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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <?xml-stylesheet href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~d/styles/rss2full.xsl" type="text/xsl" media="screen"?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~d/styles/itemcontent.css" type="text/css" media="screen"?><rss xmlns:feedburner="http://rssnamespace.org/feedburner/ext/1.0" version="2.0"> <channel> <title>Gizmag: Sports</title> <link>http://gizmag.com/go/117/</link> <description>Gizmo is a multiple-medium magazine with a bi-monthly print edition, free downloadable back issues, a free weekly email newsletter and a web site covering invention, innovation and emerging technologies.</description> <language>en</language> <generator>gizmag.com</generator> <atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="self" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/GizmagSports" type="application/rss+xml" /><feedburner:browserFriendly></feedburner:browserFriendly><item> <title>Segway x2 enables a faster round of golf</title> <link>http://gizmag.com/go/6437/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">http://gizmag.com/go/6437/</guid> <description>November 7, 2006 Once billed as the future of personal mobility, the Segway has certainly had its fair share of trials and not many tribulations, but another of its many benefits surfaced this week in respect to its viability as an alternative to the golf kart. The Segway x2 Golf features a bag carrier, as well as a scorecard holder and special low-pressure tires that enable the x2 Golf to travel gently, causing less damage to the turf than a golf cart. In announcing that the Tiburon Golf Club at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort in Naples, Florida would be the first in the country to offer the Segway x2 Golf to its clients, club officials had some very complimentary things to say after the club had conducted three months of testing. A typical round of golf at the course usually takes at least four hours, but the Segway’s zippiness enables 18 holes in less than three hours. Whatsmore, players who use the Segway products also find that it’s easier to talk because all four players can travel the course side by side, rather than having to split up into two separate golf carts...</description> </item> <item> <title>Sporting gloves and boots with 16X times more grip in the dry and 8X in the wet</title> <link>http://gizmag.com/go/6379/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">http://gizmag.com/go/6379/</guid> <description>October 25, 2006 There’s nothing as important as a competitive edge in the high-stakes game of world class sport and the recent launch of a new manufacturer in the sportswear industry with a seeming significant advantage will be interesting to watch. Simon Skirrow has spent three decades in the global sports industry, including many years at Adidas in charge of global marketing, promotions, product and sales, and his new company, SS Sportswear was established less than three years ago to bring its Nomis grip technologies to market. Independent tests show that Nomis Control Leather Technology gives up to 16 times more grip and control on the ball in the dry and eight times more grip and control when the leather gets wet. Not surprisingly, quite a few professionals have trialed the technology and a few have walked away from lucrative contracts with competitor products to stay with the Nomis technology, most notably Liverpool star Harry Kewell amongst more than 40 professionals that have begun wearing the boots. Nomis is available in both <a href="http://www.nomisfootball.com/" target="_blank">boots</a> and <a href="http://www.nomissports.com/gloves/index.html" target="_blank">gloves</a> in the UK, USA, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Germany and <a href="http://www.shopnomis.com/" target="_blank">the internet</a> and the company <a href="mailto:enquiries@nomissports.com">is seeking further international distributors</a>. Adding weight to the professionals who have adopted the new technology, two of NOMIS' boot designs took first and second place in the 2006 Soccer International Magazine Boot Test, beating big-name brand competitors including Adidas, Nike, Puma, Reebok and Umbro. Both NOMIS boots scored top marks for comfort, stability/manoeuvrability, touch/feel and received a perfect score for the 'value for money' category...