My biggest headache was customer retention, keeping the members from giving up and cancelling their contracts and more often than not the reason the customer did leave was due to loss of interest and part of this loss of interest was due to lack of results.

Now if I had an unlimited labour budget , instead of having a team of just 4 instructors per gym. I’d employ a personal instructor for every member. Ensuring 1-1 care for all. Every customer would have daily contact with their instructor. They’d receive words of encouragement, advice and recepe’s for healthy eating available not just at the gym but accessible at home or in the supemarket. Scientific feedback i.e. intensity, calories burnt, durin and after their workouts that can be compared to the same work out four weeks ago in an instant. Technique advise ensuring correct posture, reducing risk of injury and optimizing results. But as you can imagine this would cost hundreds of thousands of pounds and simple is not practical. Only the rich and famous can afford a personal trainer and lifestyle coach, but even then to have that person available at the drop of a hat or click of a button would require a purse the size of a real hollywood blockbuster.

And all the reasons above are one way that I can see how new technology is changing and developing the way society uses information. The consumer can now have all of the above with a combination of a few things I have been looking at in this blog. The information that the consumer needs is accessible and it is enabling them to get out and do it for themselves. mp3′s, mobile phone’s, podcasts, blogs are all out there making it possible for us to put together our own lifestyle regime its bigger than what I could ever offer at the gym 10 years ago, its the whole package.

It is scientifically proven that exercisers put more effort into a workout when listening to music. With the arrival of the iPod/iTouch generation and advances in sensory technology one can now listen to their up tempo tunes and have all their hard work recorded.

One of the more popular partnerships is that of sports epuipment giant Nike and Apple coming together and creating Nike + iPod . Basically the scientists over at Nike developed software that runs on iPods and a sensor that slips into Nike sports shoes and transmits information direct to a receiver in the users iPod. This allows users to track distance, time, calories burned and it even lets users program a “PowerSong” to kick in when they need instant motivation.

It doesn’t stop here however, and why should it.

By signing up with the likes of nextfitness, trailguru, iTrain and nike+, fitness fans can have workouts specifically taylored to help them achieve their own personal exercise goals.

Of all that I have looked at nikeplus for me, is the most impressive offering users the ability to set goals, create personal challenges, take part in  group challenges, join running clubs, see progress charts, enter and communicate with a community of likeminded people online.

How well does it work?

To get a real insight into how well the product performs I needed to put the technology through its paces. Now i’m not much of a runner so I did the next best thing, I found a runner that uses Nike+ and asked him all about it and the outcome was pretty interesting.

Marcus is a 36 year old designer, who runs  2/3 times per week, plays football twice a week and gets out on his mountain bike every other weekend.

MG: What drew you to Nike+ technology?

M: I’ve always kept fit and I like to keep up to speed with new technology. When I heard about Nike+ I was very interested.

MG: Has Nike+ improved your exercise experience and if so how?

M: Definately, it allows me to access instant feedback after a run. I am able to go online and compare my stats over periods of time and most importantly see my times getting quicker. This encourages me to be competitive and push myself.

MG: Anything you would improve?

M: At the moment it only responds to information that has been generated i.e. tells me how close to my target my last run was. What I would like is for the technology to know when I am slacking during a run and promt me to run harder and up the pace. There is the “powersong facility”, but that rely’s on the user recognising that they are flagging and purposefully selecting it. I want the software to be more of a virtual personal trainer for me.

So it seems that this is a product worth having and I’m sure that with a little time Nike and Apple will find a way to introduce heart rate monitoring ability in order to enhance their product.

Podcast – why is it called a podcast. Because, initially the iPod was the media player that the broadcasts were produced for (iPod + Broadcast = Podcast)

The user would subscribe to a podcast and new material is downloaded as and when a broadcaster releases it, the Podcast can then be listened to or viewed via their pc or it can be transferred to their portable media player and accessed as and when the user wishes.

So who’s big in the world of podcasting?

Comedian Ricky Gervais is seen as a  podcasting pioneer, since combining his popular comedy with up to the minute new media technology, December 2005 he launched his radio show as podcasts on the Guardian website saying at the time “I want to do a radio show where I can say what I want, when I want and that’s free for anybody who can be bothered to listen,” http://tinyurl.com/c7op35

The Gervais podcasts became the most popular in the world and in 2007 he had a Guinness World Record as the worlds most downloaded podcast with an average of 261,670 downloads per episode.

in just over 3 years, Gervais has released 5 podcast series and received more than 15 million downloads. Not surprisingly they are no longer free and series 5 will cost you £2.95 with Audible.co.uk

Aside from comedy podcasts are becoming instrumental in the way we learn and importantly share experience, there are broardcasters our there covering everything from gardening to quantum physics, naturally  i’m more interested in the digital side of things and in that respect these are a couple of the front runners at this moment in time.

boagworld.com (Web design and Development) 

Podcast of the year according to .net magazine.

 http://www.marconi.nu/

I saw a piece of work by this guy a couple of months ago and was really struck by it. I am considering finishing my degree in Graphic Design so I need to start looking at whats out there and Marconi is a great example of modern design. Below is a link to an interview he gave drop.it

http://www.drop.it/artist-of-the-month-guilherme-marconi/

What I have done, is some work on the presentation and function of my blog. Having had a look at other peoples blogs (pro & am) I realised i needed to make my blog more functional and non linear. A blog could just be the provider of information but by adding links for people to follow, videos to watch and topics to discuss, it transforms a noticeboard into a  topical space for people to come and go, interact and reference. Adding links to web sites I find interesting, other blogs and also my own accounts with the likes of viddler and Twitter has improved my blog in my mind.

http://www.cmswire.com/cms/web-content/viddler-a-new-online-video-service-that-doesnt-fiddle-around-001579.php

As part of my research into what makes the mobile phone so compelling I have been taking a very close look at the iPhone and in particular the add on applications that allow the consumer to tailor their handset to their wants and needs. One of the applications that has caught my eye is iWorkout. The reason it caught my eye is that it is one of the few mobile phone related products that I can see a real use and need for. Its purpose makes sense to me. I can imagine using it on daily basis.

I will now spend a few hours finding out all I can. If I can actually have a go on it then I will, however I don’t have an iPhone or a research budget so i’ll do the best i can and give feedback on my findings.

So what makes the mobile phone so compelling these days, why are they the number one must have piece of technology for every (Western) person. I know I can talk, text & wap! Thats been going on for years. But now there is a new generation of mobile phone. The buzz kids around me are producing sleek little numbers with touch screen displays out of their skinny fit sky rockets. At some point very soon it will no longer be know as ‘the mobile phone’ because lets face it, a phone is the last and most basic thing it could be called these days. Its becoming more & more like a ‘user configured personal hub’. It holds music libraries, Photo albums, has GPS and I can even watch a movie on it. Its just unreal how far they have come.