All I can say is WOW! Neato!!

So I got bored over Christmas and New Year and bought something to make my lazy life even lazier....

... a Robotic Vacuum.

The Neato Signature XV to be specific.

I have to say that I am for the first time in a long time really impressed. This little Robot does everything it promises and more. I watched for an hour and a half as it traversed the apartment, got out of tight squeezes and came back to areas I thought it had missed.

Very impressive. I uploaded a short video of it working on it's first run. I was also surprised at how well it cleaned the floor. It cleaned around chair legs, under sofas, etc. After an hour an a half the Battery got low and it trundled back to it's charging dock to charge and resume after charging. I'm waiting to see after a few weeks if it is still as good. But so far no complaints.

This Technology is now at a good level and I believe year on year it will get exponentially better. Four years back when I first started to look at these they had a long way to go.

Recommended for sure! Watch for more updates on how this works out.

This Rat Race We Aspire To

It's 7AM on a Sunday and I am once again sitting in a airline lounge waiting to fly off. This time of my own volition. While drinking my coffee, I stop and look around.... it is unsurprisingly, even on a Sunday, full of business people either flying off somewhere for work or heading home from work.

Not many Suits on a Sunday, but still the type of bags being carried or wheeled, the intense glaring at their laptop screens all give it away. They are firmly a part of, and most probably are happy being part of this Corporate slave community all around me.

They have most likely been doing this for a while, hence why they end up in the lounges after many hours languishing, working towards having enough miles to be allowed entry to the "Lounge". I see it as an equivalent to the benefits that obedient slaves were afforded in the past.

These corporate clones (of which I am guilty of being one) have given up any semblance of a normal family or social life and replaced it with what is sold and deemed to be the future of our global Society. They aim to be at the top of their career sacrificing all and not caring for anyone or anything apart from their loyalty to themselves and their job. They have no pride in their work just a desire to get ahead at any cost.

Actually I generalize too much. There are some who are not here of their own choice or even enjoy this. They are here because the current economic and social structures make it almost impossible to break out and live a reasonable life. Companies everywhere are making record profits but still it is not to the benefit of the workers. A few select individuals reap the majority of benefits that are made possible by the armies of slaves who toil every day. Evidence - just look at the number of times the word Billionaire (or even Millionaire) is used these days as opposed to a few decades back - there are more and more taking more and more for themselves.

This is probably not the opinion of most, but what I see are millions of people being fed a story, brain washed effectively and socially manipulated into thinking that giving 100% of your energy to a corporate body is the most sensible and moral thing to do - they call it ambition, drive, the American Dream, etc.

This is fed to every individual from the time they are born. You are told you have to be the best, above all else at any cost. If you are going to do something then win at it. Where are the teachings of compassion for life, happiness, joy and all of the things that make your life more meaningful than the 65 inch LED TV or latest whatever it is that you can buy with your many hours spent staring in front of a screen or doing whatever it is you do to make someone else rich,

Whether we like it or not we have all become willing slaves of a few extravagantly wealthy individuals and corporations. I only hope that my children's generation come to a different and better conclusion and way of life.

Avantree Clipper

If you read my previous post on buying the QC25 headphones you will already know that it took me months to decide on those. One of the reasons was whether to go wireless or go for the noise cancelling. This was made difficult as there are no really good quality wireless headphones with noise cancellation that I could find.

In the end I decided on the noise cancellation Bose headphones with the cunning plan that I would make them wireless!

After a little research I found a nice little gadget which you plug your headphones into and they act to make them Bluetooth 4.0 enabled.

They work…. and I am extremely surprised that the sound quality is not degraded! The sound pumping out is on par with them being connected directly to my phone or laptop or TV (any Bluetooth enabled device).

I can also pair the Clipper with 2 devices and switch between them. The device charges off a micro USB cable and on a charge will last up to 6 hours which is more than adequate for my needs. Fantastic! The device is small (see the picture against a UK 1 Penny coin) discrete and appears to be very well made.

If you are interested head on over to Amazon and search for Avantree Clipper.

Bose QuietComfort 25 Headphones

So finally after months of trying on in stores, airports, checking reviews and contemplating I shelled out for a pair of Bose Quitecomfort 25’s. It was the deal at Schiphol Airport that finally swayed me.

I’ve started to write this review in the flight with the headphones on. My first impressions are pretty good.

Bose QC25 Noise Cancelling Headphones

I have a very sensitive area at the top of my head where headphones normally rest and if the phones are not really comfortable I get an annoying headache that means I can’t continue wearing the headphones – no matter how expensive or cheap. For this reason for a very long time I have been sticking to earbuds.

Recently though I have been thinking of going back to full over ear headphones. What took me so long (literally months) to make up my mind? Well most good on ear or over ear phones cost in excess of 100 Euros and recently I have been feeling a little “Scroogish” and the fact that most of these headphones look very plasticy in the harsh light of the shops didn’t help – I just didn’t feel it was justified to spend 200-300 on a pair of headphones that looked like a 30 Euro pair!

Getting back to the QC25’s, I must admit that the Noise cancellation is exceptional. I used to have a pair of beats a couple of years back and these surpass them hands down (btw – I will never ever buy another pair of Beats ever again! The build quality is the most horrible I have ever seen for headphones at this price point). The engine noise of the plane was completely drowned out and the sound quality was good (I’m no audiophile though).

