Cool news…using batteries from the gigafactory Tesla is building outside of Reno, Solar City will be including battery backup systems in 100% of the rooftop solar systems they install within 5-10 years. This is significant partly because it helps illustrate the rapidly decreasing costs of both solar panels and battery backup systems, but also because it is likely to have a major impact on our current energy production and distribution systems…the old grid will become obsolete eventually, but the transition won’t be easy for the larger energy companies. Read more at climaterocks.com.
iOS8 – first impressions
Yep, I couldn’t wait. I upgraded by iPhone to iOS8 earlier today. I thought I’d share some initial impressions. First off, this is a really big update…if your iPhone is pushing its limits like mine is, remember that instead of clearing all the space it’s asking for, you can plug it in to your computer and update through iTunes instead, requiring vastly less free space on your device. When installing, it’s best to NOT enable iCloud Drive just yet…you’ll need to do so for all of your Apple devices simultaneously, and that just won’t be possible on your Mac until Yosemite is released in late October. Resist the urge and move on!
I’m not going to get into all the details of what changed…I expect you’ve probably already read about that in the past week. I’ll just focus on what stood out to me. You’ll find the UI familiar; most of the changes are under the skin. The mail app has nice swipe features for marking a message as read/unread (swipe right) or flagging (swipe left a little bit) or deleting (swipe left more). I like the ‘hey Siri’ feature…yeah it’s creepy that she’s always listening but is handy, especially in the car…though this only works if it’s plugged in to power. I wonder how the AppleWatch will implement this…always on, or twist wrist to activate, something like that? Anyway. Cool feature. Family sharing in App Store is something I’m really looking forward to once I upgrade my wife and daughter’s devices to iOS8. The Health app looks cool….but so far, Withings has not updated their app to share health data with that, so it’s kinda useless for me. No word from Withings if/when they’ll be doing this, but I expect so…or else they’ll be losing users!
One aspect of the photos app scares me a bit…I have a ton of pictures on my iPhone, but there’s no longer a ‘camera roll’ to view them all. Now there’s a ‘recently added’ album, but to see the older ones, I need to go to ‘photos’ and scan through them by year. Which I guess is OK…just different. Considering how infrequently I’d access those older pictures…no big deal. It’ll be nice once that’s better integrated with the photo collections on my Mac…which I don’t think will truly be awesome until the new Photos app for OS-X is released sometime early in 2015.
Lifehacker has a cool list of lesser-known iOS8 features here. Such as, battery usage statistics, and a grayscale mode.
So that’s it for now…but I expect I’ll have more to say once I get my new iPhone6 on Friday!
Self-contained electric bike wheel
The DDS from Daymak looks to be an easy way to convert most any bicycle to an electric-assist bike. The wheel contains its own battery, motor, and even solar panels to charge it (~.6 miles range per hour of sunlight). It looks like it’ll only work with V-brake bikes (not disc), though will be available in either a 26″ or 28″ rim size…for about $700 next year. The 250W motor is powered by a 12Ah lithium battery and controlled by a wireless handlebar-mounted controller (with its own solar panels, too). Interesting idea! I could see this being useful for commuters perhaps. The extra mass and rotational inertia will detract serious bicyclists though. Check out the product page here.
Why Starbucks Spells Your Name Wrong
Funny video. When a core part of your business’ operation becomes a source of comedy…you might want to rethink the way you do business. 😉
And my name is Matt, not Max, dammit!
Apple Watch
Well, no surprise that Apple unveiled the Apple Watch today…but I was a bit surprised at how watch-like it looks. I really expected (hoped?) Apple would branch out and reinvent the wrist-worn device, but they’ve gone a fairly conservative route with styling and focused on software and usability instead. Which, in hindsight, I shouldn’t be surprised about. The watch isn’t shipping until early 2015, and we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg in terms of what it can do. I think it’ll get a lukewarm reception overall, though when compared to the other recent entries in the marketplace (like the Moto360), it’s one of the better devices on the market. It does seem to offer some slick software features though..for example, if a friend texts you with an ‘either-or’ question, the software will recognize that and offer those two options as replies ready to send with a tap. I look forward to learning more about the Apple Watch over the coming months. In the meantime, check out the review at TechCrunch or the product page at Apple’s website for more info.
