Jawbone: the good the bad and the more bad

Jawbone: the good the bad and the more bad

Jan 02

So not that you need to know but my husband is a technology junky….actually that’s being to kind.  Anything that is within the walls of my home must be able to connect to something else. Computers  talk to each other without letting anyone know. At any point in time zeros and ones are streaming into other ones and zeros and all this while getting cross matched and backed up. Once you cross over the threshold of my home you can feel your fillings vibrate with the potential energy of the next big thing in the internet just bursting out of the rooftop and spilling out onto the primitive world below.    

When we met I was a nature loving hippy child without a care in the world. Overalls and flipflops-I’m not saying it was pretty- we all have pasts you know. So just picture it me with no phone, no tv, no real goals, I was an art making hippy dripping with patrulli oil and a lackluster view on government. My simple goal was to make soap on some mountain top and commune with nature as much as possible. Well now five years into our marriage he has slowly carefully manipulated me into a person who can’t live without it. I see my iphone as an extension of my soul.

What’s my point?

We bought the latest technology who-ha in weightloss. It’s called the Jawbone from Up. I use it with my iphone.  I was very excited about it when I found out about it. I almost brought out the jazz hands mind you. Just check out the commercial.  

I know what you are saying. You are saying you would like to be a non-speaking white person too right?? It’s a bit zombie-ish I’ll give you that but it does a nice job showing off what this little thing can do for you while being pretty noninvasive to your lifestyle.

So we pre-ordered two of them and waited…..and waited and waited. We finally got them in the same day they announced that they were having major problems with the technology. They introduced a “no questions asked” rebate to everyone who ordered one which was a nice way to say “sorry it sucks”. It took about a week and a half for my first one to bust. I’m now on my second Jawbone- hopefully this one works out a bit better.

 

It’s a pedometer, sleep monitor and food log all in one. Did I mention it even wakes you up?? Ya, crazy I know. Visually on the edge of  “what the heck is that” and minimalistic jewelry. I went with the black. You take pictures of your daily meals, upload them and rate them two hours later based on how you feel. So far it’s been great (when it works) I find that mine has a hard time holding a charge (and I’m on my second one) for an extended amount of time – it can’t make it an entire day without a recharge. My husband has had to reset it a few times for me.

One of the features that I like about it is that you form “teams” of people where you can check up on how people are doing and you can also set challenges (how many steps? how many glasses of water ect.) So I spy on what my husband eats and he checks out how hard I’ve been working out- kinda nice, kinda big brother.

All in all- even with all of the problems I still like it. I realize it has some major problems. I want to see where the developers push this towards next because I know it will be a winner for me. If you get one and would like to be on my team please let me know.