A Raspberry Pi 4, top, and Pi 5, bottom.

Waiting For Progress Bars To Be Full

Byrichard
Reading Time: 2 minutes

There was a time when I spent eight hours a day transferring footage from Beta SP, DV, DVcam, DVCpro and other tape formats to a digital format to be part of a media asset management system. A 63 minute tape would take at least 63 minutes to digitise. Back in those days we moved video files in real time.

When streamling live content I would wait for several hours for the program to end. I would watch basketball, curling and bobsledding, biathlon, but also NATO press conferences and more. You had to be there, ready to react if there was a problem. This was before YouTube streaming standardised things. I would set the akamai end points and start the encoders and recording, and then wait.

At the same time I would often have to wait for files to be transferred from the local computer to an FTP account. Sometimes this would add an hour or two to the shift.

Later on it was waiting for data to move from one drive to another. When I left for my walk today it said that I had about four hours left. Now it tells me that I have about two hours left. On a mac two hours means less than three hours and four hours means less than five. You add one hour to get a better estimate of time remaining.

On a mac there is a way to get a more granular view of how fast files are moving between drives. Right click and chose get info for the source, and the destination folders. You can then watch as data is moved between the two. When the transfer is finished you can check whether the byte number from Folder A is the same as for Folder B. If it is then you can assume that the transfer was a success. If it isn’t you can spend time finding why there is a difference. In this scenario I am not deleting anything so I will check later.

What I am doing now is time consuming but once I finish moving data from this drive it will be much faster. It’s slow because there are no duplicates yet. Once there are this process will go much faster. That’s the stage I am impatient for.

And Finally

Digitising footage or moving data from one drive to another is sometimes time consuming and boring, as is the case at the moment, but it’s because most of the work was done over the last two weeks. Now it’s about backing up that work. Tomorrow or Sunday I will start consolidating all that data and that will require me to be attentive again.

When I duplicate the eight terabyte drive I will use a Pi 4 for the task. I will set it to run and check it when it’s done.

Similar Posts

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Byrichard

Screen Shot 2015-03-15 at 08.58.32

The apple watch will put no one out to pasture. Have you seen how many people from my generation can’t even read books on a kindle? What will put the web out to pasture is the tabloid/gossip magazine style of writing. Too many mainstream media hubs and blogging platforms write for the clueless and emotional portion of the web rather than the informed.

There was a time when I would read up to ten thousand tweets a day and spend 20hrs a day in social media. Today that passion has collapsed because conversationalists have left.

There was a time when I would spend several hours a week listening to the TWIT network to gain a better understanding of tech news and current affairs. I stopped listening when they stopped editing out the small talk. What value does small talk have to an international audience?

The Apple Watch marks the next, probably last, step in the downfall of the web. Or more precisely, the downfall of the web as commonly understood: that HTML medium which has spent the last two decades dominating the way we buy, share, search, learn and collaborate.

As long as you create your user account, enter your credit card details, personal address and other data the statement is true. I can easily see myself booking a flight or hotel via the mobile phone and using a smartwatch to check in to a flight or hotel. Operations where a “yes” or “no” answer is enough will benefit from smart watch devices. For most operations web interfaces and mobile phones are key.

“What began the toppling of the web? The mobile app. And the reason is pretty simple: apps deliver a much better user experience.”

The discussion is not about evolution and alternatives rather than elimination. The World Wide Web interface on desktops and laptops is practical. Actions which would take several minutes on a mobile phone take seconds on a laptop or desktop. The focus should be on “What tasks can be simplified through the use of a mobile phone or smart watch?”. Bus tickets, train tickets and cinema tickets would benefit from smartwatch access. When you’re shopping using your phone to scan the bar codes would be good. Once you finish shopping press “Complete” or “pay” and the financial transaction happens automatically. This isn’t replacing the web interface. It’s streamlining other processes.

For companies and indie developers alike, the way forward means forgetting the previous decades’ assumptions around screen real estate, keyboards, even reliable network connections. The mobile paradigm means APIs, orchestrated into apps that are optimized for the devices they run on. That’s the bold new realm ahead.

I disagree. Rather than take a reductive approach I would take a complementary approach. Look at dual factor authentication for example. We often use a password and a temporary passphrase to log in to a number of services today. Look at the booking of flights. We use a computer to book the flight and the mobile phone for the QR code which we scan when boarding. I don’t picture myself booking a flight with the watch but I do see myself confirming the check in.

I don’t see myself getting an iWatch because I already have a smart watch on my wrist. I wear a suunto Ambit 3 and use it to keep track of my walks, of my training in the gym and theoretically could use it to see updates once Suunto have the Android app version ready.

