I approve of the mentions of OS Locate in these comments, I was the Products Manager for OS who came up with the app and lead the team who developed it!
Posts by Ron Swanson
10 publicly visible posts • joined 8 Dec 2016
What happens when What3Words gets lost in translation?
5G router, anyone? MediaTek lobs cheaper chipset at telco carrier pigeons
Monday 7th September 2020 13:15 GMT
I don't know why mobile broadband hasn't taken off more. For the past 3 year, I've been using various unlimited data 4G sims in various 4G routers and constantly get about 40-80 Mbps connections wherever I live. With 4G+ now, I'm not getting 80-100 Mbps and run all the kit in my house plus Nexflix, Prime, etc off that. Next step will be a 5G sim in a Huawei 5G CPE pro to really ramp up the speeds. No wires, no long contracts, I can even bring the router to wherever I go. Can't think why I'd want to go back to having some cable attached to my house!
Scam or stunt? It's looking like the latter... Xiaomi so sorry for £1 smartphone 'promo'
Tuesday 13th November 2018 16:31 GMT
it's not an illegal lottery. It did not cost anything to enter and you only paid if you won and wanted the product. The reason there used to be easy questions was that it then technically became a Game of Skill rather than a lottery which you used to need a licence for. The law must have changed as ITV fund most of their daytime broadcasting with £2 entry lotteries. I think the only legal requirement of these now it that there has to be a way that people can enter for free, in ITV's case, you can send a postcard to a PO Box address to enter.
Huawei's Watch GT snubs Google for homegrown OS
Wednesday 17th October 2018 08:49 GMT
Common platform is sometimes better
What a lot of people are not aware of is how revolutionary some of this tech can be. I have type 1 diabetes and have always had problems with controlling my blood sugar levels. I have now got a glucose sensor called a Freestyle Libre embedded in my arm. This is connected to a Bluetooth NFC reader called a Miaomiao which transmits my glucose level every 5 minutes to my Ticwatch Pro (Wear OS) watch to an app called XDrip+. This has changed my life. I now have a near constant reading on my watch of my glucose level and the watch and my phone will even ring/vibrate when I am running high or low, thus preventing me going hyper/ hypoglycaemic. This would not be possible with a bespoke OS as the XDrip+ creator made it for Wear OS so that as many watches as possible could support it. So while I applaud new thinking to improve battery life, sometimes the need for a common platform is greater for some of us (And developers I guess!)
Wearable hybrids prove the bloated smartwatch is one of Silly Valley's biggest mistakes
The great wearables myth busted: Apps never, ever mattered
The Reg chats to Ordnance Survey's chief data wrangler
Tuesday 25th July 2017 13:23 GMT
If you are out in the wilderness, I'd suggest downloading the free OS "Locate" mobile app. It does not need a phone signal and will give you a 6 figure grid ref that you can use with a paper map in low visibility to find where you are. It also means you have a grid ref to give mountain rescue if you call them needing help.
Mappy days! Ordnance Survey offers up free map of UK greenery
Fitbit picks up Pebble, throws Pebble as far as it can into the sea
Thursday 8th December 2016 12:01 GMT
Fraud
A quote from the original kickstarter campaign for the pebble time 2 "Pebble 2 and Time 2 are nearly complete. We’re currently ramping up at our factory and are ready to meet the estimated delivery times."
They missed the Sept 2016 delivery date and have now binned the pebble time 2. They should have used the kickstarter funding to deliver what they pitched in the campaign. Reported to kickstarter as a fraudulent campaign.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
