Detroit

Over the Fourth of July weekend we were in Detroit for the 2017 National Tae Kwon Do Championships. Aside from the martial arts extravaganza, one of the things I've always enjoyed about these types of events is that it can provide an opportunity to see places you otherwise might not.

But seriously - Detroit?

We all know that Detroit is The Motor City, and the home of Motown. But honestly, most of my mental picture of Detroit is formed from the movie The Crow and the various works of Eminem.

Still, that's where the tournament was, so that's where we were going. I pictured spending a lot of time in the hotel room in-between formal events (the hotel was a different story - is there a Crowne Plaza in the nation that has been re-decorated later than 1987...?).

Turns out that Detroit - or at least the broad downtown section that contains the Cobo Center - is under revitalization. And it shows. While there are a handful of buildings that are in very poor condition, those that we encountered are under construction. And the city has built a downtown park - called Campus Martius Park - which puts a lovely central focus point on the region.

The Michigan Soldiers and Sailors Monument sits at one entry point to the park. The park itself contains many of the things that one would expect - trees, tables, fountains, a bandshell, people reading, talking, playing chess. It also contains a huge sandbox (called "the beach") and an outdoor bar. This, as one might suspect, makes it a lovely space for people of all ages to congregate, and the park was well attended. This was lovely enough that we chose to spend time there on a couple of different days that we had open.

This area is also very bike-friendly, and the city has recently incorporated a bike-sharing system similar to that found in other cities. There are multiple restaurants within a short walk of the park, including a Hard Rock Café, a marvelous breakfast place called The Dime Store, and a little further down, the Detroit Beer Company, a local brewpub.

We also took a ride on the Detroit People Mover, did a walk-thru at the General Motors building, and spent a short period of time walking through the small Greektown the city offers.

The experience wasn't flawless. The city does have a homelessness problem, and when walking to breakfast we encountered one man laying splayed on the sidewalk such that it was unclear whether he was sleeping, or waiting for someone to make a chalk outline around him. He was gone when we passed back that way, so it was likely the former.

The city probably benefitted somewhat from low expectations - I wouldn't recommend it as a vacation destination by itself - but all in all, the experience was much different than I expected, and far more pleasant.

Catrike Factory Video

As often happens, the acquisition of my Catrike Pocket has caused me to begin exploring online for information about my particular trike, available accessories, and recumbent trikes in general. This has led me to a great many places, but one particular site is a treasure trove of information - BentRider.

BentRider is a recumbent bike and trike (and it appears, mostly trike) news site with a deep archive of back posts. It would be a good first stop for anyone interested in starting to gain information about these machines, as well as trying to get information about the machine one already has - for example, I was able to sort out information about the specifics on my particular trike by finding the post for Catrike's 2012 release notice.

Going through that archive will also periodically allow you to come across little gems like the video below - a 12 minute tour of the Catrike factory in operation. As BentRider notes in their original post, there is no narration - "just pure trike-building porn". Watching it reminds me a little of the old-style factory videos - where the camera followed a piece through the production process - that used to play when I was a kid.

Drag and Drop on iPad: by Readdle

At the World-Wide Developer's Conference (WWDC) on June 5th, 2017, Apple made a number of announcements, among them significant changes coming for the iPad in iOS 11.

One of the changes garnering the lion's share of attention is the upcoming addition of drag-and-drop capability to the iPad. This isn't entirely new - there has long been the ability to drag around items within a given app, but not between them.

This represents a significant advance for the iPad in general, and is particularly exciting for those of us who work at or near an iPad-only status. Unfortunately, it's mostly a tease at the moment. iOS 11 won't come out until the fall, and while it is possible to sign up for early beta's of the software, working with an operating system still in development on one's work devices simply is not the wisest of choices.

However, if you are looking to get some experience with how drag-and-drop works now without taking the risk of using a potentially unstable operating system on your production machines, Readdle has you covered.

Their announcement likely got a little lost in the excitement of WWDC, but back at the end of May, Readdle announced the capability to drag and drop files between their apps - specifically between Documents, Scanner Pro, PDF Expert, and Spark. I use all of these apps except Documents (PDF Expert largely replicates the capabilities of Documents while adding the PDF functionalities), and I'm pleased to say it works extremely well.

Say you've received some documents via email that you want to review and mark up. Open your email in Spark, and open PDF Expert in a split window, and simply drag the files from the email across to the folder you want in PDF Expert. It's that simple and straightforward. You can see it in their video, below:

The utility of this is quickly obvious, and Readdle has just about the perfect family of apps to use it with. Their is a brief explanation in their blog post of how they are doing it - servers opening and such - which would make it seem like something potentially clunky and slow, but it's seamless in application. The only limitation here I've seen thus far is that, because it relies on off-site servers, it doesn't work if you don't have an internet connection. Under those circumstances the file you are dragging simply stops at the window split. If you have, or go get, these apps you can test that yourself by putting your iPad into airplane mode.

Readdle has a fairly long history of developing applications that recognize and address some of the limitations in iOS, and this is a nice example of that. I actually feel a little bad for them that the announcement of this capability came such a short time ahead of the WWDC announcement, which takes Readdle's drag and drop capability and applies it system-wide. WWDC also announced a Files app, which appears to largely do everything that Documents does. Still, Readdle puts on a brave face on their blog entry about WWDC, indicating:

It’s great to see Apple focused on unleashing true iPad potential, while adding some tremendous improvements to the dev tools and kits. People will enjoy the new experience on the App Store, get more apps, and do more stuff done with their iOS devices.

We will dig deeper during the week and come up with awesome ideas on what we are going to do with iOS 11 and Readdle apps.

Based on their history thus far, I suspect they are up to it.

Catrike Pocket Maiden Voyage

The Maiden Voyage of the Catrike Pocket went well. I chose a route that I was already familiar with, that offers some elevation changes but avoids gravel (we'll try that out later). I was a little slower than my rides on the Cannondale, but this is to be expected, I suppose - the Catrike is about 11 lbs heavier than the Cannondale, there's a higher rolling resistance with the third wheel, and of course I'm still learning the new machine.

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There are several differences from riding an upright bike that became clear on this initial ride:

• You sit low. This is a given when you look at it, of course, but when riding down the road you quickly realize that you are at eye level with the top of the grass in an unmowed ditch. The value of the bike flag becomes immediately apparent.
• Because of the height difference, extra care needs to be at intersections to be sure you can see whether a car is there.
• You cannot see into the cars as they pass you from behind - the angle is too steep. Oncoming traffic, however, is much the same experience as on the upright bike.
• At first the act of pedaling causes a bit of torque steer. This goes away with some practice (smoother pedaling), but it's a real adjustment (enough so that it's mentioned in the Catrike owners manual).
• Riding this is noticeably more of a leg workout than with the upright. This seems be due to the differences in positioning. On the upright you can stand up on the pedals, of course, but you can also use more of your upper body to supplement by pulling against the handlebars. It is possible to brace against the seat back, which offers a different but similar benefit, but I didn't fully sort that out until about two-thirds of the way thru the ride. I suspect this also contributed to the slower ride time; it will likelly improve with practice.
• In relation to the above item, I did a lot more shifting than usual. Some of this, again, will likely pare back with practice. Still, I suspect more shifting is simply a part of the deal.
• Because the rear wheel is right behind your head, you are much more aware of mechanical activity of the trike.
• Steering is immediate and awesome - it's like riding a pedal-powered go-kart.
• Similarly, the brakes are astonishingly quick. I don't know if this is because of the design of the trike itself, or just a feature of the disc brakes - I've never owned a bike with disc brakes. But in either case, it's noticeably different from my Cannondale.
• This is the first ride of any length I've taken in years in which my hands did not become numb from road vibration. In fact the difference in controls and position was quite a bit more comfortable than on an upright bike.
• Having a full seat back - even when it's made of mesh - results in your back getting exactly as sweaty as you would think.

