ChatGPT as fitness trainer

Posted on by

As I understand it, the Apple Watch needs some initial fitness data to establish a baseline. It suggested I take a 20 minute walk on a flat surface with good access to GPS. I did three miles and noticed the watch was showing a heart rate just over 100 for most of the walk. I couldn’t remember the formula for calculating my target heart rate so I asked ChatGPT when I finished my walk. My pace was on the money and qualified as “vigorous exercise” for a person my age.

She asked if I was starting an exercise program and I explained I had purchased an Apple Watch and was exploring the health and fitness features.

It’ll be interesting to see how your heart rate responds to different activities. The Apple Watch’s trends over time should give you a clearer picture of your fitness progress. It’s a good way to get insight into your cardiovascular health and adjust workouts as needed. If you’re curious later on, I’d be happy to help you interpret any of the data or trends you notice!

I’m going to need a lot of help interpreting data and had not thought about getting it from ChatGPT. And I have a feeling that will get much easier, and more useful, when ChatGPT is fully integrated with iOS.

I left my new phone in the truck so I could try making a call and sending a message with the watch. Worked as advertised. Turns out I don’t have to do the “Hey, Siri” thing. The watch gently pointed out that I can simply bring the watch up toward my face and talk to it. In the immortal words of Gomer Pyle, “Shazam!”

Vintage timepieces

Posted on by

Favorite author William Gibson is reported to have a passion for vintage timepieces and used them as a plot element in “All Tomorrow’s Parties.” [ChatGPT summarizes]

  1. The novel features a character named Silencio who is
    searching for a specific antique watch – a LeCoultre “Futurematic”
    with a black dial and wind reserve indicator.
  2. Silencio has detailed knowledge about this watch, including its
    serial number, bid history, and auction status.
  3. The watch serves as a plot device that allows Silencio to track
    down one of the main characters, Harwood.
  4. There’s a scene near the end of the book involving a nanotech
    watch repair machine, which is described as a novelty. This
    ties into themes of emerging technology.
  5. Gibson himself had a fascination with vintage mechanical
    watches, particularly military-issue watches from WWII and post-
    war era. He was drawn to their functional designs
    disconnected from fashion or status.
  6. While not specifically about antique watches, the novel
    explores themes of obsolescence and the relationship between
    humans and machines, which could relate to mechanical
    watches as “heritage devices” in a high-tech future.

An antique LeCoultre watch serves as a key plot element for tracking a character, and watches more broadly tie into the novel’s themes of technology and obsolescence.

Apple Watch

Posted on by

It’s been a long time since I wore a wristwatch (the word even feels odd). I’m pretty sure I was wearing one that day in November 2008 when I purchased my first iPhone. And probably for a while after that. But with the phone always at hand (so to speak) the watch became… unnecessary. So, sixteen years since I depended on a wristwatch to tell me the time.

The first Apple Watch was released on April 24, 2015. Not quite ten years ago. And while I’ve purchased most of the devices Apple has come up with over the years, I never took the plunge for an Apple Watch. Until this morning.

This post is something of a warning. As I become familiar with the many features of the Apple Watch I’ll be sharing my experiences here. 

Only those of a certain age will remember the entertainment role played by newspaper comics. And how impossibly futuristic Dick Tracy’s “2-way wrist radio” seemed.