For now the use case for the Suunto Ambit 3, Suunto Ambit 2, Mares Icon HD Garmin 210 and other devices is that I go out in to the real world and do some sports activity. While I am doing that activity I have access to a certain amount of data. When I complete the task I stop recording data and I sync it to the computer at home. That data is then uploaded to a number of fitness tracking softwares, computer applications and more. I then analyse that data and look at the map of where I have been.

In scuba diving this data is useful as it allows me to improve my diving technique. For walking and other activities the data is mainly for fun.

App developers, UX designers and companies need to think of the dynamic individual and how a smart watch can automate the gathering of certain pieces of data. In practical terms I believe smart watches should simplify the user’s life. They should definitely not replace the laptop or the smartphone.

Why The Apple Watch Will put The Web to Pasture once in for all

 

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.

On Being Moral
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On Being Moral

Byrichard

Heavier than Expected

I ordered something online two days ago. I received a package today and I was surprised by how heavy it was. I opened the package. It contained over a hundred francs of things I did not order.

More Waiting

It’s frustrating not to get what I ordered.

To be Moral, or Devious

I found myself in a quandary. Do I report the mistake, or do I keep silent about it? Of course morality is how you behave when no one is looking, so I reported the mistake. Now I wait to see what they tell me to do. Part of me is thinking that I should offer to review these products, as blog posts, mentioning the company that made the mistake, and benefiting from it.

The Contents

I am already familiar with the USB to lightning cable as well as the 1l Befree water filter. I am also familiar with the USB-C to USB-C cable. What I am not familiar with is the Philips Sonicare 5100 tooth brush. This is what I would be most curious about.

Estimated Value

The value of the package is about 200 CHF according to a quick search. I think someone put the wrong label on a package, and now someone else got my order that is worth less.

BeFree

Out of the list above the only thing that I have no interest is the Befree water filter. In my experience it clogs up after the first use, if you do not use it again within a very short period.

Water in Switzerland is so full of calcar that a nanotube water filter will clog as soon as you let it dry after use. It’s light and portable, and great, if you’re walking for several days or weeks in a row. If you use it once every few weeks then it is less useful.

Waiting

Now I am waiting to see what I am told to do. Do I post it back, do I keep it, or do I take it to a physical shop. We’ll see

And Finally

After years of ordering stuff online this is the first time that I get the wrong thing. I am used to excellence from this company, which is why I order from them, rather than others.

They like to provide people with next day delivery, even from Friday to Saturday and soon they will have same day delivery. This mistake means that someone else will have waited a week for an order that should have taken one business day. Order fulfilled on Monday, to be delivered by Tuesday. Now in the best case scenario it will be Thursday or Friday.

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The Apple Watch does not fill a niche

Byrichard

The Apple Watch rather than fill a niche provides a fifth screen. According to Wikipedia the four first screens are the cinema screen, the television screen and the mobile phone and tablet screen. The fifth screen is the smart watch as designed by Apple, Samsung, Sony and others. Apple and others have designed phones that bring the mobile phone experience to the wrist.

Energy efficient

Suunto, Garmin, Fitbit and other brands fill the wrist worn niche effectively because they have designed devices with energy efficient displays that provide tracking whilst at the same time giving extended battery life.

Extended battery life in use

Health trackers by fitbit and other companies have been designed to last for a week or more whilst tracking movement 24 hours a day. Suunto, Garmin and other brands have designed watches that can track activities for hours or even days before they need charging.

Long stand by time

When not in use all of the devices mentioned above can last for weeks. In the case of the Suunto Ambit two I have found that it loses one percentage of charge per day. As a result of this it can be used as a watch for three months before I need to think of charging.

Data analysis

All of these tools are for collecting data about the route you took, the intensity of the exercise tracked, heart rate and complementary information. When synced on the computer or website a lot of information is presented. Garmin syncs with Runkeeper, Strava, Garmin connect and other services, Suunto syncs with Movescount and Strava intuitively. Fitbit syncs with the fitbit site and other fitness apps. The most interesting data is analysed on a computer rather than the wrist unit. This leaves the device to track information cost effectively, where cost is battery life, and effective is defined by how long you can track an activity.

Conclusion:

My passion for “smart watches” stems from scuba diving. I bought a Suunto D9 to track dives and loved taking dive data and analysing it in view of improving my diving ability. I tracked training at the gym, hiking and other activities with various phones and their weakness was battery life. When you go for a hike in the mountains, go for a via ferrata or do a number of other sporting activities for extended periods of time you want a device that can last as long as you do.

Suunto’s Ambit 2 filled that need very well, so well that I upgraded to the Suunto Ambit 3. As an android user I can’t  take advantage of all the features yet but that will come soon, this month in fact.

The Apple Watch does not fill any of the requirements I have listed above and for this reason I am not tempted. I see it as a fifth screen that does not fill a niche. Fitness trackers, fitness watches and other devices cost the same price or less and fill niche requirements effectively. Why would I want a gimmick?

