Not to be kept in “darwin’s waiting room” any longer I’ve shed my troubled and embarrassing iPad 1 ways in favour of the “New iPad” (which I refuse to call anything other than iPad 3). I also pre-ordered the new Apple TV. The gadget gods have surely shined on me today. ;^)
I’m really excited to jump from the iPad 1 to the iPad 3 but I’m also getting more and more excited to find out what the next gen Apple TV has up its sleeve. As you may already know … I’m a HUGE fan of AppleTV and am shocked that more people don’t use it. Everyone I know who has one is very happy with it and it costs very little to own. We have two of the first gen models but if this 3rd gen ATV does the right things I think we’ll have a third one for the house (one more than the number of televisions we have). Continue reading
My new FitBit has arrived today and not only does it appear to work but they sent me the updated version that has a sensor for altitude and is meant to measure stairs/steps. Not sure if this new sensor will be helpful for me but I’m happy to try it out.
The past two weeks I’ve been trying to set a new stride. It was starting two weeks ago that I moved to part-time at Sapient (3 days a week) which is a big shift and allows me to focus on my idea of starting my own business (more on that in a future post). Anyway, the thought occurred to me recently … wouldn’t it be cool to get back to my pre-Sapient weight. I don’t really know what that number would be but I’d guestimate around 165. Maybe as low as 160? Ultimately the number isn’t the most important thing, it is more about feeling good and having the right gut-to-chest ratio. That said, numbers are good for targets and I’m planning on getting to 165.
In order to help me reach that goal – and also due to a start-up idea I’m researching – I’ve purchased a number pieces of kit that will help me along the way:
Do gadgets help to achieve the goal? I think so. They do for me. They provide feedback and that feedback loop is addictive in itself. Just the other day I played tennis … and I caught myself thinking, “this will be great for my activity goal for today on the FitBit”. In many ways it’s not surprising … it’s been know for a long time that the best way for people to conserve energy at home is for them to have metrics on what devices are using what energy levels. This data informs initially and then through the feedback loop can reward good behaviour more than unmonitored progress.
The world of personal sensors is developing quickly but there are already segments that are mature and lots of ready-to-be-used devices out there to help you. Fitness goals like running and cycling have long led the way with their pedometers, GPS watches, cadence sensors, power meters, and community route-tracking sites like RunKeeper and Endomondo. I was always a big fan of the Garmin GPS watches in the past but as I’d misplaced my watch (due to neglect) I have found that these run sites have more than adequate software that runs on your smartphone and does precisely the same thing as the Garmin watch. Regardless of which tools you use when out running, some sort of GPS-based route management software will provide great data for you to analyse your progress.
Activity monitoring is a less familiar category for most people and while it is a relatively new area of self-monitoring it is one of my new favourites and the tech is mature enough for it to work for you immediately. What does it do? It uses an accelerometer to measure motion on a small device that you clip to your body. This then is able to measure activity level throughout the day and give reasonable approximation to steps taken, calories burned, etc. The FitBit is the device I bought but Phillips also makes a device and BodyMedia have made one for several years. Right now these devices are more available in the US then in Europe but I’m sure they’ll be widely available soon. Interestingly, the accelerometer is widely available in all major smart phones too. While this hasn’t yet been taken advantage of yet in terms of a software-on-the-phone solution yet I suspect this is only a matter of time. Although devices like the FitBit will continue to have the advantage of small size that easily attach to clothing at some point it becomes “just another device” and more and more people are already carrying their smartphone everywhere (including during exercise).
This category is currently dominated by the Zeo Sleep Monitor. The Zeo can monitor actual sleep stages (e.g., REM, light, deep, etc.) and give a very complete report on the quality and amount of sleep you are getting. Sleep is critical for the body in both physical and mental activities. Knowing what’s going on “inside your head” while you sleep is informative and interesting. When combined with other data I am also hoping to see some interesting correlations. I’ve only had it two days so too early to see if that comes true. In addition to the Zeo, most of the Activity monitors from above have a “night time” mode that allows for you to track motion at night and translate that into a rough (although reasonably accurate) guide to when you’re sleeping and when you’re not. It can’t determine what type of sleep you’re in but it does provide useful feedback none-the-less and lowers your cost in getting yourself fully metricized.
Weight measurement is the most common form of personal sensor and has a normal part of many people’s daily routine for decades. More recently, it has become more common to add a body fat monitor as part of the scale. This measurement – which uses a very small electrical current to measure body fat percentage – is a much better guide to your relative “weight health” than the more crude BMI measurement that has become popular recently. The latest addition is getting the data out of the scale and into “the cloud” where it can be monitored and viewed over different time horizons. The Withings Body Scale is the leading example of all three elements (weight, body fat, networked). I’ve used the Withings for years and it is really helpful in understanding your weight fluctuations over time; the best part is it takes zero effort … just stand on it for about 5 seconds every morning. That’s the sign of a good sensor: interesting data, easily captured.
Well so far … pretty well. I’ve dropped from 185 to 170 over the past few months. Admittedly most of the sensors are more recent but there is a clear increase in my weight loss since I had more metrics to work off of and my interest and motivation are dramatically increased.
