A Little ZEN to go with you iTunes GENIUS

This morning on the treadmill, I was noting that I listen (pretty much every day) to Ah-Ha's, "Take on Me," in its entirety, simply because I am not warmed up enough mentally or physically to change or filter the music. [I suppose one day I will be shuffling toothless around with a walker singing the lyrics to this song with 100% accuracy.]

Anyway, iTunes has built in 3 varieties of "Shuffle By," but I need more.

Thus, I coined, "Zen Playlists"... every time you listen to a song within one of these playlists (filtered by play date), that song no longer meets the playlist criteria, and is removed from the list:

You can go back as far as you like in the past, depending on how your files are tagged, and you can go up to the prior year.

--CD

If you dig this kind of thing, see http://internet-treadmill-workstation.blogspot.com/.

FINALLY! Facebook profiles for my plants!!!

Let's face it, everyone needs one of these.

Look, I'm not complaining or anything, but the mainstream technology market is always 5+ years late delivering the stuff I really want. I always have to shop in Japan for the good stuff.

Examples:

1. I yearned for a computer-sync-able pda/camera/mp3/GPS/phone in 1999. Windows mobile is still in its infancy, but I am slightly appeased.
   
2. Currently the Internet Treadmill Workstation and Ultimate Wired Home Gym are only offered by me. The internet gym seems obvious.... I've been building it since 2006, but no merchant has yet come up with a high-quality, single packaged unit.
3. And where are our standardized bluetooth connections to our in-car computer terminals??? No, not just for phone functionality- I mean the full terminal: address book, calendar, GPS, MP3. The whole 9 yards.
4. For the above to work, speech recognition has to be ubiquitously integrated with all mobile or in-vehicle computers. They technology is available, it just requires a lot of processing power is all. But Ray Kurzweil's been doing this type of thing since I was 2 years old!
5. And my Bill Gate's style smart-home, where I have an RF ID tag, and each room adjusts to one of my preset, personalized settings as I enter (lights on, perhaps TiVo begins playing the Daily Show... or based on time, lights dim over a period of 10 minutes, white noise machine activates, and bedtime sequence is initiated... and the dining room lights and soft Jazz music upon entry at 6 PM. Why can't this stuff be mass marketed? If it's a function of demand, c'mon everyone, demand it :)!!!
   

Oh how I digress. The point of this blog post is below.

An exception has occurred to my being ahead of the technology adoption curve. ThinkGeek.com
is ahead of the curve with me, delivering cool technology relatively shortly after I desire it. Heck, I love them so much, I'll give 'em a logo on this post:


SO, I am pleased to announce, that at long last, all of our household plants can finally have their own Facebook.com profiles, with automatic status updates via Twitter! FINALLY!

Check it out here, @ ThinkGeek.com..

I think I'm going to buy a $20 RC Helicopter from there, too, or a chain mail shirt to protect me from sharks and in battle. Can't decide. On the one hand, I already have one chain mail glove.
On the other hand, I don't have chain mail headgear or pants, and shark attacks are unlikely.

What to do, what to do.

I think I'll go with the vacuum-powered, wall-driving RC car.

Survival for the high-powered, IT Exec: The ultimate wired office/gym!

The ultimate wired office/gym! Walkstation! Internet Treadmill Workstation! Sounds silly? Yes, as first? Like being alive? The this is no joke. I've been working with Physical Therapist on this for 4 years now:(see http://crockettdunn.blogspot.com/2008/02/holy-grail-found-introducing-best.html ) Survival for the high-powered, IT Exec: The ultimate wired office/gym! Hello there. My name is Crockett. I own an IT business. I love life... I mean, I love being alive, and I intend to postpone the cessation of my being alive for as long as possible. This product list is for the serious information technology worker concerned for her or his physical health. Let's face it, our generation has seen enough sedentary IT worker and computer addicts die of cardiovascular related illnesses anywhere from their late 20s to early 40s. This is serious. So perhaps it's more appropriate to say that this product listing is intended to help the IT/Knowledge worker stay healthy, and SURVIVE in an industry that constantly begs us to "please be seated." The Ultimate Internet Treadmill Workstation, Totally Wired Home Gym, and generally surviving and staying healthy as an information technology professional have all generated enough interest to merit going beyond my "generic, personal," blogs and offering this as an Amazon List, and an exclusive blog, here, http://internet-treadmill-workstation.blogspot.com/. With that, to those seeking physical and fiscal health in this post-information-revolution era in which we live, I say, "WELCOME!" (from the treadmill, in fact). Come in, explore, and most of all SHARE your methods and experiences with countering what has historically been a purely sedentary vocation. [user community at http://internet-treadmill-workstation.blogspot.com.

