Yes, my Pebble watch rocks on still. After a display on the fritz and a broken band, I though the transition to the AppleWatch was inevitable. But not so fast.
An inquiry to Pebble’s customer service led me to a replacement unit at no cost. No cost! Even after originally backing the project on Kickstarter years ago. Even better, the replacement unit shipped and arrived right before Christmas, giving me an unexpected gift. Thanks Pebble!
All this time I’ve had Oceanic’s Internet Ultimate 200 data plan and didn’t realize it. Simply put, my household could get 200 Mbps download speeds which is way greater than the 50 Mbps Extreme package I had back in the day. But my older Motorola SurfBoard SB6141 modem maxed out at 100 Mbps. Lose out!
So I purchased a new modem, the NetGear CM500-100NAS. Despite the name, this unit does not include a NAS but is just a plain old cable modem with no WiFi. Since I already have a good enough WiFi router, there’s no need to replace it. This NetGear model is on Oceanic Time Warner’s list of approved modems.
In order to activate the modem, I did have to call Oceanic Tech Support to authorize the new MAC address. Once that was done, it was 200 Mbps Internet surfing. It doesn’t feel faster for short, bursty downloads, but you can feel the speed increase when downloading big files. Oddly enough, while this modem just works, the best part I really like about it are its status lights. The usual complement of LEDs are on the front of the device, but their colors are muted, almost too much so. Kinda hard to see when the room lights are on, but not irritatingly bright at night like the blue LEDs of the SurfBoard SB6141. These LEDs would light up a room at night that could cause sleep issues.
Researching building a retro arcade gaming system using a Raspberry Pi.
Looks like RetroPie is a good start for the software emulation.
Follow this tutorial to get RetroPie installed and running.
Here’s a hardware list I’m looking at:
Anyone have any suggestions about this? You can DM me on Twitter @geewhy.
Here I was looking for best prices of the Motorola SB6183 cable modem, but in the end, there was Costco. Strolling down the electronics section, lo and behold, there was the SB6183 at the same price as Amazon. 200 Mb/s here I come!
I’ve had enough trying to coax some old hardware to work. It’s time to upgrade and be done with the problems.
Canon Office Products LiDE220 Document Scanner
HooToo 7 Port USB 3.0 Hub with 2 Smart Charging Ports
Wow, that USB 3.0 hub is originally priced at $180?!?!
Am I at the end of the Pebble-d path? First, the original watchband gave way and finally cracked, but I got a replacement. About a week later, this starts happening to the screen.
Resetting the Pebble to factory defaults is the suggested troubleshooting tip but even that’s not working. It’ll reset but then my Pebble gets stuck waiting for an update. I tried installing an old firmware version but even that’s not taking. Maybe I’m doing the steps wrong or maybe, just maybe, this is yet another sign to transition to the AppleWatch.
Don’t forget that the launch of Mac OS X 10.11 aka “El Capitan” is coming up on Wednesday, September 30, 2015. Read about its features and if you absolutely can’t wait, you can run the Pre-release/Golden Master version.
I can say that the GM version runs adequately on a mid-2007 iMac with 6 GB of memory. I won’t be taking advantage of all the El Capitan features on this aged iMac, but performance is okay for an eight-year old machine.
Ever. Did you hear me? Ever. I walked in. I was handed my my drink. I walked out. I didn’t clock my time, but it must have been less than a minute. When’s the last time you ever bought something in Starbucks and was done with your entire transaction in less than 60 seconds?
Thanks to the nationwide launch of Starbucks Mobile Order and Pay service, this experience is now possible for all mobile app users. Using the expanded Starbucks mobile app, you make your order, customize the heck out of it (if wanted), and finally place and pay for your order at a nearby location. The app approximates your driving time (based on your location) and also estimates your drink creation time. When you get there, you walk straight to the pickup area and claim your drink. Even better if the workers recognize you and can pull your drink from the other mobile orders awaiting pickup.
As far as I know, you can’t order ahead and set a specific pickup time. When your order is placed, it’ll be made and be available at the pickup area in the next few minutes. Also, I don’t think there’s a notification informing you when your drink is ready. I guess there’s no point since you’re supposedly on your way.
Now, will this mobile ordering method lessen the overall Starbucks experience? Maybe, since you no longer have the chance of interacting with the workers. But then again, you’ve been to a Starbucks with a line 8 to 10 deep and reconsidered. Waiting behind the customer making a mass order for the workplace is never fun. Never. Especially when that person is paying individually to rack up the Bonus Stars. With this app (and some preplanning), you can avoid these queues and get your caffeine fix.
For too long, my Mac Mini was sluggish. It’s a 2012 model decked out with 16 GB of RAM and an Intel Core i7 processor. But when my 2007 iMac running the bleeding edge Mac OS X 10.11 was snappier than my Mini, I had to dig deeper to see what was going on.
I always felt BackBlaze was involved with the slowdown but hey, offsite backups are worth a speed penalty right? But it never really made sense. Even with online backups complete, things were still slow as BackBlaze sat idle. Looking at the activity monitor, all the RAM was consumed and sometimes, the bztransmit process would utilize 100% of the CPU.
