Nike + ?
I started with a question: “How do I gather data about my hear rate and steps taken during the day on my iPhone 4?” I wanted to start collecting data about my daily activity to see how active (or inactive) I actually am and to see the affect of my environment on my heart rate. After a few days of sporadic research I discovered it is possible to do one or the other with various Apple devices but it is only possible to do both with an iPod Nano 6g, the Nike + iPod kit, and a Polar Wearlink for Nike + heart rate monitor. It was a bit confusing going through all of the marketing literature as the Nike + sensor can be use without the receiver when used with the iPhone 4. However, the iPhone will only receive from the Nike + sensor and not the heart rate monitor. I am about to spend the next week experimenting with the capabilities of my newly acquired equipment but I think I will find that I will need two apps for the two types of data I am looking to collect; Nike + iPod app and the Pedometer native app on the iPod Nano 6g. This may be an issue as I don’t think I can use two apps at once on the Nano. The Nike + iPod app says it can do both but I am not sure about the accuracy and it requires the Nike + receiver to be plugged into the iPod when in use which may affect battery life.
My first experiment will be to pit the two apps against each other to compare pedometer numbers; steps taken. I will be in a fairly controlled environment this week at a conference; in a hotel, same schedule every day, but at least with some decent walking between sessions. I will report back my results at the end of the week.
Also, the Nano has no connectivity other than through the universal connector. I’ll need to figure out how I get my data off of it. My guess is the Nike + web site has some sort of browser app that pulls it off the device directly. But what about the native Pedometer app? Hmmm, more research required.
The Crux of the Cloud
Posted by Dann in Distributed Computing on June 1, 2011
In discussions over the past few months with Microsoft and other cloud services vendors the issue the entire industry is grappling with right now is how to allow “untrusted code” to run in the cloud. “Untrusted code” seems to be defined as “code not developed by me” with “me” being the operator of the cloud services. This applies to any cloud services for applications as opposed to cloud services for host virtualization. The limitations seem to be tied to the fact that most cloud services vendors are still in the throes of migrating traditional private instances, or “on-prem”, software to hosted, multi-tenant environments that aggregate all of the complexities and requirements of “on-prem” software into a single location. This rush to the cloud is fundamentally changing software design and architecture. The answer isn’t web services and it’s not better virtualization. The answer is aligning maturity levels between consumers and suppliers of the cloud service providers. With all of the marketing tricks and schemes focused on driving adoption of cloud services distracting focus from implementation, at the end of the day it comes down to the customer and service provider being able to communicate and live with each other’s expectations; technically and operationally. Service providers need to be able to provide clearly understood technical and operational standards. Customers have to be able to understand and work with the impact these standards have on their applications and services. This drives a lot of cost into the equation of the founding business case, which is often missed.
SPChainGang: SharePoint 2007 & 2010 Link Analysis & Rewriting Utility
Posted by Dann in SharePoint on March 7, 2011
SPChainGang is a link analysis and rewriting utility for Microsoft SharePoint 2007 and SharePoint 2010. It locates, analyzes, and reports links found in most webparts in SharePoint, but not documents. In one mode it will rewrite links based on a path mapping defined in a SharePoint list. Based on my research, there is nothing out in the marketplace that performs these functions other than SPChainGang.
Time To Write Again
Posted by Dann in Uncategorized on December 27, 2010
After one and a half years of not writing it is time to write again. My life feels empty without writing. This site will be archived and multiple blogs put up in it’s place.
STP 2009 Highlights
July 11 and 12, 2009, was the weekend of the annual Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic. This was my second time riding the STP with 2008 being my first year. This year afforded me some results that were my personal best. On Saturday I rode my fastest century (100 miles) I have ever ridden: five hours and twenty minutes. Saturday was also the farthest distance I have ever ridden: 150 miles. Sunday was rather uneventful but I did complete the remaining 58 miles of the ride in about three and a half hours. I crossed the finishline at about 12:15pm. This year we had three of the four guys riding with me finish the entire ride, as opposed to last year when I was the only one that finished the entire ride. I think I will try a one day ride next year, if I can train much more than I did for the ride this year. I had a five week break from cycling which ended about three weeks ago due to work and vacation traveling. I was very nervous going into this weekend that I had not trained enough.
Getting Older
The older I get the more I have in common with more people and the less in common I have with fewer people.
Taking Time To Smell The Flowers
I’m in the middle of a four week travel sprint and for once I’m relatively close to home this week taking meetings at Microsoft in Redmond, WA. A couple of my colleagues from Texas and New York are out and we decided to take a day trip to Victoria, B.C. They have never been here before. It has been seven years since I’ve been here. My colleague from Texas asked around and found out that Butchart Gardens is the place to go. So, I’m sitting in Butchart Gardens taking a conference call as I type this.
Most Popular Post: Cracking WPA Keys
I installed the WordPress blog stats plug-in a few days ago and can now see where all of the traffic to my blog is going. It’s going to an old post I made about cracking WPA keys on wi-fi networks. It’s about the only post that is keeping my blog alive. It’s kind of funny that this post would be the most popular one given that it was a trackback to a post on another blog.
Shellie Update
After more than a year of continuous treatment, Shellie is getting a three month break from chemotherapy. Three months doesn’t seem like a lot of time any more, but we are going to make the most of it. The three month break ends at the end of June.
Back Again
After more than a few months off, my blog is finally back online and fully functional. Why am I back? I miss writing. I miss writing here and I miss writing code. Life is too short not to do the things you like or apply your brain as much as possible. So, here I am.