Studio711.com – Ben Martens

Android Thoughts

cortana-androidThis isn’t my first post about my new Galaxy S7 and it probably won’t be the last, but I have some more thoughts about the phone and about Android in general:

  • Using Android has made me appreciate how much thought and effort went into Windows Phone. People scoff at it, but it really was a great OS. Windows Phone may be failing in the American market for a lot of reasons, but the OS isn’t one of them. Android isn’t terrible, but it’s not nearly as polished or consistent. The plus side of that is that you can customize everything.
  • I love the processor and graphics power in this phone. I can easily do live 1080p streams from my security cameras. I don’t know why but my old phone would choke on those streams.
  • The cameras are terrific. The regular camera on our old phones was ok but the front-facing one was horrendous. Now we can using the front-facing camera without fear. I can also get RAW images from the cameras which make post-processing in Lightroom very nice.
  • I didn’t even know this existed but we have “HD calling“. When we call each other, the call quality is way better than a standard telephone. I’ve also gotten the HD calling when calling to an iPhone.
  • The microSD storage is a very nice feature. We put in some very fast 64 GB cards but it goes all the way up to 256GB.
  • Android has gobs of nice features like Do Not Disturb hours so that we don’t get woken up when east coasters are texting us. We can either let specific people through at any time or set it so that our phones will ring if you call twice in quick succession. (Note: we have the latter so in an emergency, just call us back right away.)
  • I was disappointed in the reminder functionality baked into Android. It’s there, but it’s sub-par. Thankfully, Microsoft has made Cortana available for Android and she has excellent reminder technology. The UI is great and the reminders sync to my Windows 10 computers too. By the way, if you do use the Google Now reminders, did you know you can access them from your desktop Chrome browser? Just search for “my reminders” and see what pops up.

I’m still finding more cool features so stay tuned!

benmartens November 4, 2016 Gadgets

Cubs Win!

What an incredible game 7! That game had everything. They put on a good show and in the end, the Cubs won the World Series for the first time in 108 years. Watching these Cubs games brings back a flood of great memories. Go Cubs go! Fly the W!

cubs2016

benmartens November 3, 2016 Sports

Fantasy Football – Week 8

game6grandslamBefore we get into football, I have to say something unbelievable: for the first time since 1945, the Cubs are playing a game that could win them the World Series! After being down 3 games to 1, they have fought their way back to even. Last night, they won 9-3 which is the score that they lost game 7 by in ’45. I’m not a superstitious man, but I’m thinking about stopping at the butcher on the way home to grill some fresh goat. Go Cubs go! End this curse!

2016_week8_derekcarrThe Seahawks had another frustrating day. The highlights of the game for me were the big goal line stands. The Tanner McEvoy play was good too but the penalties in the game were killer. So. Many. Penalties. The weak offensive line is hurting the team pretty bad. It’s hard to throw down the field when Wilson doesn’t have time and they get extra penalties as they try to get the first step in the blocks. The final drive down the field looked great but didn’t end in anything. Bleh. After 7 games, they have only won 4. Hopefully Kam Chancelor and Michael Bennett come back soon and Wilson gets healed up. Otherwise this season isn’t heading very far into the playoffs.

In our league, three of the four games were upsets according to the Yahoo projections (those projects are oh so accurate and useful, aren’t they?) The biggest upset was definitely Jim getting his second win against Logan who had the top spot in the league. #8 topples #1. Andy is now top dog in the league and he’s only made 2 roster moves! He has also had the easiest schedule so far so well see if he can keep it up.

We’re over halfway to the playoffs in our league but the league still feels pretty tight. Nobody has clinched yet but another win or two for Andy might get him a spot. Everyone still has a chance I think.

There were some big moves in our power rankings this week:

1. Ben (+4)
2. Logan (-1)
3. Austin (-1)
4. Dad

  This Week Season All-Time
Highest Team Score Ben had 123.56 Logan had 170.69 (Week 5) Tim 200.51 (2015)
Lowest Team Score Tim had 67.79 Was: Tim had 77.09 (Week 6) Andy had 41.29 (2015)
Biggest Blowout Ben beat Tim by 55.77 Logan beat Tim by 79.46 (Week 5) Luke beat Andy by 113.02 (2010)
Closest Win Andy beat Austin by 1.88 Tim beat Dad by 0.45 (Week 4) Jim beat Ben by 0.12 (2012)
Highest Scoring Player Derek Carr had 43.82 on Jim’s bench. Ben Roethlisberger had 43.90 for Andy (Week 4) Drew Brees had 60.54 on Tim’s bench (2015)
Longest Active Winning Streak Ben has a 2 game winning streak Tim and Logan had 4 game winning streaks Micah (2011) and Ben (2015) had an 8 game winning streak
Longest Active Losing Streak Logan has a 2 game losing streak Jim and Dad had 4 game losing streaks Kyle had a 14 game losing streak (2011)
benmartens November 2, 2016 Fantasy Sports

Eastside Light Rail

The building across the street has been taken over by WSDOT for the east side light rail extension project. It got me curious about exactly where this line will run.

