indigo_rose99 | Entries tagged with technology

I've carried a pedometer for years. And by "years" I mean at least since mid-2007. I've watched them change and the options grow and shrink. What is important for me is clearly not important to the majority of people.... Or the developers are simply not listening to us.

Omron HJ-720ITFFP Pocket Pedometer

Price: $37 on Amazon right now, but I remember it being cheaper. $14? $25?

What it measures:

steps

calories

aerobic steps

distance traveled

Data upload: Data is uploaded by connecting a micro usb cable from the unit to a computer once every 40 days or so. Data is only on my computer. Data is never uploaded to the cloud. No one but me has access to my data.

Data access for user: The unit displays 7 days worth of data with the push of a button. Once data is downloaded to a computer with a cable, the software is happy to make a csv file of the data for me to pull it into whatever software I wish.

Software display of graphs: The software that comes with the unit will display bar graphs on a per day, week, month or year basis. Bar graphs will use color (stacked bar charts) to diffentiate between aerobic and non-aerobic steps. Not bad, not great.

Battery life: Battery life is... um... a month or two? It uses a CR2032 battery and requires a tiny screwdriver to change. But ignoring the whole charging thing is a very attractive feature.

Additional pros/cons:

This was my first pedometer and all others must be compared to it. It set my expectations for what is "typical" and "expected." When other pedometers took AWAY capabilities, I deeply resented it.

This resides in my pocket. Doesn't have to be upright. Any pocket will do.

I have to admit that my current Omron (yes, I still carry one after 8 years) is probably at least my 4th unit. Perhaps my 5th. I've lost them, washed them, simply run them to death.

Fitbit Force

Price: $250? $150? They are no longer for sale because of a recall 3 months after my purchase, and I cannot remember. It seemed like a lot when we bought it.

What it measures: steps, calories, staircases climbed (the draw for me!), distance

Data upload: Bluetooth to phone to cloud or bluetooth dongle to computer to cloud. Data upload is not possible if the phone or computer is not connected to the internet. Data is not stored locally.

Data access for user: The unit displays today's data with the push of a button. For $150/year, Fitbit will sell me my daily summary data. Had I known that data access would be impossible, I would never have purchased the unit.

Software display of graphs: Fitbit seems extremely fond of pie charts. If I have never mentioned it before, this is the WORST POSSIBLE way to display data. Their interface is intensely frustrating and creates terrible graphs. Some days I want to see a week of data. Or a month of data. I've seen them in the past, but cannot figure out how to display the metrics I want to see. Argh!!

Battery life: Battery life for the unit was not bad. 5-6 days. But plugging it in to its prioprietary connector was a pain.

Additional pros/cons:

It was cute that I could connect to other fitbit users and have a contest.

The wrist strap was constantly coming off (a complaint I knew about in advance of purchasing).

After only a year and a half of use, the unit was actually coming apart. It still worked, but i could see its innards.

The unit was not a good watch. I wore it like a watch (on the wrist), but to see the time, I had to push a button. After a few months of wearing it when traveling, I decided that reading the time was highly correlated with shortened battery life. So I stopped checking the time.

Because the data access was impossible on the Fitbit, I did not stop carrying the Omron unit while wearing the Fitbit. The only advantage the Fitbit really bought me was the counting of stairs.

To count sleep time, the fitbit requires that I tell it when I am going to sleep. After the first week, I never bothered to tell it when I was sleeping. The button to tell it I was sleeping may have been the same button to tell it I was exercising. Ugh.

The fitbit has a waking alarm.... Which, when I'm traveling internationally, requires that I connect the fitbit to my phone, change my phone time in the fitbit app, set the alarm in the fitbit app, then update the unit from the phone.... And still may not work. After the first week, I never bothered with the alarm. Functionally useless and undependable.

Basis Peak

Price: ~$185 on Amazon

What it measures: Heart rate, skin temperature, steps, sleep, calories

Data upload: bluetooth to phone to cloud. Data is not stored locally.

Data access for user: Unit displays today's data with a swipe of the finger. From app, request data export. An email appears with a 7-day link to a csv of my data. Simple data format, easy to transfer to the software of my choice. This was a HUGE draw for me to switch. My data is mine! Plus the data includes no only steps and calories, but also heart rate and skin temperature! Yay!

