Apple and Nike have begun collaborating on a system called NikePlus – which measures your workouts. That’s decent – a technology giant and an apparel giant colliding together to make the world a better – and fitter, place. I have to say that this really makes me see them in a new light, somewhat. I can’t count how many people I can see benefiting from this – so many people already use their iPod Nanos while working out, and countless people support Nikewear.

Source: http://images.apple.com/ca/ipod/nike/images/runsensor20070905.png

The whole process is actually pretty simple – all you need is a little accelerometer from Nike and your iPod Nano. The accelerometer should be stored in NikePlus products that can be purchased from the Nike site – alas, I think that all you need is a safe pocket somewhere. Upon plugging the receiving unit into the iPod and navigating to the software through the menu, you start exercising! The accelerometer measures burnt calories, distance traveled, and all the nice little pieces of data. When the iPod is synced, the data is immediately transferred online to the NikePlus site, where all you statistics will be stored. Pretty neat, eh?

Source: http://images.apple.com/ca/ipod/nike/images/gearnanoplus20070905.png

The accelerometer itself can be found at Apple US for $19.99, and currently is not available on the Canadian store. However, I’m pretty sure that it’ll be at around the same price – try dropping into your local Apple or Nike store for more information.