Meganet

Tide, the on-line business account has now moved into beta. The app can be downloaded from Apple's App Store and it's now possible to access Tide through the web (through it ties into the mobile app and certain things will be authorised through the app).

Tide is a new kind of business account designed for small businesses, it's incredibly easy to sign up (takes under 3 minutes), you immediately get a sort code and account number and you can set-up sub accounts too (so say one is your main business and one for consulting). A card arrives a couple of days later which can be used in ATMs, stores and on the web to pay for things.

As posted before there's an invoicing part of the app and the template can be customised with your logos etc and then if it gets paid, it will tie the payment to the invoice, if it isn't paid, the invoiced person can be automagically reminded from time to time.

All transactions can be tagged (like Sales, Loan, whatever) so easy to see what's happening with your money.

If you haven't signed-up, do it now.

p.s. there are no bank charges as such, though some transactional fees will be taken (like in future when accepting card payments through the app).

There's a deal on at the moment at Hummbebundle, you can pay what you want (starting at $1), but paying more unlocks more books.

The basic bundle contains: -

• Unix in a Nutshell, 4th Edition
• sed & awk, 2nd Edition
• lex and yacc, 2nd Edition
• Learning the bash Shell, 3rd Edition
• Linux Pocket Guide, 3rd Edition

Increasing to $8 gets you: -

• bash Cookbook
• Classic Steel Scripting
• Learning GNU Emacs, 3rd Edition
• Unix Power Tools
• Learning the vi and Vim Editors, 7th Edition
• Bash Pocket Reference, 2nd Edition
• Learning Unix for OS X, 2nd Edition

And then for $15 you further get: -

• Essential System Administration, 3rd Edition
• TCP/IP Network Administration, 3rd Edition
• DNS and BIND, 5th Edition
• Network Troubleshooting Tools

The are all O'Reilly books, DRM free and come as Mobi and ePub.

Useful arsenal of tools and for $15, a real bargain.

AliveCor make things that can read your ECG (EKG) and they've now released the Kardia band which is an Apple Watch strap.

It's easy to install, just press the release buttons on the underside of the Apple Watch, slide the original straps out and insert the Kardia Band ones (the sensor band goes into the one at the bottom of the Watch).

The watch rebooted after the sensor strap was inserted, but it came back fine.

You need to have the Kardia app installed and register an account, then make sure it's installed on the Apple Watch.

Running the app on the phone doesn't do much (it's designed to work with other AliveCor products). Opening the app on the watch then gives you the option of recording an ECG. It's best to have your hand resting somewhere and not moving much (there are options in the app to select which region you're in and whether you're in a 50Hz or 60Hz mains area).

The sensor strap has two sensors, one underneath the strap and one on top. Say the watch is on your left hand, lay that flat somewhere and place the right hand on to it and your finger on the top sensor. Hit record (well you'd probably do that before, you're given some time before a reading is taken) and a countdown timer starts, stay as still as possible until it finishes. After the reading is taken is does some calculations and you can scroll through your ECG and the watch app tells you if it's normal or not (couldn't test the not normal reading) and you can save the results.

It's possible to allow another user to use the app, but the watch needs to be placed on them.

The band costs £99.00 direct from the AliveCor site in both 388mm and 42mm versions. It's a nice quantified self device to have, but expensive and unless you have a heart problem, don't know if really worth it and have to wait to find out how it affects battery life of the watch.

Well there seems to be a bit of a battle going on in Arduino land, so some of the boards are now known as Genuino (outside of the USA). This board, the 101, is produced by Intel and has a Curie processor (Quark architecture) and a 32bit ARC CPU (not ARM, this is a CPU based on the Argonaut Risc Core - remember Argonaut Software and Jez San), they're both clocked at 32MHz and are 32bit.

Though the board will act like a 'standard' Arduino and can be completely driven through the Arduino IDE, it actually runs an Intel Real Time Operating System (RTOS) that Intel has open sourced and is available through their download centre. When the IDE compiles the code it will do the right things and put the right bits on the correct core.

The 101 should support most UNO and Zero shields, though it's a 3.3V board (though Intel say it will tolerate 5V boards). It's powered either through a dedicated 5V socket or through the USB port. It's NOT microUSB but the older chunky USB B socket.

As well as the 2 cores, there's also a 3 axis accelerometer and 3 axis gyroscope so the board can sense it's spacial direction and movement and it also supports Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) meaning it can do things like become a beacon or talk to your phone.

The tech specs are

Operating Voltage	3.3V (5V tolerant I/O)
Digital I/O Pins	14 (of which 4 provide PWM output)
PWM Digital I/O Pins	4
Analog Input Pins	6
DC Current per I/O Pin	20 mA
Flash Memory	196 kB (though on-board 384KB rest for RTOS)
SRAM	24 kB (80KB on-board again rest for RTOS)
Clock Speed	32MHz
LED_BUILTIN	pin 13
Features	Bluetooth LE, 6-axis accelerometer/gyroscope

So altogether a nice little Arduino (sorry Genduino) which is pretty fast and pretty compatible.

Pricing varies considerably on-line and it's available from around £16 all the way up to £35, and its available in a variety of kits.

Each year for me in the new car world there are two very exciting events. First is the North American International Auto Show and a very close second is the announcement of Motor Trend Magazine's annual Car of the Year award. Last night in Los Angeles, Motor Trend pulled out all the stops by hosting a full awards show complete with Derek Bell as MC.

Rather than bore you with a lot of technical jargon. We'll just jump right in to the meat of the event with the winners of SUV, Truck, Car and Person of the year.

In the SUV category the main contenders were the broad in spectrum of what makes an SUV. The podium finishers shared one thing in common; they were all from Europe. They were, the Audi Q7, the Jaguar F-pace and lastly and also the winner the Mercedes Benz GLC.

