Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Brad Feld's Treadputer

What do you do if you want to spend lots of time running but your too busy working at your computer? Combine the two! I hate running on treadmills - my long stride means I have to use the entire length of the running surface so I'm either running off the end or clipping the front of it. But Feld claims he can get work done using it:

When we first assembled the Treadputer, Ross was skeptical that I would be able to read the screen while walking and assumed that reading while running would be impossible. While the three monitor setup helps a lot, it was surprisingly easy to read while walking or running. We’re running all three monitors at their standard 1280x1024 resolution and haven’t juiced up the font sizes.

While we thought reading would be difficult, typing seemed like it was going to be a real challenge. We started with a shelf built into the treadmill for the keyboard to sit on. After about five minutes, it was clear that the keyboard needed two controls – both height and tilt. To be really usable, especially while running or walking fast, the keyboard needs to be tilted up at a 45 degree angle and be able to be lifted and lowered to suit the person on the treadmill. All I’ve got at this point is a sweat soaked prototype (build out of a cardboard box) – Ross promises me that a real version is coming soon.
To be fair Brad is trying to run a marathon in all 50 states before he's 50 so he probably does a lot more running than I do. Generally I run to get away from my desk and usually use the time to think about difficult problems I'm working on and I usually get my better ideas while I'm running.

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