Live data from Hacker News

The Oceanic+ app comes to Apple Watch Ultra

apple.com

171–180 of 195 posts

Re: The Oceanic+ app comes to Apple Watch Ultra

#171
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it says it's rated to 40 meters, which is good for most recreational diving. This would not apply for deeper dives. I'm curious to see what they have for using it with diver communication and collaboration. If one diver sees something of interest, they can easily notify other divers. I'm not sure if or how well Bluetooth works underwater? The haptic vibration would be useful to notify about reaching maximum bottom ti…

Bluetooth doesn’t work underwater. Water loves to absorb 2.4ghz signals. I dive with both my iPhone and Apple Watch Ultra and they can’t communicate underwater unless they’re actually touching.

Curiously, 2.4ghz light corresponds to microwaves which is actually long wavelength low energy light. If you have a video stream on while the microwave oven is turned on you'll notice large enough interference to disconnect your stream.

The fact that water absorbs 2.4ghz light is what enables microwave ovens to heat water in the first place. So while it's an inconvenient property during dives, it's very convenient in the kitchen.

Re: The Oceanic+ app comes to Apple Watch Ultra

#172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/introduce to create... as if for the first time;

Out of the six definitions and you conveniently skip the first one: > to present (a person) to another so as to make acquainted. Which is exactly what Apple did in the submitted post. Also if you look at the 2-4th definitions. The submitted title jibes directly with what Apple did.

"Tell me where in any dictionary does “introducing” something imply who created it"

I just did, then you moved the goalposts.

Re: The Oceanic+ app comes to Apple Watch Ultra

#173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To introduce: “…; originate: introduced the new product in several test markets; … .” [1] [1] https://www.thefreedictionary.com/introduce

It still doesn’t imply it’s a first party product. I can “introduce Angular to my team”. That doesn’t mean I wrote Angular.

Indeed, it doesn’t imply creating a product; “introduce” can directly mean creating a product through the sense of originate: ”…create…” [1]

[1] https://www.thefreedictionary.com/originate

Re: The Oceanic+ app comes to Apple Watch Ultra

#174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can't see your boat after you've resurfaced something has gone pretty wrong. Most professional divers will be using a Surface Marker Buoy which indicates where they are underwater and where the boat should be looking to pick them up. One feature that would be very useful under water but was disabled was Compass way tracking. Hopefully Apple thinks about it allowing it.

> Most professional divers will be using a Surface Marker Buoy which indicates where they are underwater and where the boat should be looking to pick them up. These are generally deployed only during the safety stop, not for the entirety of the dive for obvious reasons-- handling up to 120ft of line underwater for the length of a dive would be near impossible. They would be pretty useless if you resurface and can't s…

That really depends on local dive conditions. For drift diving in the Gulf Stream off of Florida it's common to tow a float during the entire dive. For tech diving in the Northeast Pacific Ocean we can't tow a float while on the bottom due to rock structures and kelp. But we will shoot an SMB as soon as we leave the structure (rather than waiting until we reach a shallow stop) so that the boat crew can follow us as we drift during deco.

Of course it's always a good idea to carry other signalling devices beyond an SMB in case you get separated from the boat.

Re: The Oceanic+ app comes to Apple Watch Ultra

#175
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would refuse to dive with anyone who isn't carrying two regulators. Sharing a respirator is feasible...but it requires practice to do well and significantly impairs your ability to move around or accomplish other tasks. Backup dive computers are much less common and most people use their buddy as their backup computer. It is much safer to surface without a functioning dive computer than it is to surface without a f…

Second stage is duplicated but the first stage is still a single point of failure. The backup for that is your buddy.

Which is precisely why I would refuse to dive with someone that doesn't carry two second stages.

Re: The Oceanic+ app comes to Apple Watch Ultra

#176
post #170
post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure this will be used by people who go on a week of dives every half a year or so (those are most people I meet in touristy dive places these days) and not by tech or nitrox divers. For those people it makes more sense - no need to carry another dive computer, no need to buy another device and the battery will be just fine for two/three dives in a day. More serious people will still get their Shearwaters/…

Practically all "touristy dive places" use nitrox today. It lower the risk for the dive center that a accident occur on their boats/shores/guided tours, so they have a huge incentive to offer divers to use it. Nitrox is also fairly easy to mark up since divers tend to be willing to pay extra for the reduced risk. The only places that don't have any benefit of offering nitrox is if the maximum depth of the place is 9…

That really depends where you're going I guess - I've seen most places offer nitrox as option, but most divers (especially recreational and occasional ones) didn't actually pay for it. Less than a third people on most boats I've been to opted for nitrox.

