A little while back I was watching the weather, I think I was trying to decide if I should ride somewhere. So I kept popping into Apple Weather to see the trend.
And got completely confused. It seemed to be randomly making changes to the predictions. I started taking screenshots?
So here goes, with a lot of screenshots. Look at the predictions for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Hot, sunny, then a 50% Wed and 60% on Thursday. That was at 0730.
The next one, at 0945
Now there is thunderstorms. Look, I’ll be honest, not an unexpected development on a hot summer day in Sydney. The other two days have little change.
Almost 4pm now and the thunderstorms have disappeared, but so has Thursday’s rain.
Almost midnight. No thunderstorms but now Wednesday is dry and Thursday is wet. Look I know it’s not an easy job to predict weather….
The next morning. Now Friday has rain, but no other day!
Now it’s 2pm that afternoon. Rain every day now. Friday is hot, but no storms. I can’t remember what it actually turned out to be.
Now today, which is what prompted me to post this. Max expected is 29 according to the ten day forecast, but when you scroll along the hourly temps, it never gets above 21. The 10 day is the max shown on any widgets you might display. The day got to about 23 I think.
In comparison, here is the Australian Bureau of Meteorology’s apps screens at the same time.
And look, a top of 23. So what is going on with the weather app predictions?
If you’re not sure, the Garmin Inreach is a Satellite communicator. Basically it’s a global SOS button. Like an EPIRB, but with a few extra tricks up its sleeve. It can also text message from anywhere in the world, and has some limited navigation functions. I have seen a few of the global motovloggers wearing one, and at least one has actually used it. I had been thinking about getting something like this as I ride alone most of the time, and am occasionally out of normal mobile phone coverage. They were reasonably pricey though.
One popped up for sale, second hand but new in the box. About 40% of full retail. It did seem to be a little too good to be true, but I still got in touch with the seller, who lives about an hour and a half away. I organised to pick it up and pay in person, that way, if it was a scam I would be able to see that before any money changed hands. If it was a scam, at least I got a half day ride on a nice day.
It wasn’t a scam, so I got a nice, half day ride and a brand new Mini 2 for cheap.
I had already downloaded the Garmin Messenger and Explore apps and had set up a Garmin account. So when I got the Mini 2, I simply had to pair it with each of the apps, yes both separately. I did have to get into settings and change everything to metric. I don’t have the InReach (this is the satellite subscription part) set up yet, and I probably won’t until the October holidays, so I can just sign up for the month I’m actually using it.
I started Tracking and got on my way.
I stopped about half an hour later and looked at my track. It jumped all over the place, but I realised that with Tracking set to standard, being on a bike I was covering a lot of distance between the points that it was measuring (it looked to about every 10 minutes or so). So the “track” had simply joined each point together with a straight line, which looked ridiculous on the map.
I switched it to “Detailed” and acknowledged the warning about battery life. In my usage situation, I would expect to be able to charge it every night, or worst case, I can change it from a battery pack. Someone who’s a bit more remote might have an issue.
Upon my arrival at home, I looked again at the track. This time, apart from the period in a tunnel, the track from the Mini perfectly matched my route. Even when I was on a back road that paralleled a main highway, it had me on the road. I could see it on the Garmin Explore app (which I think also uses your phone’s location services as well).
The Mapshare. You can see the first part is just straight lines, but then it goes all wiggly as it follows my track on the back roads (after the settings change).
I also activated my MapShare. This means that when I record an activity on the Mini, my phone will upload it to the MapShare. I’m not sure if this occurs at the end of the ride, or during, or if this is different with the satellite subscription. I’m guessing that without the subscription, if I open the Garmin Explore app and the phone has data service that it will sync. I’ll need to look at that.
I shared the MapShare with my folks and they were able to see where I had been that day.
What I expect to happen, is that in October, I’ll set up the satellite subscription, then go on a couple of sample rides, before the MotoGP trip, just to make sure I know how it works. Then I will set it up so that its tracking is set to detail, but upload maybe every half hour or so? That will my family and a few friends see where I am.
