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Suunto are filling the gap that mobile phone manufacturers are leaving open.

Byrichard
Reading Time: 2 minutes

For a period of time I would buy new mobile phones every six months. This was to test new hardware, new operating systems and new versions. Recently mobile phone development has hit a development wall. http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/31/white-nexus-4-available/ of a phone is excellent, if that’s the reason you chose one phone or another. That’s not how I select my phones. Battery life is. For the last two years I have looked at mobile phones and battery life and it has not improved. I like to use my phones as GPS during via ferrata trips, walks and other outdoor activities. Within an hour you are usually down to half a battery or less and by the time you arrive home the phone is dead, unless you get an external battery to recharge the device. The fashion to develop phones that are thinner and thinner with bigger screens is only making things worse. I’d love to see manufacturers once again double phone size and triple battery capacity. I’d like something thick that I could use for a day in the mountains.

Suunto have provided an alternative:

This is a device that you wear as an ordinary watch on your wrist. It has an integrated GPS, pressure sensor and a rechargeable battery. In day to day use the battery loses around 1% of battery charge per day when in normal mode and around 3% per hour of exercise. It takes just a few seconds to get the watch in to activity tracking mode, to pause, tracking, or to stop tracking all together. The data it collects is synced with a computer very easily. If you spend a little extra money you can buy accessories for cycling, for heart rate monitoring, for cadence and more.

Satellite acquisition is fast. Every time you sync the watch and charge it Geo-stationary satellite information is downloaded and synchronised with the watch. This speeds up the time it takes to have an accurate location. It takes around 4 seconds when near the location of synching and less than 30 seconds when 1-200 kilometers away. It’s fast.

The beauty of such devices is that they encourage physical activity. Online you can share your tracks with friends and you can tailor apps to the types of sports you do or goals you set. There are apps for 10k runs, marathons and many more similar activities. Part of the purpose of this watch is to be a fitness trainer and app developers have made a variety of apps for interval training, distance etc.

This watch has replaced my need for a mobile phone app to track the activities I do when outdoors. I can preserve battery life on the mobile phone until I am back on the home cellphone network or using the phone for in car navigation.

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Current Affairs in Podcast Form

Byrichard

There is an increasing number of professional outfits now offering their content in podcast form, from Euronews to the BBC, from Reuters to The Guardian and others. As a result there are a number of great resources for news content.


The Media guardian was one of the earlier outputs and concentrated mainly on media news but since then The Guardian have diversified their content output to include a number of news programs. These include The Guardian Weekly Podcast, MediaTalk, Newsdesk, and one or two others I have yet to listen to. These programs are good for two reasons; firstly they provide world news when it’s convenient for you and secondly because professionals are creating this content therefore the content should be more reliable. They provide in-depth analysis, getting interviews, and discussions that help the listener understand the topics that are being discussed. In effect they are creating broadcast-quality programs as radio stations have done in the past.


Euronews provides their No Comment video feeds and these are more of a curiosity than factual. They show one to two minutes of edited footage without a voice over. it’s up to the viewer to, via the information previously gathered to understand what the footage is about.


Reuters create their own output in the form of a two to three-minute news summary for the day’s events.


The BBC has a great variety of content available and one of my current favourites is The BBC World Service Global News report that you get twice a day with a summary of the day’s news. It provides around 20 minutes of world news from a variety of countries. They have a number of other productions that cover a range of needs from global news to From Our Own Correspondent and others.


We then have NBC and their Meet the Press Program which is distributed both in podcast and video form. The interviews are interesting and the ability to take them wherever you go means that whilst the program is relatively long it’s available at your convenience.


The point at the moment is that there are a number of resources from which to get the latest news as a result of which some of the more classic, and badly managed more traditional (relatively) media (television) are replaced by newer on-demand content.

Minimal Walking – Day 2
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Minimal Walking – Day 2

Byrichard

I went for a walk with the barefoot shoes for a second day in a row. I didn’t regret it. I need to pay more attention to how I walk, specifically I need to make sure not to slam my heel into the ground with each step and this takes focus, muscle use, and discipline.
This time I wore socks with the barefoot shoes and the sensation is different. I prefer feeling that my feet are protected by the shoe, and by the socks. I don’t know why I dislike walking without socks in these shoes. I suspect that it’s a matter of adapting, psychologically.


Shopping Centre With Barefoot Shoes


I went to the shops to get two or three drinks with the barefoot shoes and in this environment they feel great. The ground is smooth so if you’re going shopping, minimal shoes are fine. I know we don’t buy minimal shoes to walk in supermarkets but by association if we’re at a winter club med, summer club med or elsewhere and we don’t want to wear normal shoes, these are fine.


Weathered Tarmac


Despite the shoes feeling good on lose stones that are used to cover driveways they do not feel good on weather worn tarmac that has disintegrated to leave chaotic stones around. In this context I felt the limitation of 6mm of sole protection. I sometimes felt discomfort. It’s intriguing because on a dirt path they felt fine but not on a surfaced road that has been allowed to degrade over several years, or even decades.