Internet Treadmill Workstation and Fully Wired Home Gym 2008, ultimate, premium, best of breed

[Note, 12/8/2008: due to popular demand, all internet treadmill walk-station/work-station/desk-station posts have been moved the the following blog, http://internet-treadmill-workstation.blogspot.com/. ]

[continuation of the following post: http://crockettdunn.blogspot.com/2008/02/holy-grail-found-introducing-best.htm]

EUREKA... I've done it! The best, most versatile, internet-wired treadmill workstation, or more generally, internet wired home gym, complete with keyboard control, mouse control, air-mouse control, voice recognition when necessary, and screen reader when appropriate in rare situations (the inversion table, in my case).

Now I have to choices,

1. eat breakfast on my arse at my desk as I continue to read, respond to, and compose emails until around 1 or 2 PM, when I notice (as sit, still on my arse) , "hey my back hurts... again. And my goodness, was my belly always that size?" [women substitute, "have my jeans always been this tight, or, "NOOOOOoooo, is that cellulite???!!!"
   
2. eat breakfast, hop on the treadmill and do my email stuff, surf the net... everything I do on the fat-belly chair, but with a better display, a more natural and ergonomic stance, and doing this all while getting an exercise high, getting in shape, and for you pragmatists, extending the time I get to spend alive in this world!

I've tried it all before- the egg timer to take standup breaks every 15 minutes, change my focal length, walk around a bit. I've to the top-end Herman Miller chair and a garage full of lumbar supports.

But this is the solution.

The secret lies in the flux-capacitor, which coincidentally is also the key to time travel. Just kidding. The key was actually earthquake-sticky goop. Or if you're in an earthquake-free zone, it's probably the same as wall-poster mounting goop, or "stay put- kids don't knock over the vases" goop.

The final ergonomic problem to solve was bringing the keyboard closer in towards my body, and at a flat, perfectly horizontal angle. This has been solved.


IT and knowledge workers of the future, we shall no longer be relegated to a sedentary lifestyle and early death due to poor cardiovascular health! We have been freed to access the internet (and home network if you got it) as we exercise.

And exercise addicts: you're no longer enslaved to your isolation of repetition after set after repetition, with your best case of entertainment being CNN or whatever watered-down station the gym down the road things we can all agree on.

Now I just GOTTA get you the pictures. But alas, I have clients to serve [clients which I now serve more effectively because I can work while I exercise], and CDLLC.la is in the middle of it's largest growth spurt to date.

But that transition has almost settled down, and I look forward to presenting you with photos of the grand creation.

Signing off from the inversion table,
Crockett


P.S. For you do-it-yourselfers, this project is no biggie. All the products, minus the flux capacitor and earthquake goop, are listed at the end of this post:
http://crockettdunn.blogspot.com/2008/02/holy-grail-found-introducing-best.html

Treadmill workstation review: the best exercise plan for today's information technology/ knowledge-worker

[Note, 12/8/2008: due to popular demand, all internet treadmill walk-station/work-station/desk-station posts have been moved the the following blog, http://internet-treadmill-workstation.blogspot.com/. ]

[2008. 04 . 23 update- I don't think I've included pictures of my setup here, but it is very important to have the keyboard flattened so as not to strain your wrist, elbow, and back. For a while I had the keyboard on the display panel with the mouse on the flat area below, and it caused pain in wrist and back. Currently experimenting with under-desk-style keyboard/mouse mount, or alternate flat surface for kb/mouse.]

Fellas, I gotta tell you. All of the Crockapottomi in Crock-Town are feeling very lethargic, weary, tired, and depressed, due to a week off from the treadmill internet-connected email workstation.

spare me the sales pitch and show me the goods already! (click here)

This isn't just like, "oh I'm a little down today." For a person like me, exercise means the difference between life appearing to be good and life appearing to be bad, all other variables held constant. To be able to perform my email filing, help desk, and contract management jobs while getting a workout means everything to my quality of life.

Skeptics find it amusing and even silly that I have an internet-connected treadmill workstation and home gym with workstation displays available from other exercise equipment. However, when the 20 year-old internet babies begin suffering from cardiovascular problems in their 20s, we won't be laughing anymore.

Well, the good news is that Analisa and I are back in town from our vacation, and back into the groove. So I've had some more time to elaborate on the blog posting I created to share the life-quality enhancement that has so much improved my state of being on this earth.

