Plaza Silicon Meetup #4 – Fitness and Technology in 2019

We started off the meeting by talking about fitness Apps, fitness peripherals, and we had an unplanned diversion, talking about social media and fitness influencers era. Oh, and we spoke about how you can travel to Barcelona for only 5 Euros J

Some fitness Apps to try:

• My Fitness Pal – Has a massive food / drink / snack database with all nutritional values. You can even scan a barcode for a given product, and there is a high chance it will be on the database.
• Strava – If you run or cycle, this is a must have. It’s basically a social media App for athletes, letting you connect to other athletes, check their time, routes, etc. It makes you compete with other athletes in your area. You can also compete with yourself, trying to beat your own past record. It has many standard “fitness App” features too. I like the intensity indicator on the App.
• Nike Plus – Very similar to Strava
• Endomondo – Another Strava alternative
• Road Bike
• Sturf
• Lypu squats
• Run Static
• Apple Health
• Google Fit

Fitness Marketing Ideas

It seems one of the best ways to promote fitness products and services these days, is by hiring and collaborating with influencers, e.g. Instagram users with high number of followers.

We discussed Google Bumper Ads (Thank you Sandra!). A very interesting new potential advertising channel. I however think it’s at its “beta” stages. But with great future potential. Get on the bandwagon now if you would like to dominate this sector.

Talking About Fitness and Tech

A brief chat on how technology is replacing fitness classes and fitness instructors. Take the Kinect One Zumba App for example. One of the first fitness interactive games that was available to the average home gamer. You could learn Zumba with a virtual instructor who would give feedback on your moves via the 3D interactive camera on the Microsoft Xbox device.

We have also seen many large gym establishments replacing fitness instructors with gigantic LCD screens that play a pre-recorded fitness class automatically at its scheduled time. (Could this eventually replace the current fitness class system? What are the benefits and disadvantages on such a system? I would like to hear your thoughts. Please leave a comment below)

Random Fitness Devices Discussed

Neuro fabric – Sock that monitor temp for diabetic people

Smart Hat – with sensor for UV protection

Skin Scanner – can tell condition of skin and recommend you a skincare product.

Child care Patch that monitors your child’s health and temperature.

Child care Camera that monitors breathing WITHOUT any sensors, just with AI algorithm and a camera.

Smart beds that will monitor your heart rate, breathing patterns, room’s temperature and even do your bed in the morning.

Fight Camp – At home boxing Gym – There are sensor in the boxing gloves that can monitor your motion and moves, sending feedback to an App on your phone with all the parameters. You can also take part in live classes all around the world.

Wii Boxing – I remember this one, and the huge number of “remote fail” photos flooding the internet. E.g. WII remote thrown in the TV’s LCD panel.

Oculus programming / Facebook

 Wearables – Watch – HR WITH Blood Pressure, Steps, Sleep , etc FDA approved.

The potential new health and car insurance policies getting affected by new technologies such as wearables. Insurance companies can force users wear these devices at all times, and send live feedback to your insurer, to make sure you are meeting the terms and conditions of your service. This can have a HUGE impact on your premium and how claims are processed in the future, most likely benefiting the insurer more than the user.

Room temp control devices that connect to the internet, making sure your room’s temperature is right upon your arrival.

Muse Meditation Head Brain Sensor – This is an interesting one. Using the BCI (Brain Computer Interface) technology, you can LEARN how to meditate. This device monitors your brainwaves and gives you a historical brain activity report. It claims the brain activities drop significantly after a meditation session. I would like to try this out myself.

Devices that are monitoring brain activity. The most famous interface available for the average user is called Open BCI. It’s open source, meaning you can download all the code and plans free of charge. You can even 3D print the hardware interface.  These interfaces make use of EEG (electroencephalogram) , EMG (Electromyography ) and ECG (electrocardiogram).

We have already seen practical application of the above. E.g. controlling a robotic arm, which has already been put in practice for people who’ve lost their limb, and working brilliantly. I’ve also seen other applications, such as controlling a flying drone, via brain activity ONLY, using a connected BCI interface.

Another cool technology is the invention of the Parkinson Spoon. Basically a stabilizer on the spoon that matches the frequency to the user’s Parkinson shake, making sure the Parkinson patient can eat without difficulty. This is an AMAZING use of technology.

We also spoke about services such as Lab DNA analysis, which can tell a user what their fitness status is and to improve it etc.

Why A Coruña could be the next Silicon Valley?

The location of A Coruña is just perfect. We have the sea, an airport and plenty of empty buildings with beautiful surroundings too and a lot of land all around.  No wonder Inditex hasn’t moved away from this city (yet)

Saying that, this city cannot solely rely on Inditex for its GDP and income. Almost everyone I meet in A Coruña has some connection with Inditex. If Inditex moves away from A Coruña, there would be devastating consequences for the people living here.

At the same time, while Inditex is in this city, we can utilise the potential it brings to the city. With many skilled workers and investors, there could be a great potential for investment in a start-up hub, such as Plaza Silicon.  

As English is the dominating language, our vision is to create an English friendly hub for all the start-up companies. We will provide English lessons, material, etc, Free of Charge, to residents of A Coruña. This city is great. We do however need a solid plan for modernising and education and funding and approval from the government to do so. We will also be looking at other instituted, such as HUB Escuela de Negocios Digitales, to collaborate with us. (We have NOT initiated any contacts yet, and still looking for suitable partners)

We also discussed some future potential events for Plaza Silicon.

• Digital Marketing
• Travel and Tech
• Blogging
• Women in tech
• How to make A Coruña a more attractive place for start-ups
• Modernisation of A Coruña
• Supporting small businesses
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