Alexa is an Amazon-owned marketing company that offers SEO, analytics, and marketing tools and services. Their premium marketing stack plan will help you do keyword research, check competitor keywords, optimise your website pages for SEO, check backlinks, improve SEO performance, and more. The company is best known for their Alexa Rank metric which ranks the… View Article
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All of the Fn keys on a Mac are mapped by default to perform specific functions that can be quickly accessible by users. For example, the F1 and F2 keys, when pressed, increase and decrease your screen’s brightness respectively. While some of the Fn keys and their associated functions are used regularly, some of them, like F3 – Expose view, might not be used that much, and it will be more useful to remap it to perform another function. Here we’ll show you how to remap the Fn keys on your macOS. Related: How to Add Options to macOS’s Services Menu The first thing we… Read more
ARTICLE – A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an article about How to listen to audiobooks and read eBooks for FREE. Since then, I’ve been thoroughly enjoying using the Libby app to listen to free audiobooks by checking them out (virtually) from my local library.
I listen to the audiobooks through my phone (Huawei P30 Pro) and the car stereo in my MINI Cooper while I’m driving to and from work each day. The problem is that these brief sessions only allow me about 40 minutes of listening per day. That’s not much time to get through a full-length novel in the time allotted for a Libby loan.
I have tried listening through the built-in speaker on my phone while getting ready for work in the mornings, but the Huawei speaker’s max volume setting isn’t loud enough for me to hear over the sound of the shower and the bathroom fan.
I thought about buying a small waterproof Bluetooth speaker than I could put in the shower with me, but I already have a speaker in my bathroom – an Amazon Echo Dot which is actually what started my new found love of audiobooks in the first place. If only there was a way I could listen to Libby through the Echo Dot like listening to an Audible book. Sure, I could use a line out cable to plug my phone into the speaker, but the way my Echo Dot is mounted in my bathroom (see lead image) the 3.5mm line out jack is blocked – and who wants to use cables anyway, it’s 2019 for goodness sake!
Then a light bulb flicked on in my brain and I thought, what if I could use the Echo Dot as a stand-alone Bluetooth speaker? Is this possible? A quick Google and I learned that yes, it definitely is possible!
Through the Alexa app, you can set the Echo Dot to play music from other certain other streaming apps like Pandora, Spotify, etc. But as you will notice, Libby isn’t included in that list. But a little more Googling helped me learn that I can pair the Echo with my phone and use it just like any other Bluetooth speaker. Yay!
All you have to do is say “Alexa, pair Bluetooth” and Alexa will reply with “Searching…” Then you open the Bluetooth settings on your mobile device and look for an Echo-XXX entry in the devices list, click on it to connect and you’re done! Alexa will confirm that the connection has been made and then any sound that normally comes from your mobile device will now play through the Echo until you disconnect.
Now when I am getting ready in the morning, I just say “Alexa, connect to my phone” and wait for her to say that she’s connected. Then start the Libby app. When I’m done listening, I press pause in the Libby app and say “Alexa, disconnect” and Alexa will confirm that the connection has been disconnected. Nice and simple!
I like that I’ve found another use for my Amazon Echo Dot in addition to just using it to listen to music, read the news, or listen to podcasts.
Now if I can just solve the issue with not being able to turn off the wake alarm in the morning because Alexa will say that there’s no connection to the internet…
Filed in categories: Articles
Tagged: Amazon
How to use your Amazon Echo Dot as a Bluetooth Speaker originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 13, 2019 at 12:08 pm.
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With its combination of a low cost of entry and relative ease of use, the Raspberry Pi quickly became one of the go-to single board computers for hobbyists after its initial release. Among the only things that kept it from enjoying even wider use were the modest hardware specifications. That has changed with the release of the Raspberry Pi 4. This latest model is the most powerful iteration of the hardware yet, opening up entirely new categories of what you can do with the app. 1. Desktop Computer You could always technically run the Raspberry… Read more
REVIEW -Remember in The Lion King, when the hyenas, Shenzi, Banzai and Ed, say,
“Mufasa”
“Ooooo, do it again”
“Mufasa”
“Ooooooo”
“Mufasa, Mufasa, Mufasa”
It’s just fun to say. Kinds of like, “sphygmomanometer”. OK, maybe that’s a little more difficult than “Mufasa”, but it’s still a fun word. What is it, you ask? That’s the official, hoity-toity medical word for a blood pressure cuff.
One of the most important health indicators is blood pressure. High blood pressure means that there is too much resistance in your arteries and that can increase your risk for stroke, heart attack, and heart or kidney failure. Low blood pressure can predict future heart issues.
Other than going to a local grocery store and use that public blood pressure tester with questionable cleanliness and accuracy, what is a health-conscious person to do if they want to keep tabs on their blood pressure regularly? Homiee has the answer with their reasonably-priced BP1003 home blood pressure monitor.
The BP1003 is a battery-operated, automatic blood pressure and pulse monitor. It can store 120 individual readings for two different users. It can also detect atrial fibrillation (AFib) – a quivering or irregular heartbeat.