Software display of graphs: App on phone or tablet displays some pretty nice overlaid line/bar graphs of my heartrate, calories, and steps. This actually wins as the most sophisticated and informative graphs of the three.

Battery life: They claim the battery should last 4 days. Users claim 3 days. Charging is a small station (easy to pack for travel) connected to a mini usb cable. It is so easy to charge, i have been simply dropping it into the charger when I am showering. So far, the battery has been fine. No need for special charging time.

Additional pros/cons:

I was a bit disappointed that the data upload requires internet access. I hated that about the fitbit, especiallly when traveling and internet access is challenging.

Basis Peak is up front about the fact that they have limited release to android. And they cannot promise that it will sync to my version of android. It did, to my delight, but I understood going in that it might not.

Wrist strap is a traditional watch-like strap. No chance of it coming off accidently. The strap seems pretty soft and comfortable.

I've stopped wearing a watch. The eink screen constantly displays the time... except when I'm exercising. Which is fine, too.

I kind of love the heartrate monitor. So far I've been wearing my dependable chest strap and heart rate monitor when running (so wearing both) and discovered that when I'm not running, they display very similar heart rate values. When I'm running, the difference between 165 (Basis Peak) and 175 (chest strap monitor) is pretty big. I think I trust the chest strap more, but find the whole thing intriguing.

The Basis Peak auto-detects when I am sleeping, turning over in my sleep, walking, or running. It is a bit embarrassing to realize how much of my sleep is split-shift. And the running? I had no idea how long my walking was in the middle of my run. Hey, my heart rate was 175+!

The Basis Peak is part smart watch. It has options to allow me to read texts, calendar reminders and see that someone is calling me on my phone. Those can all be turned off.

The screen is black and white. I'm fine with that. Who needs color in a watch?! I'd rather have the longer battery life. Yes, finally a vendor who pays attention to my ACTUAL PRIORITIES!

The Basis Peak recommends that I switch wrists regularly. I have been, and discover that this may not be enough. The Basis is not cutting off circulation, but my skin does not like having something pressed that close to it for so long. I'm now rotating it around both wrists. So some days it is on the inside of a wrist, sometimes on the outside. This seems to help with the itching.

I have discovered that about every day or two, my heart rate goes up to 165 for 10 minutes in the middle of the night. ??? My typical sleeping heart rate is about 70-79. I'm trying to figure out if this is a blip on the Basis Peak or something about me.

I'm going to give it a bit more time, but I am seriously considering giving up the Omron. This is a HUGE step for me.

Current Location: home

So I mentioned the xoom in our lives.... Well, I found one place where it is handy: the front porch. Today is one of those rare comfortable-to-be-outdoors days. So of course His Majesty tells me where I should spend my rare non-working hour....

And inevitably there is a picture of The One Who Rules Us With An Iron Paw. Since I'm trapped in this chair, what else could I do?

( Picture of His Majesty under the cut... )

Current Mood: amused

T got that itch. When he itches for tech, it gets expensive. Today we got a Motorola Xoom. It's android nature fits with our Droid2s.

I'm a bit dubious, but I have to admit that the keyboard he bought with the Xoom..... Pairs beautifully with my D2. I'm typing this at pretty much full speed on my D2 currently. I've wanted a decent keyboard for a while.

Posted via LjBeetle

Current Location: home

I hate change. I have to wonder how long term Palm users like me do this when they don't have DAYS to spend on this. Seriously, I am doing NOTHING ELSE this week. Ugh. I must love my husband.

( And the details. )

Current Mood: sour
Current Location: home

The pictures at last done, I reluctantly approach my brother for the mysterious tools to scan the boxes of slides mixed in with our grandfather's photos. I get two plastic templates. No instructions. My brother has never scanned slides either. He says that the template will also scan negatives, but this is a figure-it-out-as-you-go situation.

Last Friday I unwrapped the plastic sheets with squares and rectangles cut out and began poking at the scanner. Four hours and many attempts later, I had not managed to scan a single item.

