Wednesday July 18, 2001 - 10:49 AM EST - By Scott Hanselman

Software

The Step Keeper software is held in Flash Memory, which is nice because the module is plug and play, but it's unfortunate that you can't look at your records if the module isn't present.  The Step Keeper software was updated while I was reviewing the module, and I was able to update it at the Hagiwara Website.  The update was a breeze, and updated the software directly on the module, so the update stays with the module.  It also was a non-destructive update in that it didn't touch any of my existing records.

When you insert the module for the first time you are prompted to enter your height, weight, and the length of your stride.  You also choice a goal of how many steps you want to walk.  It's not clear how long you have before you reach this goal, or what happens if you do reach it (I didn't).  Presumably the goal is "per day," if you go by the graphs.  It would be nice if you could say you'd like to walk 1 mile a day, or something like that.  You also can pick a cartoon helper that will offer you personalized advice (like that paperclip in Microsoft Office).  It seems to have lots of things to say depending on the time of day you start, how you are doing as it relates to your goals, and how fat you're getting in my case. 

The software is fairly full-featured while still remaining simple.  It tells you how many calories you've burned (although it's not clear how they calculate this) and how close you are to reaching your steps goal in color graphs.

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