Tecomat Foxtrot
I'm planing a smart home and in Czechia we are quite spoiled for choice: Control4, Domotron, Fibaro, Haidy, iNELS, Jablotron, Loxone and more, but I like Tecomat Foxtrot 2 from Czech company Teco the most and I'm not alone – some of those companies I mentioned use Foxtrots as well.
The central module is basically an industrial PLC, that Teco has been manufacturing for almost three decades. It uses TCL2 and CIB bus lines to connect up to 32 modules per controller. It also supports other protocols, like Modbus, TCP/IP, UPD/IP or BACnet. Teco claims Foxtrot aims to be as compatible as possible, which is exactly the approach I was looking for.
The central module in its second generation is equipped with two RJ45 for two independent networks, USB host and USB client ports, SD card slot (when the internal memory is not enough), and a slot for 4G/LTE modem.
For programming the PLC there is “Mosaic” IDE, which supports different programming styles, like graphical “CFC” (interconnected blocks) or Pascal-like “ST”. Mosaic contains a lot of additional features, like designer for GUIs (which run on embedded web server) for your control panels and browsers.
Tecomat Foxtrot CP-2000 – central module for (not only) smart homes
Of course, all of this come at a price... of price :-) I consider the central module itself quite reasonably priced for about €600/$700, but afterwards every stupid CIB input device (= mostly buttons and sensors) is around €70/$80 per piece.
Another problem is I want to be able to adjust the program, so adding a new device
Anyway, it should be no problem to integrate it with Qik and even add some program support for Foxtrot into it.
Magnetic USB cable
I had troubles with a phone battery, so before replacing it I looked up how to properly charge it. Li-Ion batteries are happiest around 50 %, apparently, and don't really care much about how many times you plug them in.
So it means charge it often for shorter periods of time and if you can, don't charge it over 80 %. That also means you'll be wearing out the cable port more, so I decided to try out a magnetic cable.
Because you need to keep a small part with magnet and pins in the phone's port all the time, it's hard to use other cables, obviously. I started with three cables, two for home (computer + bedside) and one for work. Later I added one longer to keep in the car.
I rarely charge on the go, so I have an original cable in my backpack. It's also for my peace of mind, so I don't need to worry it may magnetize something I throw in there. I also still have the luxury of 3.5 mm jack on my phone, albeit I use Bluetooth earbuds for workouts, so audio is sorted out as well.
What I love about the magnetic cable is the magnet is quite strong and to connect it I simply grab the phone and casually move it to proximity of the cable connector, which snaps on promptly by itself. Brilliant! It would also work great in a phone cradle, but I don't use one.
If you have proper magnetic cables, you can share them across devices. The cable shouldn't care if the bit in your phone is shoved into a Micro USB, USB-C or Lighting port, and the other side of the bit is always the same. Make sure the cable is not only for charging, but for data as well!
Small disadvantage is I apparently used the cable to help stuff the phone into my car phone holder, because now I'm having difficulties :-) Cables I use have blue LED, which is quite bright and I had to put a rubber band on it for my nightstand.
And sometimes the phone's display turns on for no apparent reason, like if it lost a charge for a brief moment, but it didn't. I don't know if it's caused by the cable, or it's a software issue. It doesn't occur that often though.
Amazfit Bip
I had my Xiaomi MiBand 1s (also called “Pulse”) fitness tracker for three years and it worked rather well, the only bigger issue I experienced was with the silicon rubber band, which lasts no more than a year. Of course the measurements are not precise, but for under $20 it's amazing.
I didn't (and still don't) like newer MiBands, because except for the screen it didn't offer much more. But I also didn't like wearing something 24/7 on my wrist, that doesn't tell time, so after about a year of serious thoughts about upgrade, the price for Amazfit Bip dropped below my threshold of $65 at local seller and I got myself a treat.
The good: I can confirm it's incredible battery life – during first charge cycles I even exceeded it, even with occasional runs with GPS on and HR assist for sleep. GPS precision is fine, I'd say similar to my iPhone SE.
I use almost all of it's features – SMS notifications are great for 2FA or bank codes, my phone is completely silent, because all incoming calls are notified just by watch vibrating (except when I accidently turn DND on :-), also I love the silence of vibrating alarm clock.