Sunday I brought in the Big Guns: my tech support husband. T poked at it, broke a piece off the scanner, put the piece back, and changed a setting in the software. Then he thought about it, and took the "broken" piece back off the scanner. *sigh* Hardware changes. I now realize that this piece must have been what the Help text meant by "Important!
Before scanning film, be sure to remove the document mat from the TPU and the Auto Film Loader." That what? From the what? No pictures or definitions were included. T lucked into this one, and we were scanning slides.

Monday after he left for work, I went back to scanning slides. I scanned a tray (four) full, replaced the slides, and... it refused to work. Error message. I swear, I only changed the slides!!!

I rotated the slides. Perhaps they were backwards? Error. I poked at the software. Error. I rebooted the scanner. Error. I rebooted the software. Error. I tried scanning negatives. Error. I tried scanning slides again. Error.

Five hours later, the scanner and my computer were still in their singular pieces (translation: I had not smashed it all to bits). I was climbing the walls. T came home at last and I handed the task to him. He opened the scanner and said, "I see the problem! You have the wrong template. This is the negative template." I am afraid that I took a bit of my frustration out on my innocent husband. *shamed look* He put the slide template in, inserted slides, pressed the icon... And it scanned perfectly.

I had to leave the room.

Patiently, he pulled out the completed slides and put new ones in. Error. He poked at the software. Error. He poked at the hardware. Error. I took painkillers and came back in speaking distance. We rebooted my laptop. Error.

Finally we switched over to trying to scan negatives... and one scanned successfully. I changed the template and software settings (no automation here!) and successfully scanned a screen of slides.

Today I spent entire day alternating between scanning a screen of negatives and a screen of slides. I'm terrified that if I change this irrational pattern, it will stop working.

I admit that I didn't break out the black candles and the chicken feathers, but we did try the dancing around the room and singing off-key to the scanner.

I think I have finished the slides. My folder tells me that I am up to scan 2587, including photos, slides and negatives up to this point. Now I am working on the odd-sized negatives. They must be done one at a time, black and white separate from color, three different sizes.

I really want to kill something electronic.

Current Mood: aggravated
Current Location: home

I'm traveling home today. My estimates of how much time it would take to pack, check out of the hotel, drive to the airport, drop off the rental car, and check through security were generous, so now I'm sitting at my gate.

This airport has seating areas with a table, tiny privacy screens (more the illusion of privacy than the actuality -- they are only about a foot square) and electric outlets. I took the only remaining seat. In the middle, of course. So now I am on a row of computer-punching geeks. One guy is on his cell phone clearly working. Yay, technology!

Current Location: in an airport

I ordered my new Treo 680 just before Christmas, got it just after Christmas. The transfer of information was a bumpy road. After a frustrating week of using it, I contacted Palm and they agreed that I had a lemon. They sent me a new one that arrived just before I stepped on a plane to France.

The transfer of data from the lemon 680 to the new 680 went relatively smoothly. I did not install any of my bluetooth apps, did not install TomTom before I left, and my new 680 has been working smoothly.

Except... Except when I arrived in France, connected to the internet and tried to sync with my laptop, it refused to connect. The sync worked fine when I was in Texas, but here the Treo swears that it cannot detect the laptop. The only things that have changed are (1) I am physically in France and (2) I am using a different cable. Same laptop, same Treo, same me. No software updates to laptop or Treo.

I went to the Palm website and searched out reasons it would not sync. I went through their troubleshooting list., full of reboots and tests. Nothing works. The only thing I can think of that I have not currently tried is a different sync cable.

Suggestions would be really welcome!

Current Mood: frustrated
Current Location: France
Current Music: Bicycle Race by Queen

A great deal of my opinions are based on having used innopocket's case for Treo 650 for more than a year. This is my "old case." My new case is Smartphone Experts Safeguard Metalcase.

Pros:

It is incredibly slick looking. Silver, shiny, pretty. It looks much prettier than my old case.
Thinner. My old case had SD card slots. I stopped carrying any cards in it when they started falling out. This case saved the space and thus is that much slimmer.