Print

In addition to the stop across the street from my building, it runs a little farther up to the Overlake Transit Center. I suspect this line will be popular with Microsoft employees since it runs right to campus.

I have mixed feelings about the project. It’s a HUGE expense (~$50 billion for the full plan) and most of that is coming out of property taxes. The proposed lines are mostly in Seattle but us east side residents will bear the brunt of the costs. The cost per rider is going to be huge compared to installations in other cities.

On the flip side, I really don’t like going into Seattle because it’s so annoying to drive and park. Buses are available but generally it takes twice as long to get where I’m going. I expect that the train will be a faster option and since the western end of this line is right by the stadiums, that could be pretty convenient.

And anyone who drives in this area knows that traffic is pretty rotten. The lake and the mountains don’t leave much room for people to travel so everyone ends up using the same roads as everyone else. With the area rapidly growing, changes need to keep coming.

Is it worth a couple hundred dollars per year in extra property taxes (and even more in other kinds of taxes)? Many of the people footing the tax bill for this will be retired or moved away from the area long before this plan is ever completed. How do you do transit planning when you can’t build fast enough to keep up with demand, costs are enormously high because of the terrain, and oh yeah, there’s not really any ROOM to put in a rail line? Sounds like a tough job. I wonder how far we could get with $50 billion if we were investigating teleportation?

benmartens November 1, 2016 Commentary

Childhood Books

endersgamecoverI was listening to an old Stuff You Should Know podcast and they briefly mentioned some of their favorite childhood books. It got me reminiscing about books from my own childhood. I know there are some great ones that I’m forgetting but the ones that stick out are:

  • The Hardy Boys
  • Tom Swift (the third and fourth series)
  • Ender’s Game

Those first two entries contain lots of books in them, but Ender’s Game is probably the single book that had the biggest effect on me. It such an epic read, especially as a 10-12 year old (but even now it’s great.) I credit that book with launching me off into a love of science fiction.

What are some of your favorites?

benmartens October 31, 2016 Books

3D Prints

I made my first 3D prints! I have relatively easy (but limited) access to a 3D printer at work so I decided to fire off a few prints. The first thing I made was a train samples from the 3D Builder app in Windows 10. It came out great and now sits in Elijah’s pile of toys. I also printed off a custom piece that connects my random orbit sander to my shop vac. That model came off of thingiverse.com. I haven’t gone so far as to design any of my own models yet, but it’s still fun to play with.

3dprints_1 3dprints_2

 

benmartens October 28, 2016 Maker

Tire Chains

truckchainsWe haven’t had a lot of lowland snow around here in the past few years, but when it does happen, it’s a mess. When I moved out here, I thought people were blowing it way out of proportion, but after my first few Seattle storms, I got it. The roads are usually wet prior to the freezing event and we get a layer of ice underneath whatever snow comes down. Add into that tons of hills, drivers that may have never even seen snow before and very few snow removal vehicles and the city basically shuts down. If you want a quick overview of what it looks like when you combine ice, snow and Seattle, check out this YouTube link. Chains are very helpful for navigating the hills when the roads get like this.

On top of that, if you’re going to travel in the mountains in the winter, it’s a good idea to carry chains. There are times when the roads get bad and chains are required on most vehicles. There are even situations where the roads are really bad (but still open) and chains are required on ALL vehicles, including 4WD and AWD. The WSDOT has a good page about this. If you get caught without chains when you should have had them on, expect a very big fine ($500+).

So blah blah blah, I buy chains for all my vehicles. I used them a few times on the Subaru and they were incredibly helpful. The manual for our Escape specifically says not to install chains. I’m guessing it messes with the AWD system. (The Subaru AWD could handle it for short distances.) For the Escape, we got AutoSocks which are approved by the WSDOT. They aren’t as good or durable as chains, but they are effective.