The hardest part of understanding the InReach system was the Tracking and the Tracking Interval. There are settings for the Tracking, which is the GPS side of the Mini 2 recording my location at a set interval, and then there are settings for Tracking Intervals, which is how often the InReach satellite side of the Mini 2 will upload your Tracking. If you have a subscription. Both are set on the device, but you need the subscription for the Tracking Intervals. YOU DON’T need the subscription just to have detailed Tracking and having it sync with your Garmin Explore app on your phone.
The SOS part would be primarily as a safety for when I’m out of phone coverage, mostly as I’m crossing the Snowy’s and maybe the Victorian Alps or the backside of the Blue Mountains. Most of the rest of the way it will be a backup to the phone.
An extra layer of security for me, and, as several YouTube videos highlight, anyone I might come across that needs help too.
Back in 2021 I was in the midst of trying to replace the Razer Naga Molten that I’ve been using on this Mac for years. After lots of money I ended up with a Logitech G604. It was ok. The main drawback was that the Bluetooth seemed a bit flaky, so I was using the supplied dongle. You can read all about this in the posts linked here and here, oh and here.
A long while later I realised that the only problem with the Naga Molten was that the smooth plastic slippery pads underneath had worn down so that they no longer protruded from the plastic base. Hence, it wouldn’t move about. Several years of use took its toll.
I wondered if anyone made replacements.
They did, and even on Amazon for about $26. I put it in my buy later list in the cart. Where it sat for months.
I received a few Amazon vouchers and the pads ended up on the list and arrived.
This is when I discovered I had no idea where the mouse was. I had a haunting suspicion that I had decided to toss it out. That didn’t sound like me, but I had a memory of tossing out a mouse recently. The pack of pads (it was a twin pack) were stashed in the electronics cupboard.
A month or so later I found the mouse. I quickly swapped the old pads for the new and it fit well. Didn’t seem to slide too well which was a disappointment.
So I unplugged the 604 and swapped the wireless dongle over with the USB from the Molten. A day or so later I happened to flip it over to discover that I had left a plastic covering on the new pads. Ripped that off and WOW, what a nice slick movement.
So have a second hand G604 sitting here now…. Maybe I could use that with my iPad.
Oh and to add to the can’t find stuff theme of this story, I am not sure where the second set of replacement pads went. I might need them in 10 years time. I’m sure they are in the electronics cupboard….
I thought that since my previous post, about 11 years ago, which is one of my most popular pages, even today, that it might be worth an update of the new one.
So the only reason that I gave up the Naga Molten was that the plastic slides underneath had worn flat. Daily use for a decade did that. And that I couldn’t find replacements.
So as my troubled posts last year described (and here), I ended up with the Naga Pro, only for it to be, well, useless on my iMac. It could work as a standard mouse, but only in a wired configuration. The software wasn’t supported at all. So for OSX users… skip it. Oh, Razer does make it clear that the software isn’t OSX compatible, but I was being a bit stubborn.
Windows… well here is the list from last time…
Positives
It’s light and easy to move around – Still true
The speeds, and sensitivity are highly adjustable and can be set up to automatically switch for different games. Sensitivity can also be adjusted on the fly. I don’t use this but others may. Still true
It can detect that it’s in a particular game and load the previously set up profile. still true
You have a lot of controls at your fingertips, and with modifiers (Shift, Alt) even more. I currently have about 19 commands I use a lot and about another 7 or 8 bound to the 12 keys on the side. Plus your normal 4 or 5 buttons and scroll wheel. And I still use my main combat rotation along the first half of the keyboards number row. – still true (well, would be if I played WoW still).
The keypad is illuminated. – still true
and of course, you can swap the keypad between 2, 6, or 12 buttons, depending upon your use.
and now it’s wireless, which the Naga Molten was not.
