WYZE cam (another follow up)

Yet another disappointment. The Wyze camera I raved about started spinning out of control. Even after several attempts to connect - it did not. No recording on the SD card either, just happily spinning around and around.
Now what?

TPMS (follow up)

Very much to my dismay the tire pressure readings from the ODBII sensor are way off. Excited as I was at first to see the pressure reading on the monitor I was skeptical. The readings showed the front tires 10 PSI higher than the actual reading was, whereas the rear tires supposedly were under inflated.
After I visited a Ford dealership the guy told me that he reset the light - not. So I went out to purchase a digital tire pressure Gage to double check and the readings confirmed that the tire pressure was normal for the front and the rear tires (hot and cold).
So now what?

The improved (another follow up)

I had a bit of time, which is rare these days, and tackled the USB port installation. This turned out to be a bit of an undertaking since there was no clear path from the top to the bottom of the dash board. I had to take off the radio enclosure and the switches for the fan and temperature Gage to get the USB cables to the proper location. At the end it did work out.

I also installed the front dash cam, not in the location I wanted it to be but it works as well where it is at the moment. Perhaps at a later date I will move it into the enclosure above the rear view mirror.

The improved (follow up)

To my dismay my existing ODBII connector did not work, besides, it was to bulky anyway. A quick order with Amazon fixed that issue. Now the connection comes up flawlessly on the Torque Pro app (included with the ATOTO system) and shows all the relevant, and not so relevant information.

Other than that the entire system works perfectly. Maps, radio, Pandora, telephone, equalizer, dimming of display, multiple screens to switch to, car information, and a multitude of other goodies which still need to be explored. The GPS system works well. I also added a WiFi hot spot to the car which allows for a flawless internet connection. To round it all up,  a power inverter allows for a laptop or even a battery charger for the power tools to be connected.

I still need to install, or rather extend the USB port which requires some drilling into the existing panel. The plan is to split the USB inside and have a dual USB flush mount in the dash board.

The good, the bad, and the ugly

It has been 90 days and roughly 4,000 miles since I purchased the Ford Transit 150 Cargo Van. I have to write that I'm very happy with the purchase decision. However, since I was not able to finish the build out in the first go around, mainly due to the cold weather, there are some observations I would like to share.

The good

More room - a two sided sword.

On the one side, it allows me to carry a myriad of tools without making several stops during the week to reload or reconfigure the car for specific jobs. Furthermore, it allows for more accessories to be carried which in turn makes jobs easier to complete. On the other side it makes a mess since all of it is organized in bins at the moment and not in designated shelve units. Some sharp turns, sudden stops, or acceleration can cause some of the smaller bins to topple over and the contents is all over the place despite the lit.

The extra room also allows me to transport left overs or trash easier and faster to the designated landfills or dumpsters. Below is an example of carrying about 2,100 pounds of tile plus several bags of other stuff, or a cement Grinder ( a million pounds if you ask me).

Yes it is a mess but it worked. I'm not sure if I will be able to do that after I finish the build out, whenever that is.

The bad

The van, like all the other vans in the same class, only averages 14 miles per gallon. I drive mostly back roads or city traffic which does not help, neither does the weight of the tools. My previous car averaged about 17 miles a gallon which is not that much of a difference, however, with the gas prices going up again it is about a $100 per month increase. Although the van is not that long, the height prohibits to park in most garages, public or private. The car still is easy to maneuver and park, just not inside. 

The ugly

Opening the doors is like a box of chocolate, you never know what falls out first ... It is ugly inside and looks very unorganized. Dust and other debris is all over the floor. I have to clean the dash board every morning before I start the drive due to the dust accumulated on it. Hopefully this state of looks will improve in the near future.

The improved

This heading is not mentioned in the title but I upgraded the "entertainment" system in the car. I know that there are several upgrade videos online, everybody with their own opinion and style, so I will not go into the nitty gritty details and just show what I did to my van's radio upgrade. Should you be adventures and go for a complete build out, not just a work van, visit this site which has the most detailed and well thought out description of how to do it.

