Running

…but Nike & Apple wouldn’t tell me.

I’ve learned a lot about this great little $30 gadget in the month or so since my first run with it and I thought this would be as good a place as any to compile a full online wiki of sorts for the Nike+iPod Sports Kit. There is a lot that Apple and Nike won’t publicize about this little gadget - this is the place. For a primer on the background and capabilities of this great tool, including photos and descriptions of how it works, see my previous post Nike + iPod Sports Kit from January 7th. In a nutshell: The kit uses to components: one is a shoe-based accelerometer that you attach to your shoe (Nike-branded shoes have a special cavity, but Nike shoes are not necessary - read more below) and the second component is a reciever that attaches to your ipod nano. The nano then records the vitals of your run: distance, time, and speed.One blogger has named the Nike+iPod Sports Kit as the Multiplayer Game of the Year (2006) and for good reason:

I’ve found myself totally enraptured by a new kind of online gaming experience, one that’s got excitement, thrilling rivalries, stats and achievements, mind-blowing graphics, and seriously perfect music. And sweat. Ridiculous amounts of sweat. My online game of the year? Jogging on the streets of Portland with the Nike+ iPod kit.

To get started: Purchase the kit from the Apple Store or your favorite electronics retailer. It’s also available online through the Apple Store, Amazon, and a host of others for just $29.

Don’t like Nike shoes? No Problem.

I’m not a fan of Nike shoes (much more of a Brooks guy, myself) so when I first heard about the Nike + iPod Sports Kit late last summer, I dismissed it as an option…I thought the chip was embedded in the Nike shoes and thus could not be used with any others. But then I read an online article about how you can attach the sensor to just about any type of shoe you would like.

Bloggers have posted numerous articles about how to “hack” your own shoes and install the sensor - such as the arguably most popular method exhaulted by podophile. I chose this easiest and cheapest route: packing the sensor into a tiny ziploc bag (the kind that extra buttons come in when you buy a sweater), wrapping the bag in a couple of layers of clear packing tape (to ensure the sensor wouldn’t get wet) and tucking this little puck into my shoe between the tongue and laces. It has been in that location for about 80 miles so far and has not been a problem. Podophile has compiled a roundup of hacks and accesories available for the sensor from small velcro packs, rubber sleeves, and even the instructions to knit your own little sensor pouch (shown to the right)! More here and here.

Brag About It

The internet rocks. Bloggers are coming up with new ways to brag about your running exploits every day and the Nike+iPod Sports Kit has taken this to a new level. Small “badges” that can be placed on your own website (such as the one to the right) are popping up all over the place. A nice graphical interface widget is available from web developer Rush Frisby. Another, more simple widget is offered for wordpress blogs by Crusty Bugger. The significant downside to each fo those widgets is that you must host a blog on your own server space. Since many of us (msyelf included) are authoring blogs on free space offered by wordpress.com, we must rely on simpler image scripts that are available. More detail on installing Crusty Bugger’s widget for wordpress blogs is described here. The one that is placed permanently on my left sidebar (and shown here in this post) is from justdoing.it and offers a wonderfully simple installation even to a limited, free blog such as this one. If you’re participating in challenges and would like to view progress easily without logging in to the Nike+ page, get the Nike+ widget from the official website. I’ve never been a fan of desktop widgets and this one crawls when it comes to loading so after checking it out, I deleted it.

Privacy Concerns?

Some grad students with too much time on their hands have published their concerns about the kit’s computer chip (read more about RFID technology). In all actuality, their work is pretty impressive, as explained in an online article:

This holiday season, gift-givers may unwittingly give their favorite athlete a workout accessory that can double as a tracking device. Researchers in computer science and engineering at the University of Washington say there are serious privacy breaches posed by the gadget, which is marketed to runners but may be equally attractive to stalkers and thieves.

“It is easy for someone to use the Nike+iPod as a tracking device,” says Scott Saponas, a doctoral student in computer science and lead author of a technical report and video posted online on Nov. 30. “It’s an example of how new gadgetry can erode our personal privacy.”

For a quick summary of their work, check out the video on the right-hand side of that page or the livescience news article. The software they’ve put together is actually fairly impressive. For all of the details, check out the full published paper. While the work is impressive, I see no real concern over privacy issues. If someone out there is that eager to track me, there are much easier ways to do it. Additionally, I never wear my running shoes (that contain the Nike shoe sensor) except when I’m running.

What’s Next?