</description> </item> <item> <title>Smart technology for racing cyclists</title> <link>http://gizmag.com/go/6304/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">http://gizmag.com/go/6304/</guid> <description>October 11, 2006 The future of sport is not just about training hard, it’s about monitoring the body and making intelligent decisions using the data available and a fine example of the high-tech understanding being developed in sport science is the work being done by Dr Martin Becker of the Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering IESE. Becker has developed a new intelligent training system which uses sensors, computers and actuators to help racing cyclists optimize their performance. Each bicycle is fitted with equipment that constantly registers the forces acting on the pedals. Further significant factors are the rider’s pulse and pedaling frequency, the speed and the gradient. All these readings are collected in a processor on the bicycle and radioed to a central processing unit where they are analyzed. The computer delivers individual training recommendations to each rider: He can view them on a display mounted on the handlebars or listen to them over headphones...</description> </item> <item> <title>The top ten golf gadgets</title> <link>http://gizmag.com/go/6267/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">http://gizmag.com/go/6267/</guid> <description>October 4, 2006 A good walk need not necessarily be spoiled if you employ the vast array of golfing aids that have graced these pages over the years. We have often reflected that more inventive creativity seems to be lavished on the sport of golf than on any other single human endeavour and we suspect it’s something to do with the type of people the game attracts (wealthy and presumably intelligent, or at least with a healthy dose of animal cunning), and in order to prove our seat-of-the-pants hypothesis, check out this array of remarkable golfing technology (<a href="http://www.gizmag.com/go/4541/" target="_blank">1</a>, <a href="http://www.gizmag.com/go/5253/" target="_blank">2</a>, <a href="http://www.gizmag.com/go/3963/" target="_blank">3</a>, <a href="http://www.gizmag.com/go/4027/" target="_blank">4</a>, <a href="http://www.gizmag.com/go/3803/" target="_blank">5</a>, <a href="http://www.gizmag.com/go/2119/" target="_blank">6</a>, <a href="http://www.gizmag.com/go/5549/" target="_blank">7</a>, <a href="http://www.gizmag.com/go/2583/" target="_blank">8</a>, <a href="http://www.gizmag.com/go/5702/" target="_blank">9</a>, <a href="http://www.gizmag.com/go/3491/" target="_blank">10</a>). QED! Now if golfers are so smart and so affluent, it’s time that golf courses got wise. A recent survey of 12,000 avid golfers across the United States showed that 72 percent of all respondents prefer to golf at a course that offers GPS over a golf course that did not offer GPS with only 24 percent indicating no preference and 91 percent had already played on a golf course that utilized a GPS system...</description> </item> <item> <title>The Bodywall ticks all the boxes</title> <link>http://gizmag.com/go/6202/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">http://gizmag.com/go/6202/</guid> <description>The Bodywall is one of the most adaptable inventions we’ve ever seen. Designed as a way to assist athletes to stretch effectively, the high adhesion gloves and shoes and high-tech wall surface offer spiderman-like capabilities. So it’s a gym, a ready made game and new form of physical education and wil be undoubtedly incorporated into the training regime of every elite athlete on the planet. But its chameleon-like character solves different problems in different markets. As in the parable of the seven blind men and the elephant, each person experiences and perceives the Bodywall in a different way. The original concept was to use a combination of the wall and gravity to challenge the entire body – improving proprioception, building muscle, joint, ligament and tendon strength, maintaining flexibility, reducing injury, rehabilitating injuries and facilitating full stretching of almost every muscle in the body for the very young and the very old, and everyone in between. Bodywall can be used either privately or very publicly, and can be manufactured for an audience of one, with the manufacturers offering a personal service, accepting four-colour, high resolution digital imaging. For an individual training for their own life goals, the Bodywall’s massive surface is an ideal place to decorate with personal messages to absorb while stretching – a great place to focus energies, emblazon a life purpose or a “go get ‘em” motivational mantra. It can function as a personal billboard for athletes and on a team scale, it offers a mobile sponsor wall that can be set up quickly at any training venue, in the change rooms or beside the pitch, court or track. In a world obsessed with sport, it’s a new high-association, visual advertising medium for sponsors. Whichever way you look at this invention, it ticks ALL the boxes...