First Batch Of HealthKit Apps Arrive For iOS 8.0.2

The Health app you see on your iPhone with iOS 8 installed is the hub for Apple’s much heralded, by Apple of course, Healthkit.  Better yet, if you’ve installed the new iOS 8.0.2 then HealthKit will actually now work!

I’ve spent several hours over the last 2 days trying to get my head around this new Apple app to see how it works, what it does, how it integrates with all the 3rd party health apps and most of all to see if it’s useful.

I think I’ve got a pretty good handle on it now and I do think it’s very useful and will only get better in the future – maybe even invaluable from an overall health and fitness perspective.  I’m going to do my best here to try and explain as simply as I can what HealthKit is all about. First, forget this confusing app title HealthKit as there’s no such thing. What Apple calls HealthKit simply appears as an app called "Health" on your iPhone screen.

The Health App on iPhone collects health data from a series of 3rd party apps

The HealthKit moniker appears to be Apple’s way of describing what the “Health” app actually does – it gathers health and fitness data collected by 3rd party apps  then organizes and displays everything in one place using an easy to access Dashboard display. That’s right – Health collects activity, diet, sleep, medical and all kinds of other health related data and makes it available in one place and in one format.

Apple’s Health App can track Steps & Walking/Running without 3rd party apps The graphs above show my Step and Walking numbers for the past 2 days

This was the part that confused me at first because the Health App by itself didn’t appear to do anything other than record my age, weight, height etc. It wasn’t until Apple unleashed the first wave of Health and Fitness apps on Monday morning that I was finally able to download a few of them and figure out what was actually going on here.

The first wave of Health Apps for iPhones – I installed the white box apps

To start off, I downloaded one of the newly released Health apps called MotionX-24/7. Along with measuring your active heartbeat and sleep patterns, this app, like most activity trackers, kept track of how many steps you take each day. When I looked at the display it showed steps taken for the 7 days prior to installing this app. What the heck?  How could that be?  I hadn’t entered that data. I soon unraveled another mystery.

My Heat Beat while resting as measured by MotionX 24/7 Heartbeat is measured by holding a finger to the iPhone’s camera lens

The Apple Health app has a built-in capability to track the daily steps you take and it had been working away silently in the background counting my steps for a week without me having a clue. The Step counter of Health runs in the background using an Apple motion-sensor chip and uses very, very little battery life. It turns our that the connection between 3rd Party Apps and Apple Health is a 2-way street so by my installing MotionX it simply accessed Health and imported a week’s worth of Steps.

Here are the Health Apps I have installed on my iPhone 5s

So, if you have an iPhone 5s or newer with iOS 8 you can check this out for yourself by starting Health then click on Health Data at the bottom of the screen; then All and scroll down and click on Steps.  Then click ‘Show on Dashboard’ so it turns green. The steps you’ve taken since downloading iOS 8 will show in a graph. So far, it’s about the only native Health app function I’ve found as all the others come from 3rd Party apps I’ve downloaded.

iOS 8 has a great Emergency Contact page that can hold vital health data

Some of the value in the Health app isn’t all related to activities, calories and heartbeat. One very useful function is the Emergency Contact display. Here you can enter your Name, Medical Conditions, Spouse and contact phone number, Blood Type, Organ Donor, Weight and Height. In case of an accident a First Responder can access this info from the Lock Screen without having to enter a Passcode. If you don’t like this, then you can disable the First Responder access

The Apple Watch due in early 2015 will track Activities, Heartbeat, Health etc.

Apple’s planning to get into the Health field in a big way. The Apple Watch due out in early 2015 will have most, if not more, of the capabilities of existing 3rd party Health apps. Also, Apple is looking to connect to hospitals and doctors to allow you to upload health data directly to them and even better to have results of exams, blood tests and other medical procedures downloaded directly to your Health app no matter which device it may reside on. Think about the possibilities for RVers!

Jawbone UP & Fitbit have released iPhone apps with no wristband required

Shortly after Apple unleashed all the new Health apps yesterday morning,  Jawbone, the makers of the UP and UP24 activity trackers, introduced a version of its UP iPhone app that works without requiring a fitness band. Instead, the new version of Jawbone’s health and fitness iPhone app adds support for Apple’s HealthKit feature and Health app on iOS 8 making UP’s software for tracking activity and sleep as well as logging meals more valuable to iPhone users wanting to fill the new Health app with data. FitBit has also introduced an iPhone app that doesn’t need a wristband.

