weight

HAL 9000 meets Weight Watchers

"Open the donut box and pass me a glazed, Hal."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave."

Keeping your diet in check and working out is a great way to lose weight, but robotic assistants are always a huge help.

The weight maintenance sociable robot project at the always fascinating MIT Media Lab has one goal: to help you shed pounds. The talking, face-tracking, eye-contact-making weight-loss coach is designed for in-home use.

The MIT Media Lab site has a video of the robot in action.

Daily and long-term exercise patterns and eating habits are … Read more

'Body Watch' delivers the ugly truth

Sometimes, a gadget can be too smart for its own good. That's our opinion, anyway, about an unforgiving fitness device called the "Body Watch."

Why? Because this little sadist will unflinchingly deliver unwelcome news about the state of your physical condition--complete with body fat, body water and body mass--all in real time . And if you try to blame the results on mechanical error, be aware that the watch uses "bio-electrical impedance analysis" and "strain gauge precision technology" to determine the effects of all those Krispy Kremes, according to OhGizmo.

On the flip side, … Read more

Dance Dance Revolution: Industrial Ironclad Edition

Okay, I might like Dance Dance Revolution, but I'm not this hardcore about it by any means. Nevertheless, apparently some people are. JustDDR.com is selling a souped-up DDR deck called the "Metal Pad DDR Platinum Pro." The foot pads on this luxe dance machine are made of stainless steel, so that you can bring your home arcade a major notch above the norm. The pricing information is in Japanese, so I'm not positive how much it costs, but I'm sure it ain't cheap.

Now that's heavy metal.

(Via Red Ferret)

Wii workout weights: Cute, but dumb

In case you don't know yet, Wii workouts are the hottest fitness strategy since...Dance Dance Revolution. And, naturally, there are a whole host of entrepreneurs trying to capitalize on the possibility that Wii "athletes" might be willing to shell out some extra cash for Wii-centric fitness equipment.

One blogger even dreamed up a prototype for Wii Weights, a Wii-branded version of those strap-on wrist weights that you occasionally see people using at the gym. The thinking behind 'em is that it'll make your Wii Tennis workout a little more strenuous, and maybe help you lose … Read more

Wii Sports: Geeks are the new jocks

The champagne hangover's worn off, and CES and Macworld are quickly becoming memories; it's time to get serious about that list of New Year's resolutions. And though No. 1 (get more exercise) and No. 12 (master a new video game) seem to be mutually exclusive, one blogger has shown that you can game your way to better health, or at the very least, a smaller pants size. After six weeks of playing Wii Sports for 30 minutes a day--and making no other change to his diet or everyday activities--the Philadelphia-based blogger reported that he'd lost nine … Read more

Sony laptop breaks the 2-pound barrier

Sony has always been obsessed about its weight, going back to the days of its tiniest transistor radios, and that self-consciousness persisted as it got into the computer business. And in its crowning anorexic achievement to date, the company just announced the first laptop of its kind to break the 2-pound barrier.

Sony has dropped poundage with full-featured notebooks in the past, most notably with its 505 series, but those first machines had only 10-inch screens and smaller keyboards that were often difficult to use. The new Vaio G series, however, sports a 12.1-inch LCD while dropping about a … Read more