Part of my route selection today was intended to minimize the likelihood of encountering much by way of traffic (seemed wise to do for the first trip out). However, I did come across a handful of cars. The first vehicle I encountered - a man in a Ford pickup - slowed way down. The expression of confusion on his face as he sorted out what he was seeing was priceless.

The differences here are just and only that: differences. I enjoyed myself a great deal - I am looking forward to many, many rides on my Catrike.

Catrike Pocket

I am pleased to announce a new addition to the biking family:

This is a Catrike Pocket - it's a recumbent tadpole-style trike. I have wanted a recumbent trike since... well, honestly, since I realized they existed.

In fact, I've wanted a three wheel vehicle since I first read about the Trident Trihawk in Car and Driver whiling away my study hall hours in the Mendota high school library (what was I supposed to do? Study?). And while teenage and early-twenties-me loved cars, I've also always loved human powered vehicles, and many of my early noodling designs included three- and four-wheeled, pedal-driven machines. I thought I was drawing something unique until the internet became a thing and the Human Powered Vehicle Association website showed me that I was just one of many who had such things running through their heads. Fortunately, some of those others (unlike myself) had the technical know-how to actually build the things they designed.

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Several companies build recumbent trikes. In addition to Catrike, I am aware of ICE, Scarab, and TerraTrike available in the US (and there are probably others). Like any specialty bike, however, recumbent trikes tend to run in a price range well outside of what you will find for a bike in your local big-box store. But this lovely blue Catrike popped up on eBay and offered an opportunity well below what they cost new, so I let myself be taken along for the ride.

And along for the ride is where I will be today as soon as I finish a bit of coffee and sort out how to mount my phone to the trike (more on that later, most likely)...

The Boring Company - Travel Transformed?

A few weeks ago Elon Musk tweeted about a new project called The Boring Company. The tweet included a link to this video:

I'm a fan of Elon Musk and his projects, but initially, this seemed a little nuts to me. A lot of energy would be spent here on a project that has other, similar answers, available - why make sleds for cars when trains already exist? Why underground when highways and roads have already been built?

But I spent much of the past week driving on those very highways, all of it fortunately uneventful, but encountering and seeing what we are doing in that environment, and having time to think about those things. As this went on, the Boring Company concept started to make more and more sense.

Among the things that make transitioning people to public transportation challenging is the fact that people dislike changing modes of travel. When a trip involves a drive in the car to get on the train to get to the airport to fly to the place so that you can take a bus to rent a car... people quickly seek out ways to decrease the number of transitions from one mode to the next - e.g. Just drive to the airport, and rent another car when you get there. This is true even when the multiple transition trip would be shorter and ultimately take less effort (e.g. by offering multiple passive, non-driving legs to the trip). The Boring model offers the perception of one travel mode you get in the car when you leave, and arrive at your location in that same car.

This model removes the anxiety surrounding how one will get around once one arrives at their destination. As someone who enjoys using public transportation when I travel (having little opportunity to use it at home), I can testify that this is a real phenomenon. One must research and understand the public transit options where one is going before arriving to understand whether it will be sufficient for getting around, and whether one can adequately master it quickly into the duration of a trip. Public transit systems are different enough from city to city that knowledge of one definitely does not translate entirely to the next - understanding the subway system in Boston does not necessarily prepare you to use the L in Chicago. To make that more challenging, since these systems are oriented towards locals, by far their primary users, they often offer information on them that is abbreviated or incomplete because the regular users do not need a complete explanation to know which train or stop is the one that they need (not dissimilar from the maddening habit Chicogoans have of referring to the highways by their nicknames - the Dan Ryan, the Stevenson, etc - which no one outside the city uses).

It also removes many of the real world limitations that would come with the introduction of the self-driving car. This is a technology that we are increasingly led to believe is inevitable, and one that in some ways I embrace. But there are many real-world issues to sort out, particularly in the hypothetical transition period during which some cars on the road are self-driving, while others remain operated by humans. This doesn't come up much in the pie-in-the-sky discussions surrounding self-driving cars, but the reality is that, while a world in which every car is self-piloted may represent an automotive utopia, the one in which, say, 30, 50, or 70% are self-driving, and the remaining portion is not, is a very different thing. Imagine, if you will, if you were sharing the interstate highway today with horse and buggy and bicycle operators to picture what I mean.

Instead, the sled system is hypothetically platform agnostic. Whether I'm driving my dream of an ultra-modern Tesla electric car, my current day Honda Fit, or a classic 1965 Buick Riveria, I can simply pull up on the sled and ride along.

And, as the concept video shows briefly in the background, there can be multiple sled designs, with some of them being enclosed with seating - very much like a high-speed train car (allowing for Musk's Hyperloop concept). This would allow non-drivers - a growing group in our nation - to use the same transportation system as everyone else.

Because it is platform agnostic, it means that everyone who owns an automobile gets the benefit of the system as soon as it is in place, not having to wait for the price of self-driving technologies to reach a cost level the average person can afford. And assuming that it is electrically operated (which is suggested in the video, and by knowing a thing or two about Elon Musk), and that we continue to advance as we have been with the transition to alternative energy sources (not necessarily a safe assumption, I am aware), it represents a potential significant drop in the use of fossil fuels, even when used by gasoline or diesel vehicles. Most of the trip between locations would be on the sled, leaving the fossil fueled travel to the relatively short distances between the end of the transit line and the final destination. This opens the door for a potentially significant reduction in damage to the environment, as well as to reduced reliance on a type of energy largely sourced from extremely volatile regions of the world.

Reduced time with human operators at the wheel would make each trip safer. Driving is an inherently dangerous activity in which the bulk of the risk is presented by the human factor in the mix. While this approach doesn't necessarily entirely eliminate that human factor, it would significantly reduce the amount of time the human is operating the vehicle on longer trips. This decreases the risk statistically on its own, but also reduces factors like fatigue, since the vehicle operator would be able to rest and relax for large portions of the trip.

It also reduces or removes the factor of human attention to vehicle maintenance, which is a definite safety concern. One does not have to spend a lot of time on the interstate highways to see vehicles blowing smoke of an unhealthy color out of their tailpipes, or bouncing along on worn shocks for several hundred yards after a minor road imperfection, or with wheels frantically wavering, out of balance, within their wheel wells. The safety of your travel is hinged in part on the degree to which your on the road colleagues - the ones you swear at repeatedly (or is that just me?) - see to the care of their vehicles.

Which brings to mind the fact that this approach would also extend the life of your vehicle and decrease its maintenance costs. For each trip one takes that involves travel of any distance, the entire portion of that trip that involves your vehicle being on a sled is functionally equivalent to having it sit in the garage. This means no wear and tear on the vehicle for that portion of the trip - no tire wear, increased time between oil changes, and no mileage racking up on the odometer. Cars already have considerably longer lifespans than they used to, and for those who travel longer distances regularly, that lifespan would increase, and the cost of operation per trip would decrease, markedly (though one assumes there might be a cost to use the sled transit system, which might offset the latter portion a bit).

Upon initial exposure to Elon Musk's tweet, I have to admit that, at first I had a reaction similar to that of Daring Fireball's John Gruber. Still, as you can see above, as I worked through the thought experiment I could really see the value in this. Yes, it seems odd to work on a transit system for cars, but keep in mind there are people in those cars. This is a transit system concept that meets people where they are at now, but is flexible enough to allow for a transition to a future where cars may be less, or not at all, important.

Once I reached that point, where I was getting tied up in all of this was with the tunnels. It's the Boring Company because they are working on being able to reduce the cost and time involved in tunneling. And also because it's a very clever name, but the tunneling is the main point. It's all well and good to propose a tunneling system, but the benefits of the electric sled system could be realized above ground, and functionally integrated into our existing highway system with some modifications to those highways. So why add the complication of the tunnels?

