Re: NextStep/Genius Pager

From: Jim Paugh (james.paugh@Eng.Sun.COM-DeleteThis)
Date: Wed Jan 29 1997 - 17:37:12 PST


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Date: Wed, 29 Jan 1997 17:37:12 -0800
From: james.paugh@Eng.Sun.COM-DeleteThis (Jim Paugh)
Message-Id: <199701300137.RAA01712@jalama.eng.sun.com-DeleteThis>
To: wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis
Subject: Re: NextStep/Genius Pager
X-Sun-Charset: US-ASCII


> Also, was anyone else in the first batch of Genius pagers? I'd like to
> share my opinions with others'. Unfortunately, it'll have to wait for
> another post. Gotta go...

I received mine about 3 weeks ago, unfortunately, there hasn't been much
wind to exercise it with.

Things that are very cool about it:

        SMALL! I put it on my belt and forget I'm wearing it. It's about
        1/3 the size of the Advisor pager.

        The graphs are very cool! Many times in the past, I'd look at
        the pager, realize that it's blowing, and wonder how long it's
        been up, etc. The graph shows the day's wind progress (and
        the previous day's graph too).

        Programmable! Separate wind thresholds for each wind site. Multiple
        tones to choose from. Set a threshold and tone for when it comes up,
        another (or same) one for when it drops.

        Separated numeric pages and email pages.

        Lots of cute information received throughout the day, that you can
        ignore, or browse. Headline news, financials, weather (hi/low temps
        for major cities), more detailed news, sports scores, entertainment
        news, trivia.
        Then under the Call of the Wind icon:
        Ski reports, wave reports, micro-forecasts, tide/currents, bouy
        reports. All of this information is accessed under a separate icon,
        so you can go right to it, or ignore it.

Things that take getting used to:

        A *lot* of wind sites reporting! All of them (did you know it
        blew at Kihei yesterday, 25-30 all afternoon?). It does allow
        you to reorder the sites in the list, so you don't have to
        scroll through them all to get to you favorites.

        Screen's smaller, the fonts can be kind of small/hard to read.
        But the fonts are programmable, so you can increase their size.

        The small size! It's easy to forget I'm wearing it. I'm afraid
        of dropping it or losing it. So far though, no problem. It has
        a holster like the Advisor, with a very secure clip. It has an
        eyelett for a leash, I think I'll get one, in case I pop it out
        of the holster inadvertantly (hasn't happened yet).

That's about it for my first impressions. Now all I need is some wind
to really put it to the test!

~Jim



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