MobileViews Blog

This week I’m joined of long time friend and fellow tech enthusiast Dr. Kent “Kim” Bridges (retired Professor of Botany, U. of Hawaii Manoa). Kim and I have known each other for over 40 years. And, we spent the vast majority of that time learning about technology, using technology, and sharing knowledge about technology with each other and other people.In this podcast, we reflect on tech through the years. On the way to the present, Kim relates an unanticipated adventure in rough seas between the atolls of the Marshall Islands resolved by an early GPS device. We also discuss his experiences with transportation options from the early Segway and a series of Smart Cars, RAID NAS lessons, Surface Studio failure, and why hard problems are good problems.

As usual, when I speak with Kim, I learned new things during the podcast including Sony’s Eye AF which provides real-time eye auto-focus for improved portraits and animals (especially fast moving ones like birds).

1. Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless camera
   50 megapixel
   Bird eye focus

BOOX Nova Air C Color e-ink Android tablet

Available via Google Music Podcasts and Apple iTunes.

MobileViews Podcast from Audible.com

In this podcast Jon Westfall and I discuss:

1. Jon finished a project from April 2020- the great “Duplication” hunt on his NAS. What do people do for backups / redundancy at home?

   iMazing

   dupeGuru

2. Jon tried using Universal Control this week after he realized he could. Mixed reactions. Also making me wonder what I’m missing out by using a 10 year old Apple Cinema Display through a USB Hub versus something that natively would support Thunderbolt / USB 3 (Mine natively supports Mini Display port…). So when do you upgrade a monitor?!?
3. WiFi weirdness. My 2019 Macbook Pro can connect to some 11G access points, but not all. I sometimes see this on my 2018 iPad Pro too

Available via Google Music Podcasts and Apple iTunes.

MobileViews Podcast from Audible.com

For this podcast I’m joined by guest co-hosts Paul Lawler and Ryan Ozawa for Hawaii Techies Edition #2. We discuss topics ranging from crypto-currency, to the pros and cons of the Apple AirPods Max to the Unisteller Smart Telescope and more.

1. Ryan Ozawa Hawaii Bulletin
2. Ryan Ozawa Decrypt.co
3. Nikon Coolpix P1000
4. eV Scope2 Unistellar Smart Telescope

Available via Google Music Podcasts and Apple iTunes.

MobileViews Podcast from Audible.com

Apple iPadOS 16 with external display

In this podcast Jon Westfall and I discuss the Apple WWDC announcements that interested us the most

1. 

   Blue Yeti (left) & Blue Yeti Nano (right) microphones

   I used my new Blue Yeti Nano microphone for the first time for this podcast. It replaces the full-size Blue Yeti that I’ve used for years to record podcasts
2. These iPadOS 16 features only work on the M1 iPads
3. What’s Jon looking forwards to?
   Lock screen customizations look useful.
   Dictation and keyboard can be interchangeably mixed.
   Schedule email and undo send. Wonder if schedule email is client side or server side?
   Very interested to see if they can get Passkey to take passwords on. Moderately successful with Sign In With Apple ID, which I assume will definitely support it.
   Handoff expanding to FaceTime
   Redesigned Weather Apps across the board.
   WatchOS 9 has some nice workout tweaks – looking forward to custom workout?

Available via Google Music Podcasts and Apple iTunes.

MobileViews Podcast from Audible.com

This is the first of a planned series of MobileViews podcast focusing on technologists with Hawaii ties. This first in the series welcomes old friend Robert Lee who recently left a giant technology firm to join a start-up working on smart heat pumps. He has been in California for over a decade now but grew up in Hawaii and was a summer intern at a company I worked for years ago. He is currently the Lead Software Engineer at Stow Energy

1. Robert’s current favorite gadgets
   Pinecil USB-C soldering iron
   – Pinecil USB-C soldering iron
   Solder anywhere – plugs into a macbook charger, I have been using this for field repairs and to keep my workbench compact
   Mechanical keyboard enthusiasts might like this since it’s much less expensive and bulky than a traditional soldering iron
   Ninja Creami ice cream machine
   – Ninja Creami ice cream machine
   Instead of slowly churning ice cream, this thing uses a 800 watt motor – like a shave ice machine at 10x speed
   My partner and I have been making fruit and non dairy desserts as a stay at home hobby
2. Stow Energy Lead Software Engineer
   One heat pump for your home heating, cooling and hot water – hydronic technology used in big commercial buildings on residential scale
   Thermal storage – use excess solar energy or cheap time of use rates to time shift your heating and cooling energy usage
   Simplify home HVAC – people only replace critical things like furnaces in an emergency, how can we help people learn more about their home’s health and make maintenance / dealing with contractors easier?
   Embedded software, and also EE PCB design, and also cloud engineering, and also PEX plumbing, …
3. Energy.gov Heat Pump Systems
4. Google Project Sunroof

Available via Google Music Podcasts and Apple iTunes.

MobileViews Podcast from Audible.com

In podcast 409, Jon Westfall and I discuss:

1. Spotify Podcasters Are Making $18,000 a Month With Nothing But White Noise
2. What is it about Bluetooth keyboards with touchpads and warnings about iPad radios?
3. Arstechnica: What to expect at WWDC 2022: iOS 16, M2, and more
   MacRumors WWDC roundup
   FYI: Gmail Smart Reply
4. The too-good-to-be-true suitcase may arrive. Ordered 4/16. Shipped 5/1. No update from 5/12 (in mandarin) to 6/4. Now apparently in the country.

Available via Google Music Podcasts and Apple iTunes.

MobileViews Podcast from Audible.com