Performance

When training for any sort of physical task, it's important to keep challenging yourself as your skills improve. That's the thinking behind a new adaptive basketball hoop, that gets higher and smaller as users make more shots.

You may remember the smart jacket that Google and Levi's launched under the Project Jacquard umbrella – an initiative to add extra smarts to clothing. Now there's a new Jacquard product on sale in the form of smart insoles developed with Adidas.

While there are already performance-tracking watches that count swimmers' laps and strokes, they typically don't provide feedback on the quality of those strokes. A new device known as the SmartPaddle, however, is designed to do just that.

Being a college lecturer – or at least, being a good one – involves more than just speaking at a podium. You also have to engage the students, and a new dual-camera system is designed to assess just how well instructors are doing so.

​Competitive swimmers certainly like to track their performance, often using devices such as swim watches – the problem is, the athletes have to stop to look at those things. A Vancouver-based startup is out to address that problem, with its head-up display (HUD) Form Swim Goggles.

​Ordinarily, when employers wish to assess the performance of employees, they have them fill out questionnaires or take part in interviews. A new (and perhaps somewhat Orwellian) system is claimed to be more objective and thus more accurate, however, by utilizing smartphones and fitness trackers.

A study has found increased volumes of a certain species of gut bacteria in marathon runners following the completion of an event. This species was found to metabolize exercise-induced lactate into propionate, a compound that may increase exercise capacity.

Many mountain bikers already use smartphone apps to track basic ride metrics such as route/distance travelled, elevation gain, and speed. A group of four Danish cyclists wanted to take things significantly further, however, so they created TrailSense.

​There are already swim-tracking wearables such as watches, that track data such as the number of lengths swum. TritonWear is taking things further, however, with its just-announced Triton 2 – the device tracks 13 swimming metrics at once, transmitting data in real time for performance analysis.

Asus has revealed a new ZenBook featuring a touchscreen display in place of the mouse trackpad. The ScreenPad offers professionals a configurable toolbar and app launcher within an extended display module that doubles as a traditional mouse cursor control.

Dyson digital motors, vacuum cleaners, air purifiers and bladeless fans have been stripped down, mashed up and merged with other instruments to produce notes and harmonies that will accompany the Orion Orchestra for a premier performance at London's Cadogan Hall this weekend.

Britain’s Lister Motor Company has rolled out its latest Jaguar-based sportscar​, the Thunder. Touted as the most powerful, and most luxurious road car in Lister's 65-year history​, it is based on the Jaguar F-Type and boasts that car's supercharged V8 and a bespoke exterior and interior.