The Health app said I was doing so well, I could have some Apple Crisp

The bottom line here is it’s a wonderful world of technology we’re heading into. I’ve been using Health for just 2 days and have set a goal of 10,000 steps a day – that’s over 8km!!  I’ve exceeded that goal both days.  The program automatically calculates my base calorie burn based on my age, height and weight and then figures out how many activity calories I burn on top of the base measurement. Heck, I was way ahead on burn rate so I just had to sample Paulette's first Apple Crisp of this Fall.

Thanks for visiting!

A Mountain, iOS 8.0.2 And A Little Pumpkin Eater

After two unsuccessful attempts at releasing a stable upgrade to its new iOS 8, Apple finally succeeded on Friday afternoon.

This update fixed up the glitch that had made Apple pull its much heralded HealthKit apps from its online store. It was pretty embarrassing for Apple as the new HealthKit was a big deal at the launch of 8.0.1.

The iOS 8.0.2 update went very smoothly and quickly for me on Friday. It’s only a 72.8MB file and the whole process from download to install only took about 15 minutes.

I was anxious to see what the new HealthKit was all about so I downloaded a few Apps that work with Apple’s HealthKit and to test them out, I actually asked Paulette if she wanted to climb to the top of Cobble Hill Mountain. She agreed as she’s always up for some rigorous exercise.

 

Took this photo from the top of Cobble Hill Mountain with my iPhone 5s

I got caught up in watching some football games and then a few TV shows on Sunday night so I ran out of time to blog about HealthKit.  I’ll review what I found in another blog but what I can say is that just using my iPhone I was able to track and record my heart beat, number of steps taken, miles walked, calories burned and a lot of other data relative to my health. It’s pretty neat actually and it’s free too!

Mason’s first visit to the Pumpkin Patch with his Mom

While Paulette and I were slogging our way up Cobble Hill Mountain on Sunday morning, Carrie took Mason to see his very first Pumpkin Patch. This was all new to our little man as he has no idea that Halloween will be here soon but that didn’t stop him from having fun. He seemed to think the pumpkins were just big odd shaped soccer balls to pick up and play with. He sure is learning new stuff every day!

Thanks for visiting!

If You Are Ever On Vancouver Island, Please Visit Here….

There are many, many spectacular parks, beaches and mountain vistas to see on Vancouver Island but one place has always been a favourite of mine ever since I first visited it as a 12 yr. old visiting from Winnipeg. It’s Little Qualicum Falls which is about a 2 hr. drive north of Victoria and just a little over an hour from Cowichan Bay. If you haven’t been to Vancouver Island before but plan to visit some day be sure to put Little Qualicum Falls on your agenda – you won’t be disappointed.

A few of my favourite photos of beautiful Little Qualicum Falls

It was the summer of 1956 when I first visited Victoria during our summer holidays with my parents. My Grandmother and Grandfather had retired and moved from Winnipeg to Victoria 3 years earlier. We stayed with them for about 3 weeks and my parents were so taken by the beauty of Victoria that we ended up moving there from Winnipeg the next year.  My Dad was a letter carrier in Winnipeg and it didn’t take him long to figure out Vancouver Island was paradise compared to the frozen tundra!

Victoria seemed like a fantasy world to me in comparison to Winnipeg. There were hills, the ocean, forests, lakes and beautiful scenery everywhere we went. It was small too. We could walk right downtown without having to worry about catching a bus. The summer that year was perfect and one of the first things we noticed was that we could sit outside at night and not get bitten alive by mosquitos.  That’s right, there really aren’t any mosquitoes on lower Vancouver Island. It’s true!!

About halfway through our summer holiday, my grandparents, parents and another uncle and aunt decided we should take a drive up to a place called Little Qualicum Falls for a family picinic. What an eye-opener that was for me.  I don’t think I’d ever seen a waterfall before. Never had we been able to run along forest trails beside a fast flowing crystal clear river.

Best of all, we got to swim in the deep, clear pools of ice water!  Yup, that water was ice cold coming down off the mountains but at 12 yrs. old it never seemed to bother me at all.  Our family picnic at Little Qualicum Falls was definitely a highlight of our summer vacation on Vancouver Island.

For over 50 years now, I’ve continued to visit Little Qualicum Falls and have probably taken more photos there than anyplace else on Vancouver Island. I’m sure there will be many, many more to follow.

Thanks for visiting!

