i(pod) of the tiger….give me two more!

Personal trainers, love them or hate them, they usually get results for you. But not everyone likes to have some muscle-moulded bloke or whippet of a women screaming “One more! One More!” at them. Well, there could be a new choice on the horizon. As part of the Nike + iPod partnership, the fruit ‘n’ swoosh duo are working with a number of gym-equipment manufacturers, including Fitness, Precor, Star Trac and Technogym, to make their equipment compatible with the Nike + iPod system.

The result would see gym goers hooking up their iPod Nanos to a piece of gym equipment, record their workouts then upload the results to the nikeplus website. Presumably, this would then allow them to analyse the results and help with their next workout session.

MyTake - It’s very interesting to see that more and more personal data is being captured by us, the individual. More and more aspects of our lives are being digitised for us to review, analyse and share as we choose – in this case you could imagine mates gloating about their calorie-busting sessions, or 20 minute sprints, hey, there could even be a Facebook app in there. Through the different tools out there, it seems we are creating almost real-time digital versions of ourselves - what we like, what we feel, what we want, and now, how hard we are exercising. The more of us we have out there, the easier it is for others to interact with us, which is the true power of the social network. “Alan is….”

The goggles never lie

You know those arguments where someone says “I never said that” or “I’m sorry, I don’t remember that meeting”, or even “No, I never touched that”? Well, these phrases could soon be a thing of the past if some researchers at the University of Tokyo have their way.

They have developed a pair of video goggles that records everything that the wearer looks at and recognises objects and assigns names to, then to top it all, another program goes back and creates an easily searchable database of the recorded footage. Ultimately designed to function as a high-tech memory aid, the goggles promise to make losing your keys, wallet or mobile phone a thing of the past.

MyTake – I think the goggles have an even more interesting use beyond that of a memory aid. As I suggested at the beginning of the post, those sticky situations of did they/didn’t they could be easily resolved, plus perhaps a more interesting use could be as a UGC capture device. News crews could be fitted out with them when going to cover a story, or even holiday makers could purchase a pair of “Holiday goggles” to ensure they never missed a second.

Mobile "chick flick" with a twist

If somebody told you that a film was being made featuring mobile phone clips of women from around the world, you’d be forgiven for thinking that it was of the R-rated nature. But, a project underway in the UK called Overheated Symphony is calling for women around the world to make “quick flicks” on their mobile phones, then send them via the internet to a London-based film director who will pull them all together.

It’s all in aid of a film festival taking place in London that showcases the work of female film-makers. Other than the theme of “Overheated”, women can film whatever they want and the call-out on the website says: "Ladies, wherever you are, whoever you are, we want you to join in". Sarah Turner, the British film director who will create the final edit, said the inspiration came from a 1927 film by German filmmaker Walter Ruttmann Berlin - Symphony of a Great City, which used a montage of still pictures from many sources to document city life.

The deadline is 2 March and the film will be aired on 9 March at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts. According to Turner, "Making a film from all these female voices around the world is quite a beautiful thing, but also it's about shooting down the idea that women are not up to date with technology."

MyTake – A damn cool way to share content on a global level and to mash the content together brings a great sense of unity. Mobiles are becoming increasingly popular as “content capturers” with lots of people publishing their experiences to the likes of YouTube. Sharing the content in this way creates an instantaneous network with an actual output – in this case a film. The possibilities of this could extent to “instant networks” creating news reports, mini films – how cool would that be!

I hope you like Jammin' too

Welcome to the next generation of jamming! Since the dawn of time, mankind has been using everything and anything to make music and that's not set to change any time soon. A bunch of guys have taken two iPhones and a Nintendo DS and created the "iBand". Check out the video below.

MyTake - Music is becoming more and more accessible, letting more people get involved and make music. I wonder how many great artists were never discovered because they couldn't get in a studio, or couldn't afford a guitar. The idea that people could sit around jamming on their iPhones then share the result with pals via Facebook or MySpace is one I think will happen sooner than we think. It's all about content, and sharing that content - the more personal that content gets, the more it’s worth sharing.

The Sleeveface phenomenon

Yes, it's just a fad, but it’s a cool, creative fad. Sleeveface, which started in a Cardiff bar and since become a global phenomenon, involves people putting record sleeves in front of their face and taking a picture - so the face on the sleeve becomes theirs, check out the pic.

John Rostron is one of the original guys behind it and said it all started when he and some mates were DJ-ing at Cafe Bar Europa in Cardiff. They started to mess around with album sleeves, holding a couple of them up in front of their faces. A couple of pictures later, Sleeveface was born.

Now with its own website and a strong presence on Facebook, something that started as a few mates messing around has fans in the USA, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, Iceland, Israel and the UK all posting Sleeveface pictures.

MyTake – This is exactly what User Generated Content is all about – fun, inclusive and shareable. I also love the fact that they have started a Social Network within a Social Network through their Facebook page. Older generations often question the worth of the Social Networks, but by asking that question, they have already missed the point – the answer is simple – there doesn’t need to be a point.