Negatives
Biggest negative is the learning curve, but I’ll talk about that more in a moment – I guess this is still true, but there have since been many mice with supporting programs that allow mapping and profiles etc. Someone using this mouse is likely to be familiar with that.
if your hand is the wrong size, it may be a very awkward mouse –still true
the two buttons to the left of the Main button (call them buttons 4 and 5) are sort of small and awkward. –these buttons have been relocated to behind the scroll wheel, and are usually mapped to sensitivity. They are still small, but are in a much better location, so no longer a negative.
If you’re left handed, learn right handed real fast –still true
can’t do the multi finger swipe controls that the Apple Magic Mouse can. – technically, still true, but seeing as it’s really not suited to a Mac, this is kind of expected.
takes a little while to get used to. – still true as well, though for me as long time user of the Molten, I really only had to get used to the software. Which to be honest, I’m not really using to its capacity.
Now the last review had a long description of how I set up my WoW controls with this. I don’t play WoW anymore, or to be honest anything much, except a little bit of Baldur’s Gate 3.
So, there, pretty much is my rather half-baked review. I think I will get myself sorted in BG3 to really make use of the Naga for that. But I will wait until full release of it in August. Otherwise it might reset everything. Using the mapping software I can see it working well, mapping things like jumps or crouch etc, to Naga buttons.
MOTOGP! Finally. And the ride there and back was great, and the racing was excellent. I stayed in budget (very important this year). I camped, I had adventures… yup, read the two stories here and here. Was worth the wait. The only thing that didn’t work out was Jack Miller getting taken out by Alec Marquez at the new “Miller Corner”. I do think I will stick to my two year cycle and aim for 2024 for my next ride down. It’s at an awkward time of the year, work wise.
2022 Philip Island -Australian MotoGP
I hit most of the roads I had planned, changed a few over, mostly due to the bad weather.
My first night motocamping.
Otherwise the bike was a garage queen at least by comparison to how it (and my other bikes) have lived. It was lucky if it got a ride to the shops once a week. As the year finishes off, I think I’m in the market for a new battery. Even commuting is off the menu at the moment, as work is only 10mins away and I drop my two kids at school on the way.
I got a new bike… sort of. It was fun to build at any rate.
LEGO’s M1000RR
No bicycle riding to speak of really. Some fitness rides on the commuter.
Enjoying the sunshine and open space…. in the middle of the suburbs?
About Babes
Two girls in high school. Both doing well. One won a State Championship for her gymnastics so really well done there. Next year will be interesting as the other one can start learning to drive!
About Bytes
Nothing hugely dramatic here. My Surface is finally getting used a lot, I use as my school device and it’s been great. Except for a dead TypeCover. Replaced, but I am suspicious of the durability of this part.
I upgraded my iPad Pro 9.7 (v1) to the Pro M1 11”. It has been excellent, really nice jump in performance from my last one. They did eventually release an M2 version as I suspected, but it didn’t get the mini-LED display, so I don’t feel like I missed anything. Its keyboard cover has also deteriorated (common theme this year), there are some places where the soft covering material has worn through. It is still working, but has been put away and hasn’t been replaced.
The new PC has been working fabulously, though I really should step up the graphics card. Otherwise it’s been fast and reliable. I’ve since spent many hours using it for gaming, completing the last 3 Tomb Raiders and spending over 100hours in the Baldur’s Gate 3 pre release.
And I can play BG3 on the Mac too
The iMac also has been going well. It has also recently received a new keyboard, a Logitech MX Keys (not the specific Mac one). I’m really happy with this keyboard too.
Having all these devices has meant all my work is available everywhere. The school mostly uses Google’s environment so that was something to get used to. But with it all in the cloud (along with my OneNote) it’s easy to work anywhere. I also switched over to iCloud Photos and this has been working well too.
