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My Fitness Pal Api Calls
Gary Wolf
May 30, 2013
This slide from Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends slide deck (link is to full deck on Slideshare) puts some numbers around what we’ve been noticing among QS Toolmakers: everybody wants to talk APIs.
Author: Gary Wolf
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What would you do with a free BodyMedia armband?
Gary Wolf
April 25, 2013
What would you do if you had access to accurate galvanic skin response (GSR), skin temperature, heat flux, and 3-axis accelerometer data, as well as processed data estimating calorie burn, physical activity levels, steps, and sleep? We are holding a contest over in our QS Forum to provoke good questions that can be answered with…
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Quantified Self in Medical Practice
Gary Wolf
April 13, 2013
In this short talk from 2011, Dr. Paul Abramson talks about the intersection of Quantified Self and clinical practice.
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Eric Boyd: Learning from my Nike FuelBand Data
Gary Wolf
April 5, 2013
We’ve been getting some great Quantified Self Show & Tell talks coming in as we get closer to our European conference. Now that there are so many self-tracking tools that can serve as tools for gaining insight into our actions and behaviors it’s important to understand what we can learn from the data we gather….
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Quantified Self as Soft Resistance
Gary Wolf
April 4, 2013
At the Quantified Self conference last year I attended a breakout session for scholars interested in QS as a research topic. There was an interesting range of fields represented, including medicine, anthropology, sociology, and public health. I’ve appreciated the criticism that the researchers bring. For instance, nearly all of the anthropologists are trained to see technologies…
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The QS World I Would Like to Live In
Gary Wolf
March 8, 2013
In the QS world I’d like to live in, our personal data would be easily available to us to learn from using many different methods and tools. Here are some conditions I think would make this easier: Data can be exported from the various systems we use into a simple format for exploration. We can…
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Nike+ FuelBand vs Fitbit Tracking: Spring 2013 Update
Gary Wolf
March 5, 2013
Here at QS Labs we’ve been curious about the differences between two of the most popular devices among self-trackers: The Nike+ FuelBand and the FitBit. I’m the latest experimenter on this topic, and since January I’ve been wearing a FuelBand on my left wrist and a FitBit (original model) in the right hand coin pocket…
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How Many People Self-Track?
Gary Wolf
January 30, 2013
We were fascinated by the conversation started Monday by the release of the Pew survey about self-tracking by Susannah Fox. As with any survey research, the top line results provoked the most discussion, and also some intelligent skepticism. We’ve had a few days to digest the results, and here’s our analysis of the two key questions.
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Quick and Reliable Mood Measurement
Gary Wolf
October 26, 2012
Sami Inkinen, triathalete, self-quantifier, and founder of Trulia, measures his mood on a five point scale every morning, within five minutes of waking up. This method fascinates me. I do something similar (though I use only a three point scale). Sami has found that this quick and easy measurement reliably correlates with his athletic performance,…
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An Experiment with Polyphasic Sleep by Emi Gal
Gary Wolf
October 1, 2012
A great talk on a Polyphasic Sleep experiment by Emi Gal, the CEO of the interactive advertising platform Brainient. “The main takeaway was that it is fun, but not sustainable. None of the polyphasic sleepers have succeeded in doing it more than six months. You always act tired…” If you’ve experimented with polyphasic sleep, we’re…
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Full QS Conference 2012 Program Announced
Gary Wolf
August 30, 2012
The QS Conference is coming up next month. As many readers of this site already know, we run our conference with a programming method all our own. We call it a “carefully curated unconference,” which means that we make the program after we see who is coming, by reviewing the web links and twitter feeds…
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QS Primer: Case-Crossover Design
Gary Wolf
August 21, 2012
We’ve already published this QS Show&Tell talk by Mark Drangsholt about using self-tracking to identify the triggers of his heart problems, lessen their frequency, and make good decisions about treatment. I’m re-posting it here to focus on attention on the interesting and powerful method Mark used, the case-crossover design, and invite you to think about…
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Dan Catt On Spotting Mild Depression with QS Data
Gary Wolf
July 26, 2012
Dan Catt describes how he used Quantified Self ideas to get a handle on his depression.
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QS Primer: Spaced Repetition and Learning
Gary Wolf
June 22, 2012
Many people think the Quantified Self mostly involves physical metrics: heart rate, sleep, diet, etc. but what about what goes on in our brains? Can we quantify that? There have been several inspiring Quantified Self talks about tracking learning and memory. This post will collect all of them into one place, along with good resources…
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Announcing Quantified Self Week!
Gary Wolf
February 22, 2012
You are invited to learn and to share your knowledge! What: QS Week – “Self-Knowledge Through Numbers” When: Date To Be Announced Where: all over the world…. 😉 What is QS Week? This September, our Quantified Self community is coming together for a new experiment. Working together, we are going to create a world-wide, week…
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Quantified Self European Conference
Gary Wolf
November 12, 2011
After our amazing experience together last May at the first Quantified Self conference, some of the attendees who had come all the way from Holland asked for a European conference, so that some of the great contributors to the QS scene could participate more easily. Just six months later, that conference is happening. I’m amazed…
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How to Start Your Own Quantified Self Show&Tell
Gary Wolf
October 7, 2011
Since we started the Quantified Self in 2007, we’ve enjoyed watching the idea grow and spread. Recently, I decided to revise our FAQ about how to start a Quantified Self Show&Tell to take advantage of what we and others have learned from doing this many times over. I asked Show&Tell organizers around the world to…
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Our Three Prime Questions
Gary Wolf
September 20, 2011
We started Quantified Self as a casual meeting for users and makers of self-tracking tools. Now that our project has evolved into an active, international community, I’d like to offer a concise description of what it’s about. This will help if you are organizing a Quantified Self show&tell, giving a talk, or launching an independent…
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What is The Quantified Self?
Gary Wolf
March 3, 2011
With our first Quantified Self conference coming up, many people are learning about the Quantified Self for the first time. (Welcome, newcomers!) Here, I’ll give some of the history of the Quantified Self, with a focus on why we’re organized the way we are, and some ideas about how you can get the most out…
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WSJ on Ordering Your Own Lab Tests
Gary Wolf
January 11, 2011
This story from the Wall Street Journal describes the growing market for lab tests available directly to everybody, without a doctor visit. (The companies involved have a doctor on board, as a regulatory formality, but the doctor doesn’t do anything.) I’m interested in hearing from people who are regularly running their own lab tests! I’m…