The main unit is a solidly constructed wedge design, meant to keep the display aimed comfortably at your eye when you are seated and the unit is on a table. It works for me. The cuff is adjustable and secures with several inches of overlapping velcro, making it easy to get your arm in and snug up the cuff. The cuff’s hose is long enough to allow you to comfortably have your arm resting with the monitor in front of you.
On the back, we find a micro-USB port.
Interestingly, there is nothing in the manual about it. Online, I discovered that it is a power port if you elect to eschew the convenience of batteries and tether yourself to a wall plug. I won’t be doing that.
Setup starts pretty simply.
Install the included 4 AA batteries in the back battery compartment.
Plugin the cuff hose.
Then, the setup gets a little more complicated.
On the right side of the unit, we find two buttons:
They are cleverly labeled “M” for memory to access the stored readings and “L” for setup. OK – I don’t get that last one, but that’s what it is. To complete the setup, hold the “L” button until the user icon flashes. Hitting “M” when something is flashing changes values. Hitting “L” changes the active parameter. So, hit “L” to get to the year and “M” to set it, “L” to get to the month and “M” so set it, “L” to get to the day, and so on. This continues for the hour, minute and measurement units – millimeters of mercury (mmHg) or kilopascals (KPa). Your doctor most likely uses mmHg. This is the same process used to changes from user 1 to user 2. Suffice it to say that the user interface needs some tweaking.
First – a note about the photos. Any missing segments on digits are an issue with the photo and not the unit. LCDs flash a little bit. While this isn’t visible to the naked eye, a camera’s shutter can open at just the wrong time and a segment may appear to be off when it is actually on to the eye.
After putting on the cuff, you press the “x1” or “x2” button to start a blood pressure reading. More on the “x1” and “x2” button later.
Like all blood pressure units, the cuff inflates beyond where it needs to be to read the pressure, and then slowly deflates while it records the systolic number or top number, followed by the diastolic or bottom number. The systolic number measures pressure inside your arteries during a heartbeat while the diastolic number measures that same pressure between beats. Once both numbers are recorded, the cuff deflates completely and the reading is complete.
The large pressure numbers count down as the pressure is released.
While readings are being taken, the heart icon on the left flashes as it detects heartbeats. This indicator turns off after the reading unless it defects AFib. In that case, it will remain on and will also show when you review historical readings where AFib was detected.
If you move your arm too much during a reading, the person icon shows up to remind you to sit still. To the right of that is the OK icon, indicating that the cuff is properly attached. It will indicate if the cuff is too loose, ensuring that you get a good reading.
Once you get a good reading, the display shows your systolic and diastolic numbers in large, easy to read numbers, Your pulse is shown in the lower left in smaller numbers. A vertical bar graph along the left indicates if you are in the green (normal), yellow (at risk) or red (see a doctor – now!) zones.
One problem with blood pressure readings is that they are notoriously variable. I was at my doctor’s office and a nurse took it the old-fashioned way with a manual cuff and stethoscope. It was abnormally high so another nurse took it the same way five minutes later and got results 10-15 points lower on both numbers. Automated monitors suffer from the same variability. Homiee has an answer for that.
Remember the “x1” and “x2” buttons?
Pressing x1 will a single reading. Pressing x2 runs a reading, pauses for a few seconds and then runs a second reading. It then averages the two providing what should be a more accurate overall reading by allowing for the small variances that happen naturally. I really like this feature.
To the left of those buttons are the day and night buttons. Pressing these provides overall eight week averages and weekly averages for daytime or nighttime measurements.
To change users, as mentioned above, hold the “L” button for three seconds until the user icon flashes and then press the “M” button to change users.
Here we see a user #2 reading for my lovely, and low-pressure wife.
When you aren’t in reading mode, pressing the “M” button will cycle through the last 120 readings for the selected user. Time and date are shown for each reading along with the AFib indicator if AFib was detected for that reading.
One thing to note is that the display never shuts off. It always displays the time, user, and the buttons along the bottom. LCDs have a very low power draw, so that shouldn’t affect battery life in any meaningful way.
Another user interface issue for me is that there is seemingly no way to get out of memory review other than wait for the unit to power down and revert to time display mode. After fiddling a bit, I discovered that hitting the “x1” button reverts the unit into reading mode without actually starting a reading. Again, poor user interface design.
Finally, holding the “M” button for several seconds will wipe out all stored readings.
We should all be aware of our blood pressure. For a healthy person, once a year readings during your annual physical can suffice. But as we age, or are otherwise at risk for health issues, that need becomes more critical. The Homiee BP1003 is a capable unit that can help you track your blood pressure and watch for any trends that might warrant a trip to the doctor.
Sphygmomanometer
Oooooo, do it again!
Sphygmomanometer
Oooooooo
Sphygmomanometer, sphygmomanometer, sphygmomanometer!
Price: $49.99
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Homiee.
Filed in categories: Reviews
Tagged: Health and fitness
Homiee BP1003 blood pressure monitor review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 13, 2019 at 9:00 am.
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