While I was at it I added some desperately needed floor mats for the front. 

I ventured out in the infinite world of shopping to find exactly what I wanted in terms of performance. The particular piece I was looking for was an Android system with most of the bells and whistles for the least amount of money. After weeks of research and comparisons I stumbled upon the ATOTO ANDROID IN-CAR ENTERTAINMENT system which addressed all the items I wanted in my dashboard, above all, it had the right price tag namely $179 on Amazon. Adding a new dashboard kit from Metra, wire harness, connectors, and adapters the entire new system was less than $240.

Since my soccer team had a bye week this Saturday I took the time to tackle the install. First I removed the existing top and front panels.

   

Second, I attached the wire harness and connected the cables in the order of ground, power, left and right speakers.

   

I turned the ignition key to turn on the power system and the system came right up - success.

Now came the fiddling with the brackets to align the screen with the panel. The small piece in front of the screen had to be cut so the unit slides to the back where it is fastened to the existing dashboard.

After mounting the side pieces, enlarging the opening of the screen front panel to fit the screen the unit was nicely in place and was working perfectly.

I will eventually write how the system performs in terms of radio, GPS, USB, Bluetooth, and OBDII.

Alfred follow up

After endless weeks of getting used to the erratic behavior of  the robotic vacuum cleaner by KOIOS aka Alfred I came to the conclusion that this was definitely a waste of money. Not only did he do the random bouncing around cleaning, but he also took two hours to do it, sometimes more. The last straw was the sudden turning right, after turning right, after turning right and then he stops.
Although, if he cleaned, it was somewhat okay. So, cleaning the dust of the vacuum cleaner and put it to work with some elbow grease.

SONOS

In search of a suitable device as an extension for Lois the infamous sentence exclaimed by Julius Caesar came in mind "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears." (Why? idk just did)

As usual the inquiring advice from the almighty search engine spit out the optimal device to be connected to an existing network to play music from any capable device in the household:

SONOS Play:1

Today I wanted instant gratification. I visited Best Buy to find out what the price was, turns out to be the same as on Amazon - instant gratification.
Setup is a breeze, plug the power in, download the app, follow instructions - 3 minutes later

BOOMING SOUND  

meet (potentially) Alfred

After a long debate with myself and the bank account I decided to hire Alfred. Alfred is a robotic vacuum cleaner by KOIOS. The advertising as well as the description puts many claims forward. One of them is that the noise the robot makes during vacuuming is less than 65dB, the other claims state that the suction is 80% higher than the competition, and boasts an infrared-sensor for evading obstacles. The main factor for me was, of course, the price, $199 on Amazon.
Scheduled delivery was Monday, but it showed up two days early - excellent delivery service. Of course I had to check it out right away although it was past 9 PM.

The package

Expecting an overnight charge like my previous robot vacuum, I positioned the machine (it has to prove itself before it gets a name) in the docking station and started fiddling with the remote control. To my surprise the machine was already fully charged which I discovered after I hit the clean button on the remote and the robot zoomed off. It turns out that the first claim about the noise was completely right, in contrast to the previous one (the machine aka Nigel) this vacuum robot only emitted a low humming sound while scuttling at various speeds throughout the house.

Day 1

I programmed the machine to start at 10 AM although it was Sunday. The predecessor was not allowed to work on the weekend due to the noise.
The robot started right on time under my watchful eyes. First thing I noticed that the machine did not run into objects, instead it stopped short if it was within the infrared-sensor. My second observation was the fact that the vacuum did not get as easily tangled up in the fringes of the carpet. However, the brushes on the right and left side skidded under the carpet when the robot was trying to switch from the hardwood floor to the carpet and caused the machine to back off or, in some cases, get stuck. Although the cleaning result was adequate, I still had thoughts; a long term employment might not be in the cards for now.

