Gadgets

Look at that ridiculous thing! It's called the BeltzBib, and for just $13.95 you get a bib that attaches to your seatbelt, letting you gorge on nachos without risk of dribbling melted cheese on your big fat shirt while driving your big fat SUV.

IHRSA (International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association) held their annual conference this month - a monster of an affair which draws the who's who of fitness equipment manufacturers, club owners and enthusiasts in general. Not surprisingly, computer-based fitness games and health data for the web stood out as big trends. One part irony, one part ingenuity, the health industry is using the very tools that are contributing to obesity to try and reverse the trend. For better or for worse, here's what's new and popular in the world of fitness.

Jyze is a new exercise gadget that, when used while walking, can burn "3 times more calories".

Nice idea, but seriously, would you really walk down the street playing with what looks like a kids toy from the 80s?

Are you spending too much time on the Internet reading blogs about crazy fitness gadgets?

Remedy: Get the Springflex UB and workout those arms and shoulders while staring at the screen.

An amazing new mobile phone has been demonstrated at a Japanese electronics show. The prototype "Wellness" phone from DoCoMo Inc. comes with infrared sensors, gas monitors, and electrodes that allow it to perform a number of healthy checks.

Researchers at MIT have created a robot who acts as a weight loss coach. The robot (called "Autom") was demonstrated at a recent expo.

Two new services allow nutrition information to be accessed from your mobile phone.

Then you need the SofaHanger.

Made by a German design company, the SofaHanger is constructed according to the specifications of your sofa.

You need never get out of the couch again.

via DesignSpotter

In among the plethora of gadgets that hit the shelves every week, one or two catch my eye (or rather the press release catches my eye). BodiBeat is a portable music player from Yamaha that detects your jogging or walking speed - and alters the music selection accordingly.

Why clip a pedometer on your belt when you can stick it on your shoe?

"SHPedometer accuratly [sic] counts X-treme foot action. One SHPed on each shoe will prove accuracy for each foot."

Japanese company Kao has created a handheld body fat checker... for dogs.

The device is applied to certain areas of the dogs body - and a body fat percentage is displayed.

Cell phones can do just about anything these days from searching the internet to downloading music and now cell phones may be used to help people achieve their weight loss goals.

An innovative new program is being tested in Japan where participants can use their cell phones to take pictures of there daily meals and send them to a nutritionist for feedback.

The fitness industry has produced another machine that will no doubt find its way into most gyms. A gravity machine - looking something like a hack squat machine and leg press - is being used in group sessions as well as individually.

There are other ways to make gravity your workout partner - and here are some of the best.

Salter have a new gadget out that combines a tiny set of scales with a diet diary. The small fold out scales has a database of 1,400 foods and can record food intake for up to seven days.

This may be useful to some - but I cringe at the thought of getting out a pocket-size set of scales to weigh my grapes before I eat them.

Note: This is not a paid advertisement or any such thing.

Philips are releasing a cell phone targeted towards women.

What's intriguing about the phone is the feature set. The features include both a Body Mass Index calculator and a Basal Metabolic Rate feature.

Apparently women need to be able to calculate their BMI anywhere anytime.

"Super fit and on top of their game, the 20 second workout girls are serious about fitness;..."

Put these figures on your desk then wind them up. Choose from leg extensions, treadmill, stair-stepper, or recumbent bicycle. See them here.

(via Healthbolt)

Do you approach the scales with trepidation? Feel like you're walking on egg shells?

These scales from Vice-versa. They also have scales shaped like a calculator!

(via Neatorama).

See also celebrity weighting scales.

Audio and video workouts for portable devices have become very popular over the last year. There are also workouts for certain mobile phones.

There are many places you can download these - with sites offering very professional and effective workout packages.

Here are some sites to check out. This list will be maintained.

HP have introduced a new feature to their digital cameras. The "slimming feature" will "instantly trim pounds from your photo subjects" (via).