On behalf of the whole WorkSmart Labs family, I would like to wish you a very Happy New Year!
We’ve been keeping very busy, and I wanted to update you briefly on the Christmas presents we have gotten you.

As some of you already noticed, on Christmas day we posted a new version of CardioTrainer – v0.9.2. Because of a small bug in the way it was uploaded, the Market still says v0.9.1, but it is indeed a new version. If you haven’t tried it yet, check it out — it adds: (drumroll please)

• Voice Output — CardioTrainer now has a voice! It can tell you how far you’ve gone, and how long it took to get there. In the settings screen, you can customize how often you get notified — either based on distance or time, or even completely disable it if you’d rather tune out and enjoy your music. For those of you that exercise with music, CardioTrainer will turn down the music when it talks to you, and then turn it back up when it’s done. A lot more exciting developments coming for this feature!
• Statistics Screen — you can access this either by going to the Statistics menu when you are exercising or by simply clicking on the map. We are going to add more here soon. Look for calories and pace information in the next update!
• Advanced GPS Settings — some of you exercise in areas with dense vegetation or skyscrapers, where the GPS sensitivity level prevents you from getting any GPS points. If so, head over to the Advanced GPS settings screen (reachable from the Settings screen) and adjust the filter level there. Or maybe you’d like to save power for those 20-hour hikes you do. We have a setting for you as well.

We have also fixed a few bugs on the website — KML/GPX export should now export correct timestamps and elevations, and you can now zoom in all the way on your track without it disappearing. We also have a lot more features planned for the website.

Please try them out, let us know what you think of the new features, and if you have a second, jot down a comment in the Market.

We can’t thank you enough for your continued support of CardioTrainer. Your feedback, ideas, comments is what keeps us motivated and allows us to build an amazing product. We are always listening. And we will keep listening in 2009 and beyond.

There we were, fingers crossed, waiting for the Android Market to open up. Google was keeping the developers in the dark about the exact hour of the opening. Was this a devious plan to get us all more excited? If that was it, it was working — the excitement was going through the roof.

And then, there it was. After a few hours of impatient refreshing, suddenly the Android Market page opened, and we calmly and coolly (read: frantically and excitedly) started uploading CardioTrainer. A few minutes later, around 12:45pm on October 27th, we became the proud parents of an Android app. And then the downloads started pouring in. Followed by e-mails. Followed of course by rejoicing and partying of all kinds. Wait, wasn’t this supposed to be a small app that we make on the side?! It was all way beyond our expectations.

And now, as the dust settles, my favorite part begins — we finally get to dig up all of those product meeting notes, take a fresh look at them, and find out just how many of those ideas make absolutely no sense any more! Okay, many still do, but we now have much better ones, in large part due to the feedback we received just in these past 24 hours. Thank you to everyone who has written. We can’t wait to get back into the saddle and make your requests a reality.

This is literally the first day of a very exciting journey, and we’re delighted to have you on board! Write us and stay tuned!