Peloton Bets Big on Body-Tracking
Uncanny Valley | WIRED8 Huhti 2022

Peloton Bets Big on Body-Tracking

Peloton has had a turbulent couple of years. After the ups and downs of the pandemic economy came a rash of bad press spurned by a series of tragic product accidents. The resulting stock dips and executive shake-ups put the fitness tech company's future in flux. But now, Peloton is trying something new. Or at least new-ish. The Peloton Guide is a device with a camera that sits on your TV and monitors your workout. (Just don't call it a Kinect.) It's far more modest than Peloton's large, fancy stationary bikes and treadmills, and something Peloton hopes will lure in more subscribers. Still, it's another bet on our continued interest in at-home workouts—a market that may not be as robust as Peloton hoped it was.

This week on Gadget Lab, WIRED executive editor Brian Barrett joins us for a conversation about Peloton's newest product and the company's future.

Show Notes:

Read Lauren’s story about the new Peloton Guide. Here’s Adrienne So’s review of the Guide.

Recommendations:

Brian recommends the novel Middlemarch by George Eliot. Lauren recommends the Apple TV+ show WeCrashed. Mike recommends the memoir The History of Bones by John Lurie.

Brian Barrett can be found on Twitter @brbarrett. Lauren Goode is @LaurenGoode. Michael Calore is @snackfight. Bling the main hotline at @GadgetLab. The show is produced by Boone Ashworth (@booneashworth). Our theme music is by Solar Keys.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Jaksot(426)

Why It’s So Hard to Unlink Yourself From Facebook

Why It’s So Hard to Unlink Yourself From Facebook

If you have both an Instagram and Facebook account, chances are they are connected, whether you like it or not. But what if you didn’t connect them in the first place, or if you have a Finstagram acco...

30 Elo 201936min

You’ve Got Microplastics

You’ve Got Microplastics

Plastic is everywhere. No, really, it is everywhere. Tiny bits of plastic waste, called microplastic, have come to permeate nearly every part of the planet. We drink it in our water. We breathe it in ...

23 Elo 201940min

How Google’s Secrecy Lead to Company Turmoil

How Google’s Secrecy Lead to Company Turmoil

For years, Google has flourished in large part because of its famously open internal structure. Leadership encouraged active and vocal communication between employees who held strong opinions or disse...

16 Elo 201936min

Amazon's Quest for World Domination

Amazon's Quest for World Domination

Amazon didn’t become the behemoth it is by accident. Its services, like Amazon Prime, and products, like the Echo smart speaker, were designed to learn everything about you and become essential fixtur...

9 Elo 201936min

Bumps in the Road to Our Robo-Car Future

Bumps in the Road to Our Robo-Car Future

From fledgling startups to automotive giants like General Motors, there’s a whole lot of companies looking to develop fully self-driving cars. But that goal is still a long way from reality. The world...

2 Elo 201938min

Why New York’s Revenge Porn Law Is Flawed

Why New York’s Revenge Porn Law Is Flawed

This week, New York governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law a bill criminalizing the spread of nonconsensual pornography, or revenge porn. WIRED’s Emma Grey Ellis joins Mike and Lauren to talk about wha...

26 Heinä 201940min

Twitter’s Redesign Is Impressive. Is It Enough?

Twitter’s Redesign Is Impressive. Is It Enough?

On Monday, Twitter began rolling out its first desktop redesign in seven years. It was a mostly aesthetic makeover, with changes like a new layout, dark mode, and a more prominent search bar. As with ...

19 Heinä 201948min

Facebook's Libra and the Future of Money

Facebook's Libra and the Future of Money

Last month, Facebook announced its plans to get into the cryptocurrency race with Libra. A blend of blockchain and partnership with 28 companies, Libra has been pitched as a money transfer service and...

13 Heinä 201933min