fitness

'I'm NOT the Wii Fit girl!'

Have you seen this?

So have 2.56 million other people. And there's one who's really not happy about it.

The video, now a legitimate Internet phenomenon, features one Lauren Bernat, an advertising executive in Florida, exercising--or gyrating rather suggestively is more like it--while using Nintendo's Wii Fit.

Another Lauren Bernat, a master's degree candidate for library science at St. John's University, is not amused. Actually, "utterly freaked out" is probably the most accurate way to describe it.

Bernat, 22, works as a librarian at a library for teenagers in New York, and … Read more

'Wii Fit Girl' not a marketing ploy for Nintendo

Titled "Why every guy should buy their girlfriend a Wii Fit," the YouTube clip shows 25-year-old Lauren Bernat hula hooping in time with the fitness video game in her T-shirt and underwear. The video has been viewed more than 2.4 million times and was suspected to be a viral marketing ploy for Nintendo's Wii Fit.

The speculation emerged after learning that both Lauren Bernat and Giovanny Gutierrez, who filmed the footage, work in advertising. Gutierrez works as the director of Interactive Media for Tinsley Advertising in Miami, Florida. Bernat works as an account executive at the … Read more

Cheap Sony earbuds for the gym

Although the headphone market continues to burgeon with new models, it can be surprisingly tough to find a decent, fitness-friendly pair. A few companies, such as Sennheiser, have stepped up to the plate with sport-branded earphones that feature design attributes meant to keep them secured on the head during activity. Now, we can add Sony to the list. The company has released an impressive array of Active Headphones, the $20 MDR-AS20J among them. These interestingly designed earphones are suitable for the gym, although not all users will be able to get a good fit, so runners should take heed. Also, … Read more

A glove that could save your life

Prodded by the aging Boomer population, wearable exercise monitors have themselves boomed in recent years. But the obvious discomfort of wearing a monitor against the chest has pushed manufacturers to devise other scenarios--sometimes as far away from the heart as possible in the body's extremities.

The "Mark of Fitness MF-180" exercise monitor is one such example, keeping track of the body's performance through a fingertip. Not only does it measure the heart rate, Red Ferret says, but its built-in LCD will also display goals, calories burned, and recovery rates. All this was integrating into a … Read more

Wii demo at low-tech music festival

Contrary to predictions, Sunday in Seattle was sunny and warm, so I took my daughter down to the annual Northwest Folklife Festival, a donation-funded event at the Seattle Center.

Because of its focus on traditional forms of music, Folklife is an unusually low-tech festival. There was a Balkan dance band, Orkestar Zirkonium, with oom-pah tuba holding down the bass and various brasses, woodwinds, and string instruments weaving Eastern European melodies. There was a bagpipe/drum duet, Nae Regrets, that seemed to be playing a version of "Tom Sawyer" by Rush. There was a youth fiddle orchestra from British … Read more

Nintendo offers taste of 'Major League Eating'

Who says huge global companies don't have a sense of humor? In the same week that Nintendo releases the highly anticipated Wii Fit, they tip the scales in the other direction with the promotion of Major League Eating: The Game. As an officially licensed title by the top league (hopefully the only league) in speed eating, well-recognized stars such as Joey Chestnut or Takeru Kobayashi will be playable characters. The WiiWare title is touted as a fighting game that "requires players to master a smorgasbord of offensive and defensive weapons including bites, burps, belches, mustard gas, and jalapeno … Read more

Where you don't mess with the Yu-Tang Clan

YU-TANG CLAN AIN'T NOTHING TO BUCK WITH! Founding members the Yza, Method Man, and Ghostface Killah (aka Tony Starks) keep it cutty and explore tech's first format war; skyrocketing Wii Fit prices; losing water on film; and our culture's lousy obsession with movie remakes. McLovin and Sr. Sean Connery also stop in to discuss Mr. BAKalar's questionable fashion choices. EPISODE 104 Download today's podcast

Wii Fit says you're overweight and that's bad?

Is it just me or is it time for people to relax?

A recent story from Mail Online details obesity experts' issues with Nintendo's latest blockbuster, Wii Fit. According to the story, a ten-year-old girl was playing the game and after telling it how old she was and what her height is, it measured her weight and told her that she's overweight.

In a fit of rage, obesity experts condemned the title claiming it could harm a child's self-image and called on Nintendo to include a warning in the game that said it's not suitable for children.

"She is solidly built but not fat," the girl's father told reporters. "She was devastated to be called fat and we had to work hard to convince her she isn't."

Now, I understand that a child's self-image is an extremely important issue in today's world and there are a number of cases where weight can have a lasting impact on the child's life. But let's also not forget that the instruction manual on Wii Fit does say that BMI calculations may not be accurate for individuals aged 2 to 20 and even those that are more muscular will probably not see the real measurement of how over- or under-weight they are.

But for the rest of us, I can't help but say that while the truth may be difficult, part of the value of Wii Fit rests in its attempt to be honest with the gamer and help that person achieve a more healthy lifestyle.… Read more

Shortages might bog down 'Wii Fit' launch

First Nintendo told us the Wii Fit would launch today on May 19, but the company neglected to mention that was only applicable to the Nintendo World Store launch in New York--the rest of the country still has to wait until May 21 to get their hands on the Wii Fit balance board and video game combo. But wait--if you neglected to preorder a unit, you might not be getting one this May 21, either. Gamestop's online store has a temporarily-out-of-stock warning, and Amazon halted online preorders as early as May 6, with 2.5 units sold every … Read more