I conducted the majority of this thought experiment while driving, and it was while driving that I began to realize where the benefits would come in with the tunnels - specifically while driving in the rain.

We deal with a wide variety of challenging weather conditions here in the Midwest - rain, snow, sleet, freezing rain, hail, not to mention construction season. These increase the hazard level considerably, as well as the travel time involved. The use of tunnels, as opposed to retrofitting a surface road, would essentially remove the weather (and construction) as a factor. This is a benefit (surface) trains - which I generally think of as the ideal replacement for our highway system - cannot claim. One only has to spend one multiple-hour delay sitting, unmoving, on the tracks because they are frozen, to realize this.

What's more, in rural areas like mine running the tunnels underground in place of the interstate highway system would free up thousands of miles and hundreds of thousands of acres of land for other purposes. In northern Illinois, for example, I39 alone, running from Normal to just north of Rockford, covers nearly 141 miles. An extremely rough estimate using GeoMeasure on a one-mile section of I39 suggests that a mile of the interstate - roadway, median, and and runoff area all-inclusive - represents about 37 acres of land. Assuming that is a fair sample, replacing I39 with a tunnel system would potentially free up over 5000 acres of land for other use. In more heavily populated areas it would remove the road noise and pollution effects of those highways as well.

So picture this, then, in the place of the interstate highway system. You drive from your home to a station that allows you to pull up on a sled, pull up an app on your phone, and tell it where you want to go. Then you sit back and relax, read a book, talk with your family, play a video game, watch a movie, take a nap, whatever, for the entire portion of your trip that involves the interstate drive. When you get to the station closest to your destination, you pull off the sled, and follow the GPS instructions for a few short minutes to arrive at your final destination.

Sounds very pleasant to me.

New TV

I had finally come to the conclusion last week that our dead TV was not going to miraculously heal itself (again), and ordered a new one.

It has since arrived, and I've learned a few things in the process:

• Though it doesn't sound like a lot, 40" looks a lot bigger than 32".
• A decade of improvement in LCD technology, and moving from 720p to 1080p, makes for a noticeable difference in picture quality.
• That decade of improvement also results in a larger television that is noticeably lighter in weight than its smaller predecessor.
• As is true for so many things, having Amazon deliver a TV to your home is infinitely better than going to a store and hauling the thing home yourself.
• Taking measurements ahead of time is vital. The new TV fits in the cabinet, but only just. It presses up tight against the sliding doors, and you would have to turn it if you wanted to access the manual controls on the side. Any larger and it simply would not have fit unless I were to take off the cabinet doors.

By way of comparison, here's a picture of the old TV in the entertainment center:

And here's the new one:

All in all, though it is not yet the big-ass TV that I want to have in the long run, it's an improvement in nearly every respect. It literally took minutes to hook up, and continues to work with all of the various and sundry devices that we had attached to the old one.

The only thing that doesn't work as before is the audio-out. We have the TV hooked up to an external sound system - an older Panasonic surround-sound set-up that continues to work quite nicely. This is fed through the analog audio-out port on the television. For the old TV the sound level on the audio-out was controlled through the television volume, while this one does not appear to be. What this means, in practical terms, is that we can no longer control the volume by means of the TV remote. And because I do not have a remote control for the Panasonic setup, I have to get up and walk across the room to change the volume.

Like an animal.

I've spent some time trying to get the old Vizio remote (which, unlike the TV, still works) to accept the programmable remote code for the Panasonic, but it refuses to accept it. Perhaps it is in mourning for its lost partner. There are other solutions, of course - you can find the Panasonic remotes on eBay, or I could pony up for a modern universal remote. Still - given the price that some of the universal remotes run, I may need to continue to be an animal...

Dead TV...

Our TV seems to have died.

It's not clear to me why it has shuffled off, but it seems likely to be related to a power outage. ComEd has been in our region installing "Smart Meters", our place being no exception and, as one might expect, this involves shutting down the power to the house for a short period of time. But while the power is now back on, the TV is not. The little yellow standby light does not glow, and it does not respond to a touch of the power button, either on the remote or the set itself. I've tried unplugging and re-plugging it, tried different outlets (though everything else plugged in to the same battery pack/surge protector is running just fine), all to no avail. I'd try CPR, but it's unclear where to offer either the breaths or compressions... It's done this once before, and miraculously revived itself. I remember coming into the room and seeing that little standby light glowing once more. I've been waiting for that to occur again, checking periodically with diminishing hope each time, thus far to no avail.

This old soldier is a 32" Vizio purchased sometime prior to our move to our current home, which would mean before 2009. The vagaries of time make it hard to sort out exactly how much further before, but I'd guess at least a year or two, which would put this device right around 10 years of age. Not all bad, I suppose, for a television.

A lot of changes have occurred in TV technology since we purchased the Vizio. It was our first LCD TV, replacing a short-lived 30" CRT set with a flat screen that I had purchased from Sam's Club, and needed help carrying in, it was so heavy. Those changes, of course, include things like resolution and refresh rate, type and number of inputs, and so on - things that any tech geek will find very important. But the most noticeable change over the last decade is size. My 32" TV was certainly the biggest device with a screen I'd ever owned when I bought it. Now 55" TV's are relatively common, and Amazon carries sizes up to 98" (I mean, they cost $30k, but they do exist...).

Bigger - a lot bigger - is what I'd hoped to do when I decided it was time to replace this TV. I wanted something that really covered the wall - not 98", mind you, but as big as the budget would allow. But since The Fates, and not I, are deciding that it's time for a new purchase, things will play out differently. This is due in part to budget, given that this was not planned, but also due to constraints of space.

In a tale that has likely played out in many homes as the size of televisions has grown, one realizes that to have a very large television requires multiple supports and concessions besides simple purchase price. Because they are well beyond the size of anything that came before them, these monstrosities require either their very own furniture, or wall-mounting systems, either of which, at least in our case, requires a significant change in decor. It also means the cost of the large device isn't just found in its purchase price.

Our current, deceased television resides in our living room, housed in a fairly large and attractive bookcase and wardrobe-style entertainment center. It holds not just the television and its related electronics, but an array of books, games, and knick-knacks that maintain the illusion that the room is not simply the space we use to gaze at the screen. It also fits nicely into the decor of our 1860's era rural home. A large-screen device would mean not just replacing this piece, but also finding homes for all of the paraphernalia it holds. This is something we are not yet prepared to do.

So - I need a television that will fit inside the existing system. The space allowed for a TV in there is about 36" wide by 28.75" high (the entertainment center was built for CRT TV's, so depth is not an issue). This leaves me - a bit of a tech geek - in the odd position of shopping on Amazon for an electronic device based first on its physical dimensions, and only secondarily on its capabilities.

I ended up on this Sceptre TV. It turns out that, while we cannot have a truly big TV, we can have bigger. The bezels on the old 32" TV are pretty big in comparison with newer devices, so we can fit a 40" screen within that space. And given that I still hope to get something on a grander scale, I wanted something that was wall-mountable if I chose to relocate it in the future.

Usually I go for the biggest and the best that I can manage when purchasing technology - this typically pays dividends in terms of longevity - but sometimes it's more important that the tech fit into the way that you live rather than the other way around.

Using Apple Maps on the Lockscreen

I am a regular user of the Maps app on the iPhone. I travel in the car a fair amount for work, and I routinely use it for navigation to new and less familiar locations. I will also use it even for trips to familiar locations because I like that it provides the projected arrival time, so I can tell if I'm on-time. If maps would actually also indicate my current speed it would be just about perfect. In short, I've got Maps up and running a lot of the time.

On my phone I use a protective case by Rokform that works with their mounting system, and I pair that up with the car mount that they sell. With this combination in place with a plus-sized iPhone you have a pretty decent in-car navigation system. The only downside is that, for longer trips, keeping the screen lit and the GPS running the entire time can drain down the battery somewhat, even with it plugged in to power.

