Year: 2016

September 21, 2016
As some of you will know, I am overweight. As such, I have fat wrists. Actually, they don’t seem that big, in proportion to my arms, but they are big enough to cause the eternal watchstrap problem.

When I was using my Fitbit Flex, it meant that I had to go cap in hand to Fitbit support for an XL strap. They do not sell them, so each time you want one (I recently replaced one that wore out), you have to justify to them that you want a freebie, even though you might have bought your Fitbit from elsewhere, and it is no longer under warranty. I didn’t want a freebie, but as they don’t sell them, that was the only way to get a strap that fitted me.

September 11, 2016
I am beginning to really love Pocket. I installed it as a FireFox addon some time ago, then didn’t use it too much, but then I started to use it to bookmark cooking stuff, and more recently to bookmark just about anything I came across that looked interesting but was too long for me to read at the time.

This last usage has been the revelation for me, in a way that I could only grasp by trying it. Because my Kobo ebook reader is also connected to Pocket, it means all of these “I wish I had time to read” articles are immediately available in a nicely reformatted version for my reader. Allowing me to catch up on stuff in bed, or out and about, rather than at my computer screen.

September 4, 2016
August 10, 2016
Over the last couple of days, I have been experimenting with adding a Premium package to LinkedIn – specifically their Sales Navigator package. As someone who was slightly skeptical about “business social networks” when I revived my long-dormant LI account, I have to say I am impressed with what they have done.

August 5, 2016
July 11, 2016
June 29, 2016
June 24, 2016
Although I have had a Roberts Stream 93i radio for well over a year before buying one for my office, I am now using it a lot more for streaming from my NAS.

I ran into a puzzle where it appeared to *sometimes* be ignoring the album’s track order, even though the files appeared to have correctly embedded information, and in some cases even had the track numbers in the filenames.

April 27, 2016
A combination of changes at YouTube and Ricoh’s new video driver (UVC Blender) now means that it is straightforward to stream 360° video live.

I’ve experimented a little with it, and am not yet sure if it is good enough for what I want to do with it. The picture is what it has always been – not brilliant, but ok; but on Live streaming, I’ve experienced some very poor sound; worse than when just uploading video, and irrespective of whether I use the camera’s microphone or external mikes.

April 23, 2016
My new table arrived in the week, and has spent the last few days lying on the floor. I did the necessary assembly – attaching the legs with bolts – but being solid oak it was just too big for me to turn over by myself.

Today I had 3 boardgamers visit, so that was a job easily done, and we then christened the table. I think it looks fantastic.

April 20, 2016
I love my Theta S camera, but I found when using it on a pole, it was a bit of a handful to hold that steady and get out my phone to trigger the picture. Moreover the frustration of having to log on to the camera’s own WiFi each time – fine for an extended session of images, but not exactly conducive to a quick snap.

The simplicity of this 3D printed device is wonderful – the camera fits into the housing, held in by the tripod screw; and a lever arrangement physically pushs the button on the pull of a string. Easy to rig, and simple to use. They even include a matching ring to put on the end of the string.

April 16, 2016
As those of you who have met me know, I am a big chap. Getting clothes my size – as it happens, I have no problem getting shirts to fit me; several high street shops do shirts and fleeces that fit me, and bigger. For trousers I have to shop around a bit, but I have a couple of shops I return to who I am happy with.

It seems odd, but my biggest problem is with simple stuff things like underwear and pajamas. This is complicated by my preference for 100% cotton, which narrows my options. My current batch of well-fitting (and well-worn) underwear is nearly in holes. Attempts to replace them a few months back – from the same supplier/make – ended up with them being returned as they were grossly undersized – and this is not me getting bigger without noticing – a pair of underpants labelled 4XL actually measured 34″ around the waist. The supplier investigated and found all of their newly imported stock was, in fact, the same size, despite being differently labelled.