Day 2

How time flies, it is 10 AM again and the KOIOS vacuum has started its round. I set the program for a full house cleaning, in an relentless effort and multiple passes through the rooms the robot finished the work and docked for reloading for the next day. It seemed that the hardwood to carpet transition was resolved for whatever reason. I got the feeling that it did not depend on how much the machine cleaned, since it does multiple passes for each room, but how low the battery is. Also it seems that the cleaning pattern is somewhat erratic. For short periods of time it covers an area in a parallel back and forth pattern, then it rolls somewhere besides the end of the area which was just cleaned and repeats the pattern. I don't think it tracks what areas have been covered and which ones have not been treated.

Day 3

Today was the first day when the robotic vacuum was on its own. I left all the areas open to see what the robot can do. Occasionally I peeked through the surveillance camera to see how the machine performs. Sure enough the wheels were spinning and a little black dot was going back and forth. I returned late in the afternoon just to find the little guy tangled up in the fringes of the carpet. After I freed the machine it continued with the cleaning without hesitation - for two and a half hours. That is either dedication or bad programming. 

Day 4 

I moved the docking station to the same position the previous vacuum (Nigel) was in anticipation of a different route and/or behavior in cleaning.
The usual start 10 AM on the dot. However, after 2 hours and 45 minutes I finally had enough of the humming and the occasional cry for help. I stopped the vacuuming and send the cleaning robot to its room aka recharging station, which did not work. After guiding it with the remote close enough so it can sense the recharging station it was incapable of docking, instead, it ran into it several times and backed out. The machine does not have any guidance system whatsoever to know if it was in the room or not. I'm all for cleanliness but if you work from home it would be preferable to endure the humming for an hour or so (the place is not that big) and not 3 hours with repeated visits. Yes indeed it cleans, very well I must say, largely due to the pattern. The first one is sort of straight, the second and third cross wise. The latter leads the bot into other room openings and it starts the pattern or continues the pattern again until the forward movement leads it out the door again.

Ricochet Pattern (bouncing off the wall)

This is the auto clean setting which is completely annoying because the gizmo does not know when to stop. Tomorrow I'll try the one room setting, according to KOIOS the pattern is only up and down and not cross wise as shown above. On second thought what good does that if you have more than one room? One more feature I miss from the Nigel bot is the scheduling of the cleaning, KOIOS does not have that, it is a 24/7 operation. If I have a machine like that I would like to be able to program it to my needs. I don't really care for somebody else to think that this is what I need or that this is the right way to do things. To answer the invisible question: "yes, I can return it", "yes, I should have read their thoughts behind the machine" ...

Rethinking the concept here

... and how are your eggs?

Christmas is here and the stocking need to be filled...
I ran across a gizmo made in Germany called the "Beep Egg" by Brain Stream, a singing floating egg timer. Sounded good so it ended up in the stocking.

This morning we tried it out, skeptical at first, but to our surprise a total success.

Here is how it works: you store the egg timer with the eggs so it has the same temperature as the eggs. Start out the usual way, put the eggs in the water and turn the heat on. This particular egg timer emits the tune of "Oh Susanna" when the eggs reach the soft boiled stage, "Take me out to the Ballgame" at the medium-boiled stage, and finally "Hail Hail the Gangs All Here" when the egg is hard boiled (German humor I suppose). Other melodies are available as well.

As you can see the water never comes to a boil, yet the eggs are perfectly cooked.

Guten Appetit!

blind sided

Our "faithful" cleaning companion lost his sight several weeks ago. Due to more pressing issues I was not able to come to the immediate aid. Then I finally had some time to dedicate to Nigel. Oh what a pain it was to determine what exactly caused the blindness. Several iterations of cleaning yielded in exactly - nothing. Upon further mechanical inspection I discovered that the "seeing eye" was not moving at all. This discovery resulted in a complete dismantling of the vacuum bot to search for the faulty part which, of course, was in the deep inner bowl of the machine (when its working its Nigel, otherwise its a machine).