</description> </item> <item> <title>NO ban on Hypoxic Training</title> <link>http://gizmag.com/go/6179/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">http://gizmag.com/go/6179/</guid> <description>September 20, 2006 The Executive Committee of the <a href="http://www.wada-ama.org" target="_blank">World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)</a> has decided not to ban Hypoxic Training systems and has not added artificially-induced hypoxic conditions to the 2007 List. The Committees found that the method was performance enhancing, determined that the methodology was contrary to the spirit of sport, raised some concerns but was inconclusive about the method's threat to athlete health. A substance or method may, but is not required to, be added to the Prohibited List if it meets two of these three criteria. There’s been a lot of discussion regarding the preliminaries for this decision and the subsequent misinformation surrounding the committee's determination that Hypoxic Training is contrary to the spirit of sport. Here are a few excellent resources for those whose mind is not yet made up: <a href="https://wic009u.server-secure.com/vs45264_secure/drjohn.html" target="_blank">Interview with Dr John Hellemans</a> of the New Zealand Academy of Sport South, <a href="http://www.altitudeforall.info/hypoxia_resources.html" target="_blank">links to WADA submissions</a> from various authorities, and <a href="http://www.law.duke.edu/features/pdf/hypoxiaresponse.pdf - search=%22wada%20hypoxia%20altitude%20for%20all%22 " target="_blank">an excellent letter from Doriane L. Coleman</a> , Professor of Law at Duke Law School, and an affiliate of Duke Law School's Center for Sports Law and Policy...</description> </item> <item> <title>Swimmer’s Snorkel – one small design change, one world of difference</title> <link>http://gizmag.com/go/6131/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">http://gizmag.com/go/6131/</guid> <description>September 11, 2006 Sometimes it takes just a few millimeters of change to make an entirely new product and the front-mount Swimmer’s Snorkel is a prime example of this. Instead of the snorkel coming around the side of the face as is traditional with a divers snorkel, the Swimmer’s Snorkel exits the mouth and runs straight up over the nose protruding from the water above the head. This enables the swimmer to stay face down in a natural floating position. It can be used with any standard swimming goggle and allows a swimmer of any ability to loosen up in the water and maintain a completely relaxed, face-down floating position, promoting calmness and relaxed, rhythmical breathing. Apart from no longer needing to move your head to breathe, the Swimmer’s Snorkel is quite theatrical, offering a man-made equivalent to the shark’s ominous dorsal fin (albeit in yellow, green or blue), and a spectacular purging process akin to that of a whale spouting. The relaxed, horizontal position allows people to swim at normal or even slower speeds while maintaining a full range of motion. For experienced swimmers, it offers an opportunity to sort out flaws in the technique as it’s possible to eliminate the breathing cycle rotation and work solely on body stability, head position and stroke technique.Watch a Thorpe, Popov or Van Hoegenband and their body stability is like that of a battleship. The manufacturers of the Swimmer’s Snorkel claim dramatic effects from using the snorkel to remedy poor technique - from a floppy, sloppy stroke to cruising stability in one lap in some cases. ..</description> </item> <item> <title>Interfacing real world ball skills with the computer game</title> <link>http://gizmag.com/go/6035/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">http://gizmag.com/go/6035/</guid> <description>August 21, 2006 The Computer Human Interface (CHI) comes in many different guises, and has come a long way since we punched holes in cards with paperclips. Indeed, games appear to be the key laboratory for the CHI as we continually see new ways of getting real world and virtual world to mix in a computer game. In recent times we’ve seen such interesting game interfaces as the <a href="http://www.gizmag.com/go/5612/" target="_blank">Bodypad,</a> <a href="http://www.gizmag.com/go/5387/" target="_blank">Xboard,</a> <a href="http://www.gizmag.com/go/4995/" target="_blank">Entertaible,</a>, the <a href="http://www.gizmag.com/go/5356/" target="_blank">mental typrewriter,</a> and the <a href="http://www.gizmag.com.au/go/4833" target="_blank">Virtusphere</a> and now we’re really impressed with <a href="http://www.icegame.com/GameDetail.aspx?ProductID=145" target="_blank">ICE’s Striker Pro</a> which is a soccer striking