Big day for Apple fans
You’ve heard the hype. Apple is likely unveiling a new iPhone today. Bigger screen, NFC communications for paying in stores. Etc. More significantly though, today is the day Apple is expected to revolutionize, reinvent, and dominate the struggling smart watch/activity tracker market. We shall see. My prediction goes back to early geek days. Remember those calculator watches? Big and bulky. Apple needs to hide a bulky battery. I recall some wearers rotating their calculator watches 180 degrees, so the watch was on the inside if their wrist to protect it. I predict Apple will do something similar. The bulk of the watch will be on the inside of your wrist, out of view, out of the way, yet also in a great spot for biometric sensors to do their job. The screen will still be on the outside of your wrist though, and flexible…it’ll look more like a band than watch. So that’s my best guess. We’ll find out at 10:00 CA time if I’m right!
Dalek Relaxation Tape
This is hilarious…a Dalek-produced relaxation tape for humans (might not make a lot of sense if you’re not a Dr. Who fan…).
Two hours without an iPhone
Today was a strange day. I took my iPhone in to my local Apple store to get its battery replaced. This was my first experience getting any Apple product serviced…I had assumed they could do it quickly, while I waited, but it was going to take 1.5-2 hours! Pretty reasonable in the whole scheme of things, but I was faced with an interesting dilemma. I had two hours to kill in a part of town I wasn’t very familiar with. I’d gotten in the habit of using my iPhone in times like this…to learn more about my surroundings, find places to go, check email to kill time, you get the idea. Without it…I felt a bit lost. Siri, where is the closest Starbucks? Oh yeah…
I went to REI to look around…and ended up finding a good work shirt to buy. At checkout, the cashier asked if I was an REI member. Usually that’s the point where I whip out my iPhone and open Passbook so she can scan my virtual REI card. Umm, let’s see, umm, yeah, is phone number OK? So, moving on to Starbucks next…a nice place to sit, drink coffee, check email, read the news, though really just the first two this time. So, order a drink, and reach for the iPhone so I can open up my Starbucks app to pay…that’s right, no phone. I guess it’s going to be cash! Paper with numbers. Change. Strange. Finally, sitting outside, it hit me. I was feeling more connected to the world around me. Listening, observing. My mind was racing, thinking of new ways technology could make peoples’ lives better, at a time I’d normally be scrolling through new emails or checking Flipboard for the latest news. Strange feeling…
It’s not like I’ve never been disconnected before. It happens often when driving, or camping. But you know, those are places, times, when I expect it. To be in an environment where I’m normally optimally connected…and to be cut off…that’s what felt weird.
Driving home, I started to feel connected to the world in a more physical way, as on my short stint on the freeway, two separate cars tried to physically merge with mine. Reflexes, sharp handling, and a bit of luck helped me there, but wow, time to retreat to cyberspace where it’s safer… 😉
Light tiles!
Coming soon to an IKEA near you – light tiles! Wrapped into what funky shaped light or chair I don’t know, but IKEA just made a ‘strategic investment’ in Design LED Products, the company behind these flexible sheets of LEDs. Check out the video below for more, or read IKEA’s press release here.
Polar ice disappearing fast
Ice sheets over Antarctica and Greenland are shrinking at an incredible rate of 120 cubic miles per year, and accelerating (the rate of ice loss has more than doubled since 2009). While part of Antarctica is actually increasing in ice cover, overall the continent is on a definite decline. Most of the ice loss, 90 cubic miles per year, is as a result of melting in Greenland. The data comes from the CryoSat-2 satellite measuring the altitude of the ice over the continents. Scientists have been using satellites to measure ice levels for about twenty years now. You can read more about this at this link.
It’s sad to see our society at such an advanced level technologically, yet turning a blind eye to this problem. Man-made climate change is a fact and one that will have to be dealt with sooner or later. It’ll be expensive, but the costs only go up over time.