D&D has been fun all year. Wild Beyond the Witchlight finished up just a few weeks ago. That was a fun campaign for all. It’s been replaced by a journey in the Dungeon of the Mad Mage, which I am not DM, so currently I am a player in 3 campaigns (Dungeon, Strahd and a face to face home-brew) and not a DM anywhere. It’s so relaxed! Strahd is likely to finish up soon and the DM wants to put us in Spelljammer (D&D in space). I have never played in that environment, so I’m a little unsure. I’m writing my own home-brew adventure for when I get a DM slot again.
About Me.
My offical career change occurred in mid-April (not Christmas as planned), I stayed in order to finalise a couple of medical issues with work. Even though that was the offical date, I was on holidays from that work from Christmas until April and actually working as a teacher full time.
I am enjoying my teaching. My school has a really nice community working environment. There are some challenges, partly due to the children and partly due to my limited experience. However, the school has always been supportive.
The pay is a significant cut from my old pay, at least in these first couple of years. Once I complete my proficiency after two years it will jump up and be a lot closer. I don’t think it will ever surpass it.
To help make up for this, I have secured some part time work in my old career for the school holidays and that will be a nice bonus for me. It’s also a way to stay relevant and connected to that old career in case I am needed.
Next year will see me having my own class, and it looks like it will be a Year 5/6 one. Equally excited and nervous, but everyone at work assures me I will do a great job. That makes me feel very supported, but then also nervous that I don’t want to let them down!
I had planned to to get a new action camera and had been looking at one of the Insta 360 cameras, but I simply can’t afford it. So I’ll stick to my Sessions that I’ve been using for recording my trip to the MotoGP.
The problem I was trying to understand was how all these vloggers were going on trips, recording lots of video data and how they were storing it, or getting it from their cameras and clearing their memory cards etc? But some of these folks have about 3 cameras and a drone and what not else…
Obviously, one option is just have stacks of micro SD cards. Alternatively they could back it to a cloud drive (but how do they do that when out bush?)? I know some vloggers also carry laptops, which is an obvious solution. And I am planning to bring my iPad.
I have pondered this on and off over the past. This morning I was digging around in my cupboard for another reason while waiting for some data to copy off one of my SD cards when I happened to pick up my NvME disk. Now I bought this by mistake when I was rebuilding the PC as I didn’t realise that there were two formats for these new M2 drives. I reordered the correct one for the PC and put the (used and opened) NvME one in my drawer.
Some time later, but still a while ago, I bought an external case for the NvME thinking it could make a great USB expansion for my iPad Pro (with USB-C). But with everything in the cloud…. it’s not used so much.
Anyway, I picked this up and an idea struck me.
Maybe I could copy from the SD card to the NvME drive. I already also bought a USB-C micro SD card reader. I could copy the videos to the iPad and then unplug and copy to the M2. The M2 is 500GB after all.
Ahh, rubbish, the iPad is a bit full, and likely to get more full when I load movies and shows for my trip.
Wait, I also have a USB-C port hub, with an SD reader and a USB-C port. I could plug them all into the iPad and just copy across.
It would probably be slow….
So I tested it.
Copied a 2GB video in well less than a minute (more like 30secs).
There does seem to be a bit of a lag when you select Copy before you can switch drive and Paste.
It does look a little ungainly, but the USB hub can also accept power, so I can charge the iPad (if needed) at the same time.
But nevertheless I consider that one solved.
Hmm, looking the iPad has 135GB free… maybe I’ll just copy it there and off again….
Nope, not the series of movies/TV Show about a solution that only America could come up with…. No I’m talking about MacOS and the purging of deleted files.
Having finished Tomb Raider, I decided that with my current bent on D&D that I might try a D&D computer game. The most current (it’s still in pre-release) is Baldur’s Gate 3. I’ve not played any of the others but it’s based on 5th Edition, that I play regularly. So I handed over my money and as TR was finishing, I started a download.
INSERT SPONGEBOB “A FEW HOURS LATER”
I started it in the afternoon – 75GB. It took a long time, and having 3 people in the house streaming video probably didn’t help much. By morning it was downloaded, but Steam spent 90 minutes verifying the download.