Friday Morning Fun With Mason Wears Us Both Out

We spent most of Friday morning down in Victoria with our grandson Mason and that pretty much wore us out for the rest of the day!  Our little man is full of energy, loves to play and never wants to stop. He is turning into a real “little boy”!

Did you come to play?

It was a good morning to visit as we were getting some much needed rain so any long hiking plans were not on the table. Our grass has started greening up again and growing so at least I got out of cutting the lawn for another day. That’ll be a job for this coming weekend and I expect right through the month of October.

Hey Grandpa – Grammy is pretty funny!!

Grammy was the big entertainment for Mason on Friday as she called on her Kindergarten and Grade 1 teaching experience to amuse Mason by putting on one of his tunnel toys on. He thought that was pretty funny. Mason loves to crawl through these tunnels but he thought the idea of his Grammy wearing one was even better. He sure doesn’t need electronic toys when his Grammy’s over to play.

It’s amazing how a couple of hours on a floor playing around with a little guy like Mason can end up giving an old guy like me so many aches and pains. It’s sure hard on the knees, elbows and back!  It was all worth it though as Mason had a great time playing and is at the stage now where he wants to climb up and over me all the time – he thinks that’s great fun – and it is!

Eventually, we needed a coffee break so we loaded Mason into his stroller and rolled him a few blocks down to a local Starbucks.

I thought it would be a good time for Mason to sample one of Starbuck’s Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins. I bought one to share with him.

He must have been hungry because I gave him half a muffin and he really dug into it and ate with gusto.

We can always tell when Mason has had enough to eat because anything left on his tray is definitely going to be thrown on the floor! I guess that’s just his way of cleaning up afterwards but we had to move pretty quick to avoid leaving a terrible mess.

Back home, Mason got a real treat as he got to push the elevator buttons that light up – he sure loves buttons, switches and dials of any kind. When we got to his floor Mason stepped out, turned left instead of right and was off and running down the hall.. Another chase, but we caught him and soon had him safely back inside. It was quite a morning for us but we sure enjoyed it – and the long rest back at home!

Thanks for visiting!

A Long, Straight Walk On The Cowichan Valley ‘Rail Trail’

The weather looked a little iffy on Thursday morning but by 10am the sun had broken through the overcast. Thinking it might not remain that way, Paulette and I decided to take Rylie for a walk right away rather than wait until the afternoon. It turned out to be a good decision as we ended up with sunshine for the entire 2 hours we were out on our hike. Our initial plan was to head out to one of our old standby’s the Glenora section of the Cowichan River Park.  But, we drove right past that exit.

The Rail Trail used to be an old railway track and leads to the Kinsol Trestle

Instead, we drove a few miles past until we found the entrance to another section of the Cowichan Valley Trail that connects Glenora Park to the Kinsol Trestle.  As I understand this is commonly called the Rail Trail. After spending an 90 minutes on this hike I can see why it’s called that – it’s as straight as an arrow and flat as a pancake! A sign told us it was a 15km hike to the Kinsol Trestle!

These natural canopy’s of trees growing over the trail seemed like a tunnel

We definitely weren’t prepared for a 30km return trip on foot yesterday morning but we did put a pretty good dent in the trail by walking approximately 7km towards the Trestle before turning around an heading back – all flat and all straight! Still, we did see an incredibly diverse amount of beautiful scenery along the way including tree canopy’s that made it seem like we were walking through a tunnel, farms and even a bit of a swamp that was pretty dried out because of the long, hot summer.

Even though it’s almost October the trees still have most of there leaves but the Maple Trees are definitely beginning to fall. It won’t be long now before most of our trails are completely covered with them.

Even though this trail was flat with no increase in elevation we kept up a pretty brisk pace so we both got a good workout. It felt like a perfect fall day with lots of sunshine but just cool enough to make it quite comfortable.

We didn’t run across any other hikers yesterday but we did see a few people pedaling by us in their bikes. I have to say as we neared the turn around point the bike option looked pretty attractive. It sure is a perfect trail for riding a bike and you can ride this trail from Glenora all the way to and over the Kinsol Trail then on to Shawnigan Lake south of Cowichan Bay.

Looks like someone is planning a Wedding Venue out in the boonies!

The strangest sight we saw all day was the above Wedding Venue being built way out in the middle of nowhere. I suppose there’s a road into the site but even so it’s still way out in the boonies!  It’s a beautiful spot though and who knows?  We were back home just after 1pm and spent a very relaxing afternoon.