Feeling Calf Muscles


After two days of walking in barefoot shoes, and after my 5km walk two days earlier my calves still feel pumped. That’s why I will take a rest day today. It’s not that I don’t want to walk with the barefoot shoes today, but that I don’t want to risk injury from building up fatigue in my legs.


The Difference Socks Make


Wearing socks, with the vapour glove 7 does impact how hot feet feel. My feet felt warmer when I wore socks, than without. In summer the shoes are comfortable without socks, so it makes sense to save on washing by not wearing any but when it gets colder wearing socks will extend the temperature range within which these shoes are worn.


And Finally


I have walked 18km or so in about 3 hours over two days and so far the shoes feel fine. I do feel that I need to spend a little more time thinking about how I am walking, but I often find myself walking without thinking about the change in shoes. Walking barefoot is comfortable and intuitive. Socks make me feel safer despite them hardly offering any extra protection. Today I am taking a rest day from barefoot walking and tomorrow I could take them in case of technical issues when cycling. I think I was triggered to think about how I get around because I sold the scooter, so now I will either drive the car, walk, or cycle. Without that trigger I probably would not have pivoted.

Threads And Europe

Threads And Europe

Byrichard

Yesterday Facebook, discguised as meta, and Meta, diguised as Instagram launched Threads. Threads is meant to be a twitter competitor. The paradox is that Facebook has always been a twitter competitor, and this has become more evident with every iteration of both social networks. It is paradoxical that Facebook would need threads, to compete with Twitter.





Not Available in Europe


Threads, at the time of writing this blog post is not available in Europe because it requires data, which brings it in breach of GDPR rules. The only European Country where threads is authorised is England.


Commercial Use of Fediverse Data


Today I thought about the way in which Meta, through threads, could syphon data without user permissions for commercial use. Is Meta allowed to gather our data through the fediverse, and use it for commercial purposes or am I mistaken?


No Chronological friends timeline


I glimpsed a few lines that implied that Threads is a social network where we do not follow a chronological timeline of what our friends are posting. I left Facebook and Instagram because I had no desire to follow strangers that reminded me of what my life could be. It felt like a glossy magazine where you pay for adverts, rather than content. That is why we dumped plenty of magazines.


Why would you want to be on a network where you declare your friends, but see posts by strangers instead?


No Desire To Play


Although I should, I have no desire to play with threads and I read something that would worry me, if I was on Threads. Signing up to threads, via Instagram, binds both accounts. This means that you cannot delete your threads account, without also deleting instagram. Joining is easy, but once you’re in, you’re locked in. You can’t change your mind. You can deactivate your account but nothing more.


The Paradox of Competition


Although Threads is seen as competing with Twitter I think this is a flawed perspective. In so far as I can see Twitter is self-destructing itself. Mastodon, BlueSky, Threads and other apps don’t need to take active measures. Simply exiting as an alternative to Twitter is enough. Remember that Mastodon has been around for years, and that it only became of interest because people did not agree with Twitter’s new direction. It’s not that BlueSky, Mastodon or Threads are stealing users, it’s that Twitter is driving them away. Twitter is pushing people towards the competition.


The Social Media Migration peaks are as a direct consequence of moves made by Musk and Twitter, not the other way around. Twitter blames others, instead of analysing how its behaviour is the push factor.


And Finally


Threads “by Instagram” is just Facebook, rebranded, for those that are not attentive enough to realise that Threads and Facebook are basically the same thing, but rebranded to avoid some of the stigma that Meta collects, without ever apologising about.

Static Web Generators and CMSes

Static Web Generators and CMSes

Byrichard

For weeks, or even months, by now I have been playing/experimenting with Hugo, 11ty and other solutions. I really like that with Hugo I can use FrontMatter as a CMS to create new posts, add the appropriate meta data, and keep track of what is published and what is in draft form. It allows me to create posts with the right metadata in seconds, rather than having to write the date, time, draft status and more by hand. It also generates the right file title for good archival practices.

Decap CMS

As I was looking for a CMS tool to make managing 11ty content easier I came across Decap CMS and it seemed interesting. I installed a version locally, and then I started to look at the code manually, rather than using the CMS tool. It felt complicated so I did some more research. Eventually I learned that in order to play with Decap CMS you need to setup a netlify account, a github account and then expose yourself to accidental charges when playing with a static website generator. I was struck by the paradox. Why would you use a CMS tool that requires you to commit to an external hosting tool? Why not use ClassicPress or WordPress and cut out the middle man. Of course the short answer is “because you still generate a static tool, but the interface is intuitive for non coders.

Yet Another Service

By requiring us to set things up via Netlify we’re forced to use yet another service, which is fine, when you’re using the service in the first place. I am not.