I'm also working on an Amazon, "So you'd like to.... Engineer the Best Internet-Connected Treadmill & Home Gym Solution" guide.

I emphasize best, here, because for me this is neither a novelty or silly gimmick. This is my entire work-life: my very existence. My survival is more important than the car I drive or house I live in.

Time permitting, I will cobble together a low-budget version of the wired gym, for starving students and those who aren't full-time IT professionals. But this is not really necessary, because the solution is not a single product. All of the individual components have stand-alone value within themselves.

Speaking of which, here is a single product bundle version, called the "WalkStation by Steelcase." I won't say "amateur," but I'm not sure this would meet the demands of a serious IT professional committed to a change in lifestyle and fitness.

Take a look at this media coverage for the walkstation, which, again, I consider a great product for the light IT worker or desk-jocky, but not robust enough to suit my needs. For example, Walkstation is quoted,

"The Walkstation is the combination of a fully integrated electric height-adjustable worksurface with an exclusively engineered, low speed commercial grade treadmill. At a maximum speed of 2 mph, the Walkstation lets you walk comfortably, burn calories, feel healthier and more energized… all while accomplishing the work you’d normally do while seated. No sweat!"

it continues on to read,

"The Walkstation has as much to do with a traditional cardiovascular treadmill workout as a walk in the woods does with a marathon. Fact is, you’d never be able to do all your normal desk-based activities on a healthclub-style treadmill.
It just wouldn’t compute!"

This is where I strongly disagree. The reality is that if an exercise product sounds like it will require hard work, the exercise equipment will not sell to the casual buyer.

This does not mean IT work cannot be done on a treadmill workstation in conjunctction with hard exercise work.

Especially with the proper display, keyboard, air-mouse, and then client/throw-away laptop.

I speak from years of experience. It started with playing guitar on the treadmill, and for about one year now I have been performing routine office productivity tasks: filing, reading, forwarding, and deleting emails on my commercial-grade, healthclub-style treadmill. Other tasks include proposal writing, help desk staffing, and, well, good-old fun web surfing :).

The alpha version of the internet treadmill was simply me walking on this treadmill with the HTC Wizard a.k.a. Cingular 8125.

But whatever blackberry-style PDA phone I had chosen is now irrelevant, because the ultimate solution involved a farther-away, wall-mounted, larger display and keyboard. The short focal length of an onbaord or in-hand display is just too much like sitting back at your office desk. Adhering to a fixd focal distance for too long can actually be damaging to your eyesight and cause one's ability to change focal distance to atrophy.

Moreover, with the alpha version of the internet treadmill, my shoulders and elbows were required to support the handheld device. This is unnatural, awkward hand positioning that leads to odd arm cramping.

But my point here is that even with all of its shortcomings, this alpha version SERIOUSLY improved the quality of my life and health (we're talking going from unhappy human to happy human), while giving me more free time.

Here is the history that followed.

1. About 6 months into my testing, I realized I was thinking too narrowly by envisioning a single unified workstation: treadmill, keyboard, mouse, and monitor. I was looking at this from the point of view of someone reading a paper book sitting atop a treadmill, which is already becoming a dated paradigm when one considers audio books, Amazon Kindle, and iPods
   
2. The decision was made to engineer a solution rather than a product. Products are great for mass marketing, standardization, and all the other stuff that gets you rich, but one size never fits all. Plus, I've already go a full time job.
3. 
   If I can give someone an extra 2, 5, or 10 years to experience life on this earth, then this will be the most meaningful technology work of my career.
   
4. Back to the topic of engineering a solution rather than building a product . Can we agree in general that any product that is too overly-specialized ends up collecting dust in the closet? Example: Have you ever seen the ads on TV for the egg wave? You can microwave 4 delicious eggs at a time, and it's so easy because tbe eggs gook inside plastic piece that go in the dishwasher, and there is no messy pan or even spatula to scrub, no egg too flip. Just insert into microwave, start, athen eat.
   
   If you promise not to tell anyone, I bought an eggwave once, around 1999. The egg wave has not been seen since.
   
5. Walkstation says, "Exclusively engineered, low speed commercial grade treadmill," so now we're talking overly-specialized and cheap. Do not misunderstand me, the Walkstation is a good product for a casual IT user, needing maybe 2-4 hours at a desk per day. Just like the egg wave is a good product for a college student who cooks for himself 2-4 times per month.
   
