Show HN: My exercise bike hooked up to an xbox - pedal faster to drive faster.

Can I see a picture? I've been curious about mount strategies for either a laptop, screen or driving wheel set.

I could see such a setup with a hook between your pedaling and the sleep system of the computer: if you stop pedaling, it goes to sleep quickly. It shouldn't be too hard for someone who knows what he's doing.

Next step is authorizing all the "time-wasters" (hulu, HN...) only on that computer. It would surely work for me.

What are the cost of goods on components/labor? It seems like it would be worthwhile to manufacture a small run, if you think you can make your contracting rate. There seems to be bit of a move towards proprietary hardware (Boxee, Smith & Tinker, FitBit) in the star tup world so bringing a physical/electronic product to market is a neat/valuable experience.

Worst case you could just make it a "kit" and sell through AdaFruit or Sparkfun, in that case your cost will just be parts, a cardboard box and some miscellaneous packing materials.

how would you do it? Sell premodified xbox controllers?

One way to get started might be to sell a kit? Even throw in the xbox controller.

I'll buy one.

I'm very curious if Natal will be able to pick up that kind of skeletal movement and get the kind of fidelity necessary. If so it's clearly a better solution than mine.

If your goal is to create a more immersive experience to encourage yourself to run more, I'd really suggest plotting an outdoor course[1] and trying to run the whole thing. I found nothing motivates me more than that: you always have a set goal and destination in mind, your scenery's always changing, you're outside!, and you can keep tabs on how well you feel past certain landmarks and watch yourself improve over time.

[1] I use gmap-pedometer.com

And re: the projector, I don't think it matters. You get hooked into the game and pedal in that gaming, goal oriented fashion. The wow-cool factor of a project won't change that, I think.

The only serious considering is distance from TV, lots of racing games require you to see small elements on the screen clearly, and many exercise bikes are placed in the back of the room.

It's not necessary if you're going to get up to a constant speed and don't plan on stopping much, or if you're playing a game that lets you effectively brake while you're giving gas.

I couldn't comment on which games are good about this, I haven't tried.

Yeah that would be a good twist on it, but in a way it always supports that; you can adjust the top speed and bike resistance yourself. The only difference is you need to adjust both controls at once instead of just changing one.

I second this. I worry I'd cheat and decrease my resistance to keep my speed up.

For a racing game, that wouldn't work well at all. You can't change your heart rate with sufficient speed to control a vehicle.