As we get older, our cognitive skills go down. There will be problems related to memory, attention, perception and problem solving will never be as easy as when we used to be younger. But scientists from the University of Iowa appear to have found a way to stop and even reverse these effects of aging. They are claiming that cognitive skills of test subjects aged 50 and over have been improved by playing a specific video game.

Prof. Fredric Wolinsky and his team assigned a group of volunteers to do 10 hours of computer-based crossword puzzles (as a control). While three other groups were told to play a video game known as Road Tour. One group played in a lab for 10 hours, another one for 14 hours, and the last group for 10 hours at home. The Road Tour game briefly shows a vehicle and then asks the player to find it from a rotating circle of vehicles. There will be distractions and higher levels of course will be more challenging.

After a year of tests, it has been found that an average of three years’ worth of cognitive improvement has been achieved by those who played the game for 10 hours, and that increases to four years for the 14 hour group. Meanwhile, the control group showed improvement in “concentration, nimbleness with shifting from one mental task to another, and the speed at which new information is processed”.

Of course, it is a known fact that the best way to keep the brain in good working condition is to give it work. And the more variety of work it gets the better. Experts have suggested many ways, such as reading, meditation, exercise, working with numbers and more, to keep the brain in good form. And now you can add one more to that list.

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Your smartphone can be used to do so many different things, but it may not always be all that practical to be holding such a large slate in your hands. That’s why the Motorola ACTV might be so compelling; it’s an Android-based sports watch with some athletic secrets up its virtual sleeves.

Chris Hall from Pocket Lint has the opportunity to go hands on with the device and his impressions are generally positive. Yes, it looks pretty much just like the current iPod nano, but there’s more to this watch. For starters, the little lip on the back lets it slide into different straps. You can wear it as a watch, sure, but it can also slip onto your bike’s handlebars, for example.

Perhaps the niftiest trick is when you use one of the two optional headsets. These may look like regular earphones for you to enjoy your tunes while running down a trail, but these actually function as the heart rate monitors too! No more need for that messy chest strap. Considering that most folks listen to music while working out, this is a nice solution. It’s also ANT+ compatible, so you can use a range of ANT+ devices too.

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When you want to lose weight, counting the calories you take in is just one side of the equation. You should also be tracking the calories that you burn and it looks like the Bodymedia Fit is one of the better devices for the job. It’s available with and without Bluetooth, and the latter connects to your iPhone via an accompanying app.

As reviewed by GadgetReview, the BodyMedia Fit is an armband-based device that you strap over your left bicep. It then uses a series of sensors to best gauge your current activity level. This includes the usual pedometer stuff, but there are also sensors for reading your skin temperature, as well as your GSR (galvanic skin response). There’s even a heat flux reader that measures the rate at which your body is dissipating heat.

This gives you a lot of data and a much more accurate reading of how many calories you burned during that 60 minute run, rather than relying on a generic chart of what a 60-minute run typically burns. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the $219.99 BodyMedia Fit BW is only the beginning of your expense, as you have to sign up for a website that comes with a $7 monthly subscription. Without the website subscription, you don’t get your data. Not everyone needs super accurate calorie tracking, but for those who do, maybe this expense is worth it.

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Think you have a shot at wearing that yellow jersey? Think you have what it takes to be the next Lance Armstrong? Well, you need to do some training first and that’s where the new ProForm Tour de France indoor cycle comes into the picture.

To the undiscerning eye, this might look like just another stationary bike, but this is the official training bike of the Tour de France. Kicking it up a notch, they’re actually using something called iFit Live Technology, which is powered by Google Maps. It mirrors the real course of the Tour de France, adjusting the motorized incline/decline and Real Road Resistance on the fly.

Don’t like the official route? You can log onto the iFit.com website from ProForm, draw out your own custom cycling route anywhere in the world, and the Google Maps integration will simulate that course on the training bike for you. Can you imagine how useful this would be for the real competitors? The bike can store up to 10 rides at a time. The only limit is the the incline and decline can’t exceed 20 per cent.

Rounding out the specs are 24 gears with digital control, one year of iFit.com membership, Polar wireless chest pulse compatibility, WiFi connectivity, iPod port, built-in speaker, three way seat adjustment, standard seat mount, and standard pedal mounting. Pre-orders are being taken now for $1299.

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