Review and Technology

Electronic Gym Trainer
Adidas miCoach

When you open the Adidas miCoach box for the first time, you are taken aback by the number of wires and sensors the product comes with. But once you set up the product with your computer (PC or Mac), it's great. The miCoach comes with a heartbeat monitor that straps around your arm and a stride monitor that easily clips onto your shoelaces.

The miCoach delivers real-time 'audible coaching', that is to say, whenever you are exercising and crossing your physical limits, it will advise you to cool down. And after you are done, you can go home and download your workout information onto your computer and the numbers that this can throw up are remarkable.

And, unlike the competing Nike+, the miCoach has a standard 3.5 mm audio lead, which means you can plug in any music player into it.

Pros: Perfect for those who like numbers, makes working out fun
Cons: Slightly expensive and setting up can be a challenge
Price: Rs 8,999 (in all major Adidas outlets)

Beaming New-born
BMW 5-series

Last year, BMW's top-selling car in India was the 5-series, which was one of the best executive sedans in its class. However, with the competition, especially the Mercedes E-Class, dressing up in a new platform, the 5-series could not be far behind.

The new BMW 5-series is a departure from the old car, losing the radical 'winged' headlights in exchange for what can only be described as a blander look. In fact, the car feels more comfortable for the back-seat passenger. It comes with a choice of four (two petrol and two diesel) engines and BMW might just get the performance-tuned M5 model to India soon.

Pros: Best in class vehicle, extremely comfortable, great drivability
Cons: New 'snub-nosed' look satisfies safety concerns, not aesthetic concerns
Price: Rs 38.9 lakh (523i); Rs 58 lakh (535i) Ex-showroom prices

Websites
This fortnight, we look at a new way of sharing documents on the Internet.

There are several filesharing websites. Few make sharing and syncing files between multiple computers and even mobile devices as easy as Dropbox. Dropbox loads as a folder on your computer and any file you put in it is automatically synced when you make a revision, and can be accessed from multiple devices.

You could, for example, load your iTunes folder onto Dropbox making your music collection playable from anywhere as well as load other portable applications such as media players. In fact, if you want to be a bit 'cheaper', you could even use Dropbox's 'shared folder' as a sort of network drive that you and your colleagues, who also have the service installed, can share.

The basic free service has two gigabytes of storage, but for $9.99 per month (Rs 450), you can buy 50 gigabytes of storage. Frankly, for what you can do with Dropbox instead of lugging several portable flash drives, it is worth it.