The Nike+iPod Sport Kit is likely only in its infancy, given its quick spread through the running community. Whether or not Nike will toss out the accelerometer in favor of more accurate GPS support is unknown, although unlikely since other products (such as the Garmin Forerunner 305 and others) already exist for that market. But Nike still has some avenues to explore. A new product - the Speed+ watch is rumored to be coming soon and give all of the capabilities to the system, but make the ipod uneccessary. For those of us who often run without music but still desire the ability to digitally log our runs, this would be just the ticket.

Also recently leaked is word of another watch that will compliment the Nike+iPod kit in that it will not replace the nano, but offer nano controlling capabilities from the wrist. This will allow the runner to minpulate all aspects of the controls right from their wrist, without having to fumble with the nano itself.

Questions?

My desire is to make this a one-stop-shop for questions about this product…so if you have any questions, post them in the comments below and I’ll do my best to keep this post updated. Subscribe to the feed or check back frequently for updates.

I recently purchased a great new toy: The Nike+iPod Sports Kit. For the runner who already has an ipod nano, this $30 gadget is heaven.

The sport kit contains two essential components: One part is a small accelerometer with an RFID chip that is about the size of three or four quarters stacked on top of each other. This part goes in your shoe. Nike is selling shoes with a specially-made “cavity” inside the shoe beneath the insole to hold this sensor, but you don’t need Nike shoes for this. You can just strap the little sensor into your shoe just about anywhere. I put mine in a small ziploc bag (the kind extra buttons come in when you buy a shirt…) and wrapped that in packing tape and sandwhiched it between the laces and the tongue of my Brooks shoe and it works wonderfully.

The second part of the kit is a tiny receiver that you plug into the bottom of the ipod nano. You can only use this kit with the nano (1st and 2nd generation both work) - not the shuffle, photo, or video ipods (apparently Apple does not want this used with hard-drive based ipods since the constant jarring motion of running could cause significant problems, thus this product is only designed for use with flash-based ipods such as the nano). The receiver is exactly the size of the end of the white plug you use to sync the ipod with the computer and to recharge it - surprisingly small.

When you run, the ipod tracks your time, distance, speed, and calories burned. In a nutshell, this thing rocks. It is impressively accurate. On my first couple of runs, it came within a few hundredths of a mile of the distance (7 miles the first time, about 4 the second time) as measured by online mapping software (By the way, the USATF has created a wonderful online mapping application that even yeilds altitude profile information for any run that you map out - check it out!). I’d put the error rate as between about 2% and 5% in my experience. I know some have reported higher error rates. I would hope that these could be remedied with the calibration feature. This feature allows you to run a measured distance which you then enter into the ipod and it will reset itself to know that distance. I have not yet tried the calibration feature…I fear this would end up throwing it off more than it already is.

Following your run, you can simply plug your ipod into the computer USB cord as you normally would to sync it with itunes for music and for a battery charge. In addition to the great motivation of seeing your stats continuously during your run, this thing has a million online options. You can track each run, see your speed for each mile, how your pace changed, etc… For example, below is the graph from my first run with the kit: a 6.93-mile run (click image for larger version):

On the website, each of the dots shown along the graph of the run is a clickable feature which will then give you the per-mile stats: time, pace, etc… Beyond the individual run stats, can track your runs over time (day/week/month/year). Through the nike+ website, you can set up personal goals. For instance, my goal for January is to run a total of 80 miles and run at least 18 runs in four weeks (an average of 9 runs every two weeks…this would be an increase over the 4 runs per week I’ve been averaging).

Another great motivational feature is the “Challenges” portion of the website. There, you can enter challenges with other runners. Below is the image of the “1000 Mile Club” challenge. In this challenge, all runners will run 1000 miles and the running total is kept:

You can read much more about this little gadget on the online Nike+ Discussion Forums.

Caveat: My compliments for this product come with one significant caveat for the time being: the website is frustratingly sluggish and and unresponsive at this time. Apparently, the flood of traffic brought on by new purchases around Christmas time, along with a big push by New Years “Resolutioners” has created a huge crush of traffic on the website. In my view, this is an increase that should have been predicted by the programers (they do, after all, know how many units they are selling at any given time…thus how many are likely to come online) and, in my view, is inexcuseable. Since I already had an ipod and didn’t purchase special Nike shoes, I’m only in this for $30, but many others spent $400+ for these capabilities. We’ll see how Nike handles this situation over the coming days.