At this end of this month, my brother and I are heading out to Europe for a bit of a road trip. Initially out only plan was to make our way out to Oktoberfest somewhere in Germany, but after about a month of planning, that road trip got slightly more excessive!
I shall be blogging along the way!
I’ve always been fairly hesitant to write anything about subjects like this, mainly because so many other people do and quite frankly, I just don’t want their opinions…
That said, a friend and I were just discussing the announcement of the new iPhone and this was my response to him.
I’ve gotta be honest - I am disappointed, but I’m not as disappointed with the phone, so much the poor manor in which they handled the leaks.. If we didn’t know anything 6 weeks ago (As with the launch of the first phone for instance), what we found out would have been a much better presentation… That said, you’re right, the phone is still lacking - But the only way in which I think it’s lesser than lets say the SGS3, is NFC…
Anything else we’re looking at in comparison is pretty much OS based, right? And changes for that are easy to make.. So perhaps it’s not missing out on so much?
I’m blabbering slightly, but also defending a brand and product I love… I will get an iPhone 5, it’s inevitable… But like I say, I also have an HTC One X for work, so what am I missing out on really?
Again - I bought in to the Apple family a long time ago and as a result, my changing from an iPhone to anything else at this point, would render my synchronous world fairly useless… I’m going to buy a Galaxy Nexus tablet and I do have a PC - So I’m not entirely drowned in Apple products.. But, this product launch just wasn’t the same, and I put that down to leadership.
For me, it’s a family of products and comparing one manufacturer of a phone to another is an exercise in futility. If I wanted a Samsung Galaxy, I’d get one. I just don’t want it. I want my iPhone, my iPad and Macbook Pro and I want the ease of use I’ve come to love. I want to not have to worry about syncing devices, keeping OS' up to date, nor do I want to have 4 different operating systems to live with.
Most people’s decisions in life are aimed at making their lives easier, to allow them to focus on the things that really matter. To me, I couldn’t care less that the SGS3 or the new Nokia have NFC - I’m really not bothered… My cards are NFC enabled and that’s all that matters. If one day Apple do release a phone with that capability, then great. But for now, who really cares?
I’ve had my Nike+ Fuelband now for just over 3 months.. In that time I’ve worn it every day, without fail. I absolutely love it! But, let me backup a little bit here and run through what I was initially after.
Activity Tracking - One of the biggest reasons I was after something like the Fuelband, was to track how active I was, or indeed, wasn’t. Considering I sit at a desk all day, I’ve always been concerned about how inactive I am and to that end, I wanted something that would help inspire me to take the extra 30 minute walk throughout the day, or to make sure I didn’t just veg out all weekend. In the last 3 months there are only a handful of days on which I’ve not quite reached my goal. I won’t make an excuse for being lazy, I think it’s fair to say a day of relaxation is a good thing! All things considered though, the Fuelband really has inspired me to be more active.. I find myself wanting to make sure I reach my goal, to the point I’ll even walk to the shop and back to make sure I get there.
Competition - Everybody is somewhat competitive and I am no exception. The one thing I must admit I don’t like about the Fuelband though is that you can only be competitive with people you actually know who own one. That’s not something I’d really considered when buying it, so I can’t be all that upset with it, but given the choice I might have thought twice or considered a different device if there were some more socially connected aspects to it.
Non-Walking Activity - Something I’d really like to have in the Fuelband that there are plenty of separate apps for, is logging activities other than walking.. If you check out something like the FitBit Zip, you’re able to manually add weight-based workouts, swimming activity and even food intake! That would be fantastic and is definitely something that the Fuelband is missing.
Cross App Integration - This again, isn’t something that the Fuelband claims to do, but is definitely something it misses out on. Within the app you’re able to share your activity with friends on Facebook and tweet about it. But I’d love some kind of integration with maps. Perhaps something along the lines of “You’re near a local favourite running route!” as an alert? I’m really daydreaming here I think, but it’s nice to dream!
In essence, I love the Fuelband. It really has improved my activity! But I must admit, I’m really tempted by trying out another device… More specifically the FitBit Zip, purely because it has a lot of the integrations I would like. I’ll continue to use the Fuelband, I have no intention of moving away from it. To be honest, the reasons I initially wanted the Fuelband weren’t to compete, they were to help me! So there’s no reason to stop using it, just to make the activity more social!
For the past couple of months I’ve been lusting over a Go Pro. For years now I’ve had an affinity with life-logging, I think I’ve proven that to myself with the array of cameras I’ve owned along with the amount I constantly update/check-in, but this time I wanted to move to the next level.
