Hi, Ben,
I got an elliptical machine recently, and it has an IO port on it. It's a proprietary thing--you're supposed to get an "ifit live wireless adapter," and that connects to a website, and the website lets you design workouts and view your workout data. But it seems to me that I could do much more interesting things with it if I could connect it to my computer. Unfortunately, since it's a proprietary system, there's no documentation on the interface--and nobody seems to have hacked it yet.
Do you have any idea how one would go about figuring out a protocol like this? Is this the sort of thing you might do a show on? I think there are probably a number of people out there who would do cool things with computer-connected exercise equipment if it were readily available. Of course, if they've put in cryptographic elements, it'd be illegal to hack under the DMCA, so that'd be a dead end. But otherwise it seems like it should be possible.
The downside is that I'm not sure how long the interface will stick around. I think they're moving towards incorporating the wifi connectivity directly in to the treadmill (it's not like an antenna and a few computer chips are that costly), so it may be only for a few years that people can get this kind of exercise equipment, with the IO port.
Also worth noting that people did work out how to use the prior iFit interface, which recorded commands to the treadmill as "chirps" in an mp3 file that you played through the treadmill. But that's strictly a one-way interface. It'd be nice to get the speed, heart-rate, etc. information into the computer at the same time that the computer controls the incline and so on.
Thanks for your amazing show. I loved your pinball episodes.
-Nick