The truck manual actually says that only certain tire sizes should use chains and my tires weren’t listed. Too bad, I’m buying chains for it anyway. On the rare instances where I need them, I’m not using an AutoSock for a big truck. I bought both the Subaru and the truck chains from tirechain.com. The specific ones I’ve purchased are “Class S ONORM Diamond Chains”. The chains come quickly, are priced competitively, and they’re easy to install once you get the hang of it. They slide around the back of the tire and then once you attach them to the tire, you drive forward a few feet and retighten them. I highly recommend that you practice a couple times in your driveway because the first attempt might take you 15-30 minutes. After you understand it, you can put them on in 5 minutes.

The chains come with a nice carrying/storage bag, but I like to put one of the chains inside a ziplock bag so that they don’t get tangled up. I also put a ziplock back in there with a set of dispoable heavy latex gloves and the instructions.You’re probably going to be putting these on in messy road conditions.

The first five years that I spent out here were a lot snowier than the last five years, but who knows what’s going to come. I want to be prepared for a mess on the commute home and I also want to take my truck into the mountains in a safe manner. If the price is prohibitive for you, it’s possible to buy cable chains at a local Les Schwab and then return them at the end of the year if you didn’t use them.

benmartens October 27, 2016 Commentary

Fantasy Football – Week 7

2016_week7_andrewluckThe Seahawks vs Cardinals game was a doozy. I’d say it was a defensive battle but it felt more like impotent offenses, at least on Seattle’s side. Regular time ended with a 3-3 tie so they went to overtime. Surely one time would be able to find a way to score a touchdown and put this game out of it’s misery? Nope. They both managed a field goal which meant that the next score would win the game. Seattle’s defense let the Cardinals march down the field in range for an easy field goal and… it hit the upright! The Seattle found some offense and marched down the field for an easy field goal and… wide left! AUGH! My old man heart can’t take this. The game ended with that 6-6 tie and that’s it. The Seahawks are now 4-1-1. Since the new overtime rules were introduced in 2012, this is only the fourth tie and it’s the first in Seahawks history. Meh. The bottom line is that the Seahawks better find a way to fix their broken offense because it looked horrible.

We had a crazy week in our league too with the top two teams (Logan and Andy) losing. There is now a three way tie for first place between Logan, Andy and Tim. Next week’s game of the week is probably Austin vs Andy. They’re both in the top 3 in the power rankings:

1. Logan
2. Austin (+1)
3. Andy (-1)
4. Dad

This Week Season All-Time
Highest Team Score Ben had 132.53 Logan had 170.69 (Week 5) Tim 200.51 (2015)
Lowest Team Score Andy had 97.18 Tim had 77.09 (Week 6) Andy had 41.29 (2015)
Biggest Blowout Austin beat Luke by 33.01 Logan beat Tim by 79.46 (Week 5) Luke beat Andy by 113.02 (2010)
Closest Win Tim beat Andy by 3.96 Tim beat Dad by 0.45 (Week 4) Jim beat Ben by 0.12 (2012)
Highest Scoring Player Andrew Luck had 33.82 for Jim Ben Roethlisberger had 43.90 for Andy (Week 4) Drew Brees had 60.54 on Tim’s bench (2015)
Longest Active Winning Streak Dad has a 2 game winning streak Tim and Logan had 4 game winning streaks Micah (2011) and Ben (2015) had an 8 game winning streak
Longest Active Losing Streak Jim has a 4 game losing streak. Jim and Dad had 4 game losing streaks Kyle had a 14 game losing streak (2011)
benmartens October 26, 2016 Fantasy Sports

Cubs

cubs2016For the first time since the end of World War 2, the Cubs are going to the World Series. I watched a ton of Cubs games going up and attended quite a few too. I remember watching games on TV at my parents house, at college, and floating on a sailboat on a sunny day on Lake Michigan (that one was radio, not TV.) I played a lot of baseball growing up and Ryne Sandberg, Andre Dawson and Mark Grace were my heroes. And going to the games was even better. You can hate baseball or the Cubs and still have fun at a game at Wrigley Field. It’s an awesome experience. I will always remember standing in the Cubby Bear bar and singing “Go Cubs Go” before a game.

Now? I’m a terrible Cubs “fan.” I haven’t watched a game in years and I couldn’t even name one player on their team if not for the videos I’ve seen during the playoffs. In fact, I’m a terrible baseball fan in general. I go to a Mariners game or two every year, but I don’t follow baseball at all during the season. It’s just too much to fit into my life and it got squeezed out. 162 games and 30 teams. That’s a lot to follow. Too much.