In a months time I’m meeting my brother in LA for our next annual road trip! Last year we headed to Europe and managed to drive through 5 countries in 4 days, this time we’re renting a car on the west coast and aiming to see as much as possible of the US inside the week we’ve given ourselves! The last trip we made I bought an HD video camera for and we managed to get some pretty awesome shots, but unfortunately my capacity for video editing was pretty limited at the time, that along with computer/hard drive changes, meant I lost the majority of the footage I got. This time however I plan for that to be different!
Along with the Go Pro, I also bought a suction cup mount and a head mount so the hope is to get as much footage (good or otherwise) that I can then use to start putting together decent videos.
I’ve been a really big fan of EDCs for a while now, it saddens me that Everyday Carry isn’t up and running anymore, so I wanted to post my typical day carry. If I’m carrying my back I tend to also have my laptop on me as well, but this covers the majority!
*iPad Mini
*iPhone 5
*Ray-ban Glasses
*Status Anxiety Wallet
*Sennheiser CX300II Headphones
*Komono Watch
*Parker Ballpoint Pen
*Carmex
*Lighter
I’ve long been a user of many different online services over the years I’ve been online, from some of the early social networking tools right the way up to the now more common and much more involved and automatic life-logging services. I’d always been a great fan of these kinds of applications, especially those which allowed me to upload, store and share my pictures.
Over the past few years the ways in which we all use these types of sites/applications has exploded. Most of my friends and family went from using these services as infrequent, useful ways of communication to 99% of their lives being distributed online within a matter of months. This had been fantastic (especially in the last couple of years whilst I’ve been living in Australia) as ways of sharing where we are, what we’re doing and the pictures of those events - All in a domain that was completely separate from time.
More recently, I’ve begun to take photography much more seriously. It’s no longer just something I’m using to capture moments, or share things - I’m now starting to build out quite the catalog of pictures that I want to keep in a much more personal sense than sharing online.
Whilst I’ve found the likes of Instagram & Facebook really useful, there are two very distinct reasons for which I’m now beginning to move away from these platforms:
I want to be more selective with what I place online.
What I mean by that is I’ve always tended to overuse social networking. Over-sharing of information isn’t my major concern here, whilst an issue in it’s own right, I see that more as something that I’ve always managed to be fairly safe with; I don’t post levels of personal information that could possibly endanger myself and certainly don’t make myself a target for online fraud.
My use of the term “overuse of social network” is really aimed towards my photos. I’m not the type of Facebook member with 12,000 tagged photos, nor do I post images of ever meal, but I certainly take digital photography for granted and that’s leading to something I really want to resolve: The quality of my photos are low because the volume of those picture are high.
I want to own what’s mine.
This is a subject that’s been written by just about everyone in the last couple of months, so I won’t go in to the unnecessary details, but ultimately I don’t want to be giving away my personal pictures (being shared for friends & family to see) to anyone who feels they’d make a fantastic backdrop on the next advertising campaign of a mid-market upholsterer.
To this extent two things are now happening. I’ll no longer be posting quite the amount of pictures that I used to, to the majority of social networks. Instead I’ll be using my own site, my own domain, as a place to store the images I feel I want to share, and keeping almost every other image privately.
I’ve often thought about just how much technology I have, generally I think if I really have a need for half the things I own, or if it’s really more of a desire to have, use and play with the items I buy. Generally speaking I don’t own that much, but I do question just how many of these things I could get rid of and still live my life as I have done?
Now it’s probably worth bearing in mind, this isn’t a full list of the things I own, of course not.. This is just a list of things I’ve used in the past couple of days…
I really enjoy having these things, I spent some time over the weekend (As previously posted), playing around with my DSLR, trying to achieve a decent level of picture with HDR photography. I constantly use my iPhone (I’ve always mantained, if I lost it, it broke or was stolen, I’d go straight out and buy another). My Macbook is essentially the centre for all of these devices, I couldn’t live without it (Proven by the fact that this is the 5th Macbook I’ve owned).
I love my iPad, more recently we’ve been using it at home as a hub for movies and music, but it’s too fantastic a device for me to consider ever getting rid of.. (I’ve tried that twice before and just ended up with another iPad in my possession).
Our Canon Powershot is also a recent purchase, but I think a fantastic call. Our iPhones take fantastic pictures, no doubt whatsoever, but since moving to Australia I made the decision to try and photograph as much as possible. I want to ensure we see and do as many things as possible, but I also want to make sure we’re not just using our iPhones to record those memories, equally I don’t want to be carrying my DSLR everywhere with me… That’s really only suited to special occasions, or particular projects I’d like to give a go.
