May 8th, 2008

So my New Scientist subscription is up for renewal. I’m still way behind on my reading, something like 6 months or so but it’s not from lack of reading. The topics are just so interesting that I find myself re-reading certain articles which really slows me down. Then there is also the website access as well with extra stuff to read.

Anyway, an ‘incentive’ to re-register is a chance to win a trip to Borneo and also a free Orang-utan adoption from the Australian Orang-utan Project. It had never crossed my mind before that you could adopt an Orang-utan, but I think it is really cool. You get sent a photo of it and can get regular updates and also feel good that you have helped these little creatures. Very nifty!

So, even thought I’m behind, I think I will end up renewing again. I really enjoy the magazine and find it really interesting plus I can adopt an Orang-utan!

WiiFit was released and being a Wii owner I had to get one.

I was a bit skeptical at first (sorry Nintendo), but after using it for the past 3 days I’ve realised how awesome it is. The WiiFit board is really good and is very responsive and the activities in the game are really well thought out and implemented perfectly.

Over the past 3 days I’ve done about 1.5 hours total of the various activities and according to my log I’ve lost 0.5kgs. I’m not sure how accurate that is or whether I was just wearing lighter clothes or didn’t have a stomach full of food. Either way, I’ll take it.

I seem to be a whizz on the hula hoop but I find some of the yoga poses a bit tricky. The other various activities are all fun. I don’t think I’ve done one yet that I haven’t liked.

Only thing I wish it had was a automatic exercise plan generator. So you could basically queue up activities and then do one after the other instead of having to stop after each one and manually pick the next. Would be even better if the ‘trainer’ allocated you a plan of activities to do based on what you had previously done. I think that would make it a bit more random and perhaps push you to do certain activities that you had otherwise been skipping.

Another awesome product form Nintendo though. There’s no doubt about it they definitely know their stuff when it comes to this type of thing. The board works superbly.