game where the player takes a penalty kick at a success goal – just the World Cup was decided. The machine records the speed and angle of the soccer ball after it is kicked and reads the information into the game in real time so a virtual ball is kicked into the game with the same power and trajectory for an incredibly realistic experience, complete with goalie histrionics, umpires call and crowd feedback. The machine retails for US$11,000 and the level of difficulty can be adjusted from two year old all the way to world cup professional. Now the technology used to create the Striker Pro is being adapted to other sports and the developers of the Striker Pro, eballgames is seeking distribution partners wishing to develop games for other football codes, golf, baseball, hockey, tennis or any other sport. “We have been getting it all working just right for the last few years and we now know we can build the interface and the software for any sport, and deliver 100 machines on time, so now we are seeking people to work with around the world,” said <a href="http://www.eballgames.com.au " target="_blank">eballgames</a> founder Tony Course...</description> </item> <item> <title>From the Trikke to the Skki - product extension of the year</title> <link>http://gizmag.com/go/5883/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">http://gizmag.com/go/5883/</guid> <description>July 18, 2006 Our prize for the best product extension of the year goes to the company that designs and manufactures the three-wheeled cambering <a href="http://www.trikke.com" target="_blank">Trikke</a> and has now developed a new snow sport from the design and named it Skki. The Trikke is an ingenious human-powered machine that is both chainless and pedal-less. The rider propels the Trikke by slaloming in a graceful, non-impactful fashion, working the torso and arms as well as the legs to generate speeds akin to that of a mountain bike. The best part of the Trikke is the downhill cornering, where the cambering gives it a carving feel akin to that of a racing motorcycle. <a href="http://www.trikke-europe.com/Skki" target="_blank">The Skki</a> is not a logical product extension until you see it, as it offers an identical steering and riding motion that’s just perfect for the snow. There’s some big advantages too – it’s easier to learn than skiing or snowboarding because there’s a set of handlebars for turning, can be done in any comfortable snowboot and hence doesn’t involve any ski-boot pain, it’s 1000 percent less likely to cause a knee reconstruction, and it lacks for nothing in terms of thrills, spills and fun because you can be carving like a pro inside a few minutes! Most importantly, experienced skiers love it too as it’s an entirely new form of snow thrill. Check out the <a href="http://www.gizmag.com.au/go/5883/gallery/" target="_blank">extensive image library</a>...</description> </item> <item> <title>Wrist-Mounted Oximetry System</title> <link>http://gizmag.com/go/5813/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">http://gizmag.com/go/5813/</guid> <description>June 30, 2006 As biosensor technologies evolve and miniaturise, we’re likely to be able to monitor in real time a myriad of aspects of the human condition and learn more about our physiology than ever before. A perfect example of this is a new wrist-mounted oximetry system designed to monitor the vital signs of people experiencing sleep disorder symptoms, such as sleep apnea which afflicts millions. Characterized by repeated breathing interruptions in which the brain arouses the person to resume breathing, people with sleep disorder symptoms are typically referred to sleep clinics where their sleep is monitored overnight. The PulseOx 7500 enables home screening of sleep-related symptoms such as oxygen saturation and heart rate. The wrist-mounted monitor collects data while the wearer sleeps and the data can be downloaded for analysis via the sleep apnea reporting software supplied with each unit...</description> </item> <item> <title>Quinspin unravelling the mysteries of soccer striking skills</title> <link>http://gizmag.com/go/5786/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">http://gizmag.com/go/5786/</guid> <description>June 24, 2006 The collection of key data with which sportspersons can improve their skills is still in its very infancy. Heart rates, recovery times and sprint times are measurements of fitness but are only one layer of the data and don’t reflect the magical skills which define champions. The time is fast approaching when we will be able to measure exactly how much David Beckham can bend the flight of a soccer ball, how much Roger Federer can make a tennis ball drop with spin or how Shane Warne varies