I recently discovered a feature that, I will admit, may well have been present for some time, but it was new to me: If you lock the phone while navigation is running, the lock screen will light up with the maps app each time a navigation change is in the offing.

This means that the screen is dark for much of the trip, and so not using nearly as much of your battery charge, but that it will light up for you when you are, say a half-mile from the next turn, exit, etc, that you need to be aware of.

I noticed this because I was in a situation where I needed navigation, but my battery was rather low. My destination was one where I was familiar with the first two-thirds or so of the trip, but I was going to need help finding my way through the last portion of it. So I started navigation at the beginning of the trip (didn't want to have to try and enter a destination in while I was on the road) and shut off the screen, figuring I would light it up when I needed it. Pretty quickly into the drive I realized it was lighting up to provide directions, staying lit until I got through the change, and then going dark again until the next time.

I've since tried this for multiple familiar trips just to be sure it was happening reliably. It seems to be, and appears to work well. In some ways it can be a little more useful than simply leaving the navigation up on the screen for the entire trip. Under those circumstances the map is just something you glance at periodically. But with the lock screen on, it changes sufficiently to draw your attention (from blank to lit), ensuring you are consulting it when a change in direction is required.

HonShoop Bluetooth Earpiece

A while back I bemoaned the lack of high-end bluetooth earpieces. I came to the conclusion at that time that my Jumbl receiver with cheap earbuds might just be good enough, and that was where my search ended. At the time, anyway.

Unfortunately, my Jumbl stopped charging a few weeks ago. At first I'd hoped that it was just that the charging indication light wasn't working but, alas, this was not the case. Now, to be clear, this was not the first generation device I wrote about back in 2015, but a more recent version I'd purchased since. As I noted in that original article, the first version had a proprietary charger - it looked like something you would use to charge an old Nokia flip phone. The newer ones use micro-usb to charge, which is far more convenient. I'd since placed the newer one into regular service, and kept the older one at my desk for calls at home (where I would be much less likely to lose the charger).

I've been happy with the Jumbl (although some users writing reviews on Amazon do appear to have had similar problems with devices simply stopping charging), so I popped open the Amazon app to order another. And I did, but while I was there I also perused Amazon's other options and suggestions, and came across this HonShoop earpiece:

I'd never actually heard of HonShoop, but aside from my brief flirtation with Jawbone, I'm by no means a Bluetooth earpiece aficionado. It had good reviews, had noise cancelling features, and an on-device mute button, all for about $30. Seemed a good shot. And, thus far it is working well: sound quality is good, even in a noisy car, battery lasts about a week under my normal use, it's got multiple earpiece adapters to fit even my tiny, deformed ears... etc.

And I absolutely loved the fact that it had its own mute button. Turning on mute on the phone - a definite must-do thing when on a conference call in a car - seems considerably more challenging than simply tapping a button on your ear. And this works well, with the only downside being that the device wants to remind you that it is on mute every minute or so, and that audible notification - "mute on" - can block out portions of the conversation.

All of this is why I sat down this morning to write a review on the device - a couple of weeks in I'm pretty happy with it. Seemed reasonable enough, right? However, it appears the device is no longer available on Amazon. Based upon reviews, I'm not the only person to have ordered it within the last few months, so it's not as if there was an indication that it was a product at the end of its life, but there you have it. Perhaps I should have done more homework, but a google search after the fact finds that HonShoop appears not to have its own web presence. The devices are available from a couple of other outlets in addition to Amazon, but not directly from the manufacturer.

There are other (newer) versions of the headset, slightly different in apperance, available from the same company, and one or two others that appear physically identical to those with other company names attached to them (this seems not that unusual for such products on Amazon). The best I can say now is that if they are of the same design and build quality, and if they operate similar software, and if they have similar battery life, etc, the HonShoop earpieces are worth looking into.

Norse Mythology

Neil Gaiman probably needs no introduction for regular readers. He is a prolific author primarily of fantasy and fantastical stories, sometimes bordering on horror (and sometimes stepping over that line with works such as The Graveyard Book). He has embraced a variety of formats, stretching out beyond novels and short stories and into comics and children's books. He collaborates with illustrators across multiple formats, often to great effect.

One of my personal favorite examples of this is The Wolves in the Walls. This is an illustrated children's book I read to my child so many times that I can simply close my eyes and immediately picture entire sections of the book. It's a delightful read that uses its illustrations not just to entertain, but to guide the reader - it's clearly meant to be read aloud, as the hand drawn text changes size and shape as stage direction for the intensity and volume the reader should employ. To this day I can say to my child "when the wolves come out of walls..." and get the response "...it's all over". The experience with this book led LB to seek out Gaiman's work as they were seeking out other material as well.

When I learned that Neil Gaiman was putting out a book on the Norse Myths I was both delighted and frustrated. Delighted because it's Gaiman writing in an area of long-held personal interest - I grew up on Marvel comics and I've always been particular to Thor (Hercules and Zeus can suck it). That had led me to seek out and read accounts of the myths themselves. I've returned to them again and again over the years, and I always find them as old friends.

Frustrated because I've always thought of them as fruitful ground for my own writing, well, you know, eventually. And here Neil f&@king Gaiman is, stealing my thunder (<--that's a Thor reference. Get it? Anyone??).

Turns out that the stories he presented here are different than I expected. For the most part he's hewed closely to the original stories, modernizing them slightly in terms of language, and fleshing them out just a bit where some additional detail is needed. It is, frankly, a demonstration of storytelling mastery - he knows the core of the stories are strong, and only adds what is needed to make them more accessible. It's a real service to these tales, which do reflect human struggles as shown in the lives of gods, but can sometimes be culturally different in a way that may make them hard for the uninitiated to follow.

As is typically the case, I listened to this book rather than reading it. There's an additional bonus here for the audiobook customer, because Neil Gaiman is a master storyteller. He routinely reads his work in public, and virtually always reads his books when the audio version is recorded. In a lot of ways, his writing style reflects this - he writes like a spoken storyteller, and while his stories are fine to read silently to ones self, they are virtually always improved by being read aloud, and never more so than when being read by Neil himself.

These tales are from a different culture in a different time. The motivations of the characters are unimpinged by many of the consternations that modern western audiences will be familiar with (though fans of the show Vikings will likely find similarities here). They are very much worth exploring, and never more so than with this opportunity - explore them with a master storyteller to guide your way. And - if you can - take the opportunity to do so via audiobook and let Neil take you all the way there.

Spring Forward...

So it's time for the time change again.

Twice a year - essentially every time this comes around - it makes me think of WLS Radio).

Now - not the current, talk filled version of WLS, but rather an older, more entertainment oriented version of the station, the version I grew up with out on the prairie. Every year, twice a year, if you happened to be listening at the right time, you'd come across a host earnestly reminding you of the time change, and just as earnestly telling you either to "spring back" or "fall forward".

This was Jake Hartford, who was a weekend and fill-in host at WLS for quite some time.

What would follow his initial statement about this would be a series of callers trying fervently to correct his "error". Their efforts would be met by some variation of this explanation:

Look, it's simple: when you compress a spring, it springs back, and when you fall, you usually fall forward. That's how you remember - spring back, fall forward.

This would always be delivered in a perfect deadpan, which clearly caused at least a portion of the listening audience to think that he believed what he was saying was true. This perspective probably accounted for about 2/3rds of the callers, and a final third were the folks who wanted to chastise him because he would confuse people and cause them problems in the morning. He was unrelenting in his absolute certainty of the memory device throughout.

Sadly, I could only find the very brief clip above, which proves that it happened, but doesn't offer any of the wonderful back and forth.

I found the entire thing delightful each and every time, and I've been known to repeat the gag and then tell the story about where I learned it from time to time (if, by "from time to time" one means every time change, because it is never not funny. Never).

