miscellaneous | writing about tech

Tag: miscellaneous

Misplace your FitBit? There’s (literally) an app for that

This morning, after my stationary bike workout, I misplaced my FitBit One. I knew it was either in my office (where the bike is) or my room, but I wasn’t sure which, and it’s small enough that it could’ve easily fallen in a corner somewhere. Unfortunately, there’s no “find my FitBit” feature on my phone – but it was still connecting to my phone via Bluetooth.

That’s when I got the idea to download an app that would show me Bluetooth signal strength – in my case BlueScan for Android, but there are certainly others for both iOS and Android. By looking at the signal strength, I was able to quickly determine which room it was in (the office) and where it was (on the floor next to my bike).

Signal strength low = not in the bedroom

Signal strength high = probably in the office

I figured this was a neat trick worth sharing, especially as more and more of us are carrying small, easy-to-misplace Bluetooth devices, whether it’s a fitness tracker, smartwatch, or headphones.

How do you tip same-day delivery?

August 21, 2014 / Jason Kallelis / 0 Comments

The Verge has a great post up about same-day delivery:

Postmates and WunWun each took almost exactly an hour to get to me, though my 18-year-old WunWun messenger told me it was mostly because the Starbucks line is really long. In each case, they handed me a phone with an app running, asked me to input a tip and sign my name, and were on their merry way.

For delivery of miscellaneous items, does it really make sense to tip as a percentage of the total delivery value? What if you order something that’s very small, but also very expensive? If this sort of thing catches on, I wonder if it will become common to tip as percentage of the total weight, rather than total price. That’s the only way it really makes sense to me.

Well, that, or business owners could just pay delivery people, waiters, etc. a decent wage and stop expecting customers to pay a majority of their employees’ salary.

New section: The Elite

August 17, 2014 / Jason Kallelis / 0 Comments

I’ve created a new permanent section of the site titled The Elite. The Elite is a section devoted to devices I would recommend to others without hesitation. They are not the only devices I’d recommend, and I don’t even own all of them myself, but if someone asks me what device to buy in a given category, chances are my answer will be one of these, as they are generally the best all-around device(s) in their category. This list will be updated as time goes on.

“writing about tech” staff accepts the Ice Bucket Challenge

August 17, 2014 / Jason Kallelis / 0 Comments

Of course, the “writing about tech” stuff consists solely of “me“, but still…it’s not untrue.

Sorry for the crappy audio; as I said in the video, I only had one shot at this. Alas, I have no idea what the background roar was. I cleaned it up as best I could with the limited tools I had available.

Also, yes, I definitely ripped off the intro to Bill Gates’ Ice Bucket Challenge, and no, I’m not even a little bit sorry.

This parody hit a little too close to home, Lindsay?

July 3, 2014 / Jason Kallelis / 0 Comments

Arstechnica writes:

According to the AP and Reuters, Lohan filed suit yesterday in New York state court, naming Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar Games as defendants. The complaint isn’t available online, but Reuters reports that the complaint says that a minor character named Lacey Jonas is a “look-alike” of Lohan and that the game violates her “privacy rights under New York law.”

Lacey Jonas features in some minor side quests in the game, including one in which the player must engage in some GTA-style wild driving to help Jonas avoid (video) the paparazzi. During the high-speed chase, the Jonas character expresses concerns about her weight and hair appearance.

You guys remember Mean Girls, when we thought she actually had a promising career ahead of her? I think, sometime around 2004 or 2005, all her talent and beauty jumped out of her body and took the form of Emma Stone.

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