In July, 2013 I photoshopped a bear we saw because I was too slow

Back in July, 2013 in a blog titled Our First Bear Sighting… I wrote about how we saw a big black bear walk right across our path. I was too slow to get my camera out and missed the shot. So, I simply photoshopped a bear in to show how close it actually was. Thursday evening I received a message from Lorraine, a local who must read my blog, giving us a warning:

Trust me it's still there. The bear is very big. It walked in front of our vehicle a few feet away. I was just getting out with our four happy little dogs. I got back in the car quickly. We sighted the bear Sunday 21st September.

Thanks for the heads up Lorraine. I’ll keep my eyes open and my camera ready!

Thanks for visiting!

Do You Prefer A Latte Salute, Dog Salute Or No Salute?

When i stumbled into my computer room at 6:30am yesterday and quickly put my coffee cup down on my desk before spilling it all over, I was looking forward to a good day without a care in the world. I woke up my computer screen, opened my email and saw a message from a fellow blogger simply titled Obama’s Salute. Huh? I didn’t have a clue what it was about but I quickly opened it to read the following:

I’ve noticed that you are always pointing out things people say about your buddy obama …. but as a US retired military I find this latest gaffe by him to be disrespectful as do many other military people.
Saluting the marines as he steps off his helo with a coffee cup in the hand he is saluting with.

President Obama salutes as he steps off Marine One in NYC

He included a link to a story about how President Obama, with a coffee cup in hand, had given a less than formal salute to a marine as he exited Marine One after arriving in New York City. So, it’s going to be “one of those days” I remembered thinking. But, after a quick check of the web news about this “worst thing that a US President has ever done since the last worst thing Barack Obama has ever done”, President George W. Bush rode in on Air Force One with his dog Barney!  Praise all gawds!!

President George W. Bush’s Barney the Dog Salutes

Wondering what my blogger friend would think of this I emailed him back and we both ended up having a laugh:

ME:  I don't think it's any more disrespectful than George W. Bush saluting the marines while carrying his dog.

Other Blogger: LOL....good memory….Both disrespectful

ME: I agree. But Presidents are human, make mistakes and have a lot more on their minds at any given time than the average guy.  I'm surprised they don't do stupid things more often.

Thankfully, by 7am, my first major crises of the day was over and I was still on speaking terms with the other blogger. That, in itself, is somewhat of a miracle because when it comes to politics, these types of things can quickly escalate into nasty exchanges. But, what would I know about that, right? 

Did Karl Rove (aka Turd Blossom) actually forget about Barney? 

Being a glutton for punishment, I checked out a few frothing, spittle laced right wing conservative sites to see how they were reacting to President Obama’s salute. It was just what I expected – faux outrage on Faux News. To begin with “latté” and “coffee cup salute” are just things these deranged nutbar conservatives made up, the President doesn’t even drink coffee.  Trust me – I know – I’m his “buddy”.

Presidential salutes never seemed to bother Fox before Barack Obama became President. That’s right, President George W. Bush was photographed saluting his Marine guard without even bothering to put down his dog! He did this on many, many occasions and Karl Rove was probably standing right behind President Bush when he saluted. The crazies rule on Faux and the craziness never stops!

Thanks for visiting!

Windows 10, Internet Explorer 11, & Google Chrome*

10 14 14   Windows
10, Internet Explorer 11, & Google Chrome*

Dear Classmates, 

I downloaded Windows Technical Preview
(which is the raw Windows 10 in progress) October 1, and am using it every day. 

Will give full demonstration of the
Fantastic features coming with Windows 10. Cortana
(like Siri), Internet Explorer 12 and more will be added later. 

They have a section called
Windows Feedback, so if you have any suggestions on improving Windows operating
system, please send them to me in an email.

 

This is my Start menu screen. I get
this screen when I click the Start button or hit the Win key on the keyboard.

 Great new screen, combines
Windows 7 Start button, but vastly improved and Start Screen. You may customize
both, which I did. I love it.

 Come see Windows 10 in action.

--------------------------------

 Will demo Internet Explorer 11 in Windows 7 and 8.1.