Memory is a funny thing though - I've always remembered this routine as being done by John Records Landecker (his middle name truly is "Records"), another prominent WLS and Chicagoland radio host. Searching for a version of it for this article, though, I've learned that my memory clearly was off. Not only did I not recall this being Jake Hartford, I actually don't remember the name Jake Hartford at all. I listened to hours and hours of WLS growing up, and I clearly cemented this routine into my mind, but I don't recall him. No slight intended - it's just the vagaries of memory.

Jake Hartford - Real name Jim Edwards - died a few years ago. His obituary included the reference to the Spring back, fall forward routine. This is the only way I was able to find even the short clip. Hard to turn up something by him when you are always searching for John Landecker...

Looking for New News

I sincerely miss The Diane Rehm Show's Friday News Roundup.

I became a news junkie when I was in college. The first Gulf War happened during my time in undergrad. I discovered CNN during that event and, probably more importantly, CNN's Headline News channel. There was a large projection TV in the student union that happened to be in the seating area of the fast food restaurant at which I worked. Once the Gulf War started Headline News was running on that TV much of the time. When I was away from work I found myself turning it on at home as well.

The Gulf War eventually ended, of course, but my attention to news events carried on. In addition to TV I listened to early talk radio - mostly WLS in Chicago) when it rode the wave of conversion from Rock to Talk that seemed to be started by Don Wade (no relation) - and read magazines. As time went on I discovered NPR and found that between Morning Edition, Talk of the Nation, and All Things Considered one could keep the news spigot flowing throughout the day. Radio ultimately won out over TV because I could do other things while listening.

Keeping that spigot flowing every day is something one can do, but it doesn't mean that one necessarily should - it is possible to get drowned in all of that news. While it can be somewhat interesting to be that person who knows who the US Representative is for the third district of a state one has never visited simply because that person is involved in a news story one has heard, it also follows you throughout each day, and can reach the point where it is hard to escape. It's good to be informed, but it's not good when you are wondering about the fate of the McCain-Feingold bill in your spare time.

Probably the only truly useful thing I took from The Four Hour Work Week was the idea of scaling back one's news consumption by getting information from weekly news summaries rather than trying to catch it all over the course of the week. This approach ensures that one remains informed without being washed away in details that may or may not ultimately turn out to be relevant. Ultimately, learning how to do this made me a happier, more relaxed person.

The Diane Rehm Show's Friday News Roundup was, for me, the perfect way to manage that. Diane (or her guest host) would review the week's stories with a panel of journalists. The group had clearly done their homework, and could speak in detail on the topics at hand. Sometimes the group would include a bit of spice as well, such as when David Corn would join and argue with, well... almost everyone. And, as luck would have it, Diane's show was available as a podcast, which removed the need to be listening at a specific time.

Diane Rehm retired at the end of 2016, and with her the Friday News Roundup as well. This left me in a news drought, and this during a time which, arguably, being informed is extremely important.

What I needed, then, was a news program that was fairly objective, came out as a podcast, and offered a perodic (preferably weekly) summary of the news. This turned out to be a harder hill to climb than I expected. There are plenty of news podcasts, of course, but something that offers a summary of the actual news, as opposed to an array of pundits providing their opinions about said news, well - that's more difficult.

For now, I've landed with On Point with Tom Ashbrook. It has a somewhat different format than The Diane Rehm Show - more clips and cuts from the week past. Still, three weeks in I'm finding that it meets many of the same needs for gaining the week's information. Perhaps because it's NPR I'm finding that some of the panelists are the same - this week's show included Susan Page from USA Today, for example.

I'm still evaluating and looking, but for now this seems like home.

Legion and FXNOW

A week or so ago saw the premier of Legion on FX.

This is a show based on a character) that represents a deep dive into the Marvel comics universe. But this isn't your average comic book character (or show).

Like all of the best of storytelling, you'll be rewarded here by paying close attention to the detail happening as the show goes on. And you may have your trust shaken.

I was a kid, reading The New Mutants when I first came across Legion as rendered by Bill Sienkiewicz. The artwork was presented in a style that represented a frankly jarring change from both what had been seen in the series prior, and from anything I'd ever seen in a comic before. Jarring, yes, but in a magnificent way that opened my teenage mind to far more possibilities for comic art than I'd considered before. I continue to remember his art in a way that isn't true for many others.

The first episode of the new series maintains the spirit of that drastic artistic shift. It's delightfully, magnificently off kilter. I'd like to say more, but I don't want to give anything away - it's better to experience it directly.

But when you go to watch this excellent, twisted work of art, choose carefully. The first episode is available streaming through the FX Network's FXNOW app on your iOS device and, one assumes, also through other streaming options. It is also available through iTunes and Amazon Video. The first episode is free on iTunes and FXNOW (you can watch an hour of FXNOW without logging in). The season is $19.99 for HD on iTunes and Amazon Video. If you have a login from a cable or satellite provider you can log in through FXNOW and watch it there for "free".

If you want to live that way...

We watched the first episode through FXNOW. The app worked fine, and streamed the episode smoothly. Unfortunately, that's where the goodness ends. FX, in its wisdom, chose to pack six separate commercial breaks into the Legion premier, some of which contained up to 10 different spots in a single break. It structured the commercials so that there is an extended portion of the episode that occurs before the first break (the first taste is free, apparently), but after that the breaks are stacked on top of one another at fairly regular intervals. The breaks were all long, and distractingly frequent during the second half of the episode.

It's like the folks who set up FXNOW have absolutely no idea why people choose to watch video over streaming.

I highly recommend the show - that should be clear. I'd also highly recommend that you experience the first episode through iTunes (first episode is free, remember) if you want to try it out first, or through either iTunes or Amazon Video if you are sure it's your thing.

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Update 2/26/17: Legion is now available on Hulu, with a much more reasonable volume of commercial breaks.

iPad at Work...

For those like myself who use their iPads for work, it is always helpful to find out how others are using their devices. As time goes on the list of people doing this has been getting longer.

Over recent months Serenity Caldwell at iMore has begun looking into starting a column interviewing folks who use the iPad Pro for work. She interviewed herself for the first iteration of this, and gave some insights from the perspective of a person who does creative work as well as more traditional tech journalism.

Matt Gemmell, a tech writer and novelist has recently returned to the road of working on the iPad only, and has documented that series under the category iPad-only website. Like Frederico Vitticci has done over at MacStories, he chronicles both his experiences over time, and discusses using the iPad for different tasks.

I've also come across Denny Henke, writing at Beardy Guy Creative, who has put together his own ongoing series on the iPad at work, under the category iPad Journal.

For anyone looking to understand how to get more out of their iPads, and/or understanding what can be done with them and how, these sites are a good place to start, and to bookmark for future reference.

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Update: The newest article in Serenity Caldwell's series on the iPad Pro at work is now out. Enjoy!

Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics

One of the unfortunate downfalls of social media is the free trade of information that is dubious in terms of its factuality or slant.

This meme is currently floating around on my Facebook feed:

To its credit, the posting does actually cite sources at the bottom, which makes it seem more credible. Simply allowing someone else to cite the sources, unfortunately, doesn't do the homework for you. If we were in an academic setting where people could be trusted to some, degree to be forthright with the information they shared and how and why they are sharing it, we might. But Facebook is a morass of fake and misleading information - it's essentially an echo chamber - so we cannot.

And - when one is addressing issues like this, it's important to understand not only whether the numbers are correct, but whether or not the context and framework in which they are presented tells the whole story. Or are they, instead, selected to grind a particular political axe? Or are they somewhere in-between?

To make an example of this, let's look at the Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) as indicated here. To the meme developer's credit, again, the item reported appears to be correct. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) does indicate that the LFPR is down from 2008. The final number in the meme is very slightly off - BLS reports 62.7% for December 2008, while the meme says 62.8%, but we can give the benefit of the doubt and assume they were putting this together in October, which that number would accurately reflect.

