russellholliman.com

Elements

noreply@blogger.com (Russell Holliman) — Sat, 06 Feb 2016 03:18:00 +0000

New Shirt

noreply@blogger.com (Russell Holliman) — Sat, 06 Feb 2016 03:17:00 +0000

For some reason I have really gotten into t-shirts.

Sleep Monitoring: Comparing the Fitbit band, Sleeprate belt, and Pebble Watch

noreply@blogger.com (Russell Holliman) — Thu, 02 Oct 2014 15:58:00 +0000

I started out with a FitBit a while back to track my activity. At first I used just the iPhone application, but as a present my wife got me the wristband which seemed more accurate and also tracked my sleep. At this point we became a little obsessed with tracking our sleep.

So I ordered a special chest-belt from Sleeprate for her as a gift. The Sleeprate seemed like it would be a little uncomfortable but it wasn't. And the information that it provides seems really interesting.

My only complaint is that the app has too many steps to go to sleep, and to wake up (there are mandatory questions to answer in the morning, which can be hard 1st thing and without glasses). But as a bonus it records specific sounds that wake you up at night (even if you don't realize that you woke up).

Then I received a firmware update to my Pebble watch which activated new functionality. Misfit, which also sells wearable monitoring devices, is now able to track my activity and sleep using my watch very much like the Fitbit. Interestingly enough though, there is nothing that has to be activated for the app to monitor sleep. This got me wondering as to how accurate all of these are. Not being able to test that specifically, I thought I would just compare the three and see how close they were to each other.

Fitbit

I tapped my Fitbit when I went to bed to let it know I was going to sleep. When I woke up, I did the same. The results for the night:

If you remove the "restless" time from the total, it indicates that I slept for 6 hours and 34 minutes.

Sleeprate

At the same time, I put on my Sleeprate belt, answered the "going to bed" questions about my day, and set the app.

Sleeprate does a lot more analysis, as its monitoring not only your movement, but your heart rate, and ambient noise. All things considered, it also reported my sleep to be 6 hours and 34 minutes.

Pebble / Misfit

To me this was the real test, as there was nothing I had to set on the watch before falling asleep. Unfortunately, Misfit does not yet sync with the watch, but that functionality is "coming soon".

As you can see though, the Pebble / Misfit combination is surprising close to the other two: 6 hours 32 minutes.

Conclusion

All three seem to be similarly accurate.

The Sleeprate collects and reports far more information that the other two, but requires more steps before going to bed, and mandatory steps when you wake up.

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Russell Holliman) — Sat, 23 Aug 2014 06:08:00 +0000

BBQ Chicken

noreply@blogger.com (Russell Holliman) — Fri, 15 Aug 2014 21:47:00 +0000

I finally added a firebox to the grill Dianne got me for Christmas. My first attempt at BBQ chicken... ever.

Hopefully its as good as it smells.

Who knew?

noreply@blogger.com (Russell Holliman) — Fri, 15 Aug 2014 21:27:00 +0000

Slimy?

noreply@blogger.com (Russell Holliman) — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 16:01:00 +0000

Supreme Court rules that we cannot rent TV antennas

noreply@blogger.com (Russell Holliman) — Fri, 27 Jun 2014 14:35:00 +0000

So in essence, the Supreme Court has decided what kind of cable we can use and where we are allowed to place our television antennae. [techdirt]

Mean Business

noreply@blogger.com (Russell Holliman) — Wed, 25 Jun 2014 12:06:00 +0000

Google Hangouts from Outlook

noreply@blogger.com (Russell Holliman) — Tue, 20 May 2014 13:23:00 +0000

Google releases Hangouts extension for Microsoft Outlook

Give 'Em Hell, Chet

noreply@blogger.com (Russell Holliman) — Thu, 27 Mar 2014 13:43:00 +0000

Aereo is putting up a fight against the network broadcasters and the US Department of Justice to protect our rights to rent a television antennae from Aereo and have over-the-air television streamed to our homes.

[Lifehack] 7 Tricks To Make You A Spreadsheet Expert

noreply@blogger.com (Russell Holliman) — Sat, 22 Mar 2014 02:06:00 +0000

Here are tricks that will assist with data entry into the spreadsheet

My Nieces

noreply@blogger.com (Russell Holliman) — Sun, 16 Mar 2014 17:34:00 +0000

The first video of my nieces captured in their natural habitat....

Yahoo is deleting names from my address book

noreply@blogger.com (Russell Holliman) — Sat, 17 Aug 2013 14:10:00 +0000

And I don't know how I feel about that.

Coffee Subscription

noreply@blogger.com (Russell Holliman) — Mon, 05 Aug 2013 16:49:00 +0000

Has Amazon always offered "subscriptions" for Keurig K-Cups? I just discovered this today when my usual site was out of stock.

LGY!

noreply@blogger.com (Russell Holliman) — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 17:09:00 +0000

What better way...

noreply@blogger.com (Russell Holliman) — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 20:53:00 +0000

What better way to kick-off National Cyber Security Awareness Month than to hack the White House?

Oh but wait... perfect timing for the President's new Executive Order that's going to fix everything.

iCache Geode Digital Wallet

noreply@blogger.com (Russell Holliman) — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 20:07:00 +0000

I can't decide if this is something I really need to have, but it seems like a neat idea. The concept is simple: the "wallet" stores all of your credit and loyalty card information and either programs a removable card on the fly, or displays the corresponding bar code on the e-ink display on the reverse side.

Coolest. Watch. Ever.

noreply@blogger.com (Russell Holliman) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 05:24:00 +0000

Time is running out to support the new Pebble watch via Kickstarter. Its a "smart" watch with an e-paper face that interact with your iPhone to give fantastic functionality and customization. A pledge of $115 (the $99 pledges are all spoken for) will get you a black Pebble when they ship, sometime in September 2012.

Doctor Who - First preview of the new series

noreply@blogger.com (Russell Holliman) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 02:36:00 +0000

Yeah... I'm excited.

Be The Hula Hoop

noreply@blogger.com (Russell Holliman) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 03:38:00 +0000

Coolness

noreply@blogger.com (Russell Holliman) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 15:35:00 +0000

2011 Nobel Prize: Dark Energy feat. Sean Carroll

noreply@blogger.com (Russell Holliman) — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 16:49:00 +0000

Announcing the Blogger app for iOS - Official Google Mobile Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Russell) — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 13:04:00 +0000

Download the Blogger app today for iOS versions 3.2 and above in the App Store. Although the user interface is only available in English at this time, the app supports blog posts written in all languages. If you’re using an Android-powered device, you can download the Blogger app for Android from the Android Market.

via googlemobile.blogspot.com

Posted via email from treocast's posterous

Transformers Dubbed

noreply@blogger.com (Russell) — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 14:43:00 +0000

A voice dub on top of the new Transformers preview to help explain the 3rd movie.