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Train for Your LifeWritten by Colleen Marble A personal trainer helps people lose weight by creating a fitness program, tracking progress and providing encouragement. But not everyone can afford a trainer. And without a trainer, many people simply do not exercise at all. The MiLife system was created by MiLife Coaching Ltd., Bedford, U.K., and is available to consumers in the U.K. and U.S. It could be the next best thing to a trainer, with its online coaching system, recipe books and weight scales that help people reach their fitness goals. The key component, the MiBand wrist monitor, uses classic Bluetooth technology to measure and transmit stats to a PC, which uploads them to the online system. The MiBand monitor, developed by Cambridge Consultants for MiLife Coaching, features an integrated accelerometer that measures physical movement throughout the day. This data, combined with weight data from the MiLife Bluetooth enabled Smart Scales, creates an online profile that tracks users’ progress toward meeting their exercise and weight-loss goals. Cambridge Consultants’ choice of Bluetooth technology for MiBand was clear. “Bluetooth provides a level of simple, universal connectivity that is not matched by other short-range wireless standards,” explains Paul Williamson, business development consultant for the Cambridge, U.K.–based company.“Using Bluetooth enables the MiLife products to seamlessly feed data to the MiLife online service when the customer is using their home computer.” In addition to ease of connectivity, battery life and product design were important considerations. “With experienced designers, classic Bluetooth can be configured to achieve the long battery life and compact design required in this application,” says Williamson. According to Ogi Bataveljic, who is MiLife Coaching’s CTO, “The MiBanda ctivity monitor was an essential component in the creation of our business.(Cambridge Consultants’) solution was technologically sophisticated, packaging an accurate activity tracker in a user-friendly design with a simple user interface.”
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