But those numbers don't really paint the whole picture. This graph shows the LFPS since 1948, the first year available on the BLS website:

As can be seen here, labor force participation is down from 2008, as stated. But it's been going down since 1997. What's more, while it accelerated during the Great Recession, as one would expect, the rate of decline appears to have stabilized over the past three years, a fact that doesn't show when you simply post numbers side by side.

It's also appropriate to ask here: What does the Labor Force Participation Rate measure? Although it seems straightforward from the title (I mean, duh, it measures participation in the labor force, right?), I have to admit that I was not certain. But the BLS has a glossary that defines it's terms, and has this to say:

Labor force (Current Population Survey) The labor force includes all persons classified as employed or unemployed in accordance with the definitions contained in this glossary.

Labor force participation rate The labor force as a percent of the civilian noninstitutional population.

So LFPR is a real statistic. Why was it chosen here - it does not seem to be one of the more commonly presented labor statistics (such as unemployment rate)? What is the meme developer trying to imply?

Based upon the overall tenor of the meme, my best guess would be that it is trying to imply that the number of people who want to work, but cannot find work, has increased since 2008. But, based upon the definition above, this doesn't appear to be what the LFPR measures. Rather, there is another statistic, with the considerably less meme friendly title of "(Unadj) Not in Labor Force, Searched For Work and Available, Discouraged Reasons For Not Currently Looking" that seems to be in place to address that.

The BLS Glossary also defines a discouraged worker:

Discouraged workers (Current Population Survey) Persons not in the labor force who want and are available for a job and who have looked for work sometime in the past 12 months (or since the end of their last job if they held one within the past 12 months), but who are not currently looking because they believe there are no jobs available or there are none for which they would qualify.

Based upon this, assuming my best guess is correct, it would seem that a measure of discouraged workers would better get at the effect of the economy on workers than the LFPR. So why isn't that reported here? One suspects that would be because it doesn't fit the story the meme is trying to tell - rate of discouraged workers is down compared to 2008: 642,000 in December 2008 compared to 426,000 in December 2016. As one might expect, it went up sharply during the Great Recession. However, this measure has been improving markedly since the beginning of 2013, as can be seen here:

(1994 is as far back as the data for this measure is available on the BLS website)

Also and again, why not report unemployment rate in the meme? Perhaps because, according to the BLS, the unemployment rate in December 2008 was 7.3%, and in December 2016 it was 4.7%. Unemployment rose sharply during the Great Recession, but has been declining markedly since, from an end of year (December) high of 9.9% in 2009, as can be seen here:

The takeaway here? This one particular statistic, as reported in this meme, is correct, and appears to be based upon the source cited. The measure chosen, however, appears to be misleading to serve the picture the meme is attempting to portray, purposely portraying a narrow picture. This type of statistical manipulation is unfortunately common, and isn't new, as the saying reflected in the article title will attest. This is why I've run the graphs posted here back as far as they can go - to make the long-term picture of the data clear and available.

Whether the other information indicated in the meme is correct, and whether the measures chosen and the context in which they are presented gives a clear, well rounded picture is uncertain,and appears unlikely, given this example. Caveat Emptor.

In the interest of full disclosure here:

• I am not an economist, nor do I play one on TV. However, much of my professional work involves data analysis and evaluation, which is why I find memes such as the one presented here so very frustrating. It is frankly worse when the statistics are accurate but presented in a misleading way than when they are false outright.
• I am a fan of the outgoing president. I am not, however, a political idealist - I'm a pragmatist. That is to say, I am a fan because of what I see in these numbers - those that tell the larger picture.

Another Step Away from the Desktop: QuickBooks Online

Bookkeeping software is a pain in the ass.

One of the tiny handful of things that has kept me running a desktop machine over the past couple of years is the bookkeeping software that I've been using.

Sometimes people keep using older systems because there is something they love about the old way. People profess their love for paper books despite the presence of electronic options; I maintain a fleet of fountain pens for writing by hand despite three quarters of a century or so of advancement in terms of other options.

This is not the case with respect to my desktop bookkeeping software. Not even a little bit.

A couple of times per year over the past two or three years I'd find myself wistfully googling for alternative options, trying to find an option that would meet my small business needs, would not put a vast array of unneeded complications in front of me, and would, ideally, work on my iPad.

Oh - and that would not be QuickBooks.

You see, several years ago, after years of happily using a version of Quicken Home and Business that was two or three generations behind the then most current version, I clicked the wrong button and triggered an unwanted update. In a fit of pique I declared myself finished with any and all bookkeeping products offered by Intuit and went in search of alternatives.

One of the best ways to make your decisions about things that have a large impact on your personal and professional life is to make a rash decision in the middle of a tantrum.

Despite that, the drive to search for alternatives maintained itself for quite some time. For personal finance tracking I switched to Mint, an online application that offered the ability to connect to and track all of your accounts in one place, and would do a fair-to-medium job of categorizing your transactions for you. And it wasn't an Intuit product.

...Until 2009, when Intuit purchased it. More on that below.

For professional purposes I searched high and low for an option that would meet a variety of needs, including tracking of expenses and invoicing. I ended up using a product called AccountEdge. Never heard of it? Neither had I. But it was available for Mac (and Windows), had reasonable reviews, would sync across multiple machines, and otherwise seemed to meet my needs. I took the leap.

My relationship with AccountEdge has been... complicated. While time has blurred the events somewhat in terms of timeframe, at some point relatively early in my use of this app I found that I needed a feature that AccountEdge Basic did not have. So I upgraded to AccountEdge Pro.

The perception of the small business bookkeeping world seems to be that you will want your business to become an international corporation shortly after founding it, and AccountEdge Pro appears to be set up to make you feel like that's already happened in your bookkeeping software.

But not, you know, in a good way.

Setting up things like invoices in AccountEdge Pro requires thinking like a database developer - in most cases you cannot simply type something into the invoice directly - rather, the database consists of fields that have to be filled from information you have entered elsewhere. This means developing reference "lists" for everything - clients, jobs, activities, vendors. Want to do a one-time activity for a client? Gotta enter it on to the activities list, where it will remain forever despite its one-timeness. And AccountEdge offers an app that supposedly syncs with iOS devices and offers some functionality, but I've found setting it up to be inscrutable.

I remained with it for quite a while longer than I wanted, but I was often contemplating straying. Every few months I would find myself searching the App Store and google for iOS bookkeeping software. QuickBooks was always the top hit, but there are other options. Still, the hurdle of moving to something else always seemed to big a hill to climb.

While it would be tempting to think I was lost in the sunk-cost fallacy - I did spend a lot of time setting AccountEdge Pro up. But ultimately it was prospective cost, in terms of my time, that I was concerned about. I've set up these systems multiple times, and they are typically complicated to learn and time consuming. Most programs offer a trial period, but really understanding how they will work for you means setting up your entire business in them, a daunting prospect just to try something out.

The beginning of the year is the perfect time to make a change if your fiscal year mirrors the calendar year. As 2017 rolled into focus and I had a bit of time off for the end of the year, I found myself looking. And, of course, QuickBooks showed up at the top of each search. But I still wasn't using Intuit's products out of principle.

Principle can be a funny thing. When the state of Illinois rolled out their Ipass system (it's called "EZ Pass" in the rest of the US) and MLW picked up a transponder for her car, I made a bold statement about how I wasn't going to use such a thing. Why would I agree to put something in my vehicle that allows me to be tracked? And it was clear the system could be used to track speed between tolls and to then issue tickets. It was just a matter of time! I would not be duped into entering into such a situation.

...About the third time I asked to borrow MLW's Ipass "just this one time" she suggested I might be a touch hypocritical. I have my own Ipass now.