   But this is my very LIFE and SURVIVAL that I am dealing with here, not just some impulsive resolution to improve my health or have nice eggs every couple weeks. Cheap does not seem like a good option when one consider's mortality.
6. Sometimes I WANT to break a sweat. When, for example, I experience frustration with a client/vendor/colleague/prospect, I may choose to dock the mouse and keyboard, and crank the Smooth Fitness Treadmill up to L7 Cardio and run on an incline.
7. Which leads me to my next point: INTERCHANGEABLE, REUSABLE PARTS- an engineered solution rather than stand-alone, overly specialized product. There is no commitment here to buy your super-specialized unit that you *hope* will transform your lifestyle and help get you into tip-top shape (see every item ever sold by Kevin Trudeau or in Sky Mile magazine). Since this solution is not a single unit, there is no risk of closet-dust-collecting. The treadmill can be re-sold or put in the garage. The flatpanel TV and motorized mount can go to the family room or be resold, as well. And the wireless RF keyboard and air-mouse can go with you everywhere (I love my Gyration air mouse).
   

Cardiovascular health in the post-information revolution is a great challenge to our society. Just look at all the press this concept is getting:

• NPR: Treadmill Desk Heats Up Office Jobs
• Good Morning America
• WSYR TV Syracuse: Treadmill-Desk Hybrid Finds Home in CNY
• ABC News: Office of the Future: Walk While WorkingTime - 10 Ideas that are changing the world - #9Associated PressMLIVE - A walk at the officeTelegram.com (Associated Press)Globe & MailArchitectural RecordUS News & World Report Grand Rapids Press Article - (PDF)Walkstation Media Coverage Listings (PDF)
• Shape Up America More>>Walking Works by Bluecross Blueshield Association More>>Start! by the American Heart Association® More>>Learn more about Dr. Levine.
• Research Articles & Links
• Researchers Call for 'NEAT Revolution' to Reverse Epidemic Obesity. More>>
• Nonexercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT): environment and biology More>>
• Feasibility of Walking & Working (PDF)Journal of Internal Medicine - Research Article about NEAT (PDF)Walk-and-Work Desk for Office Workers with Obesity (PDF) (didn't know they were doing a feasibility study. Someone should have called me!
• Mayo Clinic Creates "Office of the Future More>>
• Mini-exercise at work dumps mega-pounds. More>>

I've been promising product links to my solution for months now,

so here they are,

by popular demand:

Note that although these are, raw, uncommented simple product links, these are far from arbitrary. This is the best of the best.

1+ years of research went into this. I have a graveyard of burnt treadmills, inadequate laptops, too-little Smart phones, key-missing-keyboards, torn mouse cables, and so on.


Smooth Fitness 9.45ST treadmill with 60" Deck, Hydra Suspension and Motion Control

txt: Smooth 9.35 HR Treadmill with Wireless Heart Rate Control and Hydra Suspension


Evo 1 Treadmill'

Smooth Fitness 9.45 TV Treadmill with 15" Flat Screen TV

Samsung HPS6373 63" Plasma HDTV


OmniMount MOTION 52 Motorized Cantilever Wall Mount (fits 37"-52" flat panels)



COMBO 88KEY USB RF GO PRO AIR MOUSE and KEYBOARD BLACK 2.4GHZ 100FT (GP6105CKM)

[revision] oops- I omitted the entire computer (thin client/terminal) and network connection part. For geeks, use your throwaway laptop, and, well, you already know how to do you network hookup.

For non-geeks, please post a comment requesting network, computer hookup instructions, and, time permitting, I will post detailed instructions.

If there is enough interest in this, and I have he opportunity to help enough IT workers, I will start a new blog devoted to this, with detailed analysis of the product evluation and selection process for each component.

Also, if there is interest, there is also a whole lot more to this system. Full power backup and network fault tolerance, plus a 1000Mbs-wired home-network with 3 TiVo HDs that all talk to one another and the PCs.

[added april 2008]
More info, as promised, re: DVR (TiVo is the only one UI worth considering at this point) and wired/wireless networking.

TiVo TCD648250B Series3 HD Digital Media Recorder

TiVo TCD652160 HD Digital Video Recorder




Netgear GA311 Gigabit 10/100/1000 Mbps PCI Adapter




GA511 Gigabit PC Card

internet-connected treadmill workstation, beta2

[unless you are some sort of treadmill historian or Crockett-stalker, skip to the latest version, here: http://crockettdunn.blogspot.com/2008/03/exercise-plan-active-lifestyle-for.html]

########################################

checking in re: the latest revision of the treadmill computing environment. All is will with the Gyration brand mouse & keyboard plugged into the throwaway laptop/webcam server. The only thing close to a problem I've experienced is one time I think I shorted out the battery on the mouse by putting it in sweat. But since I got the pro pack with the backup battery, I just switched it out with the other with no downtime.

