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Giving up on smart rings

notesbylex.com

111–120 of 191 posts

Re: Giving up on smart rings

#111
post #36
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The most important metric to me was the sleep score and related components. I've noticed my performance (mentally and physically) is tied to sleep in a huge way. I was skeptical that it would capture sleep metrics accurately, but after about a year of use, I can say without question that the number it presents as my sleep score is a very good proxy of how good I feel throughout the day. For so many things, the abso…

Agreed. It has been consistent enough that I can make a pretty accurate guess each morning based on how I feel. With a consistent scale, I can work on the components (timing, duration, and other factors like alcohol, etc.) and I've made big improvements over the year.

> I can make a pretty accurate guess each morning based on how I feel.

So you don’t actually need the ring? :)

This is actually a serious question: I would want to use a smart ring for the things I can’t tell by myself. But then I also can’t judge the accuracy and consistency of the corresponding measures.

Re: Giving up on smart rings

#112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't look up how they get removed from your finger at the ER

EMT here. I've never had a patient with a tungsten ring but I'm pretty sure our ring cutters would not work. So I looked it up. Apparently you have to break them off with vise grips [0]. One more tool for my kit I guess. [0] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=poM423pewRE

Thank you for everything that you do! I imagine EMTs don't get nearly enough thanks amidst all the rush and horror.

Re: Giving up on smart rings

#113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently (June) bought an Air too to replace my 5 or 6 year old Apple Watch. I'm enjoying it for the same reasons. Longer battery life. More comfortable when I'm sleeping since it has no buttons or weird bulky shape. I do wish Apple would make their own version of it with apple pay.

Too bad the Google Health app (which is required for FitBit devices since Google retired the FitBit app) is getting mostly 1 and 2 star (out of 5) reviews on the Google app store. The reviews were ~90% 1 & 2 star within the first month of the FitBit Air release. Three months later, the app has improved to ~80% 1 & 2 star reviews. At this pace, they'll be on v3 of the device when app reviews are decent... They force e…

I'm waiting for the Apple Health app support. Supposedly it's coming sometime in the fall. The Google app is ok but I don't use the AI features.

I'm not sure if proper Apple Health would help with this but Google tends to be delayed at automatic recognition of activities (e.g. I take a walk it can be an hour or two until it processes automatically). Apple would recognize a walk as I was on it.

Re: Giving up on smart rings

#114
post #100
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Steel toed work boots are almost never allowed to have a steel toe anymore. It is always plastic which is just as strong but it shatters when it breaks so they don't have to uncrush that once they get whatever fell on your toes off. There are some rare exceptions for specific jobs, see OSHA (or your country equivalent) for the exact rules that apply to you.

This isn't remotely true. Steel is absolutely still allowed. The steel toe is designed to collapse without crushing the toe. When that happens, the boot needs to be replaced. There are composites which are fiber based but those aren't labelled as steel toes, they aren't designed to shatter and it's not plastic.

Osha allows steel where plastic (fiber is a plastic) has issues. However they have complex rules and none of the industries I work with will allow steel.

Re: Giving up on smart rings

#115
>1. Your fingers change size and rings are not adjustable

....I guess OP doesn't wear a wedding ring, or any other kind of ring for that matter? How is that a problem with the smart ring, specifically?

Re: Giving up on smart rings

#116

None of these 3 problems have anything to do with it being a smart ring. Same problems that regular rings have, yet people still wear them. 1. Adulting: buying rings that are the right size. eg My tungsten wedding ring cannot be resized either. 2. Most people don't even lift. Those that do, dont mind taking off jewelry. I can see how this would be a problem for someone who wants to wear a smart ring for lifting. Soun…

> Most people don't even lift.

It’s about any physical activity involving hands and friction. Rock climbing, basketball, tennis, etc. Perhaps this depends on intensity. Still, much more than just lifting.

People who don’t usually wear rings might not realize this.

Re: Giving up on smart rings

#117
post #33

The biggest reason should be that they're just bad. They gather sus data from their undersized sensors, then derive tons of sus insights to overwhelm you. None of it is accurate enough to base major life decisions on, which is also laughable because even if it were accurate, there are effectively no major life decisions to make based on the data! Here I can save you $500: Go to bed before midnight. Set your alarm at…

Never saw the point of smart watches either. Maybe if you're diabetic?

Re: Giving up on smart rings

#118
post #5

I ditched my Oura ring, I found that it really was great at tracking sleep HRV and RHR, but the battery doesn't last and it's just expensive e-waste after a year and a half I got really upset with Oura when they tried to have their cake and eat it with regards to charging a huge premium for what is a very cheap device and then also a monthly subscription for something that does not need any subscription. I bit the bu…

I reached out to their chatbot after my battery life tanked a year-or-so later and it sent me a replacement no questions asked.

Re: Giving up on smart rings

#119
post #8

I can't bring myself to send a corporation a constant stream of extremely personal data when I know they absolutely will sell/leak all of it along with the countless assumptions they'll make about me using that same data. It'd be nice to have the information a ring or watch gathers as long as it stayed local. I haven't seen many products offering that though. The thought of not being able to continuously profit from…

Exactly why I abandoned my Oura ring. I stopped wearing it for a couple of years, and when I went back, it wouldn't work without a cloud account/sync.

The bluetooth protocol has been reverse-engineered and you can run everything locally with https://github.com/Th0rgal/open_oura

Re: Giving up on smart rings

#120
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely nuts that this thing wouldn't be engineered so that at least a swelling battery causes the exterior to split so that the swelling is directed out rather than in.

It is understandable in some narrow sense because you want the outer surface to be nick-resistant, so you need to make it out of reasonably thick metal. Plastic rings would look terrible after a couple of weeks. But it's really hard to justify the big picture. It's hundreds of bucks + a monthly subscription for... what, exactly? Why does this need to exist? If you really want to gamify your pulse and sleep patterns f…

Perhaps you could reinforce both the outside and the inside, so any swelling would be directed parallel to the finger?
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