And you know how I mentioned that Intuit bought Mint? I wasn't pleased about that, but I was already bought in, and Intuit mostly seemed to leave it alone, so I left it be. In the intervening years they've developed iPhone and iPad apps, and it remains one of the easiest ways to quickly see what is going on with virtually everything in your financial life. It still works just as well, if not better, as it did back when it was an independent product.

Plus, I never actually stopped using TurboTax. There are other tax prep options, but TurboTax is very familiar, and works very well for me.

And when I needed to start producing 1099's, and could not sort out any easy way to do so with AccountEdge, I ended up holding my nose and going on Intuit's website, setting up an account that not only allowed me to make them, but also to send them electronically to contractors and to file them electronically. So convenient and straightforward... felt a little like getting the first hit for free...

So, yep, I realized I'm using an awful lot of Intuit products for a man engaged in a principled stand against using products by Intuit. I set my prospective cost concerns aside and went ahead and took a shot at the 30-day trial.

About two hours in I had all of my account information set up and was ready to design invoices. By early afternoon I was able to send out my first invoice, complete with the option for customers to pay electronically (an option I've explored but have never cleared the hurdle of setting up before). Some of the setup - like designing the invoices - had to be done on the desktop - but it appears virtually all of the day-to-day activity can be done on the iPad or on an iPhone. And it may be possible that all of it can be done on an iPad, as invoice designing can be done in a web browser. I didn't try this option - I had invoices to send out and, while I am writing this for you, I tried out the software for me .

If you've never set up financial software before you might think this description sounds like a lot of time was taken to set up. It was about six hours across the course of a single day, to be sure, but that was learning completely new software and getting almost entirely up and running. In the past - as with AccountEdge - this has been a process that can take days to accomplish. I was astonished at how quickly everything came together.

It's early days, of course, and I haven't done everything yet - I have yet to need to print a check, for example. But initial experience is positive. I often prefer to go with smaller, independent software company options when I can find something that will work for me. Still, there are times when the combined experience and expertise of an established company pays real dividends. And assuming everything continues to go well, I'm one more step away from the desktop.

Tom Bihn Synapse 25

For most of my professional life I've been a backpack guy. Early on I did work with a handful of bags that would fall more into the "briefcase" category, often centered around carrying a laptop, but these would quickly demonstrate their limitations as soon as one had to walk any kind of a distance carrying them. Shoulder strap or not, any bag big enough to carry a 1990's era laptop makes you sore in a hurry. I became acutely aware of this when I was in graduate school, having to cover territory carrying books and bulky electronics along Milwaukee city streets to get to my class (Marquette University offered parking conveniently located approximately 15 miles away from any classroom[^1] ). And it reminded me of the relative value of a backpack, which I'd used when I had last had to travel a campus with books in tow.

To that end I purchased and used a "Backpack Briefcase", designed by Trager, for the longer part of a decade. But when the iPad came out, and it became clear that I no longer would need to carry a bulky laptop or its support crew[^2]. It offered the opportunity to pare down my daily carry to something more streamlined. I began to investigate, and ended up choosing a messenger bag from Tom Bihn - the original Ristretto.

This bag has worked well for me for several years. The decreased weight of the iPad means that it isn't problematic to carry the way that the older briefcases were. And it's design is more along the lines of a satchel than of a traditional messenger bag, meaning that you look a little like Indiana Jones carrying it.

Yes - Indiana Jones. Not this guy.

Over the past couple of years, however, I've found that I am traveling more, and as a result I am needing space to carry additional things - particularly food and changes of clothing for working out. For a while I've managed this by periodically carrying two bags - my Ristretto and a backpack borrowed from my kid. But you only have to forget to pick up your second bag on the way out the door a couple of times - leaving yourself either hungry, unable to work out, or both - before the idea of simplifying the number of bags occurs.

I've had extremely good luck with the Ristretto - it has performed flawlessly and, seven years in, I find it has weathered well. I've been very happy with it. Given that, I decided to look at the backpack options Tom Bihn had to offer[^3]. Spending a little time on the site, I decided on the Synapse 25.

The Synapse 25 ticked off all the boxes for me - organizational compartments in the front that allowed free access to the things that I need on a regular basis, it has a specialized carrying system for the iPad Pro, and has the room in the center that I needed for the additional things I have been using a second bag to carry. It also has one clear bonus feature in the form of a center pocket designed to carry drinks up to the side of a one-liter water bottle. As a person genetically predetermined to spill coffee on himself, the mesh side pockets on most backpacks are a disaster waiting to happen.

The Synapse came in a large box right to my home. As you can see, I chose the Burnt Orange/Northwest Sky option.

I like orange, and it makes things easy to see and find. I would have preferred a different interior color - maybe "island" - but that wasn't an option.

It quickly became clear that all of the things I carry in the Ristretto...

....Would easily be able to fit inside the Synapse:

Yup - that's my entire Ristretto being readily swallowed up by the Synapse.

I ordered my version with a Cache - a padded internal bag - sized for the iPad Pro. I did not realize until it came that it would include a set of internal "rails" to allow the cache to slide in and out of the bag while keeping it attached.

I've been using the Synapse for about two weeks now. The size difference between the Synapse and Ristretto took a little getting used to, but that went by pretty quickly. What became clear was that it does exactly what it promised - it holds everything I want to carry easily, and does so without seeming overly large. It's comfortable to carry fully loaded, and the pockets on the front mean that, when I'm at a work site I can easily get to all of the supplies and materials that I need quickly - they are just a zip away. Similarly, the cache on rails means that you can easily find your device even when the main cargo compartment is fully loaded.

The central compartment swallows a lot of stuff. I can easily fit a martial arts uniform and basic gear (belt, ankle brace, mouth guard) or winter biking gear along with a bag of trail mix or a lunch bag. In fact, if you aren't a heavy packer I suspect this bag could easily be used as a carry-on for flights.

And that final, bonus item? The bag really does readily hold a drink in the center compartment. I can easily fit a 16 oz travel mug in the compartment and zip it closed. The sides of the compartment are elastic and taper in towards the bottom to more securely hold the item.

It's deep enough to allow for my mug to be zipped into it.

It works perfectly, and carrying the drink in the center - instead of on the side - of the bag absolutely keeps things from flying about. Additionally I'm finding myself less likely to leave my cup behind when I'm finished, since I can just put it back in the bag when empty.

Thus far the only downside is that the iPad Pro cache appears to have been sized for an iPad Pro without any kind of a case on it. It's a tight fit with the Smart Cover and the ESR backside cover on it; the Smart Cover is designed not to be slippery (for good reason), so it is a bit of work to get it in and out. Two weeks in it is starting to stretch a bit and get easier to use, but anyone using a larger case would want to consider a cache designed for a larger device. Fortunately, the company provides a dimension chart for all of their products, including the caches, so you can measure your device in the case before buying.

The Tom Bihn bags and accessories are not inexpensive. If you are someone who changes bags often, or uses them for only a short while before moving on, they may not be for you. If, like myself, you want a bag to use for a decade or longer, they hold up extremely well and easily justify their cost over the longer term.

[^1]: Its possible that I am exaggerating slightly.

[^2]: Modern laptops notwithstanding, my laptop usage was from an era in which you could not expect to leave home without a power cord.

[^3]: For the record, I'd also had good luck with the Trager backpack, and I still use it to carry supplies for presentations (projector, cords, etc). Unfortunately, the company no longer has a web presence, and a little homework suggests that it appears to be defunct. This article indicates "Records at the office of Washington's Secretary of State indicate that the Trager Manufacturing Company, Inc., formally expired on September 30, 2004".

Dropbox - Moving Forward

Back in January I discussed a bit about apps that had not yet been updated for the multitasking features in iOS 10. In particular, I was frustrated with Dropbox - I rely on the service heavily, and the lack of support for a feature that would make it much more useful for the device seemed problematic.