The display is some HD thing I got on clearance at Best Buy. The important thing to share here is that I opted for a giant, wall-mountable display + wireless HID devices, rather than trying to find an adequate, "close-up" display on one windows mobile device or another.

Last thing I would say about the treadmill thing (besides don't try this at home and use your kill-switch-clip if you do) is that it makes the workout time really fly by much better than the not-on-demand stuff on cable TV. Seems to make the brain work a lot better, too.

Oooh, and as if on queue, a family member just walked in and said, "did you lose weight?"

"Why yes, I did. Thanks to the new Internet Treadmill Workstation 2007!"

crockett's quest for the ultimate treadmill computing platform, or, treadmill workstation, alpha

[Note, 12/8/08: due to popular demand, all internet treadmill walkstation/workstation posts have been moved the the following blog, http://internet-treadmill-workstation.blogspot.com/. ]


[unless you are some sort of treadmill historian or Crockett-stalker, skip to the latest version, here: http://crockettdunn.blogspot.com/2008/03/exercise-plan-active-lifestyle-for.html] ########################################


for crying out loud, all I want is to be able to either listen to music, watch tv/dvr, or read & respond to emails while I'm on the treadmill. HURRY UP, convergence!

I've narrowed down the problem definition as follows: for me it is important to have either a rugged- no, "indestructible," mobile/tablet/phone-type device, or a separation of the HID device from the computer "body" and display. In other words, I don't want to sweat all over a laptop/tablet or tangle myself up in cables and dump everything, including myself, onto the floor.

(1) Experience with HTC Wizard:
I have been able to do some treadmill emailing with the HTC Wizard (branded Cingular 8125), but it was tough with the tiny display. So with high hopes, I tried the super-awesome HTC Advantage x7501 for its larger display, and what I had hoped would be an improved, larger keyboard.

(2) Experience with HTC Advantage:
This was a big disappointment, because I find it actually more difficult to type on the new, re-arranged keyboard, even though it's larger. The layout is different enough to confuse me (where's the D#*$! underscore???). Unlike the solid HTC Wizard, the Advantage is too big to comfortably balance in my hands while walking. I don't want the magnetic display to drop off. I'd be happier if it were a convertible tablet with flexible tilt. The rigidness, (one angle) leaves me wanting to tilt it forward.

And it's too small to use like a real keyboard on a flat surface. The keys are way too responsive, so I'm constantly cleaning up after my typos. Conclusions about HTC Advantage: unless I purchase a blue-tooth keyboard (something I can either hold like a PSP for thumbing or type flat on with keys large enough not too miss), this device is not my ultimate treadmill computing platform.

The HTC Advantage x7501 requires stability for typing, which would require me to be hunched over with my hands on the treadmill book tray the whole time. I preferred the feel of the HTC Wizard for typing, because I could hold it in the air while thumb-typing, although the display was way too small for any real productivity.

This leads me to the components of possible solutions:
Air mouse + mini-keyboard by Gyration. This, or the longer-range "pro" version, will almost certainly be part of the solution to my PC or terminal-based treadmill computing/music platform. It would be even better if I could run TiVo on my PC rather than having to buy the separate, dedicated "television" platform.

Cool thing about this long-range, RF wireless mouse. Not only is it great for use as a presentation style "pointer," and not only does it come with really cool media control software, but also it operates on a frequency that can be repeated by my old-school Terk leapfrog A/V/IR transceivers. Correction: I'm not sure if it's repeating the radio frequency, or if the 2.4GHz are simply reaching the computer upstairs. There is a point here, though. Possible solution:
(3) super thin client, also known as the "television." Display only with all computing done remotely. A variation of this is
(4) a sort-of thin client- windows mobile device or old, "throw-away" laptop. using RPD to access the machine with the really computing power. If you demand high graphics performance, this is not the solution for you. But if you want cheap, quick access to your data, it's ok.


More later...

About Treadmills, or, Treadmill Workstation: the dream begins

[Note, 12/8/08: due to popular demand, all internet treadmill walkstation/workstation posts have been moved the the following blog, http://internet-treadmill-workstation.blogspot.com/. ]

My favorite thing about treadmilling, or "riding" the treadmill, is playing guitar at the same time. I really can lose myself, and the hour goes by before I know it. It makes the "fat burn" (slow) setting not so boring, too.

My second favorite is smelling the kitty litter that sits beside the treadmill.

The dartboard has nothing to do with the treadmill. That was just a phase, I think, and it might be time to move the board to the garage.