New Tech - Episode 6 - Fitbit Fit

I will start this post by telling you that I am not, repeat not, a fitness fanatic.

It's been years since I went to the gym, or took part in any organised fitness activity.  I don't run.  I haven't been swimming for ages.  In fact, the only exercise I do is walking.

For a while I've been contemplating losing weight, and thought I'd get myself a pedometer - measure how far I walk, in an effort to concentrate my mind.

You can track various attributes such as steps, stairs,
calories burned and more...

Then I heard about Fitbit.  I did some research.  Thought about it.  Continued my walking and thought some more.  There is a range to choose from, from the small Fitbit Zip, to the top of the range Surge.

Now, that's a little over the top, but the Zip wasn't enough (even though it's exactly what I was looking for in a pedometer).

I opted for the Fitbit One.  It's a small device that can easily fit into a pocket, or clipped onto a waistband using the supplied clip.  It tracks a number of things:

• Steps (that's the obvious one)
• Floors climbed
• Distance walked
• Calories burned
• Sleep

There's even a little plant that grows or shrinks based on how active you are!

Used in conjunction with the app (available on iOS or Android) and the web interface, the entire Fitbit philosophy is about getting fit, losing weight and keeping fit.

The website dashboard is where you go to log your food and drink.  There is a database of almost every food type, as well as ranges that can be purchased from supermarkets.  You can also scan the barcode on the packaging and most of the time it finds it.  This is a little hit and miss, there have been a few occasions where my food isn't recognised.  It's not a major issue, but it would be nice if the database was kept up to date.

The Fitbit dashboard shows how you're doing
against the targets you've set

At night, slip the Fitbit One into a sleeve and wear it on your wrist. Set it going as you fall asleep and it tracks how soundly (or not) you sleep.

It's an activity monitor in reverse, recording times when you wake or are restless; and giving you an efficiency rating of your sleep.

Should you go running, cycling, roller-skating, play tennis; or any other physical activity, then you can set the timer off again, and it will record it as active time.

As I mentioned right at the start, I am not a fitness fanatic; however, using my Fitbit One is driving me to better my tracking scores each day.  Increasing the number of steps I do, watching what I eat and seeing it all reported on the website.  For the very serious, for a premium, you can get a whole host of reports - the first week is free, to try them out; and they are very detailed.

If you so desire, there's also a whole community to join in with, and compete against!  This isn't something I do, but I can see the benefits.  The website also hosts a great forum, for asking all sorts of questions.

Overall, my Fitbit One has seamlessly become part of my dress code, and I am often joked at for scanning barcodes and capturing my eating habits!

The last laugh will be on me, as I reach my goal.

Do you use a fitness tracker?  How has it helped you?

New Tech - Episode 5

I like tech, and whilst I can't afford to buy new tech on a regular basis, when I see a potential, value-for-money opportunity, then I will grab it.

I did this with the Amazon Fire TV, and wrote about that here.

When the Amazon Fire TV Stick was announced I was intrigued; so I bought one.  Why?  Well, I love the main Fire TV - it's used almost everyday, both for Amazon Prime content, but also for BBC iPlayer.  The kids enjoy playing some of the games too.

So, why get the Stick version?  Well, since the Fire TV can only be watched on one TV, and it's not always convenient to watch when I want, having a second device, means I can access the content in another room.

Why not a second box?  That's a good question, but I suppose it comes down to cost.  The new Fire TV Stick is currently available for £25; so doesn't break the bank.  Also, the stick is small, and doesn't need a table top - so, it's ideal for a wall-mounted television.

It's so simple to set up (although the one downside is that you must have a dedicated power supply - the USB port on the TV isn't powerful enough!)  This is a shame, but not a showstopper.

So, I plugged it into the HDMI port, connected the power cable and within seconds I was asked to select the language, enter the password for my network and away it went.  Since I purchased it from my Amazon account, I was asked if I wanted to use my account on the stick, and then the setup was completed.