It was a couple more days before I actually sat down to play. I had gone off on a couple of side missions in TR before I played through the last act and finished it off.
Clicked play.
(Oh I should add, that I had been playing TR on the PC and had downloaded BG3 onto the Mac).
And an hour later MacOS Security was still “verifying”. This is something it does for any newly installed program. But over an hour later it wasn’t working. I messed about with a few settings and in the end, decided to download it again.
But now there was no space on my HDD. Fair enough… it’s only 1TB, and you need 100GB. Sure there is only about 140GB spare. So I deleted the old copy of BG3, and while I was at it, took off WoW, Battletech and a few other bits and pieces that I wasn’t using. This freed up almost 300GB. (YIKES). In the end it was reporting over 500GB free – over half the drive was free. Awesome.
Nope, not enough space according to Steam. It was reporting about 25GB free. This was not making much sense and was obviously frustrating.
At this point I actually tried downloading it on the PC as well. Again, many hours of downloading and verifying it (twice) before I got the game to boot, but it crashed. Haven’t investigated further at this stage. I really want it on the Mac as the PC is often in use by the family.
MacOS runs things a little differently and basically keeps the stuff until someone needs it and then releases the purgeable space. So Free Space is reported as 535GB (515GB purgeable). Disk space used was 1.3TB (interesting, it’s only a 1.03TB drive).
Ok Mac, go and purge.
It turns out that there isn’t a way to easily do this. In fact I’m not even sure there is actually a way to manually do this at all. A bunch of research suggested several third party programs (ranging in levels of trust and price). Clearing out caches, running a Time Machine backup, and some reboots weren’t getting anywhere.
It was time for something drastic. Something that was probably overdue anyway. I mean it’s been three full OS upgrades and I’ve not done it.
I started backing things up. I always have Time Machine running, and it’s awesome, but I spent several hours ensuring that photos, pictures, documents etc were stashed on an additional disk.
And then into Recovery Mode – Erase the entire volume. Reinstall MacOS (Monterey in this case). Got that going and did some gardening for about 90 minutes as it installed.
And before too long, maybe 90 mins, I’m back to a fresh Mac.
I installed a few things first…. MS Office, Chrome, Edge (I have reasons), then I downloaded BG3 again.
A lot of time later and the download had finished. Then Steam did its verify thing for another hour.
Of course when I started it, MacOS security had to do its verify thing. For another hour.
Nothing. Reboot, tried starting again.
Verifying for another hour. I wandered off to feed dinner to the family and stuff.
Came back to this screen…
So SUCCESS.
I’ll put another post up with my initial thoughts of the game etc. I’ve played for about 6 hours so far.
Partly as a treat to myself for Christmas and for changing career, as well as spending some money my wife gave me and finally as my original iPad Pro 9.7 was starting to have battery troubles, I upgraded. I admit, I probably could have gotten away with a current Air, which is still a pretty sweet spot between price and capability, I wanted to go all out again.
So just before the back to school sales finished up, I bought the iPad Pro 11″, and the new Pencil. I already had the keyboard case (not the fancy one with a trackpad, you can’t fold that one right back to tablet format) as we had one that wasn’t being used in the house. Scored a free set of AirPods as well. Put them in the cupboard for when the battery dies in my current set.
Anyway, so I could have waited to see if Apple dropped an upgraded one this year, and I expect they will. But two things (apart from just plain impatience) were motivating me. One, I would want it when school started, and Two, if they did change the shape it would be another couple of hundred to pick up the keyboard case too.
That was then. It’s now Week 6 at school and the iPad Pro is proving a very useful device. Now I’ll admit, there probably isn’t much that I am doing that my 9.7 could not do. OneNote, Edge, Outlook, Google Slides and Docs. This M1 iPad is very smooth and battery life is wonderful. I rarely get below 80% a day. My 9.7 would have managed this back when I first got it (and it was second hand when I did) but now, about 6 years later, nope.
