I see. Totally fair.
And I’m still grumpy about the 32-bit reset (I miss my Arkham Horror 2nd edition assistant and Battle for Hill 218).
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Oh, I’m grumpy about that too — I miss the app with all the Infocom text adventures. (At least FFG updated Elder Sign … I still play that regularly) But in the end that’s not Apple’s fault, it’s that some app makers decided not to update their old apps. Again, I doubt you’ll get better support elsewhere.
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It’s a very minor bit of hardware but I’ve been given m Apple Pencil to Christmas to go will ny pad pro. This post is beenjwetter wit scribble and it strugglers cott my hardierting, apparently. Correcting the typos does not seem to be intuitive either. Hopefully it will learn to read whatever it is I’m writing…
To be fair, this probably says more about my penmanship after decades of typing than I’d like.
’
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I am impressed you are writing in Norse code….
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Gonna go out on a limb and say that this qualifies as hardware, albeit not the type we’re usually used to.
Having always hated the gym (not the gym itself but all the tasks involved in getting there - admittedly getting dressed, brushing teeth, and driving 10 minutes is not a lot, but then add two kids and work and school and life into the mix) but understanding the benefits of exercise, I convinced my wife that we should buy a spin bike in early 2017.
We purchased a Kaiser m3i from Amazon for what was then $995; last I saw the price had increased to $1995 and the bike isn’t even available on Amazon anymore. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0178RBMXQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Nonetheless. Purchased the Kaiser, which was highly regarded and reviewed and someone told me it’s the bike LA Fitness uses; never confirmed so don’t @ me. Bike arrived quickly and took about 45 minutes to assemble. It is a quality piece of hardware, as you’d expect gym quality equipment to be. Well built, sturdy, and it has survived 6 years of near continuous use from my wife and me without maintenance or effort other than tightening things up when I notice they’re loose. It came with an iPad holder and we were content to use the Peloton digital app for workouts and rides, with the minor caveat that Peloton instructors call for resistance intervals of 1-100, whereas the Kaiser went from 0-22. We kind of worked around that, figuring that 12 was around a 30 and every increase of 5 in resistance called for 1 on the Kaiser. Imperfect, but it worked.
Which brought us to 2023. The price of the Peloton digital app, which had started at $12 or so in 2017, had increased to $25 in 2023 for full access with the added caveat that you could no longer have multiple members logging in on one account - ie, I paid the $12 and my wife and I both had separate logins, with separate data, etc. No more - we’d now each need our own $25 subscription for $50 a month on the app, whereas if you purchase Peloton equipment, it’s $44 a month and you can have three logins. Savvy readers will see where this is going.
The Peloton Bike+ was on sale for Amazon’s July prime day and I had a good amount of Amazon credit card points, making the price significantly more palatable than the $2500 for which the machine retails. Delivered quickly from Amazon, as do all things, with the workers placing it in the basement for me. Relatively simple to build; dare I say it was easier to build than the Kaiser, if not any faster. The directions were clearly built for the home user vs the Kaiser’s which were geared towards the gym builder guy. The Kaiser also required a weirdly sized socket and torque wrench, both of which I thankfully had although some may not.
The Peloton screen is gorgeous. It’s twice the size of my iPad Pro and makes the classes as immersive as they can be, what with being taken in my unfinished basement full of my wife’s out of season clothes tupperwares and various assorted piles of god knows what deposited by my raised by wolves daughters. The Peloton bike is quality hardware but definitely not as heavy duty as the Kaiser; however, the true worth here is in the integrated software. The data on the peloton app didn’t integrate with Apple Health nearly as well as the bike+ does.
tl; dr. Hardware goes to the Kaiser, software to the Peloton. Overall, if you’re in the market for a home spin bike, I’d hat tip to the Peloton over other brands. It may cost more, but ultimately it’s a better buy and dare I say a more enjoyable workout. For the ultimate in decision making, my wife didn’t even give me grief for buying the Peloton, so…
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We moved out of our tiny Brooklyn house into the house here in Armonk last Feb where we actually had 2 rooms in the house we did not need. So we bought a Peloton in March. I think I have missed about 10 days the whole year - and I am well over the 60 day streak right now. Not only do I ride the Peloton every day I am home, when I travel for business, I look for hotels with Pelotons in the hotel gyms (which is getting a lot easier these days) so I can just log in. I am 100% in the Peloton cult.
The combination of intermittent fasting, daily Peloton and I cut drinking beer at home - I have lost 50 Lbs in the past year.