Re: The Oceanic+ app comes to Apple Watch Ultra

#177
post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most professional divers will be using a Surface Marker Buoy which indicates where they are underwater and where the boat should be looking to pick them up. These are generally deployed only during the safety stop, not for the entirety of the dive for obvious reasons-- handling up to 120ft of line underwater for the length of a dive would be near impossible. They would be pretty useless if you resurface and can't s…

That really depends on local dive conditions. For drift diving in the Gulf Stream off of Florida it's common to tow a float during the entire dive. For tech diving in the Northeast Pacific Ocean we can't tow a float while on the bottom due to rock structures and kelp. But we will shoot an SMB as soon as we leave the structure (rather than waiting until we reach a shallow stop) so that the boat crew can follow us as w…

I think the only time I've ever seen SMBs used outside of the safety stop are drift dives. And even then, it's been the exception rather than the norm.

It's pretty easy to get tangled up if you're doing anything but a single direction drift dive where you're both away from structures and moving in a continuous straight line that doesn't cross itself.

Re: The Oceanic+ app comes to Apple Watch Ultra

#178
post #176
post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Practically all "touristy dive places" use nitrox today. It lower the risk for the dive center that a accident occur on their boats/shores/guided tours, so they have a huge incentive to offer divers to use it. Nitrox is also fairly easy to mark up since divers tend to be willing to pay extra for the reduced risk. The only places that don't have any benefit of offering nitrox is if the maximum depth of the place is 9…

That really depends where you're going I guess - I've seen most places offer nitrox as option, but most divers (especially recreational and occasional ones) didn't actually pay for it. Less than a third people on most boats I've been to opted for nitrox.

It could be a cultural thing. On red sea trips I have always paid 0% for it as it been free. It makes the live of the guides easier since everyone will be basically on the same mix and having an accident while out on the sea is bad publicity, bad economically, and bad for the tourist. Dive centers on land tend to ask money for nitrox, but I don't even remember when I last saw someone choosing air unless we knew that the maximum depth will be around 5-15 meters where it becomes almost impossible to reach ndl on a single tank.

Re: The Oceanic+ app comes to Apple Watch Ultra

#179

Yet you will still void the warranty if you dive with it: Apple Watch Ultra has a water resistance rating of 100 meters under ISO standard 22810. Apple Watch Ultra may be used for recreational scuba diving (with a compatible third-party app from the App Store) to 40 meters, and for high-speed water sports. Apple Watch Ultra should not be used for diving below 40 meters. Water resistance is not a permanent condition a…

> Yet you will still void the warranty if you dive with it: Your quotes don’t say that at all. They say it’s waterproof up to 100m but you should not use it deeper than 40m. There’s a lot to do under water between 0 and 40m.

No post body was provided.

Re: The Oceanic+ app comes to Apple Watch Ultra

#180
post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s a huge market for the Fenix/Epix/Descent line from Garmin, which has always been (much!) more expensive than an Apple Watch. The fitness features and general activity tracking on those is far, far better than what you get from an Apple Watch. The UX is amazing, especially when you’re underwater/wearing thick gloves/running hard. The screens are adequate, if you really want super bright punchy colors you can g…

True! I’m speaking as a consumer who was considering several $1200+ options actively - like, I had the tabs open and a Notion DB to catalog the pros and cons of different options. But once I saw the news about the Apple Watch Ultra, I closed the tabs, deleted the Notion DB, and ordered an Apple Watch. I’d like air integration, but vastly prefer spending $800 on an all-day every-day watch to a $1200 sometimes watch.

The Apple Watch is just too limiting for me. Between the types of activities it can track, the actual feedback during an activity being pretty barebones, the lack of competitions, and the terrible battery life I don’t understand who it’s for.
Post reply on HN