Countdown timer is useful for cooking or brewing coffee. It's great that alarm can be turned on/off on the screen, but I wish to be able to set it on watches as well, it would be possible in the same way as countdown timer. And I even occasionally use the barometer, altimeter or magnetic compass.
The glass on the display seems to be quite durable. I try to be careful, but it's not always the case and I have far less scratches, than “incidents” I had.
The bad: I can find just a few dislikes – they are quite thick, so they push to my wrist in the bed (as expected...), which MiBand didn't and that was the major cause I had such a hard time finding it's successor.
I found (and reported, without a response) several bugs in the Mi Fit app:
- Shortcuts are customizable, but will reset on the next sync.
- Touchscreen sometimes doesn't work properly or at all; after a while it starts to work again.
- It sometimes won't sync and I have to try it multiple times.
- Sleep history doesn't show up (I lost the history until the next update few days later).
I experienced strange battery drain, that was fixed by hard-reset. Now I'm back to 35 days.
Updating A-GPS takes about two minutes, which is usually fine, but other times you have stuff to do and you're forced to wait. And I miss it doesn't tell sunrise and sunset.
The ugly: It can't log longer workouts, like 6 hour hike or 3 hour run, sync of such workouts takes forever. What is even worse is quite often (I'd say 1 in 5 workouts) they hangs during an activity tracking and you lose the progress completely! That's REALLY annoying. I'm not able to find a pattern, but it seems it's not that often if I don't wait for GPS before workout. On the other hand, it sometimes hangs twice in an hour.
And of course there's the “political” issue of Chinese manufacturer with uncertain working conditions and quite suspicious requirement to be online for the app sync to work.
Cheap BT headphones
As usual, when I want to try a new tech, I start with the cheapest usable option available. In this case I found Bluetooth Sport Earbuds for five bucks, so I gave them a try.
I must admit, running without cables was really comfortable and I started to wear them on my “grocery walks” as well. Build quality is quite decent, but they have some flaws, like one earbud is louder and the other makes crackling noises when inserting into an ear or lightly pulling on the cable.
The in-ear horn is nice and shirt clip is a must to reduce jumping of the on-cable control box. I made a loose knot on the cable for the clip to stay in place, but It's often not enough, so I just stuff the control box under my shirt, hat or neckband.
Earpods would be much better though. I had concerns about health effects of two wireless devices right next to my brain, but I learned for music they're only receivers and themselves don't emit anything, which improves their battery life as well.
Music
I can't imagine myself working without headphones, I wear them all the time while working and I'm working all the time :-) At home I use good old Koss Porta Pro, in my office I have Creative Fatal1ty HS-800.
I'm satisfied with both, Fatal1ty has more basses and were little tight when new, causing a minor headache, but I suppose I like them more. Porta Pro are proven by many and the only bad thing is the foam covers wears out every couple of years.
Koss Porta Pro and Creative Fatal1ty HS-800
I mostly listen to classical and relaxation music, or on-line NYC based radio. The radio is especially nice thanks to the time difference - in the morning (my local time) there are no commercials, because it's night over there, then the great morning show comes and after that they have few hours commercial-free, which concludes my usual work day.
I use music as a distraction barrier, so sometimes I listen to a single track over and over again. My personal favorite is a MIDI track from a 90's adventure game, spiced up by a great sound font. But I have other favorite tracks I'm playing frequently.
Google Glass
People say that New York City you can either love or hate, noting in between. From buzzing around Google Glass I can say the same about this gadget. Even though I find myself on the side of “hate”, as I see it as a major breakthrough of my privacy, from QetriX’s point of view it’s a major opportunity. It’s exactly what I’m focusing on for QB – tiny pieces of important/interesting information on the go.
I can tell apart those opposing feelings easily, because my personal concern is about the built-in camera, whereas the opportunity is spurting from the head-mounted (or “heads up”) display.
Google Glass Explorer Edition
The true resolution of the display remains unknown, but for apps Google recommends 640×360. Google also created quite strict guidelines for creating apps, which may keep the environment homogeneous.
I’m working on use cases for small resolutions, because Glass is not the only device with such display. We’re hearing more about various wearable devices these days, like bracelets or watches (Pebble).