Zyked - Blog

Newsletter March 2009

2009-03-23T10:59:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Zyked is progressing; the new website is 75% done, and the new iPhone Running application (see screenshot attached) is getting close to Alpha stage.

We have also taken the first steps towards the new Workout (gym/weight training) application. A master's thesis group from the KTH university are creating a requirements specification for the application. As a part of this, they are collecting data using a short survey:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=sv&formkey=cFpQOVZCdjdlazBRSGRGa1UtSmVzVHc6MA

EDIT: this survey is in Swedish only. We are working on an English survey as well.

If you can, please fill out this survey. It only takes 5-10 minutes to complete.

Best regards,

Tom.

Wii Fit sells 777'000 units in the US in one month!

2009-02-13T00:37:00.000-08:00

Increased interest in exergaming?

The Nintendo Wii Fit sold almost 800'000 units in the US in January:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6204631.html

Newsletter January 2009

2009-01-05T04:04:00.000-08:00

Hello!

I apologize for the silence and lack of visible activity on Zyked.com for the last couple of months. We've had some problems with our technical platform which slowed us down, but now things are moving full speed ahead. We hope to deploy the new site in a month or two.

Anyway, we have some cool announcements to make:

iPhone! The Running application for Apple iPhone is currently in development, scheduled for a late Q1/early Q2 release. See attached an early design sketch.
Site redesign! We will be adding some stuff, removing some stuff. If you have any suggestions, please let us know in the Zyked Forum.
Workout! The new Workout module (weight training) is in design mode, estimated to be launched for the summer.

In the meantime, please become a Zyked "fan" on the Zyked Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Zyked/8770818556

Best regards,

Tom.

New Exercising Projects

2008-11-28T04:43:00.000-08:00

Here are three interesting exercising products/projects:

ITAMI FiTrainer headset
Headset with built-in heart monitor and a cheerful coach.

http://www.itami.com
via Engadget

Sanyo Self-Powered Pedometer
Clever thing - a pedometer than generates its own energy!
via Engadget

Tokyo Jogging
Combining Wii Fit and Google Maps Street View into one great experience.

http://www.tokyo-jogging.com

New Exercising Gear - The Yamaha BodiBeat

2008-10-23T01:01:00.000-07:00

Yamaha has released a device with some features that I had in mind for Zyked. It's called the BodiBeat, and is a music player combined with a heart-rate monitor, that adapts the tempo of the music after your workout. The concept is a bit similar to Microsoft's research project MPTrain.

Via Yanko Design.

More news: I created a Zyked channel on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ZykedCom

Zyked on Rails

2008-10-05T01:42:00.000-07:00

Started today working on converting the server backend of Zyked to Ruby on Rails. This will allow us to add more features quickly to Zyked.

Blog post from Educational Games Research

2008-08-22T00:55:00.000-07:00

Educational Games Research just wrote a short piece on Zyked.

Tom.

Video: How to use Zyked Mobile Runner

2008-07-02T13:25:00.001-07:00

Check out this video on how to use the mobile companion for Zyked Runner:

Welcome to the Zyked blog!

2008-07-01T06:08:00.000-07:00

My friend Jason Jacobs (who has his own exercising project: Runkeeper - check it out when it hits the iPhone store in a month or so) tipped me about starting a blog about Zyked, so I did! This is the first post, but I will transfer the old Zyked News to this blog at some point.

I'm now in the process of removing bugs, both from the website and the mobile companion. I have started hosting the project at Unfuddle, which is a great site.

The new version of the mobile companion (v0.3.8) now features the "side-by-side" opponent view while running (see picture).

Tom.