The Nike+ Fuelband is something I’ve only recently purchased, but I absolutely love it. For those that don’t know, you wear it like a watch, but it tracks your movement in several different ways.. Steps, Calories burned and Nike Fuel. It gives me something to aim for in terms of movement and also allows me the chance to compete!
I absolutely love my digital lifestyle, I wouldn’t change a single aspect of it. Looking at the tech I use on a granular level like this, I’m positive it’s a good thing, despite some people’s takes on it. (Google “The Veldt” if you’re not familiar with the story).
For the past couple of years, I’ve really tried to get obsessed, but the only thing I seem to be able to obsess over, is in fact other people’s obsessions.
In 2008 Adam Savage gave a fantastic talk about ‘The Art of Obsession’ which really struck a chord with me. His story is all about his journey to creating what is seen by many as the absolute item of obsession, The Maltese Falcon. Over the course of 20 odd minutes he talks about how his fascination for making ultimately led him to yearn for creating a true replica of this prized object - Not just a version for himself, but the ultimate, most precise replica there is of the falcon.
I took a couple of things away from this talk, one of those major points was how he completely immersed himself in the project he was working on at the time - I’m not talking from the point of view of time, of course it was a lengthy process to complete, I’m speaking of the true passion for the object which he held on to and used in order to painstakingly complete his replica.
The second point I took away from his talk was how important it is to be obsessed with something; For some people their obsession is their work, for others it’s their rock-climbing hobby. Whatever the subject is, these people are all completely and utterly controlled by their fascination with their chosen subject.
This is the point at which I begin to struggle, having tried so many different hobbies; Kayaking, Rock Climbing, Playing Guitar etc. One thing these hobbies share is my loss of enthusiasm. It saddens me to have played guitar for almost 8 years every day, to one day lose the passion I once had for that subject. It upsets me that I let this happen, but I think that was the last ‘thing’ I had which I was truly obsessed about. Since that time, it’s been small successions of tried and failed hobbies. I’m not necessarily talking about an active hobby, just something I can really obsess over.
There’s a constant stream of information washing over me - I’m always reading, learning and understanding more about various subjects, most recently, making. I absolutely love watching people like Adam Savage, Harrison Krix and the fantastic Stan Winston School, pouring themselves into objects which they truly love and desire. I love it to the point that watching these people learn and develop seems to have become my obsession of sorts.
I’ve made several attempts and trying to learn just some of the skills that these people all possess, but all it seems to no avail. I have to wonder if perhaps I’m trying to immerse myself just a little too much? Most recently I’ve decided to give model making a try, I want to learn the basics of moulding from clay and try to teach myself a new skill. With a goal in mind, I know where I want to end up, I just need to try and make this my obsession.
One thing spending (so far) 7 weeks away from Charleigh has taught me, is that I really don’t have much to do in my spare time. I’ve always been fairly active, from a young age my brother and I had tons of hobbies… Music, Rock climbing, cycling, kayaking, all sorts of stuff! But as I’ve got older I seem to have pushed those things further and further down my priority list.
I’ve always regretted not keeping up with the things I enjoy doing in my spare time… For the most part, it’s probably because I felt I had more interesting things going on, but looking back I realise that not to be the case for the most part. Of course there are things in life I will never regret, some things just took precedence. But I think I’ve now got to a stage in my life where, for one, there’s nothing I have to do anymore. Being this far away from friends means I no longer have an obligation to go and spend time with them (Not that I ever felt obligated in the sense that it’s something I should have been doing, but it certainly sat higher on my priority list than my own spare time did). Perhaps that’s half the battle? I’ve constantly tried to keep myself busy for one reason or another, usually trying to avoid spending time to myself, but now Charleigh, Ellie and I have our home together, we both enjoy just chilling out now and again. I think that this is now the time in which we’re both able to come home from work, put Ellie to bed, and have our time.
Looking back at the things I’ve missed out on, one stands out far more than the others. Music. There was a time when if I wasn’t at school or eating, id be playing guitar, learning new songs, honing my skills. It’s certainly something I miss and something I truly hope to bring back to my life.
When I first moved to Australia, I didn’t really leave myself enough time to get a hard case for one of my acoustic guitars and as such, it sits in England, without me. I’m going to make a change, I’m going to go and buy the guitar I’ve always wanted and a MIDI controller and get back in to music. There have always been several levels on which I’ve enjoyed music… Listening to it, writing it, recording it… I’m going to try much harder to enjoy my talent, and maybe someone else will too!