I do love that it uses a normal USB-C connector. I have a USB-C to HDMI cable which I just plug straight into the class displays to run my lessons. It saves problems with logging in and out as I move about the school. (I don’t have my own class, I teach the same subject across 8 classes). Again, the 9.7 with the adapter could do this alright too. But I can also connect memory sticks easily, which is new.
But I’ve found my Surface Pro has been cast aside by the iPad. Chiefly weight is the issue. The iPad, is close to half the Surface. Smaller too, but the screen is fine for me. So overall the iPad is less bulky. Add the protective case on the Surface and it is even more skewed to the iPad.
Compared to a MacBook, that I’ve never had, I think the touchscreen, pencil and tablet form are much more useful than the MacBook’s traditional laptop form factor. This is still where the MacBook falls down (and where the multitude of Windows based 2 in 1 ought gain something back).
By using cross platform software (OneNote, Outlook, Edge, Google Docs/Slides) I’m not tied to OS. So working at home on my iMac, at work on my iPad, upstairs with the Surface or (for reasons I can’t think of) on the gaming PC, I have access to all of my work, synced across the lot. Even if I do log into the Windows PC at work I can access everything. But I find myself using the iPad as my preference. I like it’s pencil the most.
One thing I haven’t tried is one of those paper-like screen protectors that a couple of folks at work use. I might see if there is one for the Surface, experiment with that. Or what about the Surface without the Type Cover and with the paper-like protector… hmmm
The couple of people at work (one has the 12.9” iPad) use Goodnotes instead of OneNote. For me, that means my Surface, my PC and my work computers can’t link to my work.
Oh, non work related – I did connect an xbox controller and the iPad Pro easily coped with a couple of games (Pathless & Genshin Impact). This is definitely something that the old iPad Pro 9.7 (and to be honest, the Surface Pro) struggles with.
I had no idea how much I used my Apple Watch until I didn’t have it any more.
Seriously… Oh, no I’ve actually had it a year.. for some reason I thought it was a few months.
No wonder it feels so weird when I didn’t have it.
Ok, so the other day I took the protective case off the watch after a gym session. The screen of the watch came with it! Very weird, considering the case isn’t stuck to the watch, it just fits over the top. So here I was with an Apple Watch that functioned perfectly, but the screen would lift off.
Off to the Genius Bar. They were happy that there was no sign of damage (the watch is in mint condition, except for the screen lifting off, no scratches, dings or cracks). They sent off under warranty for repair. Predicted turn around was 14 days.
With the couple of days in between (I think it broke Thursday, I went into the shop on Sunday. Now it’s Tuesday, over a week later) the total time without the watch is a massive 13 days so far.
With the mask on, I had to type my passcode all the time! I wasn’t able to just tap and pay with the watch (which is super convenient when wearing a mask or a motorcycle helmet). Alarms were more awkward and I would miss phone calls (I have never had a phone that I have reliably been able to hear or feel, even in my pocket). I couldn’t check things in class without pulling out my phone (a big no no in school, looks bad in front of the students or any parents).
Did you know there isn’t really a seconds display on a phone. You can see the second hand on the Clock app icon, but that’s it. Unless you download a new app. Really Apple, that’s ridiculous.
I just felt really lost without it.
But it’s back now. I don’t know if it’s a new or refurbished one. I’m pretty sure it’s not my own one repaired. And restored from backup and away we go.
The NVME M2 SSD arrived and was quickly installed. Then I reinstalled Windows 10 and the PC was up and running again. It works very well.
Miss 14 is happy as Genshin Impact runs fine. I realised this is a chance to get through some of my backlog in Steam, so installed Rise of the Tomb Raider. That plays well as well.
It also asked to upgrade to Windows 11, so I’ve done that as well.
It runs very hot when playing, well, the fans are blowing a lot of hot air. I don’t know how normal that is as I have no experience with newer PCs.
Lastly, I’ve not attempted to install the AIO cooler yet. I’ll look at that soon.
bikesbabesbytes 