Here is a several hundred dollar machine totally disabled by a non functional

$2.95 fan motor

Net Weight: 41g; Package Content: 1 x Micro Vibration Motor
Model: RF-500TB-12560; Main Color: Silver Tone, Beige
Voltage: DC1.5-12V; Speed: 2700RPM
Shaft Size: 2 x 7mm / 0.08" x 0.28" (D*L); Main Body Size: 32 x 19mm / 1.2" x 0.75"(D*T)

Chapter 2 - Replacement Parts. A couple of years back it would have been a simple trip to the nearest Radio Shack to remedy the problem; but no Radio Shack no remedy. The much disliked and treated response to "order it online" was the only option out. No immediate gratification for me today. First stop the search engine. 231,000 in no time at all, encouraging. I started to order it with Amazon just to find out that the delivery would have been several week. Onward to other vendors, Sears had a delivery date of 5 days, so I took it, excited that the machine would be up and running in no time. BUT WAIT, there is more...
The delivery date came and went - no product. I decided to inquire about the delivery of the product just to receive an email with a tracking number which led to nowhere fast since it was not updated. Several days later another inquiry, this time the response email asked me allow 72 hours to complete the investigation. After three days I inquired again, the response was almost hilarious - please give us a bit more time... Eventually, after three weeks I did receive my package in the mail. Bygones...

Chapter 3 - Remembering the reverse order to assemble the machine. Yes, I managed to get the entire mess back together, and, more importantly, working. I hooked it up to the USB diagnostic port to find out if the laser guiding system is working and it was. Satisfied with the progress I loaded the batteries overnight.

Chapter 4 - Letting Nigel loose. Of course I could not wait to hear the roaring of Nigels brush scuttling around cleaning every inch of our living environment. I was not disappointed, the noise was there, the movement was there... Then alas - the treated "Please clear my path" message although nothing is in the immediate vicinity appeared and Nigel/machine stopped.
Hard reset - soft reset - yelling, softly encouraging the little guy to find his way. Battery calibration, another hard reset, another soft reset - he is on his way. A foot later and several chasing your tail movements "Please clear my path". I figured I take the soft route instead of kicking him as suggested on YouTube, soft reset, clean the house, "clear the path"; soft reset, clean the house, "clear the path" 

PATIENCE 

Sure enough after several iterations of aforementioned steps he started to make his way around the house again, for now. Then, after all this trying to figure out were to go, clear the path, etc Nigel depleted his power source and started complaining about it. Reload !

MORE PATIENCE

Chapter 5 - Alternatives. New Batteries or no new batteries, dealing with customer service or skip it. Questions which gave me visions of robot vacuums dancing in my head. Perhaps do it the old fashioned way and use the vacuum which started to collect dust of all things. Then again, perhaps I should invest in a new Nigel which is not only a luxury but almost the equivalent of several car payments. What to do?

Dashcam

A recent trip to Georgia via a very scenic route required too many stops to take pictures, begging the question to move a dash cam to the top of my to-get-items list. Upon my return the research began. Pricing was obviously an issue, followed by functionality. I decided to give Thinkware Dash Cam F-50 a try, it seemed a perfect fit for the first time try. It is very small and fits right behind the rear view mirror, hardly visible from the front. There is enough cable provided to connect it easily to the cigarette lighter outlet. This is the basic model which requires that you take out the microSD card to view the videos. More advanced and more expensive devices have a Bluetooth link to the phone, which in my case defeats the purpose completely since I have to use the phone to look at the video.

Thinware F-50 dash cam

The dash cam records video in one minute increments to avoid the potential corruption of large files created by continuous video recording. After the initial  testing with the provided 8 GB card, I decided to expand the memory to 128 GB to assure a full days worth of recording. Initially I just plugged it into the cigarette lighter with another gizmo a cigarette lighter double port USB adapter that enables you to transform you cigarette light into a two port USB charger (highly recommended). Perhaps I will connect it permanently to take advantagevideo surveillance feature for parked cars

Dash cam mounted

Of course I was skeptical of the high definition video advertised for the dash cam, but was pleasantly surprised that it actually did have high definition. Granted that you have a clean windshield of course, otherwise you have a high definition video with smudges in the foreground.There is one oddity which is the date time management. You can plug the microSD card into the computer and manage the storage as well as the setup. Although I used the system timing to set the clock with the software, the dash cam recorded videos showed a different date and time. The setup was for UTC -5 but the recording was still at UTC time and 5 days behind. Perhaps with a permanent connection it will be on continuously and maintain the date and time - no big deal at the moment. The 128 GB card works beautifully and does record a full days worth of driving.
Here is where the fun for me comes in. I always wanted to record a video driving through a hectic city with calm guitar music or such in the background. I went a bit further and added a frame to my first video plus background music and credits. OK, I promise to get a life right after those messages from my non existing sponsors.

