Blog updates

Over the last couple weeks, I have run across additional information on some earlier blogs I wrote. I decided to put those together in this entry to pass them along.

Over the summer, I wrote about the DNA testing service I’ve used, 23andMe. They are currently running a sale of their service for only $99. That price point should make it accessible to a fairly wide audience. I’m hopeful that lots of people will take advantage of this and help advance genetic research by doing so. If you are at all curious, now is a good time to check it out.

I looked at the Belkin WeMo (a WiFi-based, remote control for electrical devices like lamps) in my first set of gadget reviews back in September. Since then, they have debuted an interesting additional product, the Wemo Baby. At one level, it is just a simple audio-based baby monitor like I used with my kids 30 years ago, but the receiving end is your iPhone. That is a nice change over trying to find a place to plug in the receiving device. What makes the product really interesting to me, however, is its ability to do some processing of the sound. For example, it claims you can set the phone to alert you when the baby has been crying for 30 seconds. That is such a contrast to my memories of sleeping badly all night as every little grunt and short cry would wake us up and make us wonder whether we need to go and check. (In truth, I think I slept through though sounds, but my wife didn't!) I’ll have to get one to try out the WeMo Baby when we have our next grandchild.

When I recently wrote about the ReadySet Solar Kit (a solar recharger, primarily for cell phones), I was fairly favorable in my impression of it. Just a few days after writing that review, however, it stopped working. I contacted Fenix International and they sent me a return shipping label. Unfortunately, I had already thrown out the box. It was a bit of a hassle packing it up, but I got that taken care of. (OK, I admit I had someone help with that!) They sent me back a repaired unit and I am now back to recharging my iPhone and iPad with solar energy. I was happy with the response and repair, though it was a little annoying that they did not just send me a new one and let me pack my broken one into the new box. Regardless, for a product still someone under development, I thought they handled it fairly well.

For reasons I don’t yet understand, my blog is now getting most of its traffic from China. Who knew I’d be so popular in China? My best guess is that the traffic may be due to my recent gadget reviews, including the one of the ReadySet Solar Kit. On the other hand, it may just be bots that are finding the blog as I’m also seeing traffic from places like Ukraine and Poland. On yet another hand, I do know people in Poland, so it is really hard to be sure of the real reason. The Internet is definitely a difficult "place" to understand at times.

I’ve also been getting some traffic on the blog due to my article about the Hincapie CEO Cycling Challenge. Shortly after I wrote that entry, George Hincapie read it and passed it along to the guy who runs the CEO Challenge events. He, in turn, put a pointer to it on the CEO Challenge Web site. That whole sequence of events is yet another reminder that you never know who will see what you do on the Internet. Privacy is so 20th Century.

I plan to write a couple gadget reviews over the next few days as I know there are some cool gadgets under the Christmas tree. (After all, I put them there!) Anything to keep my readers in China happy.

I hope all of you have a blessed Christmas and a wonderful start to the new year!