the flight and turn of a cricket ball. Champions have the ability to flight a ball, to make it spin, curve and dip at will, and these things are hard to see, much harder to measure and infinitely harder to teach . The advent of Hawkeye is beginning to shed light on the mysteries of tennis and cricket upon which the former player experts were once the only available diviners of wisdom, but until Quinspoin, there has been no equivalent for the World Game – soccer! After years researching the dynamic testing of footballs including first-hand experience working with adidas to test +Teamgeist the official 2006 FIFA World Cup match ball, Loughborough University expert Paul Neilson is part of the team of inventors at Sports Dynamics that has developed the world’s first coaching tool to objectively measure the killer skill of the perfect strike. ..</description> </item> <item> <title>GPS golfing device tells you how far it is to the green</title> <link>http://gizmag.com/go/5702/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">http://gizmag.com/go/5702/</guid> <description>June 5, 2006 It’s only a game, but we’ve mentioned before the amount of attention that golf gets from inventors and entrepreneurs. In the last few years we've written about <a href="http://www.gizmag.com.au/go/3803/" target="_blank">a Golf robot designed to help everyone feel the perfect swing</a>, <a href="http://www.gizmag.com.au/go/3963/" target="_blank">an ingenious wireless motion capture system designed to provide detailed remedial assistance for your swing</a>, <a href="http://www.gizmag.com.au/go/4541/" target="_blank">a new technology from Yale which enables you to hear your golf swing</a> and numerous golf simulators (<a href="http://www.gizmag.com.au/go/5387/" target="_blank">here</a>, <a href="http://www.gizmag.com.au/go/4027/" target="_blank">here</a>, <a href="http://www.gizmag.com.au/go/2100/" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://www.gizmag.com.au/go/3491/" target="_blank">here</a>) so you can practice all day long. We've reported on <a href="http://www.gizmag.com.au/go/5549/" target="_blank">an electronic golf ball finder</a>, a <a href="http://www.gizmag.com.au/go/2540/" target="_blank">golf ball finding system</a> and <a href="http://www.gizmag.com.au/go/4450/" target="_blank">a pair of golf ball finding glasses</a>. Just recently we've even covered a <a href="http://www.gizmag.com.au/go/5253/" target="_blank">solar-powered Golf Bag</a> and <a href="http://www.gizmag.com.au/go/1311/" target="_blank">Bushnell's Yardage Pro Range Finder</a>. Now there’s a new US$400 handheld golf course measuring device that's designed to answer the age-old question: “How far is it to the green?” It shows distance from the tee (or wherever else you are on the course) to the front, center and back of the green, together with up to fifteen hazards. Courses are available for downloading from the web or players can map courses themselves using the device. ..</description> </item> <item> <title>Nike+iPod </title> <link>http://gizmag.com/go/5665/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">http://gizmag.com/go/5665/</guid> <description>May 24, 2006 Nike and Apple have announced a partnership designed to bring the worlds of sport and music together with the launch of innovative Nike+iPod products. The first product developed through this partnership is the Nike+iPod Sport Kit, a wireless system that allows Nike+ footwear to record time, distance, calories burned and pace with info displayed on the iPod nano screen and real-time audio feedback through headphones. The new Nike+ Air Zoom Moire is the first footwear designed to talk to the iPod and Nike plans to make its other footwear styles Nike+ ready too. It’s simple and in our opinion gives you scant info you can’t get better another way – it’s just an in-shoe sensor and a receiver that attaches to the iPod. While we think the first product is a bit lame, it’ll be interesting to see what happens when Apple, the most consistently innovative company of the last 25 years, and Nike combine technologies with the reach of both companies. With two such innovative parents, we suspect some interesting children will be spawned. Our educated guesses at what they would logically be evaluating as potential products might include new capabilities such as a heart rate monitor to make the 24 hour a day calorie counter more accurate and to enable other useful data to be monitored, GPS functionality for additional info on position and speed and so we can be notified when we’re passing points of interest and hear a podcast about them should we choose, a blood oxygenation and lactose monitor for people who run really long distances, … oh, and maybe a cool Nike cap with a little heads up display incorporated so we can watch video podcasts without headbutting a lamppost. ..