What I did notice was the odd sensation (maybe my sensitive inner ear due to a cold) similar to when your ears get blocked up on a flight when the noise cancellation was activated. I even felt a little nauseas, but then again maybe just me as I get sea sick quite easily and travel sick if I am not driving. I also could hardly hear the crew announcements (could also be a negative). So all in all the noise cancellation and sound quality is superb.

The quality of the unit, though made entirely of plastic seems to be good and looks like it can take some pretty harsh treatment. I’ll update the review after a few weeks of use. As a side note I was considering for a while between the QC25 and the wireless Bluetooth Soundlink Headphones also around the same price. In the end I decided on the wired QC25 – but not sure yet if the cable will get on my nerves – cables of any kind generally tend to bring this out in me.

So for the moment – quietly happy and hopeful that these will not be another quick (269 Euro) hand me downs to my sister J

Even a little dust can be a beautiful thing!

Thought on 13.11.2015 and similar atrocities globally

Those of you who have watched Star Wars will recognize this quote below. And those of you who are Buddhist will recognize the sentiment and a very similar quote;

“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”

- Yoda

Maybe it is time we collectively as a global human (and indeed humane) race forced our leaders to listen and look beyond curing the symptom as is so often done and look back towards the root causes of these actions and cure those.

It strikes me that each of these atrocities goes back far, far beyond what we are experiencing now... and most if not all stem from greed and fear......

The dividing line

So this morning I was walking along a path with the rest of the rat race heading off to work. The path was nothing special, just a 3 meter wide, paved path with a white line painted down the center. The line marked the split between pedestrian and cycle path. So nothing special - you see it in a lot of places in the UK now.

However, watching the group ahead of me, I  noticed something in the behavior of the group and of the individuals. Even though there was no physical barrier, no major risk of a collision with an oncoming bike (the path was empty and you could see quite well down the path), the majority just crowded to one side of the path not even stepping on the painted line.

In fact they mostly preferred to stack up in traffic jam fashion or like they were crammed into the tram they just stepped out of rather than risk stepping out of their side. And you could see the slow walkers holding up sections of the hoard.

There were however a few individuals who broke the status quo, crossed to the forbidden side and continued on their way having broken social convention. Seeing this a few others would follow.... but only a few.

Watching this I wondered if the behavior of each individual here mirrored their own behavior in life. Do they always follow social construct, afraid to challenge, afraid to venture and try what has not already been well trodden? Are the ones leaping ahead the adventurers amongst us?

Was an interesting morning walk to work :-)

Ever wondered...

Why it is so important for corporations to ensure they squeeze every drop of blood from their employees by effectively making you feel guilty for working a normal day.... why not instead increase the efficiency, by making the hours shorter without decreasing pay - i.e. increase the quality of life.

I've seen people "work" till late at night to be seen to work so as to be labeled a good worker, but still produce less than someone happy, not tired and working 75% less time.

When will corporations stop acting like the slave masters of the past and learn they can get far more in less hours spent at work......

Websites

Trying to learn something new - Responsive Website Design and Development.....

“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”

– Bruce Lee

SiMore - G2 BlueBox Review

So disappointed :-(
I bought this about a month back, as being stupid the last mobile I purchased was not Dual SIM - even after contemplating the need I have for it.

I wanted to be able to have my Dutch and UK mobiles accessible and always on within a single device - basically Dual SIM active as opposed to Dual SIM standby.

So far this is the only device I have found that provides that functionality to mobile devices not having Dual SIM Active capability built in.

I gotta to say though, so far I am not overly impressed. The unit cost 99 Euros and as of this date I've had the following experience;

• You can't tell how much juice is left in the unit until it goes out on you
• Not the easiest to see at a glance if it is on, off
• The build quality is not really fantastic - would expect more for 99 Euros
• Those one time pass  codes that are being so common now for accessing your accounts won't show on the SMS screen in there app
• I sometimes get calls coming through from people who had tried to call me over an hour back
• The app is basic, but if it worked 100% of the time wouldn't be that bad - it does not
• I sometimes send SMS messages that don't get sent, no record and no trace on the phone app.
• The app sometimes says connected to the device, and no calls or SMS are received - until I reboot the device. The only way I figure this out is if I am expecting a message and it never arrives :-/
• The connection on calls has been awful most times even with the unit within a meter. By connection I mean unit to mobile, which uses bluetooth.

All in all so far my thoughts are that the ease of use I wanted and reliability is not there and I would not advise anyone to purchase this device.

Really disappointed, was expecting more at this price - good idea - bad implementation. Next time will look closer into a real Dual SIM Active mobile.....

... I guess you live and learn.... hopefully this will help someone else to make a decision and not be disappointed.

Why do I keep booking early morning flights...

It occurs to me that any flight departing before 9AM that forces me to wake up before half six is just not for me!

I vaguely remember someone telling me they read a research paper that identified 7:20 something (22 I think it was) as being the earliest optimal time to wake up..... this leads on to my lifetime gripe about work life.... I'll add a blog on that later.