--------------------------------

Will demo
Internet Options in Internet Explorer 11 including:

1. Text Size, Menu Bar, and Status Bar

2. Home Page.

3. Privacy including Pop-up Blocker

4. Content: Auto Complete

5. Advanced: Disable script debugging….

 

Will demo Google Chrome including:

1. Bookmarks

2. History

3. Settings

4. Advanced Settings.

5. Autofill

6. About Google
Chrome

========================================

========================================

 
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The New Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter Could Be A Great RV Alternative to Apple Air Play And Chromecast

Have you ever been stuck in an RV Park or, gawd forbid, boondocking in the dry, barren desert with no cell or Wi-Fi service?  And, you happen to have a great movie on your tiny little laptop but no way to stream it to your TV? Or what about that dozen or more of your favorite DVD movies you carry around?

Yesterday, Microsoft announced a $59 Wireless Display Adapter that connects to the HDMI and USB ports on a TV — those without a USB port can use a USB power brick — and lets users mirror what’s on their smartphone, tablet, or laptop within a 23-foot range without having to connect to WiFi.  Microsoft uses Miracast which lets two devices that have Wi-Fi in them talk to each other without having to go through your internet network. You might want to think of it as super-duper Bluetooth.

Some Microsoft competition for Roku, Apple TV and Chromecast

If this sounds eerily familiar, it’s because Apple’s AirPlay, Google’s ChromeCast and Roku offer similar features however they require a WiFi connection to your local area network in order to stream content to your TV. Miracast does not. AirPlay Mirroring works with Apple TV and iOS devices. ChromeCast does most of its magic through web apps. As for Chromecast mirroring - fuggetaboutit. Chromecast let's you mirror your Chrome browser only. Miracast promises to work with both Apple and Android!

The Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter plugs into HDMI & USB ports

Windows 8.1 supports Miracast or if you have a smartphone or tablet that runs Android 4.2 or later, you most likely have Miracast, also known as the "Wireless display" feature. Many new TV’s are coming out with Miracast capability built right in. But, unless you purchased a TV in the last year, it's probably not Miracast-ready. Instead, you'll need a dongle like the Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter.

Wi-Fi Direct allows two devices to establish a peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection

The foundation of Miracast is WiFi Direct. As mentioned earlier in this post this technology allows devices to connect easily with each other without requiring a wireless access point and to communicate at typical Wi-Fi speeds for everything from file transfer to Internet connectivity. Miracast can mirror videos in 1080p and 5.1 surround sound audio. Even copyright-protected materials like your DVDs and music can be mirrored, thanks to a DRM layer.

If you are interested, you can pre-order the Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter  today online at the Microsoft Store or Best Buy, with a release date set for Oct. 31. And, in case anyone is thinking about asking, no I don’t get a commission from Microsoft, Apple, Google or anyone else. However, I can be bought, I would gladly accept any offers from any of those companies. In the meantime, as your humble tech servant, I will continue to try and keep you up-to-date as best I can.

Thanks for visiting! 

Idiot Of The Day – Newt’s Oops! Obama Didn’t Say That!

Newton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich is a politician who has always had a bit of a “foot in mouth” problem. That made him a perfect eventual candidate for my Idiot of the Day Award. It was only a matter of time.

True to form, Mr. Gingrich came through just this morning as he rushed to Twitter to try and be the first GOP’er to attack President Obama over his decision to launch airstrikes in Syria with the assistance of 5 Arab allies (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Jordan and Bahrain) in an effort to begin to “destroy and degrade” ISIS.

Never mind that he along with Republicans like Sen. John McCain, Sen. Lindsey Graham and the entire talking loudmouths of Fox News have been clamoring for war with Syria, or anyone for that matter, it’s dogma for them that whatever President Obama does they must find a way to criticize him even if it shows they are total hypocrites.

In a rush to Twitter to criticize President Obama…..

Compounding his error….

Newt got it terribly wrong….no apology offered….just an excuse!

On June 14th of this year Gingrich said this "We have no choice at this point: The United States must quickly begin airstrikes," the former Republican House speaker said on Friday on "Crossfire" on CNN. "The alternative is to accept that Iran will come marching in, and Iran will end up dominating both Iraq and Syria.  So, Gingrich finally gets his wish and the first thing he does is rush to Twitter to make a totally incorrect attack on the President. Hypocritical? Yes, but typical for this bunch!

Most seriously, and unlike Speaker Gingrich, US Lt Gen William Mayville says some of its overnight air strikes in Syria disrupted an imminent attack on the West by al-Qaeda veterans from the so-called Khorasan group. The raids in Aleppo province came hours after the US, backed by Arab allies, launched the first air strikes against Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria. The Aleppo raids were carried out by the US alone, the US military said. The Khorasan group was in "the final stages of plans to execute major attacks".

Thanks for visiting!