CommitStrip.com

I’ve just discovered this French website which is full of really well done and observant cartoons about the lives of web developers and tech enthusiasts.

It’s called CommitStrip.com

Here are a few of my favourites from their archive that goes right back to February 2012.

















Swimmo Swim training watch

I’ve been following the Swimmo project for a while now – ever since I backed their Kickstarter project last year.

“Swimmo is a next-gen smart swim watch. Monitor your swim. Set goals to stay on track. Swim smarter with IntensityCoach™, PaceKeeper™ and heart rate monitor”

 

Swimmo blackSwimmo Black & WhiteSwimmo White

I already swim with a Swimovate PoolMateHR which counts my laps and lets me download the data to my PC. It has a heart rate strap but I’ve never been able to use it as it instantly falls off while swimming, so it’s only usable under a wetsuit. The watch however doesn’t work in open water (it relies on a push-off-the-wall action to determine distance), so I’d have to wear a wetsuit in a pool to use the HR monitor. It’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg failure.

Swimmo HR LEDsThe Swimmo is different though. It detects your heart-rate through your wrist using LEDs. I’m really interested to see this in action.

The Swimmo also has a beautiful curved OLED display which really makes it stand out from the crowd. I do hope it doesn’t drain the battery too much and that it can still be used as a watch throughout the day like my PoolMateHR can.

The Swimmo also has no buttons at all. It works by detecting sharp rotating motions of the wrist (turning your hand so it’s palm up and back again) and taps to the watch body. I’m not sure how intuitive this will be in the real world.

Swimmo Apple Health IntegrationOne of the other features I’m looking forward to using is the integration with the Apple Health feature on my iPhone 6.

My other swim watches have a dedicated USB dock which is used to download the data to a computer. The Swimmo uses Bluetooth so this process should be much smoother.

The software I currently used to analyse my swims is pretty clunky and full of annoyances. I’m hoping the Swimmo software and Health app integration is an improvement.

The quote and images in this article are the property of Swimmo Inc. and were taken from their website Swimmo.com. If you want to get involved in the Swimmo Kickstarter campaign or pre-order a Swimmo, go to the Swimmo Shop

Swimming

I’m a keen swimmer and try to swim at least a mile every day.

I’m usually found at Pancras Square Leisure where they have a nice 25m pool.

I used to use a Swimovate Poolmate Pro HR watch tracked my strokes and laps and allowed me to upload all that to a computer to check my progress (or not).

Pool Mate Pro screenshot

I tried a Swimmo, but found it too bulky and clunky to use – and the lack of any buttons was a pain and made the whole UX horrible.

I now use an Apple Watch 2 which is much better and more comfortable that both the Poolmate Pro and the Swimmo.

PADI Pro

I’m a PADI Master SCUBA Diver Trainer and PADI/DSAT Tec Instructor and teach the following courses:

Recreational SCUBA

Recreational Specialties

PADI/DSAT Technical

I teach Tec courses using back-mounted twins from the start. I hope to extend these courses to cover sidemount later this year.

Although I’m an independent instructor, I usually run my training through Fin Divers in Stevenage, Hertfordshire.

SCUBA Diving

I started diving in 2007 and became a BS-AC Open Water Scuba Instructor in 2009 and in 2014, I qualified as a PADI Open Water and Speciality Instructor.

I’m now a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer and PADI/DSAT TecRec Instructor. This has opened the door to PADI IDC Staff Instructor which I hope to achieve this year (2018).

I’m an experienced overhead-environment and mixed-gas decompression diver. I love fresh and salt-water diving and dive lakes, quarries, caves and mines in and around the UK and abroad including Spain, Greece, Portugal, Malta, Cyprus, Egypt and Mexico.