The Week in Review is a collection of both all the goodness I’ve written during the past week around the internet, as well as a small pile of links I found interesting – generally endurance sports related. I’ve often wondered what to do with all of the coolness that people write, and while I share a lot of it on Twitter and Facebook, this is a better forum for sending it on to y’all. Most times these different streams don’t overlap, so be on the lookout at all these places for good stuff!
So with that, let’s get into the action!
(Normally this goes out on the weekend, but I apparently got distracted, and thus, I’ve added a few more things since then)
DCR Posts in the Past Week:
Here’s all the latest on the site, as I slowly ramp up after the holidays (where I spent most of it huddled under a blanket with the flu…sigh):
Wednesday: Garmin Bounce LTE Kids Activity Tracker In-Depth Review
Thursday: TrainerRoad Raises Prices: But It’s Sorta Optional
Monday: A Closer Look at Garmin & Qualcomm’s Satellite Chipset Partnership
YouTube Videos This Past Week:
Here’s what hit the tubes over on the You of Tube, definitely don’t forget to subscribe there to get notified of videos the second they hit!
Stuff I Found Interesting around the Interwebs:
Here’s a not-so-small smattering of all the random things that I stumbled on while doing my civic duty to find the end of the Internet:
1) The Replacement for CyclingTips: Undoubtedly, if you’re a cycling fan, you’ve probably been watching the meltdown that is CyclingTips. TLDR version is Outside bought CyclingTips, things were basically fine for a while, then they (Outside) initially laid off one key person last spring. But things were still mostly fine. Then they laid off a few very core people in December, ignored staff, cut back subscriber benefits, and then everyone else (staff) quit. Then most subscribers stopped paying. Now there’s like one article every one in a while. All in just a few weeks. There’s only one employee left. It’s an epic meltdown and demonstration of private equity overseeing failure, going from the most well regarded cycling publication with easily some of the best journalists in the industry, to an empty bowl of nothing in a span of four weeks. Anyways, the original founder of CT, Wade Wallace, left a long while back, and he and a few others from CT are about to launch a new publication. That original link explains it, but most notable is just how massive the job listings page is. It’s kinda insane. Looking forward to subscribing to it!
2) Zwift starts microgrant program: When I first saw this headline I was secretly hoping it meant they were opening up an API and had little grants to hand out to 3rd party apps that could enrich the Zwift experience. However, it’s the next best thing, which is grants for non-profit organizations related to cycling. Certainly many big companies effectively do the same thing through donations, but to have a clear path into that grant process is useful.
3) India looking to force smartwatch charging standards: After solidifying phone charging standard requirements (akin to what the EU did), India is looking to do the same for smartwatches. The only challenge here is this is a bit trickier, namely due to the waterproofing aspect of chargers. And while the supposedly simple answer is a wireless charging protocol (like Qi), the reality is that’s not that simple. It also doesn’t solve the data offloading piece/option that many watch makers (and consumers) actually prefer/use. Of course, having a smartwatch cable standard isn’t a new idea. Back a number of years ago there was the beginnings of an effort by Pebble/4iiii and a few others I can’t remember, but that never really took off beyond initial table/marketing discussions. Unlike USB-C or such for phones/other devices, no agreed upon 100m+ waterproof standard actually exists for charging devices. Thus, I’m not opposed to the idea in theory, but just want it to be sporty enough in reality.
4) Drone & Fireworks Show in Amsterdam: We actually went and saw this, it was pretty cool (albeit, pretty short). I don’t think I’ve ever seen a drone show in person, and this was a surprisingly well integrated blend between the fireworks and drones. It had originally been scheduled or New Years Eve, but we had a crazy wind storm that night, and so many official fireworks & fire-related things were delayed or done early. Except of course the millions of Dutch residents shooting off their own fireworks – that proceeded as crazily as ever.
5) Spotify App Shows Upcoming HealthKit Integration: This was a couple of weeks ago, but attracted virtually no attention. Will be interesting to see what comes of this though.
6) The 10,000th’s Garmin inReach SOS: Also from a few weeks ago, the story of the mountain bike gone rather badly, but, how it ended up as the 10,000th’s inReach SOS rescue. These are obviously marketing-type blog posts, but it’s an interesting vignette nonetheless.
7) Withing’s new at-home urine analysis sensor: By now I’m sure just about everyone has seen this device in the news over the past few days. It’s interesting to me, Withings has, throughout the years (minus the Nokia years) managed to consistently have an outsized news impact on CES. For what is basically a relatively small company, since their inception, they’ve often had what were the top CES news stories. Be it the first WiFi weight scale, or the first analog smartwatch that didn’t look like a smartwatch – they’ve surprisingly managed to top the CES news charts. While good PR work is part of that, the often ‘out of left field’ products (at that time) seem to be the driver. Either way, it’s good to see Withings back in the news after the Nokia years and subsequent quiet period (even if I have no apparent us for this device).
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With that, thanks for reading!
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