Week in Review–May 28th, 2017

The Week in Review is a collection of both all the goodness I’ve written during the past week around the internet, as well as a small pile of links I found interesting – generally endurance sports related. I’ve often wondered what to do with all of the coolness that people write, and while I share a lot of it on Twitter and Facebook, this is a better forum for sending it on to y’all. Most times these different streams don’t overlap, so be on the lookout at all these places for good stuff!

So with that, let’s get into the action!

DCRainmaker.com posts in the past week:

Here’s all the goodness that ended up on the main page of DCRainmaker.com this past week:

Sunday: Week in Review–May 22nd, 2017
Wednesday: Garmin VIRB 360 5.7K Action Cam In-Depth Review
Sunday: The Day in May DCR $500 Gadget Giveaway Winner!

Kinda a quiet week. Putting together that VIRB 360 review took quite a bit of processing time (video is my slow spot).

Sports Tech Deals This Week:

We’re into the final push of solid May sales – with many wrapping up tomorrow (Monday).  As I’ve noted in more detail on my sales landing page, May sales are very common.  One of the best deals here is the Garmin FR735 for $315 (normally $450).  It’s still receiving Connect IQ and feature updates and is just barely one year old.  Great little lightweight tri/running watch.

Oh – and for some weird reason an entry in the table for ‘All Suunto gear is 25% off’ isn’t showing up.  I’ve got some techies trying to figure it out, but FYI.  Note that the only watch excluded is the Wrist HR model on that one.  Many of the trainers listed below have sold out, but if you really want one of these I highly recommend checking frequently.  I keep seeing inventory pop in for a few hours here and there, even as recently as a few hours ago for most models.  So…FYI.

All of the above links help support the blog!

YouTube Videos I Published!

Here’s some YouTube goodness that I published this past week, don’t forget to subscribe!

Pro Tip: This very first video I just published three minutes ago, based on popular request from all of you!

Stuff that I found interesting around the interwebs:

Here’s a not-so-small smattering of all the random things that I stumbled on while doing my civic duty to find the end of the Internet.

1) Apple’s Needleless Blood Glucose Monitor’s Challenging Road Ahead: A good write-up of the challenges faced.  Obviously I really hope Apple can crack this nut, but it’s a hard road.  A really hard road, even more so than Apple Watch in so many ways – most notably FDA approval.  That requires far more accuracy than Apple Watch comes anywhere near today with more simplistic HR measurements.

2) Concept 2 Adds Strava Support: If you’ve got a supported Concept2 rower, you can actually now sync your workouts to Strava. Nifty…and thanks to Richard for sending this in!

3) What it costs to bike sponsor a WorldTour Team: In case you have some spare cash lying around.  On the bright side, smaller sponsorships are far far cheaper.  For example, a company with a trainer might pay $100-125K for a major/well known team, or they might pay only $10-15K for a ‘lesser known’ team (talking WorldTour teams only here).  And some power meter sponsors for major teams might pay nothing at all, but are selected for technical reasons too.  While others are again up in the $50-$100K range.  But my name isn’t Paolo.

4) DJI announces their new DJI Spark: This is definitely an interesting one. With the size of the body the same as a cell phone, it makes it even better for sports (taking cycling, hiking, xc-skiing, even trail running).  I did a lot of that with my DJI Mavic before, which is still really small.  But…umm…size matters…more?  Either way, review coming sometime in June.  Oh, and purchasing pro tip: Don’t order the white version if you plan to use in the snow…I’d argue red is easiest to find if SNAFU occurs.

5) A study on wearables was released: Until I get around to writing a post on it tomorrow, my tweet will suffice.

6) Runners get married half-way through half-marathon: Well then, that’s an entirely different setup than your average water station. (via Casey Neistat)

7) Did the Tesla make or break the Nike marathon record attempt? Pretty cool and detailed aerodynamic analysis of it all. (via Sweat Science)

8) In unrelated Nike news: More doping details/revelations from the Nike Oregon Project.  Not surprising of course.  (via TRS Triathlon)

9) GoPro open-sources their metadata video format: I missed this a few weeks ago, but stumbled on it today while looking for something totally unrelated.  It’s good to see this spec out there now.  Previously only certain partners got access to it.  This should help more 3rd party companies start to use GoPro’s GPS and ancillary data streams within their Hero5 generated videos.

Sports Technology Software/Firmware Updates This Week:

Each week I quickly highlight some of the new firmware, app, software and website service updates that I see go out. If you’re a sports technology company and release an update – shoot me a quick note (just one-liners are perfect, or Tweet it at me is even better) and I’ll make mention of it here. If I don’t know about it, I won’t be able to post about it. Sound good?  Oh – and if you want to get a head start on things, this page is a great resource for watching Garmin firmware updates.

Garmin Fenix 5/5S/5X/Chronos BETA firmware update: Small bug fixes.

Garmin FR735XT BETA firmware update: New Connect IQ update, swim fixes/tweaks, other bug fixes.

Polar M430 Production Firmware release: Yes, I’m actively testing this, and yup, a review should be out in 7-10 days.

Stryd running power meter firmware update: Improvements to downhill running.

Endless pool .FIT file app adds Strava integration: Remember that endless pool app/site I mentioned last week? They’ve added Strava integration. Nifty.

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Thanks all!  Have a good week ahead!