In the best sense of customer service, I have to acknowledge that I am a massive weather geek. Probably well beyond what would be considered normal for weather aficionado. Well into the geeky overkill range.
That said, a new weather station has appeared. I have XM weather for my car. It is great and I love getting weather warnings on the information screen of my car. But this new weather station is different and frankly amazing.
It is just another shameless review, Bloomsky! When I read the original Kickstarter campaign for Bloomsky I was interested. A weather station that had solar power (I still have to from time to change the batteries in one of my weather stations. It tells me the batteries are low, but I still physically have to change them so solar is nice). But let’s also not just have a weather station. Let’s add a time lapse camera to the system.
Temperature – check. Barometric pressure – check. View of the sky during the daylight hours – check. So, as you see from the images I was playing with the camera position (still not done) yesterday. I took a few pictures including one of the predawn sky this morning (the last day of November 2016).
First off weather stations are as much about location and use as any IoT device. In the case of weather stations the win or lose is the software. I love my Davis Weather station but the software is at best hard to use and configure. NetATMO is awesome (still have to change the batteries) but the software is amazing.
When I backed Bloomsky I figured it would be in the middle. Decent hardware and decent software. I can honestly say I was doubly wrong. The hardware is awesome, well designed and very flexible. I mounted it off the back deck of my house. Partially because I wanted to verify the readings against the other two weather stations. Partially because I am lazy and that was the easiest location to mount it.
Hardware – amazing – even easier to set-up the hardware for the Bloomsky than my previous favorite in the easy set-up space NetATMO. The Davis was the hardest to set-up but provides you with the most information. NetATMO was the next hardest to set-up and has a number of standalone sensors. Bloomsky has the easiest set-up and also the most interesting software. Plus, you get pictures taken of the sky throughout the day.
(the distortion is from rain drops – really cool effect)!
I am sharing those pictures with you, they come from the backyard of my house. Actually, from the corner of the deck off the upper level of the hosue. I am really impressed with the software. I love being able to send pictures of right now, to myself. Yesterday was the first day in 
November this year when it actually measurably rained so that was interesting to see. I can’t wait to see the time lapse photos of an entire day. I have the unit pointing in the direction of the sunrise and sunset. Although sunset will be behind our house so it won’t be quite as cool.
Overall this is a great first, second or third weather station. It adds the ability to have time lapse day time sky photos. It includes a solar power cell so you don’t have to change the batteries. It shuts its camera down at night to concessive power. I have a telescope with a camera attachment for night time pictures anyway!
Oh yeah, and the unit looks cool. It is fun playing with Camera angles and seeing what you see!
.doc
I am a weather geek
Over the years, I have tried various methods for keeping my office clean. What I end up with is neat storage bins, crammed full of miscellaneous things. You never know when you will be a USB to Serial port adapter again. Even though serial ports have gone the way of dinosaurs. Slow and not really relevant in the modern computer. I do still have a floppy disk, but that is more to demonstrate the capabilities rather than to actually use it. 
I read a study today that ticked me off. I’ve seen studies like this one before and they annoy me but this one was wrong day, wrong time. The reality of smart phones and their users. A recent study released in the U.K. talks about the difference between iPhone and Android users. The bias of the study was pretty evident and the missing pieces in the study were wide enough to drive a truck through. Smart phone users should be classified first, then from there evaluate the impact of the device on the person. 
The difference between the devices? Frankly it comes down to what you need from a phone. Android devices (I had one for nearly a year as my only phone) are excellent quality and deliver great service. The recent battery issues could happen to any smart phone. The more battery (and everyone wants longer battery life in their smart phone) you have the greater the risk can be. There are design things that can be done that will alleviate some of the risk but for the most part batteries get warm. Some of the devices have really high end cameras (although they are not the optimal camera form so using them as your only camera is well, not the best idea). Some of them have amazing audio that is awesome. The end game is they are smart phones. 
So, I wandered around a number of types of connections yesterday that you can have. Each of them with risks and rewards. Knowing what your blood pressure is, well that is important. Knowing your blood sugar, if that is something you are working on, important. In fact, there are a growing number of devices you can connect to your phone or tablet. Devices that give you information specific to whatever you are seeking information about. In my case I love to get weather data. Living near a large city, I know that the temperature in DC is normally 5-7 degrees more than it is in the ‘burbs. So, it is important to know in the winter if the 35 in DC proper, is closer to 29 in the ‘burbs. Because at 28 water is frozen and slick, at 35 is can be partially frozen but can also not be frozen at all. Temperature and location are really important. 
