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Hi there! What’s happening newsletter peeps? Happy Friday the 13th! We have had a few busy days and even weeks around here, and I’m happy to say “I think” we will take it a bit slower over the next week or two. I hope. Last week my Dad was in town, and since visits with family are way too few and far between, I didn’t push to get the newsletter done. Sorry about that; but it was super nice to have an extra set of hands while Ray was away. Even more so to have someone remind me to go sit down or take a nap! I’m not necessarily very good at following “doctor’s orders” for keeping the feet up, but somehow dads can give you that “look” that says “go to bed”. Thanks Pop!
So that is what I was up to. What was Ray up to? Better question might be more in line with “What hasn’t Ray been doing???” Over the last two weeks we have seen a multitude of “Hands-On” and “First Look” posts, along with In-Depth reviews, and just general industry announcements. First up we have a big ol’ list of “First looks”, “Hands Ons”, and “Everything you want to know about…” posts. While I am sure there is some method to his madness, I personally couldn't give you a super clear definition of the difference between these three categories. I know they fall into the camp of NOT In-Depth reviews or final thoughts from Ray. But since he still takes these very seriously as an indication of the future of the given product, I shall bring attention to all of them! So, in case you missed it, here is a brief list of new products to hit the market/interwebs since Eurobike madness:
· Hands-On: Sigma’s iD.TRI & iD.FREE Multisport GPS Watches – Form our dinner table conversations about this company, in general their products always seem pretty solid. The only “shame” there is simply that the company isn’t always well recognized outside of specific regions in Europe. Do you know who Sigma is? Read on! · Hands-On: Tacx’s NEO 2T Smart Trainer With Increased Power – Tacx is introducing yet another NEO to the family. This time with what could be considered the most powerful trainer on the market? With just a few more firmware issues to smooth out, it is ramping up to be yet another interesting smart trainer year of possibilities. · Stages Announces New Smart Bike: Hands-on Details – Stages isn’t new to the game of smart bikes. Here they are with their newest and most comprehensive tech spec’d edition that now integrates with the likes of Zwift & TrainerRoad · Wahoo’s KICKR Bike with Built-In CLIMB: Everything You ever wanted to know- Joining in on the smart bike fun is Wahoo. Looks like these guys definitely have the jump on others in regard to best simulating the fit of your outdoor bike to that of your indoor set up. As the popularity of investing in a “smart bike” is rapidly growing, it is going to be interesting to see how all these companies keep up with customer service/ maintenance of these types of bikes. And I thought shipping a faulty trainer back was a undertaking… · Garmin’s Vivoactive 4 Series: Everything you need to know – A solid upgrade from the 3 series… but wait! Vivoactive 4 was barely given a chance before the Garmin Venu also hit the front pages. The two devices are pretty much identical twins with a difference set of glasses on. You’ll see what I mean. If you’re interested in the Vivoactive 4 Series, then go ahead and also read the Garmin Venu with AMOLED Display: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know post. A good side by side comparison before you swipe any creditcards! · Well hot diggity dog! My Canadian fam has joined the ranks of becoming a smart trainer company! First Look: The 4iiii Fliiiight Smart Trainer is now on the site for you to go check out the specs and what’s to come from these folks to the game! · And last but not least of the First Look/Hands-on/All you wanted to know section for this week is from SRM. SRM X Power MTB Power Meter First Look: A Turning Point for SRM? Check out the post for yourself to see what made Ray say “For the first time in approximately ever, I’m actually excited about an SRM product…” Well sheeesh, that piqued my interest anyways! Now, for industry announcements! Ray rounded up the inside scoop on a lotta stuff over the last few weeks. And being this pregnant and tired, I don’t trust my brain to remember what is under NDA’s and Embargos… so I’m going to stick directly on script, and give you the review of what was already posted to the blog. You’re welcome! · Wattbike Announces US Availability for ATOM Smart Bike- Like is said above, while the hot topic this year seems to be all of these companies really hitting smart bikes hard, I genuinely wonder about the sustainability of this “trend”. I’ll tell you one thing, if Ray didn’t finally have his own (enormous) office space, I’d put him out on the streets for dragging these giant contraptions of training equipment into our tiny European living quarters. Maybe we have been overseas so long now that I forget how generous the size of basements, garages, or “spare rooms” are…. · Zwift Demonstrates Mountain Biking & Steering at Eurobike- I hope this doesn’t come off as (too) rude, but shouldn’t Zwift have already had steering by now? I’m sure lots of people will be excited about the new feature, but I can’t be alone here in my thinking of “it’s about time?” · Apple’s Series 5 Watch Will Have Always-On Display, Drops Price of Series 3 to $199 – Well I have to say, there are times when news hits the stand and I just cringe a little… A solid OUCH for Fitbit as that dropped Apple Series 3 price is gonna hurt their recent announcement of their Versa 2. · Garmin Launches ‘Connected GPS’ functionality For Wearables Without GPS (Vivosmart 4 & Vivomove 3)- Sorry folks, but Ray JUST posted this and asked me to add it to the newsletter… I haven’t read it yet! Maybe you can read it and give me a 40 word summary for the post? · And rounding off the finish for industry announcmenty-esq things is Wahoo Adds Cadence Support & Multichannel Bluetooth to KICKR/CORE Trainers via Firmware Update. Yeayyyyyyyy!!!!!
