Smartphone-based Heart Rate Monitors not easy to troubleshoot

Bluetooth Smart 4.0 enabled new generation of Smartphone Heart Rate Monitors.
As described in my previous post I was very enthusiast about the Wahoo Fitness iPhone BlueTooth Heart Rate Belt until the last week the iSmoothRun App indicated much lower heart rate I used to have. This was the first indication that something was wrong.  My first idea was that it was a bug in the App, introduced after a recent software upgrade,causing the problem.
When no heart rate was shown on iSmoothRun App and number of other "jogging" Apps I was experimenting with, I started to look on Internet to find out about known problems with the Wahoo device. I came across a very good troubleshooting instructions on MyDigifit site which I recommend everyone to follow in case of problems with Smartphone based heart rate monitors. Through this I learnt about MyDigifit jogging app MyRunner. When even with MyRunner and my wife's iPhone 4s the Wahoo sensor did not work I knew for sure that the device was broken. On Amazon I came across number of complains about not working Wahoo device including "dead on arrival" cases. That's why I decided to order the Polar H7 Bluetooth Smart Heart Rate Sensor and give it a try.
Unfortunately, as Smartphone based heart rate monitors include at least three components (sensor, smartphone, application) from often different vendors, it takes quite a lot of time to troubleshoot any problems. It would help if a vendor independent, certified by third party,   diagnostic app would be available on the market to help diagnose such problems as I described above.
While enjoying the  Polar Sensor I am looking forward to the Wahoo response to my complain and hopefully a new Wahoo belt will arrive  soon.

Enjoying BMW apps

Since a few month I drive a BMW Efficient Dynamics 320D.


While I was selecting a new car I was looking for a "Green Car" with sufficient engine power and a car which enables easy integration with my iPhone.
As I wrote in my previous blog, car manufacturers should innovate to support seamless integration with smartphones and tablets. BMW, as a part of the ConnectedDrive vision,
introduced BMW Apps in March 2011. After a few weeks of driving experience with the use of BMW apps I am convinced that BMW will be able to combine the two best things in the world: the best car technology and great iPhone experience.

From the very few available BMW apps


I like the Web radio the most, which allows me to listen to my favorite Polish news station Talk FM and the best Business News Radio Dutch 'BNR Nieuwsradio'. You can also post tweets or update your Facebook status by using car data such as outside temperature or location. BMW promises many more apps soon.
Hopefully the BMW iDrive platform, co-designed with Apple, is going to be open to third parties developers which should result in many new applications.
BMW started cooperation with third parties to get new apps on the BMW platform. The first one certified is AUPEO which my daughters like very much. It is a pity that Spotify is not yet integrated with BMW iDrive.
I expect that BMW will also start to cooperate with other companies such as airlines resulting in great BMW apps improving further travel experience.
What about an app that will inform you about your delayed flight or one that will send you a notification regarding available seats on the next flight that you would have to consider due to bad traffic?
That sounds like a far away future but I have no problem waiting as even without the apps BMW's driving experience is far above my expectations and the fuel usage is really very low: over the last 20000 km my average fuel consumption was only 4,8l per 100km (58.85mpg UK, 49mpg US) despite enjoying often the sport driving mode.
The BMW uses at least 20% less fuel than Audi A4 Avant 2.0TDI I was driving for the last three years.
It is also much more economical than the most sexiest small car of 2011 Fiat 500 TwinAir turbo my wife bought recently with average fuel consumption a bit less than 8l p 100km (35.3mpg UK, 29.4mpg US). This small FIAT got plenty of design awards but at the same time on Internet you can find lots of complaints about its abnormal petrol consumption.
Imagine what kind of car could be produced if German technology would be combined with Italian design !

Another advantage of BMW Apps is that you will never have problems finding your car back, you carry your BMW parking location with your iPhone.

There is a risk, however, that some drivers would like to update their Facebook status or tweet while driving therefore my recommendation is to disable those applications when the car starts moving.

European Union follows US Open Data strategy

In March 2010, I wrote about the importance of "opening" government and enterprises data to smartphone application developers. I referred to the US Open Government initiative, which was launched on December 8 2009 hoping that the EU would follow this example. The European Commission's December 8th Press Release on launching the “Open Data Strategy for Europe” was great news, especially given that the US has already demonstrated the value of opening the governmental data. On the US Open Government portal you can monitor the number of developed (smartphone) applications using the public data and the progress made so far.

The Open Data Strategy is expected to “deliver a €40 billion boost to the EU's economy each year”. I don't think it is too optimistic. The Open Data will accelerate the speed of innovation in new smartphone applications saving energy consumption and the European citizens' time. It will dramatically increase the transparency (read efficiency) of governmental institutions and enable enterprises and SMEs closer collaboration in the spirit of Open Innovation.

However, it is a long way to get there. The US was in a much better position to start freeing the governmental data thanks to a very mature Enterprise Architecture of Governmental Institutions as a result of the Clinger-Cohen Act. In the European Union an equivalent of the Clinger-Cohen Act still needs to be designed and implemented. The good news is that there are already a number of Open Data initiatives in Europe such as "hack de overheid" which in Dutch means "hack the government" welcoming and supporting the Open Data Strategy.
The Open Data was an important topic during the first European Commission's Innovation Convention which I had an opportunity to attend. Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman Google mentioned in his keynote speech the importance of making data available to SMEs enabling innovation. I found his message to politicians "to start operating from facts, from data. Not from some political view or traditional view.." very remarkable. He stated that that governments own more data than Google! In this case, the quote from the press release “Europe’s public administrations are sitting on a goldmine of unrealised economic potential” is not exaggerated.




The Innovation Convention has demonstrated, that in the middle of the European debt and Euro crisis there is a lot of potential in the European community and institutions which can by unlocked through innovation and opening the data. It is very reassuring that Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes emphasized her commitment to ICT's driven innovation and Open Data Strategy in her New Year's message.



I am positive that Enterprise Architects will play a crucial role in making this happen.

Audi: the future Internet Gadget ?

During the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Audi presented an A8 luxury sedan model with in-built 100Mbps Internet connection based on Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technology.


It's a very good news. Not because of a perspective of driving an Audi and offering my passengers HD TV on demand. I do not think consumers are waiting for yet another Internet provider offered by car manufacturers. I would prefer car manufacturers  focus on innovation in designing cars able to connect with driver's / passengers smartphones or tablets and offering them new, Internet based ,services.


Why, as an Audi driver , are you still forced to buy an expensive DVD with updated maps or go to a garage to update your navigation software instead of downloading from the Internet?


It is a very good news as LTE technology should enable another generation of customer service I was missing so much during my two years Audi driving experience.


From the day one I was experiencing strange software/electrical problems causing the Audi engine to stall. Many visits to the Audi garage led to only a partial improvement , mainly due to the difficulty to reproduce the problem.


My observation is that the Audi's advanced technology is far ahead of the Audi customer service unable to support complex software/electrical problems.


Constant online connection should help to diagnose a problem by providing sufficient real time information about engine stall cases.


It will take few years, depending on a country, to take advantage of the new Audi feature. I hope that Audi will use this time to improve its service organizations by equipping them with new LTE based diagnostic tools.


In the meantime I am going to enjoy a new Lexus or BMW driving experience and my passengers HD TV on their iPads or Android tablets.