Fitness

LAS VEGAS--One of the more simple fitness-oriented devices on exhibit here at CES 2013 is Vert, billed as the world's first wearable jump measurement system.

Vert attaches to your waistband, belt, cap, or wherever and calculates how high you jump by using a gyroscope and an accelerometer.

It performs more than 50 simultaneous calculations to calculate height with 96 percent accuracy, according to maker Mayfonk Athletic.

Smaller than a matchbox, the device has an OLED screen showing your altitude in inches. It can send the data to your iOS or Android mobile device via one of two Vert apps, which can track multiple user height records and jumping progress. … Read more

A law passed late Monday in Israel is not only banning underweight models from appearing in local advertising, it's also requiring publications to disclose when models -- male or female -- have been digitally edited to appear thinner than they are.

"We want to break the illusion that the model we see is real," Liad Gil-Har, the assistant to the law sponsor, told the Associated Press.

Supporters of the law, which appears to be the first of its kind anywhere, say they hope it will help reduce the rate of eating disorders, which in many developed countries (… Read more

An estimated 1.5 million Americans have Parkinson's disease, which causes slowness of movement, tremors, and loss of balance. Physical therapy can ease symptoms and may delay progression of the disease. Now, cutting-edge tech is transforming everyday therapy into entertaining exercises.

Parkinson's patients recently took part in a University of California at San Francisco study to see if special video games could replace their regular exercises. Scientific researchers and game developers came together to create the therapeutic games. Check out this SmartPlanet video that explores the technology.

This video originally appeared on SmartPlanet with the headline "Video games replace physical therapy for Parkinson's patients.&… Read more

It seemed like the perfect setup--give kids video games that would motivate them to get off the couch and start moving. Not only would they have fun, they would also get healthier.

However, these high hopes may have been wishful thinking. According to a new study by Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, kids given "active" video games showed no more overall physical exertion than kids who used only their thumbs to play.

"There was no evidence that children receiving the active video games were more active in general, or at anytime, than children receiving the … Read more

Fitbit, a maker of a digital health and fitness devices, announced today it has raised $12 million in Series C funding.

The round of funding, which will be used to fund growth, was led by existing partners Foundry Group, True Ventures, SoftTech VC, and Felicis Ventures.

"This funding will help us accelerate the hiring of the best hardware and software engineers, designers, product managers and marketers," Fitbit CEO and co-founder James Park said in a statement. "This is the perfect time for passionate and smart people to join us as we create devices and services that improve … Read more

Nike today introduced its FuelBand wristband device, which is designed to measure a person's daily movement and drive the athletic gear company further into the technology world.

The FuelBand is designed to provide users with the time, the number of steps taken in a day, and calories burned. But the main selling point is a newly created fitness metric called NikeFuel, which is based off the rate of oxygen consumption and motion. The wristband will retail for $149, and is available on February 22 in the U.S., May 1 in the U.K., and the rest of the world in the fall. … Read more

My 85-year-old grandmother wouldn't do well on a bike on the open road. Her vision, hearing, and cognition have all declined enough to make such an expedition something of a death sentence. But those indoor stationary bikes are just so...boring.

Which is why researchers launched the Cybercycle Study in 2008 in an effort to explore what kinds of benefits older adults might reap from riding stationary bikes with interactive video game features.

What they found is that the cybercyclists demonstrated greater cognitive benefits than those who rode traditional stationary bikes without the virtual enhancement, according to their article … Read more

Anyone who has allowed a little porkiness to creep around their waist knows that removing it can be troublesome.

One tries to eat less. One votes for a new gym regime.

But getting up at 7 in the morning to jiggle with the bright-eyed and bushy-bottomed can verge toward the impossible.

So along comes GymPact, an iPhone app that will tear money from your pocket, should you fail to go to the gym when you promised.

At first glance, this seems to resemble, well, theft. Who are these GymPact people to take your money just because the duvet was slightly … Read more

LAS VEGAS--We've heard of headphones delivering new highs before, but never quite like this.

At the Polk Audio booth here at the Consumer Electronics Show, the manufacturer has set up one of the more brazen gimmicks at a show filled with brazen gimmicks: a trampoline gymnast who zooms toward the high convention-center ceiling with every jump. Of course, she's wearing Polk's new Ultrafit sports headphones, which--big surprise--stayed put despite her vigorous bounces.… Read more