The included remote is different to the one supplied with the main Fire TV box; it's not quite as sleek, and there is no voice search (although you can do this via the free Fire TV app, available from Google Play, or App store).

With 8Gb of flash storage, to download apps or games, and a dual core processor, this small stick is not sluggish.

As well as BBC iPlayer, there is Demand5, Vevo, Netflix, Vimeo, Sky News, BBC News and much much more.

Performance was as expected; no buffering, and the picture quality is excellent; as is the sound.  The selections played flawlessly and as it's a cloud based service, it knew the last point I'd watched an episode of a programme, and asked if I wanted to resume.  You can also see photos or videos stored in your Amazon Prime cloud storage.

The question is, should you get one?  If you have an Amazon Prime account, this is a no-brainer.  And having the TV Stick means you can easily move it from room to room; take it away, use in student digs etc.

For me, this is the best way to get the most value for money from my Prime account, and at just £25 (the current offer; normal price £35), means I can consume even more Prime content.

Fab!

My Top 10 Reasons To Buy a Chromebook

Much has been written about the reasons to own a Chromebook.  There are many.  I bought my first Chromebook at the end of 2014 (it's an Acer C720 and you can read my review here).  However, I spent a long time researching these mini powerhouses before I took the plunge.  My one regret is that I didn't do it sooner.

With, on average, 2Gb RAM and a 16Gb solid state drive, not only is a Chromebook easy to use, but it's quite fast too.

So, what does a Chromebook have to offer that makes it a must-have?

1. Living In The Cloud
We all, well most of us anyway, spends 90-95% of our time online.  That's it, we use the internet for most of what we do, and rarely install applications.  If this is you, then a Chromebook will be just the ticket.

2. Relatively Cheap
Unless you're doing graphic design, you don't need a £1000 MacBook, or an £800 Windows laptop.  You don't even need a £400 laptop.  The Acer cost me £180.

3.  No Software Licence Costs
Microsoft are well known for their licence costs, and whilst they do offer cut-down versions from free; with a Chromebook you get access to the full suite of Google Docs, Sheets, Slides included, as well as all the updates...

4.  Talking of Updates
ChromeOS (the operating system on the Chromebook) is updated for Free, on regular cycles.  This means that whenever new functionality is made available, it's delivered to you fast and free.  Plus - software updates on a Chromebook are so quick, you probably won't even notice.

5. Virus Free
Getting caught by a virus is practically unheard of with a Chromebook. So, no anti-virus software to slow you down.

6.  Simple Set Up
When I bought my Chromebook, it was out of the box, powered up and ready to go in less than 10 minutes.  All you need is a Google account and you're done.  If you've already been using Chrome as a browser, then your browser settings are synchronised automatically.

7.  Great Battery Life
My last laptop would be good if it lasted more than 3 hours without needing a charge.  My Chromebook has lasted me a whopping 8 hours away from the plug socket.  Chromebooks are renowned for their battery life

8. Offline Access
One point that people make is "sounds good, but you need to be connected to the internet for it to work".  That isn't strictly true.  There are many apps that work offline, including Docs etc, and even Gmail has an offline counterpart.  When re-connected, everything syncs automatically.

9. Easy to Replace
With most of your documents and photos in the cloud, should anything drastic happen to your Chromebook, it's simple enough to replace.  Turn on, log in and everything* is there.  Magic!

*Everything that's in the cloud - any locally stored documents might be lost!

10.  Chromebooks in the Market
Most manufacturers have entered the Chromebook market, from Acer to HP, and Dell to Samsung - so with 1080p screens, others with larger screens, ALL of them run the same version of ChromeOS (although you can choose from 3 flavours - Developer, Beta or Stable)

As I mentioned at the beginning; I've been using a Chromebook for personal and business use since December.  My Windows laptop is gathering dust.

There really is no reason not to think about a Chromebook as your next portable laptop device.

Do you agree with my reasons?  What were your reasons for buying a Chromebook?