Embedded Windows XP Exercise Bike

In the sprawling digital lifestyle Microsoft booth, UK start-up Exertris  showcased the first Microsoft® Windows® XP Embedded stationary exercise bike (MSRP:$6,000) designed for playing PC based video games during workouts. The user’s pedal power plays a vital role in the on-screen action. 

James Briant, software director at Exertris, explains why they chose Windows XP Embedded. "The Exertris concept is all about the gaming experience; we needed a platform that would allow us to go ahead and develop great games without drawing on the team’s resources to fix computing and networking issues."



Briant is an accomplished designer of console games and has worked with Nintendo's Super Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto.





David Ursino, Lead Product Manager Embedded
& Appliance Platforms Group Microsoft, explains in our audio
interview (wav) the interactive exercise concept. He envisions a day
when the Exertris bike will be standard equipment at the Pro
Sports Club, the upscale Bellevue, WA health club with thousands of
Microsoft and Nintendo employees as members.

Targeted to health clubs, the Exertris Interactive
Exercise Bike incorporates a rugged, high-end exercise bike with a
high-performance gaming system based on Windows XP Embedded. The device,
which is located at the base of the bike, includes 256 MB of RAM; an AMD
Duron 800-MHz CPU; a 1024 × 768 LCD color display; an NVIDIA nForce 420
motherboard with AGP graphics, sound, and Ethernet; and a 20-GB IDE hard
disk. In addition, the bike includes a Microsoft SideWinder® USB Game
Pad mounted near the leaning post. Proprietary interface electronics
link the gaming computer to the bike's computer.

For more information on the Electronic Interactive Exercise Industry, join the i-xercise  group I started a couple of years ago.

What Others Say about This

LOTUS BOSSES SING KIMI'S PRAISES

Kimi Raikkonen continues to impress his new employers with Lotus team bosses saying they are over the moon with the Finn's work ethic. Several question marks were raised over the 32-year-old's commitment levels when he decided to return to Formula One wi ...
Full article at: Sporting Life  More like this  1 hour ago

Lotus bosses sing Kimi's praises

Kimi Raikkonen continues to impress his new employers with the Lotus team bosses saying they are over the moon with the Finn's work ethic. Several question marks were raised over the 32-year-old's commitment levels when he decided to return to Formula On ...
Full article at: PlanetF1  More like this  1 hour ago

Murray offers a Preston insight ahead of meeting

Tonight, Pools hope the roles are reversed. When Pools lost at home to a single goal on November 29, it was their seventh successive home loss and boss Mick Wadsworth was soon on his way. This evening, with Preston in a state of flux under Graham Westley ...
Full article at: The Northern Echo  More like this  1 hour ago

Don't miss ...

news

 

Pre Black Friday Thanksgiving Week Sales Round-Up: Amazon, Target, ToysRUs, Best Buy

Nov 22 2010

The Thanksgiving Week Black Friday Sales have launched.

reviews

 

Hauppauge MediaMVP with DivX Support Review

Jan 1 2010

reviews

 

Hokey Spokes LED Bike Text Display Review

Jan 1 2010

reviews

 

Datexx Pavio PVR30T 30GB Portable Video Player and Recorder Review

Jan 1 2010

 

• More Other Stuff Stories
• I4U News Homepage