Cons:

I have no idea how dents and scratches will appear on it. Have not had sufficient to judge. So far, none have appeared to mar the surface.
The hinge is sharp. The hinge on my old case would never catch on anything, was smooth in my hands. This hinge sticks out and while it has not yet caught on anything, I can see the potential for wear and tear on pockets.
My old case had a double hinge. The cover, when open, could potentially bend completely behind the back of my case. It flopped a bit when I was playing games. This was lovely for playing sudoku as I am going to sleep. My new case is... not. It opens like a book. Which means that the cover sometimes gets in my way when I am holding it open and using the touchscreen while laying on my right side.
I could easily open my old case with one hand. This one... sticks. And is pokey ( = hurts my fingertips). I can open it one-handed, but it is considerably more difficult. If I was not accustomed to opening a case like this one-handed, I probably would not be able to open this one.

Do I recommend it? Ummmm... There is no real full-coverage case competition out there. While it is the only one, yes. As soon as one more like my last case comes out, I will replace this one in a heartbeat.

Note: I believe that the 680 case is also compatible with Treo 750 and 755.

Current Mood: disappointed
Current Location: France
Current Music: Why should I cry for you? by Sting

This morning I woke up to discover someone else controlling our TV, channels, and DVR. And by "someone else," I do not mean my spouse. I mean, one of my neighbors must have just gotten Dish Network because they were going TV-happy with the programming (yes, on my DVR). Whoever it was, they just adore football. They must have DVR-ed every regular football show they could find! In the half hour I spent this morning at the gym, they managed to successfully record no less than THREE football shows. By the time I returned from the gym to continue the war, they had not only filled up every one of my recording slots (evidently the machine only has 62 slots), but were hitting the "You cannot record this show unless you delete another Timer" message about every 10 seconds. I could not watch one of my shows. I could not check on what they had recorded. Even changing the channel was a fight. Grrrr....

I called for technical advice that does not involve changing the remote channel again (tried every channel at least twice). We just have too many neighbors with the same exact setup. To my surprise, there was a technical solution that prevents any one else from controlling my TV or DVR (yay!) and still may allow me to do the evil thing on theirs (double yay!). Evidently there was an antennae that I didn't need that was providing the communication. And I still may be controlling theirs (who knows how far my remote reaches), but my DVR's reception range is now very limited.

So next time I am feeling bad... I will take suggestions on shows I should set them up to record.

Current Mood: amused
Current Location: home

Just saw "A Day in the Life," an episode of Battlestar Galactica that my DVR describes as Episode 56, "A pair of crew members are trapped outside in an airlock." originally aired 2/18/07. Yes, it is taking me a while to clean out my DVR.

But toward the end of the episode, I nearly swallowed my tongue when they did a long sweep of sickbay and I saw... an iron lung. I rewound it to be sure. Yep. An iron lung. Looked too short (I remember the top of one as being about 6 feet high, if I was standing next to it), but otherwise sealed and sitting in the center of the scene. Wasn't on and had no one in it -- no head sticking out one end, no bellows working at the other end. But clearly an iron lung. With the straps and portholes and all. The scene moved on...

And then they showed one of the characters as being inside. Like, her whole body was inside. The hole where your head is supposed to poke out was not-so-discretely made to look like something mechanical. But the darn thing was still not on! They were making out like it was some sort of oxygen tank (but didn't actually SAY what it was supposed to be). I have to think that either she is really short, or they moved some of the internal footwell stuff to allow her to fit inside.

Iron lungs... now a prop that they think no one will recognize? But... but... that is circa 1974 technology!!! This is now futuristic?

Current Mood: bewildered
Current Location: home

Isn't it grand?

I type this as I listen to the beep of our UPS. The power has been out for about 5 minutes. And yet my laptop runs off of battery, the internet connection is on the UPS... I should still have enough time to post this before everything goes kaput.

I have to wonder how often and how long these things go on, usually. Since we are at work when they most often happen, I had always assumed that they either happened in storms or were just quick brown-outs (those are the ones that usually happen when I'm around).

Grateful that the temperature outside is only "hot" and not "nuclear." Of course, if I had a clue WHY the power is out, I would feel a bit better... Weather is pretty nice outside.

Current Mood: nerdy
Current Location: home
Current Music: beep beep beep