Category Archives: Just Plain Awesome




Just Plain Awesome: Automatically track your exercise and sleep quality with the Jawbone Up

As someone who spends a lot of time working on the computer, I sometimes worry that I’m staying idle too long. If you also worry about your fitness, the Jawbone Up looks like a fun and relatively easy way to keep an eye on it.

You slap it on your wrist and it keeps track of the exercise you’re getting, the amount and quality of your sleep, and can also give you vibration reminders to get up and stretch your legs once in a while. If you tell it when you need to wake up by in the morning, it can even wake you up at an optimal time in your sleep cycle.

Though this idea sounds Just Plain Awesome, here are some questions I still have about the device:

  • How accurate is it really? I’d like to see a 3rd-party study.
  • Is it really worth $100? That’s a lot of cash.
  • Is the hardware reliable yet, or should I wait for the next model? I’ve read quite a few stories of it failing after a single week of use.
  • Can the nutrition tracking just be turned off? I’ve heard that function isn’t as seamless and frankly, I know when I’m eating like crap.

For more info on the Jawbone Up, check out the video review below:



Just Plain Awesome: Control4 Home Automation

If you don’t know what I mean by home automation, watch the video below. Now even if you are familiar with the concept, you should still watch the video – it’s just really cool.

I don’t know anyone personally who uses this, but it sounds freakin’ incredible and the first review I found confirmed great results. At around $5000 for a full setup, I don’t think I’ll be seeing it in my home any time soon, but I’m thinking this technology will be as common as the television in 20 years. The future will be fun.