So am I excited that the Cubs are going to the World Series? YES! It spent so many years dreaming about that happening. But I feel like a total fraud cheering for them because I know I’m not even going to watch the World Series. You might get me to watch a game where they have a chance to win it all though. I would love to see the curse of the goat finally end.

What’s that? You don’t know about the curse of the goat? That linked article gives you all the details but basically Billy Sianis was at Game 4 of the 1945 World Series with his goat. Apparently that was a thing in 1945. Anyway, he got kicked out because his goat was unruly and he put a curse on the Cubs saying “Them Cubs, they ain’t gonna win no more.” And win they haven’t. They haven’t event made it to the World Series since then. They’ve been very close like in 2003 when things were going well until the curse struck and Steve Bartman and his headphones destroyed their chances and became a pariah in Chicago forever.

So go Cubs go. I’ll cheer for you quietly from Seattle.

benmartens October 25, 2016 Sports

Ok Google

samsung-galaxy-s7-0010Back in July I announced that we’d be switching to Android when our existing contracts were up. That time has come and we’re both using Galaxy S7’s. This won’t be the last post on the topic, but let me get some thoughts out of my head:

  • We went for crazy high end phones. There are a couple reasons:
    • With Verizon’s new plans where the cost of the phone is not something that is baked permanently into the service fee (yay!), it finally makes financial sense to keep a phone for longer than 2 years. Before you were kind of paying for it whether you got a new phone or not. So my thought is that if we’re going to keep these for 3+ years, let’s get something that has a chance to last.
    • These phones were in the same ballpark as what we spent on our last laptop. These devices get used way more than a laptop so it didn’t seem unreasonable that they should cost a similar amount.
    • Also, I like technology.
  • I feel like a tool n00b. I stared at my phone and literally had no idea how to send a text message. There are 1000 ways to do everything which is awesome but it’s also daunting at first. Thanks to some advice from Android-loving friends, I was able to pick a couple apps and get started. Yes, the phone comes with Samsung and Verizon versions of various apps but those things are generally best if you delete them immediately.
  • I LOOOOVVVVEEEEEEE having access to all the apps. All of them. I finally have full-fledged first party versions of every app I could ever want. I can buy all the gadgets and gizmos that I want and I can be confident that my phone will play nice with them. I’m like a kid in a candy store.
  • The fast charging is wonderful. The phones come with a 2 amp wall wart and when you charge with that thing, you can go from dead to a full charge in a couple of hours. It also tells you right on the screen how long it will take to get to a full charge.
  • There’s the inevitable “Why didn’t you get an iPhone?” That’s not going to happen. I’ll never buy Apple anything (long time readers are hollering that I had an iPod once.) I don’t think less of you because you have one, but it’s not for me. Oh, but I do think less of you if we have this conversation: “You got an Android? That’s dumb. You should have gotten an iPhone.” “Why? What’s better about it?” “I don’t know. It’s just better because … Apple.”
  • The other question I get is why I didn’t get a Google Pixel. The two big things for me is that the Pixel doesn’t have wireless charging and it’s not water resistant. The water thing hasn’t ever been a big deal but it’s nice to have on the S7. But the big one is that I’m hooked on wireless charging. It’s so convenient! We already have four chargers around the house and they’re compatible with this phone too.
  • This phone has tons of fun sensors on it that i don’t know how to use yet. The thumbprint sensor is incredibly useful. Not only is it handy for unlocking the phone, but I also love it for signing into my LastPass app. The LastPass app automatically signs me in to all the various websites and apps that I use. Fantastic.
  • The one disappointment for me so far has been Android Auto. I was very excited to hook my phone up to the Sync 3 system in my truck and get Google Maps, Ok Google, and more all right there on the screen in my truck, but it turns out that Android Auto isn’t enabled in my truck yet. I need Sync 3 version 2.0. It sounds like they started making that mere weeks after my truck was built. Supposedly there is a dealer upgrade coming “this year” but no word on the exact date yet or whether it’s free.

All in all, I’m happy with our choice, but I’ve been putting in a lot of hours to get the phones configured nicely. Tyla and I have shared calendars, contact lists, etc and it’s tricky to get that all configured in the Android ecosystem. I also have a long list of “how do I do X in the new phone” from both myself and Tyla. I’ve spent quite a few hours in the evenings chugging away. The nice thing about Android is that everything is possible if you can find the solution.

benmartens October 24, 2016 Gadgets