Finally, a Google search lead me to the answer. BackBlaze and Mac OS X’s Spotlight were essentially nagging each other to no end, making my Mac Mini crawl along. As backups occurred, BackBlaze would log the changes, and that would then trigger a resource-intensive Spotlight index process. As more files were backed up (and logged), the Spotlight index would launch again and again and again, overwhelming the Mini’s resources.
So the answer (that wasn’t already configured in my BackBlaze setup)? Exclude BackBlaze from Spotlight. That’s it. Immediately after making the Spotlight exclusion, my Mini came to life, much faster than ever before. What a loser! I should have researched this previously instead of waiting all this time.
Here’s a few more Spotlight exclusions that may help out even more.
Each time I go hand-to-hand with Microsoft SharePoint, I get my ass whooped. Call it a learning experience, but I’m getting tired of it. I don’t know how organizations adopt SharePoint without also heavily investing in developers and/or experts to make SharePoint do what you want.
While I’ve learned that SharePoint can do stuff, making it do stuff is entirely different. I’m looking at our average workforce who uses SharePoint, and I know they don’t have the want to figure out how to make SharePoint do stuff. Lots of seemingly simply stuff is not so simple to do and as you figure it out, you’ll get a SharePoint beat down.
Only recently, I think I’ve tamed Content Types and actually used them correctly. But now that I’m thinking about it, I think I scoped some columns incorrectly, meaning SharePoint has just won again.
If you have too many personal electronic devices with chargers and cables strewn about your household then you too should look at Cove, an elegant home recharging center. Long time accessory builder, Griffin Technology, is expanding their lineup with Cove and is using Indiegogo to crowdfund this project. The Cove can charge up to five personal electronic devices at one time and not just iDevices. Any of your gear that charges with an USB cable is Cove compatible.
Learn about Cove…
Right now, there’s an early adopter special of $150 for a Cove for the next 48 hours. I admit that I’m intrigued by Cove, but I have two concerns. I don’t know where I would place a Cove in my household that’s close to an electrical outlet and second, I’m afraid I’ll forget devices in the Cove when the door is closed. But I do have this phone and that phone and that other phone, a GoPro, an external battery pack, a tablet, a mini tablet to charge…
No, I didn’t pre-order an Apple Watch, wanting to see it in person first. So I scheduled a fifteen minute appointment to try on Apple’s newest wearable at the Ala Moana Apple Store, but those fifteen minutes are woefully short. Other than making an appointment, there’s no way of actually putting an Apple Watch on your wrist. The demo units are either behind a case or mounted in a display.
The appointment runs through an educational demo of the Apple Watch. It’s kinda cool, but kinda lame since you’re standing there bed to your Apple concierge essentially watching a tutorial about the Apple Watch. The fun begins when you try on the different sizes and bands.
Guys definitely need the 42mm model. The 38mm looks too small and the band itself will barely fit. I could not slip my wrist through the 38mm Milanese Loop band.
A quick physical comparison to my Kickstarted Pebble watch, the 42mm Apple Watch is actually smaller. However, the craftsmanship and feel cannot be compared with the Apple Watch.
I’m not totally digging the Sport’s fluoroelastomer band. Yeah, it feels good, but I had a hard time putting it on single-handedly. It doesn’t align easily since you have to insert the pin first then tuck the excess band on the inside of the band. When taking off the Sport band, it comes off too readily, making for accidental drops.
The watch bands are easy to interchange, but personally, I don’t think all the bands match with the aluminum finish of the Sport model in case you’re thinking of “upgrading” your Apple Watch.
The display of the Apple Watch is clear and crisp if not tiny. Looking at watch faces and well-designed activity monitors is fine. But trying to use Maps is too difficult for aged eyes. I guess the point is to use audio or haptic feedback to guide your directions.
The general consensus is to buy the most inexpensive Apple Watch Sport model to minimize your investment in a first generation device. That’s very sound advice. Heed that advice and don’t try on the stainless steel Apple Watch. Otherwise, you very well may disregard that logical advice. I’m not sure what it was, but when I tried on the steel Apple Watch, it simply resonated with me. It felt heavier, making me more conscious about wearing it, but it wasn’t a burden. The leather strap definitely projected sophistication, and the magnetic closures felt more sure than the pin-and-tuck Sport band. Maybe I was imagining things, but I thought the steel itself felt cooler. Touching the sapphire crystal face, it felt smoother than the Ion-X glass of the Sport. And the stainless steel finish simply has an elegance missing from the anodized aluminum Sport. Trying on the Apple steel will only make your buying decision harder.
Initially, I was leaning to the Sport model in silver with a white band. But space gray with the black band is now my preferred Sport model. Seeing the gray/black combo stands out next to its colorful family members. But yes, the steel outshines all the Sports.
And there went my allotted 15 minutes. In fact, my appointment went overtime, nearly at 25 minutes, and it still wasn’t enough to adequately comprehend and assess the Apple Watch. I still haven’t figured out which watch to get.
While at the Apple Store at Ala Moana, I ran across Ryan Ozawa and Burt Lum there for their try-on appointments. Here is Ryan’s Apple Watch post, and watch Burt’s video entering the store.