</description> </item> <item> <title>Electronic golfball finder</title> <link>http://gizmag.com/go/5549/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">http://gizmag.com/go/5549/</guid> <description>April 23, 2006 We’ve written about a few golfball finding mechanisms in our time, but none are as expensive or as accurate as the BallFinder SCOUT. The device exhibits an astonishing capability in digital imaging and tracking technology, using a video-based camera which can search up to 600 square feet in one second or almost 1/7 of an acre in 10 seconds. Each two megapixel image (two million pixels) is analysed pixel by pixel in nanoseconds and once a ball is found the device vibrates and reveals the ball’s location on the screen. The SCOUT finds balls hidden deep in rough if just three dimples are showing. As little as 1% of a standard white ball needs to be visible before BallFinder SCOUT will find it and guide a golfer to its resting place...</description> </item> <item> <title>The MP3 sports shoe to grow into full body network</title> <link>http://gizmag.com/go/5491/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">http://gizmag.com/go/5491/</guid> <description>April 10, 2006 “Like many great ideas, this one grew out of my frustration with existing products on the market,” says LL International’s President and CEO Lavetta Willis. “I love to work out to music but also wanted to be hands free and wireless. When hiking or running, I want to reach for a water or cell phone without the complications of an mp3 player strapped to my body, never mind the wires always getting in the way.” The initial application under the Code M System product umbrella is a shoe that delivers music to a wireless headset. The delivery system consists of two key components seamlessly built into Dada shoes, offering easy access to your music with no wires and no digital music device to carry on your person. Willis adds, “Hands free working out! Hands free living!” ..</description> </item> <item> <title>World’s first fully customised football boot</title> <link>http://gizmag.com/go/5490/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">http://gizmag.com/go/5490/</guid> <description>April 11, 2006 Rapid manufacturing and rapid prototyping machinery is not new, and has been written about many times across these pages – in essence, these machines print 3D objects in the same way an inkjet printer works. Each time we run such a story, it is extraordinarily well read as a high proportion of our readers explore the latest developments in the process. Now it seems, the rapid manufacturing concept will yield a new era in manufacturing products for individuals based on three dimensional scans of their body – garments, helmets, or boots that fit just one person perfectly. British company P2L has announced a football boot designed uniquely for the individual player using selective laser sintering. The Assassin is the name of the new soccer boot featuring laser sintered outsoles and hand-crafted one-piece leather uppers. Each boot is sculpted to the individual's foot. The upper is made of exclusively sourced calfskin from Italy which can be manipulated using sophisticated technology to adapt colour, appearance and function to the athlete's needs. ..</description> </item> <item> <title>PowerBreathe- dumbells for your lungs</title> <link>http://gizmag.com/go/5443/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">http://gizmag.com/go/5443/</guid> <description>April 2, 2006 As science has focussed on human fitness and wellbeing over the last few decades, our understanding of the benefits of exercise has grown immensely. “Use it or lose it” applies to every aspect of human performance, and it’s now been proven that regular mental exercise improves your ability to think. So perhaps we should consider specialised training for the lungs? The lungs are without doubt one of the keys to all human performance as they supply the body with oxygen. Every 24 hours the average human takes over 20,000 breaths, with physically active people pushing towards 30,000 breaths. Most people assume breathing is controlled automatically, like our heartbeat, but the truth is that we can learn to breathe better. That’s the thinking behind the POWERbreathe training system – by exercising and strengthening the muscles we use to breathe (the inspiratory muscles) we can help alleviate breathlessness, improve all-round fitness and even maximise the effectiveness of other muscles used in exercise...