Skip to main content

[INTERESTS]


Short Version: Yes, this is that scale that Tweets your weight. And yes, it’s actually pretty cool.ReviewSo the Internet made me fat. That and all the beer. Anyway, now I’m going to depend on the Internet to make me skinny again and I think the Withings WiFi scale is just the thing to get me back in Abraham Lincoln mode.

This glass scale features a body mass sensor complete with invisible electrodes as well as a backlit OLED readout. To start, you connect the scale to your computer via USB and assign your wireless hotspot. Then each time you hop on the scale you wait for the electrodes to sense your body fat (or if they can’t it just transmits your weight) and then you check your progress online. New users are “added” when they weigh themselves and show up as unknown users until you assign their measurements to an account. Because folks usually float among a few data points, your wife’s numbers won’t get mixed up with yours and the dog’s numbers will definitely not get mixed up with your son’s (Note: Do not try to put a dog on this scale. They do not like it.)

The obvious question here is whether or not you need a web-enabled scale. You could feasibly do all of these functions with a pad of paper and a pencil. However, the Withings system allows you to take BMI as well as set goals for yourself. Most importantly, you can check your progress remotely so you don’t have to worry about your weight at work. If you know you lost five pounds over the past week then obviously you can go and grab yourself another four donuts. You’re worth it!

Even if you don’t use all of the Wi-Fi features it’s still a nice scale for $159. Sure it can Tweet your weight and it also works with Google Health. It may be a great idea for a personal trainer with multiple clients. By sharing readings with a group or individual you can work more closely with that person on your regimen.

I’ve been using this thing for about two weeks and its fun to see the weight sort of fluctuate but inexorably tend towards pulchritude and obesity. Thanks, Internet! And thanks beer!

Bottom Line

A clever and interesting way to track your weight loss (or gain) regimen. May not be worth $159 but the free web service adds a great deal of value.

http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/02/09/review-withings-wifi-scale/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

[ENVIRONMENT] Big Food vw. Big Insurance

Big Food vs. Big Insurance By MICHAEL POLLANPublished: September 9, 2009 TO listen to President Obama’s speech on Wednesday night, or to just about anyone else in the health care debate, you would think that the biggest problem with health care in America is the system itself — perverse incentives, inefficiencies, unnecessary tests and procedures, lack of competition, and greed. No one disputes that the $2.3 trillion we devote to the health care industry is often spent unwisely, but the fact that the United States spends twice as much per person as most European countries on health care can be substantially explained, as a study released last month says, by our being fatter. Even the most efficient health care system that the administration could hope to devise would still confront a rising tide of chronic disease linked to diet. That’s why our success in bringing health care costs under control ultimately depends on whether Washington can summon the political will to take on ...
3 comments
Read more

[INTERESTS] Infographic: The Ten Most Expensive Pieces of Art Ever Sold

Infographic: The Ten Most Expensive Pieces of Art Ever Sold By Cliff Kuang Last week, a mysterious rich man paid $104.3 million [1] for a six-foot tall sculpture by Alberto Giacometti, making it the most expensive piece of art ever sold. Following that news, GOOD and graphic-design firm Karlssonwilker [2] created an infographic of the ten most expensive pieces of art of all time. (Full-size here [3].) (The title, Not-So-Starving Artists, is deceiving because it's hard to starve if you're all dead. The real lucre goes to Christie's and Sotheby's, the two major auction houses.) Obviously, the graph is a schematic, but here's the actual works, if you're curious to learn more: 1.Walking Man I by Alberto Giacommeti--$104.3 million 2.Boy with a Pipe by Pablo Picasso--$104.1 million 3.Dora Maar with Cat by Pablo Picasso--$95.2 million 4.Adele Bloch Bauer II by Gustav Klimt--$88 million 5.Triptych, 1976 by Francis Bacon--$86.3 million 6.Portrait du Dr G...
Post a Comment
Read more

[NEWS] Chocolate Bond

British high-end chocolate maker and retailer  Hotel Chocolat , which currently operates over 40 stores in the UK, the Middle East and the US, wants to expand even further. But rather than turning to banks or big investors for money, they're inviting customer to buy bonds. Bonds that will pay chocolate returns. Two values of Chocolate Bond will be issued: both with the return paid in monthly Tasting Boxes. Holders of a GBP 2,000 Chocolate Bond will receive six free tasting boxes a year worth GBP 107.70 per year, and those holding a GBP 4,000 bond will receive thirteen boxes, worth GBP 233.35 per year. Which comes down to a 5.38% return. After an initial term of three years, and on every anniversary thereafter, bond holders can redeem their bond for a full return of their investment. If they decide to continue to hold the bond, the monthly boxes will keep on coming. The company doesn't have to worry about the logistics of interest payment in kind; it already operates a tasting...
1 comment
Read more