Roll Your Own Nike+ iPhone for Free [IPhone]
Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/422065509/roll-your-own-nike%252B-iphone-for-free
I tested two different iPhone apps: Fitnio and RunKeeper. Both of them are free from the iTunes App Store, and both automatically upload your running stats to a web site à la Nike+. (There are actually tons of similar apps in the App Store, but these are the two that caught my eye.) I took each on run side-by-side with my girlfriend, who was wearing her Nike+ kit with an iPod nano, for comparison. Here's how each worked:
RunKeeper
To add to the fun, RunKeeper automatically uploads each run to the RunKeeper web site, where you can browse your run history on a Google Map and view a great speed and elevation vs. distance graph.
The downside: For whatever reason, RunKeeper was terrible at mapping my run to Google Maps correctly. The actual distance measurements were on the money, but the route was way off. I'd give the folks at RunKeeper the benefit of the doubt that they'll get this one worked out, but right now it's a bit off the mark.
Fitnio
Another point at which Fitnio bests RunKeeper is with its pseudo-lock mode. Since your iPhone's GPS won't work when your iPhone is locked, you have to keep both of these apps running and your iPhone unlocked during the entirety of your run. Fitnio is smart, though, and displays its own slide-to-unlock screen after a few seconds of inactivity so you don't accidentally bump a button and stop tracking mid-run. It also has a cool-down mode for tracking your cool-down work separate from the run.
How Do They Compare to Nike+?
Granted, it may still be just a matter of time before the Nike+ iPhone GPS app hits the App Store, but by the time it does, you may already be hooked on one of these alternatives. The one thing these apps can't have that an official Nike+ app would is tighter integra! tion wit h your iPod. You need to play your iPod before you start your run, and you can play, pause, or advance tracks using either your headphone button or by double-clicking the home button, so you can still get most of the functionality from your iPod. But you don't get the motivational soundbites of encouragement that Nike+ offers from the likes of Lance Armstrong (Congratulations, that was your best run yet!), and you can't set a super-motivation-song or whatever it's called to kick in when you need an extra boost.
But hey, these apps are here right now, they're free, and as long as you have a decent GPS signal, they work. Since Apple doesn't seem to be moving anywhere on GPS-enabled Nike+, I'll gladly accept these free and promising alternatives.
If you've tried these or any other fitness tracking iPhone app from the App Store, let's hear how they worked for you in the comments.
Linux only: QuickStart, a free automation utility for Ubuntu Linux systems, makes it easy to perform partial or full system backups of any partition, synchronize folders and update them on a schedule, and take care of other tasks a beginner would normally need to spend serious time researching. The tiny app opens a simple interface listing your choices, although dialog prompts guide you through any steps requiring input. The tools for installing DVD playing codecs, backing up your Master Boot Record, and creating synchronized backups seem particularly helpful, and while I haven't tested every function, a handful of them completed without any problems. QuickStart is a free download for Ubuntu systems only; both links below carry non-terminal installation instructions for the script.
Lifehacker reader Gil writes about a whole bunch of neat features in the 
A thesaurus is a repetitive writer's best friend, but what happens when you're looking for a specific word, the one that starts with a certain letter, or means the same things as that other word? Free word search site Tip of My Tongue makes it easy to find that word that's just out of your fuzzy mind's reach. Type in parameters on the left—letters the word starts with or contains, definitions it matches, and others—and the word matches appears instantly on the right. It's worth a bookmark for anyone who's struggled at their keyboard, only to just type in, say, "useful." 
Mac OS X only: Free application EyeSight takes time-lapse photos with your Mac's built-in iSight camera. EyeSight is very customizable, so you can set your photo intervals anywhere between 10 seconds to 999 days, save the images in whatever format you like, and upload the results to an FTP server of your choosing (or just save them in a local folder). If you want to eventually turn the results into a video, I'd recommend 
Posts