Since all the videos are in one minute increments it allows for easy editing. Here is the start of a collection of what the dash cam sees.

WALABOT

Curiosity got a hold of me again. I do many handyman tasks and some times I'm in need of a stud finder and occasionally it is a cement wall, in which case its pure guess work what is behind the wall or inside the wall. 

The other day I stumbled over an ad online for WALABOT, an 3D imaging sensor which lets you see what is inside a wall (for my purpose). 


Simply connect to an Android telephone, calibrate and voila the display shows studs, pipes, cables and what ever else lurks inside a wall. Besides the image of the object in the wall it also displays how far away it is from the sensor - definitely useful information. 

Best part - it worked flawlessly right out of the box. 

The company also provides a developer kit with a myriad of possibilities for the use of this technology, but that is for another day...

https://walabot.com/

Mirror Mirror on the Wall ...

About two years ago or so I was visiting a friend of mine who showed me a picture of a mirror in a hotel with a date, time and weather display. So we thought "what a great idea" - almost a must have (or not).

Something like that

Fast forwarding to present times - there is a hole community of magic mirror enthusiasts as I found out via Pintrest. Mostly done with a raspberry pi and a two way mirror, lots and lots of DIY videos and a dedicated magic mirror builders page.

Which brings me to another gizmo - the raspberry pi. Developed in the UK, the raspberry pi has been around since 2012 and is a single board computer. It developed to the current form for many uses. However, I never saw a real need for it up to now.

I decided that I wanted to see for myself what it looks like. 

Something like that

Once I'm done with the back frame to hold the display, the mirror will be a great addition to the living room.

Samsung 8s

After years and years of being  a part of the iPhone family, and Apple Corporation, I finally decided that it is time to switch to a different platform and cellular telephone.  To "put on a new face" if you will.  

My latest iPhone, which is the 5s (yes, there are later versions) emitted so much heat after a 30-minute drive using GPS that  I was not able to touch it for a couple of minutes.  Not to mention the additional exposure to sunlight, which made the phone scream for some shade.  Clearly, one could potentially cook an egg on it -- but no -- in case you're wonder, I have not tried it.   Last but not least, the iPhone quite frequently decided that it needed to reboot at the most inconvenient moments. All of this, plus the renewal and  upgrade to a new phone tipped the scale towards my yearning and need for something different.

Meet Samsung S8, which even with all of the hype, the ads, the reviews, and more, did not convince me as much as the actual use of a Samsung S7, which I had the opportunity to test run for a day.  The look, the feel, and the capabilities of the phone went beyond simply a new user experience.  Forget the exploding batteries, user errors or whatever circumstances that contributed to reports of dissatisfaction.  In my humble opinion, unmistakably, this cellular telephone is the cat's meow.  The phone has exceeded my expectations by more than a mile.

Not only for its sleek design and  masterfully crafted engineering, but for its functionality and software --  it undeniably actually  blows anything else out of the water, while I realize Android users have been saying this for years.

Whereas now, the iPhone seems a clunky relic of past times,

Drones

Curiosity just got the better of me and I purchased the pocket drone. Contrary to the more sophisticated bigger drone this one is more of a challenge. Why?

The control software is not working as described. Every time I start the drone it just flies off without responding to the controls on the iPhone or the Android App. I suppose Eventually I will figure it out before it brakes...

Drones

Eons ago I strolled through the mall and stopped by Sharper Image - my favorite gizmo store at the time. One of the sales representatives was demonstrating a drone. Big by comparison, the drone (not the sales reps) body was made from Styrofoam and a camera displayed video on a smart phone. Excellent idea, but $200 plus at the time was not justifiable. Fast forward a couple of eons - the end of 2016, the curiosity peeked again.  