The long drought is over - Dropbox has now been updated to work with iOS multitasking.

This feature has been in place for the past several weeks, and it is well implemented. My primary desire for the feature was for looking at reference materials. Dropbox for iOS offers a pretty good file viewer, making it unnecessary to open documents in a separate application if all one is going to do is read them. The lack of multitasking support meant one had to either go back and forth between the apps when looking at other documents, open them in another app that already did support multitasking (thank you, PDF Expert), or view them in Dropbox on another device. I've used it many, many times since the update was released.

There is also an additional benefit that I did not expect. With Dropbox open in the secondary pane (on the right) one can open files into the app one is using without the iPad going through the app dance - out of the app, in to Dropbox, only to watch the file open in the app. What happens now is that, when one exports the file out, it simply begins to open in the app - no switching back and forth. The same is true for saving files back to Dropbox - initiate the action in the app on the primary pane (to the left) and the save dialogue finishes up in Dropbox on the right. I don't know if any of this is technically faster than the older method (a very rough test with a stopwatch suggests not), but it absolutely feels faster.

This is headway, and finally brings to the iPad Pro app an option that was sorely lacking once multitasking came into play.

There are other capabilities that would help to round out the iOS application that are not yet present:

• Syncing/saving folders on the device - The app has had a feature to do this with individual files for some time, but folders have been left out. This feature is apparently on the way, but won't be available until next year.
• Edit-in-place - This is the feature on iOS that allows you to open and edit a file directly from the storage location, and have it automatically save back. There are several apps that have been developed so that the app handles this instead of the operating system, but Dropbox has not yet done the work of making it available everywhere. This means that often one has to copy a file to another app, work on it, and copy it back. This leaves stray copies of the app in each location, and adds the work of going back and deleting the strays (doesn't that sound ominous) later on.

Dropbox says that on-device folder syncing is on the way, but the copy in their announcement of the feature suggests a possible misunderstanding of its real relevance. That post uses getting caught in a train tunnel or on a bus without wifi as the reason for the feature. While these periodic inconveniences will be made less problematic with the feature, the reality is that there are entire folders I simply want immediate access to all the time. With the desktop/laptop app the option of "selective sync", allowing one to have some folders synced to the computer while others are not, has been available for quite some time. It seems clear the decision to keep virtually everything off the device for the iOS app was a nod to the smaller amount of storage spaces on the devices. However, at this point you can get your iOS device with up to 128 or 256 gigs of space. This means it is quite possible to have a iOS device with more storage than many modern laptops. If Dropbox is still thinking of iOS devices as secondary devices that might need this feature occasionally they are off base - an iPad (or iPhone, for that matter) kitted out for work can easily replace a laptop for most general work at this point.

iOS and Mac - Progression...

I do a portion of my work - especially meetings - remotely. I use a couple of different services for this purpose - GoToMeeting for group events and FaceTime for individual meetings. When I'm traveling I'll take the meeting on my iPhone 6s, and work on my iPad Pro. But when I'm at my home office I'll work from my iMac.

...Or I will sometimes.

The rationale behind the iMac is pretty straightforward. It has a 27" screen, providing a lot of real estate to work with. I can put the people in one window towards top center, near the camera, and place notes and reference documentation on other parts of the screen - everything at a glance. This is the multitasking traditional operating systems - Mac OS, Windows - boast as an advantage over their mobile counterparts.

On at least three occasions over the past month this has been an advantage in theory which has fallen down in practice. I've had occasions in which I've sat down to begin a remote meeting and found that I could not hear the other people in the meeting. This has occurred in both of the apps I use, and the occurrence is not, thus far, predictable.

Each time this has resulted in a pattern in which I do the following:

1. Open system preferences to make sure the correct sound output option is selected (it typically is).
2. Disconnect and reconnect the meeting in hopes of correcting the issue (it doesn't).
3. Disconnect the meeting on my desktop and reconnect with my iPhone. Which works perfectly. Every. Time.

Now I am fairly technically capable - I know if I fiddle around enough with the settings, perhaps try an reboot, etc, I will be able to get the sound to work. The reality, however, is that I don't have time for this in the moment - I have a meeting to hold.

There's been some grousing in the Apple tech world, particularly following the release of the new MacBook Pro's, about the development progress of the Mac line - that it has been too long between updates, that they are concerned in general that Apple seems more focused on iOS devices the iPad and especially the iPhone - and iOS peripherals like the Apple TV and Apple Watch. This appears to stem from a fear that Apple will allow the tools they are comfortable using to lag behind.

Usually this is apparent change in focus is presented as being rooted in profitability - iOS, and especially the iPhone contribute far more to Apple's bottom line than the Mac does, and so the company will focus there. I'm certain this is a factor, as it should be for any company. But I don't think this is all there is to what is happening.

Back in 2005, after more than a decade of using Windows machines I got my first Mac: a Mac Mini. I bought it for a very specific and singular purpose - video conferencing with another Mac user - and didn't expect to do much more than that with it. But what I began to realize, as I explored the then unfamiliar operating system and became more comfortable with thinking about things from a "Mac" point of view, is things from that point of view were better. I wasn't spending my time rebooting from lockups or trying to sort out networking problems. I was spending my time working.

This experience with the audio issue has very much the same feel to me. The multitasking capability of my iMac is no advantage when I cannot hear others in my meeting. In fact, I suspect it is the multitasking that is at the heart of the issue - that another app has hijacked the audio and will not relinquish it to the app I'm using (I've found this to be the case for audio issues at other times - I'm looking at you, LogMeIn...).

Meanwhile, each and every time I do a video meeting using my iPhone or iPad, well... at the risk of being cliché, it just works. I'm not spending my time sorting out sound issues, I'm spending my time, once again, working.

This is not to say that it's a perfect solution. While the iPad offers multitasking, GoToMeeting does not yet support picture-in-picture (FaceTime does), so group meetings require both devices - an iPhone and iPad. Honestly, however, I always have both devices with me - they are my traveling work system and, more and more, my home office work system as well.

While there still are certainly very specialized tasks and work areas that may still require a traditional desktop-style operating system. But for typical office style work - which is ultimately what I do: reading reference materials, writing reports, working with spreadsheets, exchanging documents, communicating via email and messaging systems, and holding the aforementioned meetings - iOS is as good and often, perhaps by virtue of its simplicity, better¹. Not having to think about how apps interact - being able to expect them to simply respond when you access them - can ultimately override the purported multitasking advantage offered by desktop-style operating systems.

The long and short of this is that this experience strongly suggests that the focus by Apple on iOS isn't just based upon profitability. Rather, one suspects the focus is because, for most² work, iOS is ultimately the better³ solution.

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1. If the idea of using an iOS device in the way I am describing here seems foreign or unlikely from the perspective of working on a desktop-style OS, I'd note that it's important to realize that you have to expect a learning curve. Any new tool requires a period of familiarization, but once past that, iOS is extremely capable. ↩

2. "Most" work is probably more work than people think. Often when I read reviews and commentary on using iOS claims of what people feel they cannot do on iOS relates more to their preference rather than an actual limitation. I've read at least one article, for example, in which the author indicated he didn't want to do photo editing on a touch screen. Comfort with existing tools and systems can understandably limit interest in exploring new approaches. This is actually a well understood behavioral phenomenon - to get people to switch to new systems often requires making old approaches stop working, a process known as [extinction](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction_(psychology).  ↩

3. Lest there be any Mac vs Windows question here: I work with all three operating systems - iOS, Mac OS, and Windows (7) on a regular basis. The benefit I see to the simpler approach offered by iOS applies to Microsoft as well - their attempt to graft Windows onto a touch platform very much feels to like a desperate attempt to keep an old, leaking ship afloat. Interacting with Windows is often one the least pleasant parts of my workday.  ↩