And for the final hurrah, we have the one lonesome In-Depth Review. The Elite Direto X Smart Trainer In-Depth Review. Honestly the man has been burning the midnight oil, so hot, and for so long, I genuinely don’t understand how he could have also put together a cohesive and comprehensive In-Depth review on the pancake breakfast I made this morning, that alone a sophisticated piece of tech equipment. But I guess he’s just a glutton for punishment? After all, he did sign up for a third Mini-Tech Tester in our household! With that we are fully up to speed on the wild and wonderful world of sports technology! Woot! If you’re just not that into reading anymore, let us take a moment to go see where else Ray has recently spread technology cheer around the internets. Starting with the candid conversations between him and our good friend from the Southern Hemisphere, GPLAMA. The FIT File with DC Rainmaker and GPLAMA: The FIT File podcast with Ray and Shane continues. One would mistaken these two mates as longtime Uni buddies or teammates, as they get on so seemlessly. It seems the internet really enjoys the banter of these two going back and forth over the latest announcements and news in the sports tech world. You can listen for yourself and find the latest episodes of the podcast on a variety of platforms, iTunes, Google Play, or Spotify. As always, don’t forget to hit those subscribe buttons for updates… and to make Ray and Shane feel warm and fuzzy inside. YouTube YouTube has 4 new videos to check out! For some of you that is old news, but some of you had no idea!!! So if you’re late to the YouTube party, be sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel for the most up to date notifications of new videos! Here we go: · Wahoo KICKR Bike: Hands-on Details // First Ride Impressions · Zwift Steering & MTB Course Hands-On & Details! // Zwift Future Works |
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In-Depth Thoughts from The Girl Alrightly then, welcome back to my tiny slice of the internet. A place where I like to banter on about… who knows half the time? This week, I’d like to take few minutes to give you some insight on Closed Captioning on YouTube. More specifically how hilarious it is to read the automated CC for Ray’s Videos.
Now I really didn’t even know that this was a thing until Ray brought it up. We have been slowly piling on new jobs for me at the DCR HQ, and transcribing Ray’s YouTube videos has newly been added to the mountain (really, what more exciting things could you even give a person who is on "bed rest"). While this might sound boring for some of you, I have actually found it pretty interesting. I have to watch the videos anyways to try to stay on top of the lastest tech news, and this seems to make a massive difference for non-native English speakers watching Ray’s videos. Win-Win for all. Why does manually transcribing make such a difference, compared to the Automated captions? Well, because a lot of you might be sitting there already knowing what I’m about to say: Ray speaks incredibly fast. Now Ray and I started training together since 2008 (and then you know, more things evolved), so I have come to “understand his language”. As well, myself being a Newfoundlander, I grew up speaking incredibly fast and running as many words together as possible, as this is something that our province might pride itself most on! So, I have about 11 years’ experience of deciphering Ray, and about 35 years of personally mangling the English language. So who better than me to make sense of his YouTube videos? I am only a couple videos deep at this point, and let me tell you, it’s hilarious to read what the computer has assumed he has said! Also, this serves as a good insight as to why so many of you send emails to the newsletter asking me to tell Ray to S-L-O-W D-O-W-N when he’s talking on camera! But the reality is, Ray can’t slow down. Honestly, that is just the processor that is built inside of him. That guy is saying something while his brain is already a thought or two ahead of what is coming out of his mouth.
So in taking on this new responsibility, it has also given me some “fun ammo” to use against him. I’ll send him a picture text of the before and after of the closed captioning, and we will both get a great laugh out of it. But in all seriousness, I do hope this helps some of you in watching his videos. A cool tip I also learned over the last week is that you can also watch YouTube videos in 0.75 speed; basically, if you watch the playback at this setting, it takes Ray’s speed of speech down to how most of the rest of us speak. Give it a whirl if you want, and join the .75 Club! Now, if you find this commentary as funny as I do. And you’re also entertained by sounding out these types of jumbled words, please let me introduce you to what is my all-time favorite board game! Mad Gab! This game has brought us to tears laughing on so many occasions. Throw a little booze into the mix, and I seriously challenge you to find a more entertaining adult game night option. Figured this might be a good share since we are heading into the weekend and all! With that, I’m going to sign off for this week. Happy Friday to you all. I hope you get some great weather to head out on a nice long (or short) run, ride, swim, or even a just a good old walk around the park! Hooray for the weekend, let’s all go and get some much needed Vitamin D! As always, thanks for reading and supporting DC Rainmaker! ~The Girl |
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