A Meetup Weakness
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A Meetup Weakness

Byrichard

Before the pandemic, when life was normal, I would go to three or four events per week organised via websites. These days, on meetup.com things are organised every two weeks, and for just 15 people at a time. This means that if you’re not first to sign up you’re on a waiting list and you could be social once every few weeks, rather than three times per week. This frustrates me.

There is a simple solution. There is a demand for events to be organised. I recently bought fresh Via Ferrata stuff and may start doing them regularly once again. I want to accertain that I am comfortable with the sport after such a long break, and once this is done I can create my own via ferrata and walking group. I would organise things at least once per week, maybe more.

The biggest nuissance with Meetup.com is that it requires a monthly fee for having a group. The result is that groups are created, run for a bit, and then destroyed to avoid paying for longer. The alternative is to use Facebook but I absolutely hate what Facebook is and what it represents. Every time it abuses of peoples’ trust it and gets caught it never apologises.

I have car and I have three seats. Like I used to do before the pandemic I can pick people up in Nyon, drive them to and from the activity, and when it comes time to say goodbye they can contribute towards petrol and the cost of having a group.

I would never charge people a fee to participate in an activity because that goes against my ethos, but having people pay a fair share towards petrol is the right thing to do. If you don’t charge people for the petrol used, they abuse of our kindness as drivers.

There is an added benefit. The problem with group activities is that when they end people rush to the train, without saying goodbye and I find this really strange. Before the pandemic there would be a stop at a bar to have a drink, and then drive home. In the Pandemic age that stop no longer occurs. I find this to be a shame. At least by driving from Nyon to the via ferrata or hiking location there is a moment for conversation before and after the journey.

I could be like others, and take the same trains as they take but that would increase my costs for participating in events. It also doubles or triples the journey time.

Last week I walked an extra eight kilometres rather than take a train, so it isn’t that I want to use the car. I have spent five or six years doing almost all of my bike rides and walks from home. The point of the car is to expand my range, once again.

And Finally

As I got to the end of this post I noticed that I am included in the hike that I thought was overbooked, and I see that other people are doing a VF at the same time on the same day and now I am torn about which one to do. The beautiful irony.

The old paradox is back. Nothing to do for the entire week, and then two activities to do at the same time.

Threads and the Fediverse
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Threads and the Fediverse

Byrichard

A few weeks ago I was completely opposed to Threads being connected and accepted by the Fediverse because I hated the idea of 100 million users flooding a social network with 10 million users. Now that threads has imploded I feel differently.

Now that Threads is the same size as the Frediverse, or at least closer to being the same size, the impact of the two joining up would be diminished. Now is the time when, theoretically, the impact of Threads and the Fediverse merging would be less dramatic.

Still Unwanted

[caption id="attachment_10494" align="alignnone" width="300"]A human looking a Threads, with the Fediverse visible behind. A human looking a Threads, with the Fediverse visible behind.[/caption]

Although the Fediverse and Threads could merge, and be on equal footing, for now, I still don’t want it. Facebook users have a different social media ethic than the Fediverse does. I don’t want to see posts by utilitarians, rather than human beings. I want human connections, not marketers.

The Algorithm

[caption id="attachment_10492" align="alignnone" width="300"]Threads and the Fediverse where the Fediverse is the milky way Threads and the Fediverse where the Fediverse is the milky way[/caption]

Algorithms use machine learning to read posts, assess them, and decide how to share them. The Fediverse is about sharing, and re-sharing, in chronological order. How could Threads read toots, notes, articles and more, without breaching privacy rules?

For now the Fediverse behaves according to who we follow, and what the people we follow share. With algorithms machine learning would make those decisions, destroying the chronological order of things

The question is “how can Facebook adapt to be compatible with the Fediverse?”. In theory it can’t because we’re talking about two different philosophies. One where chronology and follows are king, and the other where algorithms dictate what people see, feel and buy.

A Different Age

[caption id="attachment_10495" align="alignnone" width="300"]A hand holding threads with the Fediverse behind it A hand holding threads with the Fediverse behind it[/caption]

Although I really liked the old Twitter, and social media landscape, when it was unprofitable, that reality has vanished and now we are in the age of Influencers, clickbait, social media as addiction, and more. That’s why the thing that fascinates me the most now, is using WordPress and ClassicPress to play with the Fediverse. When they play nicely together I will be able to blog, and converse from my blog posts, without spending too much time in the Fediverse.

And Finally

Threads Posts get more likes for brands than on Twitter which illustrates why Threads is not interesting for human beings. Social media, for me, is about sharing and caring, rather than utilitarian apathy.

To summarise: Threads is a network for brands to market to people, whilst the Fedivere exists for people to converse, share, and collaborate. If the utilitarianism of Threads comes to the Fediverse, then the Fediverse will lose some of its allure.

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