One of the latest hypes, besides AI and robotics, are the drones. I suppose, fueled by the high volume delivery companies or fulfillment houses experimenting with the use of delivery drones, the private sector has a choice of their own drones. With the vast availability of drones one thing is for certain, there will be increasing traffic soon in the upper areas of the highways. Of course, all of this has and will be heavily regulated. Licenses for the use of drones for commercial use (for example real estate pictures) are required.  Other regulations in regards of area of use are in place already. Most of the regulations are still in flux since this is relatively new. 

After weeks of comparing drones of all sizes and features, I finally decided on the DJI Phantom 4.  The initial sticker shock, when I started my research and popped in the Best Buy store went way side after I started to compare the emerging market of the drones. 

The attractive price range yielded mostly poor performances in terms of flying time.  Believe me, when I write time flies if you are flying a drone. Important considerations are battery life and the consequent recharge time, portability and capability of the drone itself.  Beyond the standard features, it is simply amazing what drones can do. Bottom line is you get what you pay for.  If you invest in a quality product you will enjoy better quality, performance, reliability, features, and above all all, tech support, if necessary.

Also there are some other important factors to consider after the purchase of a drone. One is the learning curve of operating a drone. It requires some good hand and eye coordination. After all, there are a number of buttons to use and dials to be moved besides the two joy sticks which control the up, down, left and right positioning. Granted, if you are a gamer this should be a piece of cake. Then there is the registration with the FAA - another $24.99 for personal use and $49.99 for business use to add to the original cost.

Well, I'm not a gamer but I can tie my shoes and walk while chewing gum, which means that after some practicing, as well as flying time, I will get the hang of it. Not that I am joining a fast-pacing racing league tomorrow, I will leave that for other enthusiasts. 

I am also not one to read extensive manuals, or hardly ever; however, this time I did.  There are one thousand reasons to do so. The manual is not only for information of the handling of the drone, but also alerts you to the fact that there are official regulations and restrictions for operating a drone. I would not go as far as getting a live instructor.  If you are somewhat coordinated and patient it should not be too hard to master flying a drone.

After some experimenting and testing "challenging" flight paths in the backyard, I slowly but surely get use to the joy sticks while looking at the drone, as well as just looking at the screen (you are not supposed to let the drone get out of sight - but but but). In any event, it is very entertaining.

I should let the reader know that this review is my personal opinion, experience and choice.  It is not meant to be a comparison of available drones. Other people get paid, or otherwise volunteer to perform the in depth research of technical features, facts etc etc.

Neato Robotics (follow up)

Since I work from home most of the time I have grown quite fond of Nigel (the Neato vacuum robot). "Nigel" a name, a persona or term of endearment I gave my dedicated household companion who had inevitably become a member of the family. 
Every morning at 9:30 am sharp during the week the jet engine takes off from the docking station and makes its rounds, on weekends it starts at 10:30 am. I had plenty of time to observe Nigel and his navigational talents. After I watched him surfing on one of the slippers it became a natural habit to make sure that no light objects are in his way. He would push it somewhere anyway. Reminds me of a puppy I once had and lost shoes, except the slipper was not chewed up. 
He got stuck several times in various situations. Over time I became so used to listening to the sounds that I know immediately when he is in trouble. Sure enough the beeping sound emitted by him showed me his location. Once he climbed onto the bathroom scale, what a picture that was going back and forth. If he determines that the battery is low he will make it back to the docking station, which is a good thing. 
Today he decided that he was not done in the bedroom and ventured out, after recharging, to clean up the rest. I, on the other hand, closed the bedroom door while he was busy loading the battery. So here he is wiggling his way towards the bedroom when he encounters the closed door. I could have sworn that, after bumping into the door, he looked very confused. He turned a couple of times and tried again. I almost felt sorry for the little guy. He pouted for a moment, most likely had an evil expression lingering in his circuits, then he returned to his docking station.

Yes, I'm working on getting a life. 

