to prevent users from accessing the data, because the whole business model of IoT is about holding data hostage to extract ransom from the customer.

If users care about that, they'll go to a vendor that gives them access to the data. No need to legally mandate anything.

Re: Hacking a $200 Under Desk Exercise Bike

#67

Post by piva00 »

Shmebulock wrote: post #66
TeMPOraL wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing will change until interoperability and full end-user access to data become legally mandated. As it is, everyone has every incentive to prevent users from accessing the data, because the whole business model of IoT is about holding data hostage to extract ransom from the customer.

If users care about that, they'll go to a vendor that gives them access to the data. No need to legally mandate anything.

Sometimes users are dumb, sometimes users are manipulated. Data privacy is a discussion that's been slowly growing and now has been picked up by the general public in some places.

There are some public policies that need incentives to go against the market, because market forces are not inherently good.

Sometimes there is a need to legally mandate something, or are you also against environmental protection laws? By this logic, f people really care about the environment, would it solve itself then?

Re: Hacking a $200 Under Desk Exercise Bike

#68

Post by gumby »

iso1631 wrote: post #61
gumby wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Peddle" is a legitimate homophone for "pedal". Some people hear the words while they read/write so make this class of mistake. Such errors always confuse me momentarily as I don't hear the words, but it doesn't make me think there's something wrong with the author. They can also come from autocorrect guessing, though probably not this case. (FWIW Reading poetry doesn't work for me and I have long assumed it is only…

> FWIW Reading poetry doesn't work for me How about Oxford poetry? Or Maidenhead?

I just don't hear sound when I read (in any language) so tools the poet uses such as meter, assonance etc are lost on me. Of course I can carefully read for sound but then I'm so busy doing that that I lose the thread of meaning.

I can listen to poetry and musical lyrics, and there cadence and phonemic clues help with memory and recognition and can even be playful or fun (as intended!). I've never grokked how one could read that way though clearly many, and perhaps most, people do!

Re: Hacking a $200 Under Desk Exercise Bike

#69

Post by judge2020 »

RHSeeger wrote: post #49
armagon wrote: post #45

I wish I could use a (Mac) desktop application to talk to my Fitbit. It looks like there was one years ago. (First and foremost, I'm at my computer all day long. If it has trouble syncing, I'm right there and not going anywhere. I hate having to find my phone and try to get the data synced just to see how well fitbit thinks I slept last night. Also, would be nice to access my data from my device without involving the…

My wife bought me a new fitbit for Christmas (mine is getting old, frequently just loses it's charge, etc). It would not allow me to initialize it without syncing to my phone, which had to be running their app. I wound up returning it because I don't _want_ to run their app on my phone. I even looked into if it might be possible to work around the issue. Turns out, the fitbit, which is advertised as having a GPS, act…

Unfortunately that's the price you pay to use most devices - they need accompanying proprietary software. There doesn't seem to be a big enough market for open-standard or open-protocol health/fitness tracking.

Re: Hacking a $200 Under Desk Exercise Bike

#70

Post by StavrosK »

novok wrote: post #60

I've tried desk treadmills with a standing desk, bike desks which are designed for a laptop and under desk pedalers like this. I end up ditching them all in the end because the movement is distracting enough to not let me get into the zone. Whenever I need to focus on something I instinctually stop moving to 'free up' brain power to execute whatever I'm doing better, be it a computer game, writing or coding. Also you…

A 30 meter walk doesn't even get me to the door!
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