Nike Fuel Band

Got a Nike Fuel Band and so far its pretty awesome.  I haven't been using it for a whole day yet, but I'm hoping that it will provide a little more motivation to be active and hit my daily goals.  Once I've been using it for a week or two I will post an update with more information.

Here are the pro's and con's based on my initial impressions.

Pros:

• Comfortable. Make sure you get the correct size. Large for me.
• Nice interface. easy to use, cool display.
• Seems pretty accurate so far - hard to tell for sure till I use it more.
• Wireless syncing with phone is nice.

Cons:

• Way way way too expensive. Should cost half as much.
• Why do I have to connect it to the computer first, why can't I set my account up with the phone app? Did I miss something?
• Had to try a few times to get the Bluetooth to connect.

Paper by Fifty Three

There has been a crazy amount of publicity for the new iOS app Paper by Fifty Three.  There are several similar apps, but none of them are as fun to use as Paper.  It has just the right level of simplicity with an easy to use interface.

The app is free but all the tools you will want to use are sold as separate in-app purchases.  To get all the tools currently costs $7.99, and I think this is an ok value for the amount of time I have already used this application.  Should they have charged for the app up front instead of doing in-app purchases? I dunno, some people hate in app purchases, others are ok with them.

Pros:

• Beautiful and elegant application
• Easy to use tools

Cons:

• No way to save to Camera roll
• Can't zoom in - can't really decide if this is a bad thing.
• Would be nice to be able to move pages around in the notebook
• Would be nice to have the ability to change pages to lined or graphed
• In app purchases for the tools you actually want to use. Would be easier to swallow if they were $1.00 each instead of $1.99 each.

I would expect some of these issues to be fixed in future updates.  I would also expect there to be new features sold via in-app purchases.

If you like to draw, and you have a stylus I would suggest getting this app.

The Nest

I wanted a Nest bad when they first came out, but I waited too long to order.  When they recently became available again I ordered right away and a few days later we replaced our old "smart" thermostat with the shiny new Nest.

Imagine the change you went through when going from a dumb flip phone to the iPhone or other smart phone.  That's what it's like with the Nest.  It learns your schedule. It's very easy to change the temp whenever you need to, and you can do this directly, or via the web page, iPhone, or the iPad, and you can do all this remotely.  Want to turn the temp up or down while an hour from the house? You can.

It's just works.  Sound familiar? If you didn't know better you would think it was from Apple.

SodaStream - Replacing Pepsi.

I have been trying to kick the pepsi / coke habit for years, with limited success. Most recently this has taken the form of drinking seltzer water drinks.  We purchased a SodaStream and I have to say it's very cool, and I'm doing better than I would have expected.

The first thing to realize is not to bother with any of the drink syrups. If the samples are any indication, they all taste like ass. You can also get the SodaStream on Amazon, but it's probably the same price at your local Bed, Bath and Beyond.

I haven't managed to enjoy a plain glass of Seltzer water yet.  I need flavor.  My current drink of choice is the following:

• Open one package of Citrus Splash crystal light and add the powder to empty glass.
• Add 1 tbsp or less of water  to the glass.
• Swish around trying to dissolve all of the crystal light in the water.
• Add carbonized water to glass slowly. There will be some extra fizzing, but if you're slow it will settle down.
• Add ice.
• mmmmmmm enjoy.

Other flavors of the Crystal light also work well with seltzer water. There are a bunch of recipes on the net that involve natural fruit juices that we plan on trying.  I'd like to cut out the artificial sweeteners that  are used in Crystal Light.

If you try it out let me know, curious to know if you have any good recipes.

iPad Rev 3

On March 7th 2012 Apple announced the latest version of the iPad. I'll call it iPad 3 cause it's easier, but Apple calls it the iPad (3rd generation).  For the record the name change doesn't bother me at all.  You can find a run down of the new features all over the internet. But it boils down to:

• Retina display
• Larger battery and improved graphics processor to support the new screen
• Updated Camera with 1080p video recording.
• LTE / 4G support on AT&T and Verizon
• New software and updated software to take advantage of the new screen.

So... What did I get?  I got the 32g Wifi only iPad 3.  I'm now wishing I had gotten the Verizon LTE version just so I would have the option of using it.  However our iPad 1 had 3G and we used it only once. So for now I'll settle with what I got.  Maybe I'll get it in the iPad 4.

Should you get it? If you don't have an iPad then absolutely. If you have a 1st or 2nd gen iPad, then I dunno, really a personal decision.  I got it cause I like to mess with the new stuff and just because I wanted it. :)

Mini-Review:

• The display is amazing
• I haven't played any games yet that really take advantage of the new graphics processor. However, a few of my drawing programs seem laggy when drawing.  Not all of them, I think this is simply due to the apps needing to draw more pixels, combined with the apps not being updated / optimized for the new iPad.
• The new camera takes decent pics, gonna do some video to play with the new iMovie, I might post something here.
• iPhoto for the iPad is awesome. Gonna delete some other apps.

The new Apple TV has 1080p support now which you can notice depending on the content you are viewing.  The bigger news is the new Apple TV software.  It made the 2nd gen. Apple TV seem much faster.  And the "App centric" interface changes might hint at more Apple TV Apps coming.

Now back to Draw Something...

Scribblenauts Remix

Scribblenauts Remix for the iPhone/iPod is an amazing creative and fun game. Give it a try.

http://www.scribblenautsremix.com

iPhone 4S and Siri

Like a technology zombie I stumbled to my computer and pre-ordered the iPhone 4S as soon as I was able to.  I used the excuse that I'm gonna do more iOS app development and it will be good to have the latest phone for testing.  But, the real reason is that I'm a nut.

Was it worth it. For people with an iPhone 4, probably not.  iOS 5 is a major upgrade that will keep the iPhone 4 users happy for a long time.

The one major reason to get the iPhone 4S is for the camera upgrade. The improved resolution and performance combined with the Camera improvements in iOS 5 are all great reasons to get the new phone.

What about Siri?  It's freaking wonderful. It does a great job of recognizing voice and converting it to text.  And I hope that once it leaves Beta it will become available to more Apple devices (crosses fingers for iPad 2 support).  Apple will most likely add support to many more applications.  Siri's syntax will improve and include many more things you can ask it to do.

Super Easy Custom iPhone RingTones

Using the Macs built-in text to speech functionality it is super easy to create custom ringtones for the iPhone.

You Need:

• A Mac
• An iPhone
• iTunes

Open Terminal and create a ringtone audio file using the say command.

For example:

say -v Trinoids "Incoming Transmission" -o incoming.m4r

Pay attention to the folder you are in when you make this file, this will normally be your home folder.

Now go to iTunes and chose the menu option [File->Add To Library]. Navigate to the file you just created  and select it.  The audio file should be added to the Ringtones section of iTunes where you should be able to play it.  Connect your iPhone or make sure it's on the same wifi network and appears in iTunes.  Select your phone in iTunes and choose the Ringtones section.  Make sure the new file is being synced by choosing "All Ringtones" or "Selected Ringtones" and checking the one you just added.

Now Sync your iPhone and TADA.  The new ringtone should now be available for whichever alert you want to use it with.

For more information about the say command you can use man in the Terminal:

man say

for instance:

say -v ?

will give you a list of the available voices you can use.

Creepy Clay Creeper

Made this a while back for a friend of mine.  No idea why I never posted it on the Blog.

Broken Images

I imported blog posts from our older Wordpress blog, but have not fixed the image links yet - I'll be doing this as I can, so be patient please.