I used to carry my phone on my belt. Now it is in my pocket. In part because belt carried phones are no longer what the cool kids do. But mostly because it is easier to just carry my phone in my pocket. I don’t have all the add-ons and additional junk I used to carry. 
Mobile device security is a scary game. I have listened to a number of mobile security people and frankly it is 90% scare tactics. The reality of hackers is if your device is one they understand how to crack, you should be careful. Since most devices are fairly easily cracked, everyone should be careful. A phone contains your entire world. Losing a phone or tablet in the modern age is bad. 
To connect or not to connect, that is the question. Tis nobler to write down all the many things you need to remember rather than allowing a device to stand between you and your humanity. I shall not write notes in that good night. I shall rage against the machine and in finding another way seek some sort of retribution. 
Now there are rules for data. HIPAA applies to my thermometer, Blood pressure cuff and my blood sugar monitor. That data cannot exist without my approval. IT cannot be shared and of course it is of risk to me if it becomes public. My day after Thanksgiving blood sugar was 101. Not where I wanted it to be, not as bad as it was 4 years ago, the information I gather (and I shared one day out of 365 days of taking my blood sugar not relevant). My doctor cares more about the A1C (the running three-month average of my blood sugar) but that doesn’t come from combining my 1 day at a time readings into 90 and then averaging. That comes from a full blood draw. 
Over the past few years the world of video surveillance has changed. You can now get a video doorbell that rings on your cellular device to let you know someone is at your door. You can connect to your doorbell and see who is there. Someone stealing packages from your front door? Get a video doorbell and you will have pictures of the person. 
Since adding the video cameras in the house, I have gotten to see a lot of crazy things that the dogs do when we are not there, plus a few people walking up to the house hearing the dogs and seeing the cameras and walking away. Like I said, most folks are worried when they hear dogs. If they aren’t where they are supposed to be, they get a little more worried. 
Indiegogo
Kickstarter
Of all the gin joints in the world. You pick this one. I love that line. I have, however never had the opportunity to use it until today. It doesn’t fit my concept, idea or even blogging style but I wanted to use it once because it is the coolest line. I began my smart phone journey with a Pocket PC phone now more than 11 years ago, before there was iPhone there was PocketPC phone. Starting in loosely 2000 Microsoft had begun to release the phone OS that started the revolution. The iPhone, which came along in 2007 started the popular movement, but the pocket pc phone was the first. 
4 paragraphs in you are thinking what is this a history of things that were blog? It is not. While what was is important, what is well that is real. The real of the phone market today is integration. Using your phone as a sensor enabler to gather information quickly. There are a number of things you can do now, with a phone, that 11, 12 years ago, were things we dreamed up. You could, connect a weather station to your phone 12 years ago, but it was expensive and required three points of integration (the weather station to your home network. The home network to the Internet and to a service that could consume your weather information and finally your phone to the service in the form of a web page or application). While the points of integration are the same now, the unification of the integration allows for a more seamless process. You see in the past the three points of integration were unique. Now the weather station provides all three. 
If we consider the landscape of technology today, things are evolving. IoT, the Internet of Things, gives us a view of the world from the small to the remote. The concepts of mesh networks are expanding. What is a mesh network? It is a network of sensors that know about each other. You can over the reality of 1000 sensors embed multiple points and types of connections at a much more effective price point. From cellular, to Satellite connectivity you can built a resilient network of sensors. Sensors smart enough to know if my connection fails, talk to my neighbor. 
There are times when I chase down technological rabbit holes. For example, many years ago I found a Bluetooth headset that allowed you to record calls, not on your phone, but on the headset. At the time, it was really cool, now it is kind of passé. I do, from time to time miss badly on trends. In fact, I suspect my success rate is roughly 30%. Good for baseball, bad for predicting trends. 
Like I said, I’ve missed on a few over the years. Mobi-Net was one I missed on badly. The precursor to Wi-Fi. Back in the wired computing days, Mobi-Net was the portable network you could use at work, in the park, in your car and virtually anywhere. It sadly died. As it a couple of other wireless networking products I thought would hit it big. Wi-Fi was easier, cheaper and more effective than the others were, so in the end it became the future. 
So, when you read about tomorrow, understand it is a picture of what is possible. It is not a declaration of the future, carried back to now by a time traveling technologist. Who only travels back in time to make the world a better place. Oh, yeah and to sit in a coffee shop with Albert Einstein and ask him how he was able to see things no one ever had before. Or to have coffee with Marx. Groucho, not Karl for that lunch by the way. 
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