For the Truck category, it was again a very broad spectrum of vehicles. The nominees consisted of the all new Honda Ridgeline, while Ford rounded out the category with both the F-150 and the Super Duty line of trucks. MT's Johnny Lieberman said that "This is the truckiest truck that ever trucked" and we have to agree with him on their decision of the Ford Super Duty as 2017 Truck of the Year.

Obviously the largest category was for the Car of the Year. The three finalists were three entirely new and all very exciting cars. The Chrysler Pacifica, the stunningly beautiful Volvo S90 and the as MT's Edward Loh put it "Unconventionally good look and intelligently designed" Chevrolet Bolt EV. 


 And lastly, how can we leave out Person of the Year. MT selected Tesla's Elon Musk. Musk is certainly the most talked about person in both the auto industry and business in general with his wide spectrum of business ventures that are literally changing the way we live our lives.

Congrats to all the winners!

#MTAWARDS17 #Chevrolet #Ford #MercedesBenz #ElonMusk #Tesla

A car that has recently captivated me in my quest for a replacement of my 2011 Saab 9-3 Turbo4 X led me to the Volkswagen Passat. In particular the R-Line trim level. Looking at the Passat model line as a whole, I was amazed at their value for the buck factor. German engineering built right here in the good ol' USA. I took the opportunity recently to drive an R-Line passat as part of the Dare to Compare campaign at Day Apollo Volkswagen in nearby Moon Township, Pennsylvania. Having spent the majority of my d
riving life behind the wheel of Volkswagen products, I had some expectations in mind. I expected the car to be good looking, which the R-Line checks off. I also expected it to be a good value for my money. Again the Passat checks that box. And lastly I expected it to be fun to drive. Which again, I was pleasantly surprised with.

The example I drove at Day-Apollo Volkswagen was Reef Blue Metallic which suited the muscular lines of the Passat well. The R-Line package is exactly that, a trim package. The front and rear bumpers are given a flared treatment with lots of gloss black accents along with flared rocker trim. This is paired with light gunmetal 19 inch aluminum wheels with performance all season Continental Conti Pro Contact tires. Standard on the R-Line is a media touch screen radio, heated seats, leatherette upholstery and dual zone climate control. A big feature addition is finally the addition of a USB interface which allows for use of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. This is a welcome addition that many in the VW/Audi camp have been begging the company for rather than their use of expensive proprietary adaptors. New standard features for 2017 come in the form of Front Assist, Blind Spot Monitoring, Rear Back Up camera and sensors.

The R-Line trim package was a new addition the Passat line up starting with the 2016 model year. Like other R-Line offerings in the VW line up, its all about the performance looks but does not pack the performance punch to back it up, which in a way is disappointing. I found the same thing with the Beetle R-Line and GSR offerings in 2014. However with the standard features and the larger wheels with better tires, it does make for an enjoyable driving experience.

I found the steering to be light and responsive with an excellent ride quality thanks to the longer wheelbase of the Passat vs. the comparable Jetta. Handling does make the car feel smaller than it is despite the cars large size. Brake feel was solid for a car of its size. I found the seats comfortable with plenty of support. The R-Line comes standard with a 6 way power drivers seat with power lumbar support. Driving position and visibility are excellent and all driver controls are easily within reach. While no different than the base steering wheel. The leather wrapped square bottom sport wheel feels more at home in the R-Line and is huge fun with the standard paddle shifter.

The Passat R-Line comes only with the 1.8 liter 4 cylinder turbo engine which produces 170hp with 184 lb ft of torque and comes mated to a 6 speed automatic transmission. Again there is the option of the both the kick over on the gear selector or the paddle shifters on the steering wheel if you want the sporty fun of a GTI or GLI. Sadly, VW does not offer the Passat R-line with an optional manual transmission like in the 2014-15 Passat Sport.  Despite the 170 hp and 3263 curb weight. The Passat R-Line still manages a 7.7 second 0-60 time and will run the quarter mile in 15.8 seconds. That being said, the car is actually fun to drive. For me it's a GTI that is a lot more comfortable for long trips and everyday driving, but you don't want to look like you're 18 with your first car when you pull in to the parking lot at work. Being a 4 door with more than enough space to seat 5 comfortably is also a big plus. Another big plus is the cavernous trunk. You just about lay flat in the trunk without having to fold either side of the split rear seat back down.

Overall, I am very pleased with the Passat. The R-Line gives the car the sporty look and feel of the GTI and GLI models, though it lacks any actual performance boosts. Though APR can take care of that for a couple hundred bucks. I have three complaints about the car that could be rectified and realistically should be by VW. First is the ride height. With the addition of the 19 inch wheels on the R-Line, gives the car a giant wheel gap and an almost off road appearance. It's not excessively bad, but the regular Passat seems to have this filled in better with the standard 16 inch wheels. The seconds would be given the R-Line treatment, a push button starter would have been more appropriate on this trim level than the traditional switchblade key that VW has been using since 1998. The SE trim level Passat has this feature and it really flows so well with the overall feel of the car and is a feature you see on many base level cars and many premium sedans in the category. And lastly, and this is my biggest gripe is the lack of availability of a sunroof. Why again this is not part of the R-Line package is beyond me. It's not even optional. It's just flat out not available. The same goes for a full leather interior.

I get that VW is trying to meet a price point with the car, but with the R-Line I see it as a premium trim that fits somewhere in between the Passat SE and SE V6. But please VW, If you're going to badge it an R-Line, at least back it up with some better features.

Despite the few gripes I have about option availability, after 1,200 miles of driving I am very pleased with the 2017 Passat R-line and highly recommend it.

#VWlove #VW #Volkswagen