</description> </item> <item> <title>A new breed of computer human interface for sports video game fans</title> <link>http://gizmag.com/go/5387/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">http://gizmag.com/go/5387/</guid> <description>March 22, 2006 From the time the first steering wheel controller was hooked to a computer, the future of video game controllers grew exponentially larger. Whatever the game being played, there was bound to be something that could be manufactured that would enhance the realism of the experience. Qmotions is a company devoted to creating new kinds of interactive experiences that combine real-world physicality with the immersive virtual environments found in computer and console video games and at last month’s American International Toy Fair 2006 it rolled out several new such interfaces, most notably its Xboard (for surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding and windsurfing video games), and Qmotions-Fun Fitness, a new device that converts recumbent bikes into video game machines, offering a compelling way to get fit and play games at the same time. There’s also a golf and a baseball controller, offering a diverse range of indoor fun for otherwise outdoor activities...</description> </item> <item> <title>Soccer World Cup promises forefront of live sport services</title> <link>http://gizmag.com/go/5309/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">http://gizmag.com/go/5309/</guid> <description>March 5, 2006 The FIFA World Cup has inspired more than a few brave plans for the employment of technology over the past few years, many of which never materialised. One that will be on show when the world descends on Germany in June and July is Servingo, a personalized portal designed to help the three million expected visitors to find their way around the twelve World Cup venues from Berlin to Munich. Every conceivable aspect of information related to the tournament is aggregated through the portal which was built at a cost of eight million euros with a view to helping World Cup visitors feel that they are "visiting friends". The portal is amazing, with a range of innovative features such as personally-tailored information systems and personal diary pages, but the highlight is the 3D reconstruction of scenes from the soccer match that enables the viewer to view a replay of key scenes from any point in the stadium – from the referee's perspective or the eyes of the goalkeeper. To make this possible, the team constructed 3D models of stadiums and compiled catalogs of players. An ingenious software program manages to generate the scenes from TV images. Sophisticated algorithms compare the 'visual template' of the virtual 3D players with the TV image and keep adjusting the virtual player's posture until it matches the video image. In this way, picture by picture, a scene from the match can be reproduced from any angle...</description> </item> <item> <title>Ultraportable ultrasound in use at Torino Winter Olympics </title> <link>http://gizmag.com/go/5283/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">http://gizmag.com/go/5283/</guid> <description>February 27, 2006 At each Olympic games, each country seeks to optimize its available athletic talent pool with the latest training, medical and technological expertise because the difference between a medal and nothing can be miniscule. A perfect example of this is the British Olympic team’s use of the GE Healthcare LOGIQ Book XP, the world's smallest, full-function multi-purpose portable ultrasound unit at the Torino Olympic Winter Games. The portable 5 kilo diagnostic scanner "in a backpack" allows instant diagnosis and more accurate examination, diagnosis and treatment of athlete injuries slope-side, rink-side or in the locker-room. ..</description> </item> <item> <title>Scientifically-designed bedrooms offer athletes a competitive advantage in Torino</title> <link>http://gizmag.com/go/5277/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">http://gizmag.com/go/5277/</guid> <description>February 27, 2006 On the basis that sleep is so important and so basic that it could make the difference between winning the gold or the silver at the Olympic Games, a unique partnership has evolved for the Olympic Winter Games now taking place in Torino. With a view to giving U.S. Olympians a competitive advantage, Hilton Hotels combined with Alertness Solutions to optimize their sleep environment by incorporating a number of critical elements including enhanced bed size and bedding, a usable work area and an effective wake-up mechanism. Working with Dr. Mark Rosekind, a former NASA scientist and president of Alertness Solutions, Hilton modified 160 resident athlete dorm rooms last October at the Colorado Springs U.S. Olympic Training Center to help increase the athletes' alertness and reaction time for peak performance...