How cool is this? I just bought a Zeo Personal Sleep Coach which monitors you when you sleep and can tell which stage of sleep you’re in as well as when you’re woken. Besides the monitor the base unit serves as an alarm clock which has a feature you can turn on where rather than waking you at a set time it will wake within 30 minutes of a time based on which sleep phase you are in. This morning it woke me at an ideal time (aka, I had woken myself up) but I still felt the need to hit snooze and grabbed a wee bit more REM’s it appears. Nice.
Anyway, as anyone who knows me knows, I’m a world-class sleeper so my purchase wasn’t aimed at finding better ways of getting to sleep. Instead I was hoping to understand my sleep better, optimise the time I have and test out my theory that my ideal sleep timeframe is 8.5 hours (I am hoping it is less).
If you’re like me and have a digital SLR that can also make movies than you’re probably finding that:
The two things that you really need to think about getting are a high quality microphone and something that can steady your camera for video. I’ve written before about microphones and still think my choice of the Rode Stereo VideoMic is a good one. With regards to steadying your camera sometimes just a monopod can do the trick or a tripod when the action of your shot is stationary but for most situations you need to look elsewhere. Here’s one such option from Studio Checkout called the SD Camera Brace and at $249 it’s pretty reasonably priced. I haven’t gotten it yet but I think I may splurge on it the next time I go to the states.
Typically when I have a long weekend that translates into more free time. When I have more free time that typically translates into me looking at new gadgets and the all too common outcome of me purchasing at least something new and cool. Well last weekend was a “bank holiday weekend” in the UK so I exercised my gadget rights and looked for a solution to my mobile 3G needs and came up with a gem: the Huawei E5830.
The Huawei E5830 – categorized as a “MiFi” device – is sold in the UK by the “3 Network” mobile operator as an alternative to the now standard “USB 3G Card”. What does it do? It receives cellular data services (HSDPA, 3G, GPRS) and then broadcasts this data channel over WiFi. Why is this cool? Well now you can have one 3G contract that services all your devices (laptop, PC, phone, ipad, etc.). I know you’re probably already thinking “Ken, thanks for sharing your fucking genius with me, I need to get one of these and improve my data-dependant life”. Well you’re welcome but it gets better. When you buy this device from the 3 Network you’re going to be tied into their network and their service plans. That might not be bad for some of you but if you’re already on a plan or – and this is key – if you travel to different countries regularly, you can unlock this device quite easily and get SIM cards for every geo you travel to. Ok, that’s all. I’ll stop so you can run out to the store and get yourself one of these little puppies.
Kabuki bought me a Kindle for xmas this year. I know it’s not xmas yet but she’s been generous enough to let me use my present early and early indications are that this is a great little device. I guess with less than 24 hours behind the wheel I shouldn’t be too definitive in my praise but the text is very clear and comfortable to read (it really does feel like ink on a page), the convenience of free wireless downloads is really nice particularly when it comes to reading magazines or newspapers, and the one criticism I’d heard in the past – that the screen refreshes were very slow – is much, much better than I had expected. My one gripe? European pricing and restrictions relative to US. For instance, newspapers are at least twice as expensive! These kind of price points really raise questions on value for money. Furthermore the network deal that Amazon has for non-US countries is apparently much more expensive and therefore they have blocked access to the built-in browser and blog access. The former I could probably have lived without but the latter would have been a really nice benefit. For those interested, I found a good summary of some these differences here: Amazon Extends Kindle Beyond United States.
I guess e-books are still in their infancy and with the introduction of the Barnes and Noble Nook and looming Apple Tablet there threatens to be far greater competition coming which should be good for consumers both in the feature and pricing department. I’ll look forward to that as I don’t think today’s prices will allow me to subscribe to the amount of newspaper content I’d like to. The one worry I have right now is that Apple, Amazon, and B&N are US companies and will naturally favour US markets over EU markets. Sony, the other e-book reader, is also likely to focus on the scale of the US market first too. I guess the EU will have to continue to live off of hand-me-downs until one of the parties decides to really go after the EU market share.
I have had my iPhone 3GS for two months now and in that time we have developed a deep relationship. We go on walks together, attend parties, my phone even goes to work with me. Tragically my iPhone jumped from my hand today and crashed into the pavement below. It is badly hurt and my iPhone health insurance ran out last month without any option of renewal. What a fucking debacle! O2 (my phone company) has helpfully told me that for about £150 and 10 days of surgery they can return my iPhone in perfect condition. Seems expensive but 10 days? What the fuck? Who can live without their phone for 10 days?
For those interested, there is a cool hack to make your 3.x Firefox browser look cooler, hipper, and much more Firefox 4.0’ish. If you’re interested you can find the step-by-step process here:
http://spewboy.deviantart.com/art/Strata40-Beta-v0-3-132191373
I’ve done it and everyone I’ve talked to (no one but me at the moment) thinks it reflects very well on my coolness and hipness factor. Give it shot, you’ll immediately have my respect and admiration (a much sought after prize).