FrontMatter.Code

Within a few minutes frontmatter.codes could be setup locally do do what I want, to manage documents and frontmatter for an 11ty site. In so doing I keep development on the local machine, only connecting to the external server when I’m uploading site changes. I can use the same workflow as I have for Hugo, once I set it up.

ClassicPress and WordPress

It’s easier, for me to setup a ClassicPress or WordPress CMS and use that. ClassicPress feels very fast and I can use markdown or html for pages that I am creating, or that already exist. Within a short amount of time I can do what Decap CMS does, anywhere I want.

For WordPress you can use this method/tutorial or with the free playground option. Within seconds you can have a wordpress instance running on azure, up and ready for a new site and content.

In particular, while App Service F1 will not generate any cost, database usage is chargeable for “pay as you go” plans or when the usage limit of 750 hours per month for 12 months is exceeded. So, in order to ensure they will not pay for the WordPress playground, developers should monitor and track their database usage.

With this tool a wordpress instance is prepared for you, and for a month you can see what the cost would be, before jumping into a financial commitment.

And Finally

If I am experimenting with a Static website generator like Hugo or 11ty I want to have local versions to play with, rather than remote ones that may cost something if I am not careful. If I’m reading it correctly the basic plan I’m experimenting with is 3 CHF per month for a server in Northern Switzerland. With this “playground” I have the opportunity to experiment, and see whether that is the case.

The testing options are cheap, but for production Azure and other cloud solutions are expensive, which is why we use other cloud solutions, especially for personal sites. I will spend time experimenting with Frontmatter, set up for 11ty, following this learning experience.

WordPress.com and the Fediverse

WordPress.com and the Fediverse

Byrichard

I keep seeing articles and posts about how WordPress is on the Fediverse now via the plugin. This is half true. You can write blog posts and they will appear on the Fediverse. What they fail to mention is that those blog posts can have comments, on the Fediverse, but not on WordPress. If you see a post, and you comment once, then that comment cannot be answered via wordpress, but it can’t be interacted with via Wordpress. To interact with an interaction on Wordpress you would need to create an account that has two way synching.

At the moment Fediverse/WordPress integration is unilateral. It works more like RSS or an atom feed than a full fledged Fediverse instance.

Frustration

I would love for WordPress to be a fully functional blogging instance on the Fediverse where we can post and have conversations like we do with a full fledged mastodon server. The reason I pay for a Fediverse instance, and am experimenting with a Raspberry Pi and Mastodon is that I want to integrate a long form blogging instance, with the option to have conversations. Some Mastodon instances allow us to write one thousand character posts. Others allow long form blogging, and micro-blogging in a single package. This is interesting. It allows people to be short and succinct, or verbose and long winded.

A Quick WordPress.com Test

I ran a quick test to see if WordPress.com blogs react the same way as privately managed blogs do and they do. You can read a comment, but if you comment to a comment on WordPress blogs they will not be seen in the Fediverse. I see this as a big limitation. This requires you to have your blog account, and a second account to comment to what people have said about your blog, or thoughts.

And Finally

What I loved was the potential. What I see is that the project has fallen short by not getting commenting to be two way yet. This would place WordPress in league with Mastodon, Firefish and other fediverse instances. For now it needs some embellishment.

Thoughts On The Garmin Etrex Solar
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Thoughts On The Garmin Etrex Solar

Byrichard

I quite like Garmin devices. I like that my Garmin Instinct Solar can run forever in summer, and less time in winter. I like that the Garmin Etrex SE can last for days or even weeks with my type of use. I also love the idea of the Garmin Etrex Solar. They make the claim that you “Get unlimited battery life when used in sunny 75,000 lux conditions or up to 200 hours with no solar charging.”


This means that if you get the bike mount for summer bike rides you don’t have to worry about battery life. It also means that you can go for your daily walk, run or bike ride, without ever worrying about charging. Of course you need to keep it facing the sun, so that it charges.


The great thing about the Garmin Etrex family, especially the SE and the Etrex Solar is that they have battery charges that last for days or even weeks, when running off of batteries, and with the Etrex SE you can swap batteries and within seconds be on your way again.


One drawback of the Etrex GPS is that it’s fine for tracking the route, when you know where you’re going, but not if you need to navigate with it. The map is “cities only” which means you don’t see rivers, contour lines or anything else. For that you need the Explore app on your phone but phones can be unreliable due to battery life. A map and compass are a low tech alternative.


The last option is to find a GPS track of the route you want to walk and download it to the device. This can be fiddly, even for someone as geeky as me.


The Garmin Etrex Solar is 279 CHF whereas the Garmin Etrex SE is 179 CHF. If you get four rechargeable AA batteries then you can keep two in the device at all times, and two spare, ready to replace the first pair. The cost of rechargeable AA batteries is still less than the Etrex Solar price difference. I am not clear on whether you can replace the Etrex Solar batteries.

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