I don’t like the Peloton strength classes, just the bike. So over Thanksgiving week, I decided I needed an upper body version of the Peloton also for home - so I bought a Tonal as it was $1000 off. It won’t actually be here until Jan 16, so I can’t say how it will be, but I have read some great reviews of it. I will report back once I get some time on it.
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That’s awesome, good for you! I lost 30 on Jenny Craig early last year and slowly found 10 back, but you can’t eat Jenny Craig forever. I blame it on my body finding equilibrium.
I don’t mind the strength classes on Peloton - about to go do one now - but I’m very interested to hear your thoughts on the Tonal. I’ve thought about it but don’t know if I have the space for it. Or cash fwiw lol.
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Has anyone found a PlayStation Portal and given it a go? The preorders were available for long enough that I didn’t anticipate supply issues and now I find myself going through the hardware hunt process that seems to come with every release these days.
I refuse to get sucked in to things that aren’t available. Lorcana would have been great, but they screwed the release
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I’ve picked one up, but I’ve only messed around with it a little. It looks good, but the network lag is a bit much for Prince of Persia.
As for getting one, I did the same thing that I did with the PS5, follow the right people on Twitter and be near a computer when they post. That might be easier in Canada than elsewhere though…
“But it’s ~collectible~!! Everyone loves artificial scarcity! We have to make people think it’s worth something beyond the game! Beanie Babies were great! Right? Hello?”
Considering the larger iPhone Pro this upgrade cycle and looking for opinions regarding the size vs regular iPhone Pro, please.
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Seconded.
For what it’s worth, years ago I had a 6 Plus, or whatever they called it then, and the physical form factor was not an issue for me at all. I liked the bigger size and bigger screen. My wife did not like it because with smaller hands she couldn’t really hold the phone in 1 hand and navigate.
I think I went from that to a 10, maybe, and the screen on the regular 10 was about the same as on the 6 Plus, so it made sense to go back to the smaller phone.
Now my old eyes want bigger. I’m still maybe 6 months out from upgrading but I am considering the bigger phone now.
Edit: I don’t use them regularly but the MagSafe magnet makes it very convenient to add some sort of grip. My wife uses a pop socket and I have a ring (I think it is by Anker). I tend to use mine only when traveling. Anyways, with the bigger phone they can be helpful for holding and with MagSafe they are completely removable at any time, which I can’t stress the awesomeness of.
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Actually we all seem to be of same age 
I always went with the regular size, but I’ve upgraded from 13 pro to 15 pro max this time premiere. It’s the blurry getting vision I believe 
Anyway, I am so happy with my device, except that it sometimes runs quite hot (which never had a functional effect though) and I can’t imagine going back to the regular size now … (I am a bit ashamed of my luxury problem).
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I got a 14 Pro Max last time I upgraded and love it. If you read and/or game on your phone the larger size is great. I’ll never go back to a smaller phone unless they stop making them this big.
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exactly this. Plus a cataract so…
I bought a 15 Pro last fall, and my wife a 15 Pro Max. The Pro is about the largest size that will fit in my shirt pocket where I like to carry it — the Max will not fit, at least not in all of my shirts. Wife carries hers in purse so doesn’t care about that.
We’re both totally with you on the eyesight thing. These phones are great, but I wouldn’t want 'em any bigger; at that point you’re into tablet territory.
BTW, as for cataracts: get the surgery already. Wife and I each had it done on both eyes about two years ago, and I can’t recommend it enough.
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Does anyone have experience with the Google Pixel 8 Pro? I keep putting off getting a modern phone, but lately it’s becoming irritating to me (as opposed to just everyone else), so I’m looking at my options. I know the iphones are great, but I have several apple devices now and am continuously pissed off at them incessantly demanding that I sign in. “Now sign in on this device. Oh, now this one too.” It’s never ending sign-in pop-ups with those people.
This is not an answer to your question at all, but since we’re talking hardware, I can’t imagine making the switch now. On paper, I like the flexibility of the Android platform but Apple has its roots so deep in my family that I don’t see how I could easily switch. I got an iPhone a decade or so ago as part of a family bundle so I didn’t really have much choice in the matter but now I’ve got apple stuff everywhere and it integrates so easily that my infrastructure just keeps growing. Heck, even my dog has an Apple device at this point (she’s got an AirTag on her collar). Siri runs my smart house; everyone has multiple devices; switching out would be like starting over…
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