Working with computers, gizmos, the internet of things (IoT), automated this and that, etc etc I became very used to talking to the machines. Most of my IoTs in my house are interacted by voice anyway so naturally I talk to them. Therefore, I concluded that voice interaction is missing from Nigel, a friendly "good morning" or "excuse me" if he bumps into one of the items once in a while would not hurt, other than that he is at the moment the solo artist and robot who does his own thing He does not communicate with any of the other machines, except the docking station and me via the beeping cry for help, which might be a good thing.

Neato robotics

So a new gizmo, a neato robotics vacuum cleaner.  Courtesy of a friend of mine on a trial basis.
Whenever something says easy to setup I'm skeptical, was it designed by the engineer, inventor, or the marketing team? If you design something it makes perfect sense - to you only.

In this case I was pleasantly surprised that the initial setup was easy. The unpacking was easy, only one wrapper fastener to cut, everything labeled clearly with instructions what to do with the item.

Notice the personal approach language. This is step one.

 This is the content, two pieces and clear instructions - impressive.

Setup time: unpacking 5 minutes, programming the robot 5 minutes, finding the right spot for it priceless ...

The menu options are easy to understand and to program. There are options for spot cleaning or a schedule for daily cleaning of the entire living area.

It took only 15 minutes on its docking station to be ready for spot cleaning. After that I programmed it to clean everyday at 9:30 am, and on weekends at 10:30 am. Then, promptly at the programmed time it turned itself on which sounds like a mini jet engine, and off it went wiggling its way through the house. Although I strongly recommend to let it do its cleaning chores while you are away, the sound of the roller could get a little bit annoying.
From hardwood floor to carpet, over door dividers, under the bed, pushing light objects around, encountering solid objects which causes it to change directions, relentlessly covering the entire accessible living space. There are boundary strips which come with the robot to let it know that a certain area is off limits. However, I wanted to test it and see what it does on its own.
Most impressive are the moves it makes around corners, and it does not get stuck on the edges of carpets with fringes, instead it turns off the roller and backs up. After 45 minutes it covered two bedrooms, living room, dining room, and a small kitchen. Once it decided that it is done it returns to the docking station, all there is left to do is to empty the dust pin, clean the filter, and the access from the roller to the dust bin.
Overall it does an excellent job of keeping the living space clean on a regular basis.

Customer Support

I wrote that I would blog the results of the customer service interaction in regards to the Zubie and the Misfit products.
So here are the results:
Zubie, after the initial email it was suggested that my car was incompatible. Could not have been since it was working and can show that on the map/trip history. Next round was an elevation of the request with the result that the engineers showed only low traffic on the GPS. Therefore it should be the product, since the GPS on the iPhone and other gizmos is working fine, even the Zubie app reports my location taken from the iPhone GPS function. All the emails were accommodating and left me with the assurance that something is being done. Today I received an email requesting a destination address for a replacement unit. Overall rating for the customer service 5 out of 5.
Misfit customer service:
Equally accommodating with clear instructions on what to try and do. Nothing worked and the almost immediate response was an RMA number link. I sent it in two days ago, now I'm waiting for UPS to notify me that my new unit is there. Rating 5 out of 5.
We will see if it is consistent since I also purchased BOLT, the new LED wireless light bulb and one failed on the second day ...

GigAEye WiFi Camera

Yet another "toy" to play with, the GigAEye, a small but versatile IP camera. Years ago I used bigger and much more expensive IP cameras which you could remotely control. Technology advanced so much that this little camera runs circles around the larger version.
Once you get over the installation process it works well. Installation is not necessarily a breeze, but not too hard. The software provided, however, including the mobile app, is not that great.
From a web client it is very easy to manipulate the camera remotely. Not so much on the mobile app.
Due to the lack of consistent performance by the software I switched to the open source ispy program for a more constant monitoring.
If anything is a breeze to setup and connect, this program is, and it is free. Once you setup a free account the camera view is available from anywhere. As far as the camera is concerned it is a great gizmo with surprising clarity and mobility. The price is relatively reasonable at around $50.