</description> </item> <item> <title>The solar-powered Golf Bag</title> <link>http://gizmag.com/go/5253/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">http://gizmag.com/go/5253/</guid> <description>February 24, 2006 If you’re a very wired dude and a golfer, the Soldius solar powered golf bag is an absolute must-have item. Innovative Dutch company Soldius makes a range of innovative solar chargers that include a pocket device and a number of carry bags with built-in solar panels to enable charging of personal electronic appliances on-the-go. The Soldius golf bag was a logical extension for the range, having been trialed as a concept last year and drawing enormous global interest. There will be four solar-powered bags available ranging in price from US$200 to the full-leather US$800 top-of-the-range bag...</description> </item> <item> <title>New suit for athletes offers improved energy output and muscle management</title> <link>http://gizmag.com/go/5234/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">http://gizmag.com/go/5234/</guid> <description>February 20, 2006 Adidas has debuted an athletic second skin at the Turin winter Olympics which it claims offers a significant improvement in energy output of the wearer. In controlled laboratory tests conducted together with the University of Calgary, the new Clima TechFit cross-country suit offers an average 5.3% improvement in energy output and 1.1% faster sprint time when measured over 30 metres. Most importantly, the tests measured a 1.3% reduction in oxygen consumption when wearing the new suit. The suit works by using compression strips that link the legs and the upper body with the power centre of the body. The suit employs a number of technologies to work its magic, one of which involves the compression strips supporting leg muscles and reducing muscle vibration and oscillation, thus reducing energy loss and muscle fatigue for better “muscle management.” The power bands embodied in the suit along key muscle groups contract and expand together with the muscles and thereby store energy when stretching and return energy when contracting back. Through the linking and interaction of all muscles, the suit enables greater efficiency to be achieved. ..</description> </item> <item> <title>Redesigning the cricket helmet</title> <link>http://gizmag.com/go/5232/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">http://gizmag.com/go/5232/</guid> <description>February 28, 2006 Cricket is one of the oldest and most original of all modern sports, originating somewhere between 700 and 900 years ago in England, with international competition beginning a century ago and almost no major rule changes since. As incredible as it may seem to the uninitiated in this most beguiling of contests, each international match lasts 30 hours over five days and often ends without a result, with each international series comprising five such matches (150 hours) also frequently ending without a clear winner. Played with a small, very hard ball which is bowled (thrown with a straight arm), at up to 160 km/h, it is illustrative of the staid mindset afflicting the governing body of the sport that helmets for the human being in the firing line were not introduced until 30 years ago despite a history of horrendous injury. Like nearly everything else in a sport afflicted by stubborn traditionalism, the design of the cricket helmet has trailed well behind the technologies available and with mid-2004 university tests showing that helmets can delay a batsman’s reactions by up to a quarter of a second, you’d think that we might have seen a rethink of cricket helmet design since then, but we haven’t noticed one. Inspired by those tests, designer Ravinder Sembi has reengineered the cricket helmet with a view to overcoming this fundamental problem...</description> </item> <item> <title>Polar F55 heart rate monitor combines cardio and strength training </title> <link>http://gizmag.com/go/5111/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">http://gizmag.com/go/5111/</guid> <description>January 29, 2006 Finish heart-rate monitoring specialist Polar invented the first wireless heart rate monitor (HRM) in 1977 and has been a step ahead of the rest in helping people understand the importance of monitoring your body’s most important organ ever since. It is now going one step further in helping consumers better understand their bodies and achieve their fitness goals with a new total body workout model, the Polar F55 heart rate monitor. Incorporating both strength training and cardio exercise, the Polar F55 is ideal for exercisers looking for a complete full-body workout. ..</description> </item> </channel> </rss>