Continuous Learning & Development

We all know by now that loosing weight not just starts with a diet but needs be accompanied by exercise.

Advice 1: Pedometer
David Heber one of the nutrition experts that I follow recommends to use a pedometer to count the movement and calculate the energy consumption. Now you can turn in your iPhone into a pedometer.
In the App Store for the iPhone there are 4 Pedometer applications listed:
- Pedometer from Luminant Software for USD 4.99
- Distance Meter from Future Apps INc. for USD 2.99
- Steps from Edovia Inc. for USD 1.99
- Stride from Dramatic Technologies for USD 1.99

If you have used one of those applications already please leave a comment. I will start using these applications and therefore cannot share any experience with these tools yet. In the coming weeks I will be updating this part of my post.

Advice 2: Work Out in a Fitness Studio
I found a very interesting advice on how the iPhone will support your work out. Read more in the post:
The iPhone-Powered Handheld Workout Reference.

Advice 3:
I follow a mix of the meditarian, chinese (5 Elements) and color diet. The color diet was created by David Heber. In Google Docs I set up a permanent shopping list for my family. The list was built on the shopping list that I found in the book: “What Color is Your Diet ? by David Heber, page 126 ff.  When we go shopping we use the iPhone to open our permanent shopping list in Google Docs.  We use Google to better collaborate in our family. I have written about it in my post: My New Work-Life Balance with iGoogle.

Advice 4: Calory Usage tracking
In the App Store you will a tool to track your calory consumption. This is a good way to start your diet
with an analysis of your daily calory intake.
- CaloryGuard from BlueBamboo.de Falko Buttler for USD 3.99
I have no personal experience with this tool yet. In the coming weeks I will be continuously updating this post as learn more and more about these tools.

Advice 5: Weight Tracker
There are two tools that you can install on your iPhone to track your weight to record your weight.
- Weight Tracker from the Foundation HealthCare Net which is free
- FatWatch from Benjamin Ragheb for USD 9.99
I have not used any of the tools yet. Please me a comment if you had used this tools in the past. Thank you.

Advice 6: Weight-Charter
Another Application for your iPhone in the App Store: It is a diet and exercise program.
- Weight-Charter from e-Agent for USD 4.99
Again I have not used myself yet. In the next weeks I will be updating this post.

Advice 7: CalorieCheck
This is an application in the App Store which gives you detailed nutritional information for over seven thousand foods.
- CalorieCheck from John Moffett for USD 0.99

I have written about the top most iGoogle gadgets in a previous post (March, 20, 2008). Now I want to see if the wisdom of the crowd has changed since the economy has taken a dive.

Number 10: (igoogle.com)
New: Wikipedia (1,862,838 users) lost users and down from 8. Users: 1 619 271
BBC News (1 330 522 users) not in the top ten despite an increase of users. Now at: 1 439 107.
Number 10: (Switzerland)
New: Google Mail (22 371 users)
Neue Zuericher Zeitung (NZZ) (17 631) moved up to 8.

Number 9: (igoogle.com)
New: Google News (2,297,464 users) with less users (1 730 273) down from 7.
New York Times (NYT) (1 520 525 users) lost the spot in the top ten. Number of Users decreased to 1 181 752.
Number 9: (Switzerland)
New: Google News Schweiz (22 763)
Blick-online News (18 470 users) out of the top ten with 11 810 users.

Number 8: (igoogle.com)
New: Quotes of the day (2,452,622 users) now with 1 752 946 users down from 6.
Wikipedia (1,862,838 users) moved to 10.
Number 8: (Switzerland)
New: Neue Zuericher Zeitung (NZZ) (17 631) up from 10 with 30 901 users.
Wikipedia Suche (22′619 users) dropped out of the top ten. Now with only 6 690 users.
(Biggest looser)

Number 7: (igoogle.com)
New: Google Calendar (2 677 073 users)
Google News (2,297,464 users) now at 9.
Number 7: (Switzerland)
Date & Time (27′062 users) gained users: 38 760

Number 6: (igoogle.com)
New: Official YouTube Gadget (4,397,481 users) with 9 840 054 users down from five.
Quotes of the day (2,452,622 users) now at 8.
Number 6: (Switzerland)
New: Alle Zisch-Sport-News (60′009 users) down from five with less users: 42 215
20 Minuten | Front (29′255 users) not anymore in the top ten. Number of users dropped to 18 097.

Number 5: (igoogle.com)
New: Movies (4,686,898 users) down from 4 but with 10 119 330 (biggest relative gain of the top ten gadgets)
Official YouTube Gadget (4,397,481 users) now at number 6.
Number 5: (Switzerland)
New: news.ch/trends with 49 961 users.
Alle Zisch-Sport-News (60′009 users) moved to 6.

Number 4: (igoogle.com)
New: wikiHow – How to of the day (7,597,367 users) now with 11 876 948 users down from three.
Movies (4,686,898 users) now in fifth place.
Number 4: (Switzerland)
New: Beobachter 05|08 (77′038 users) down from 2 to 51 330 users.
swissinfo – News Frontseite (72′038 users) now in second spot.

Number 3: (igoogle.com)
New: CNN.com (7,698,511 users) now has 11 974 543 users.
wikiHow – How to of the day (7,597,367 users) at 4.
Number 3: (Switzerland)
New: PCtipp-News (84′514 users) lost users. Now at 56 825.
news.ch/trends at number 5.

Number 2: (igoogle.com)
New: Date & Time (9,294,244 users) has 12 872 637 users.
CNN.com (7,698,511 users) now in third spot.
Number 2: (Switzerland)
New: Swissinfo (72′038 users) moved up from rank 4 while users decreased to 69 654.
Beobachter 05|08 (77′038 users) moved to 4.

Number 1: (igoogle.com)
New: Weather (14 953 508 users)
Date & Time (9,294,244 users) now at Second spot.
Number 1: (Switzerland)
Wetter (95 404)
PCtipp-News (84′514 users) now in third place.

Weather made it to the top in both countries. Now that people are selling SUVs and bying bicycles instead or walking or using public transport instead of the car, weather forecast is the must have gadget, right ? .
Movies and Videos were the biggest gainers in the US. The interest in News from New York Times, BBC and Google News dropped. Or have the New York Times Readers switched to Twitter ? (Leave me a comment please). Only CNN was able to attract more users. Why ? And new in the top ten is the iGoogle gadget – Google Calendar and Weather. A decrease in users saw the gadget Quote of the Day . 
The Gadgets ranking from 2-6 stayed in the same order as last time but gained a lot of new users.

Swiss people are less interested in PC News these days- PC News dropped from top spot to third place . Are they all switching to the new iPhone or did they have to sell their computer to pay the mortgage ? Please leave a comment.
New in the top ten is weather, Google Mail and Google News Schweiz in Switzerland.

When it comes to the usage of iGoogle Gadget than we have a different situation in the US versus Switzerland. The number of users of the top ten iGoogle gadgets have increased in the US since March 20th from 43 138 472 million to 79 416 583 million. In Switzerland the number of users just went up from 458 597 to 480 184.  Any Swiss reading this article please let me know why you are not so fond of iGoogle gadgets ? Or have you convereted to the US gadgets ?