MacRumors: Apple Watch Stands Up to 1,200m Swim Workout and 10m High Dive Test

Apple Watch Stands Up to 1,200m Swim Workout and 10m High Dive Test

The Apple Watch has been put through a variety of waterproofing tests since its public launch in April, but over the weekend endurance sports and tech blogger Ray Maker posted a few Apple Watch-related waterproof videos, including the first lap swimming test with Apple's new wearable.

As Maker notes in his blog post, many people have uploaded videos detailing simple waterproof tests in smaller backyard pools, but there has until now been little information on the Watch's ability to withstand higher-intensity swimming activities. As he notes, "It’s the wrist hitting the water that’s so difficult for watch waterproofing due to the impact forces," so that's what he decides to focus on in the test. After about 25 minutes in the water and a 1200 meter swim, Maker found results similar to most other waterproofing tests over the past few weeks - the Apple Watch remains seemingly unharmed by even the most daunting submerged water tests.

This is pretty impressive. I don't think I'm going to want to put my own to the test (if and when I decide to buy one), but this does show that there should be absolutely no problem wearing it in the rain, or at a water park.

The beach may be problematic, but due to possibility of salt and sand getting under the crown, not due to water.

Still, it is worth noting that when Consumer Reports tested the Apple Watch, that one out of 4 samples failed a 24-hour submersion test:

We set our depth-test chamber to match the water-resistance specification claimed by each smartwatch manufacturer. We submerge the watches, then check them for proper functionality immediately upon removal from the chamber, then again 24 hours later. The stainless-steel Apple Watch passed the test on the first try. The first aluminum Apple Watch Sport we put through our immersion test seemed fine when we took it out of the tank, but we experienced problems with it 24 hours later. We then tried two more samples, which showed no problems, so the Apple Watch Sport passed our water-resistance test.

The failure may have been a manufacturing defect, but defect or not, you probably won't get a Warranty replacement if it fails after being submerged in water, because the water-resistance rating Apple is publishing only promises 30 minutes at 1m depth. I'll be interested to read the reports when, in the future, some people try for warranty replacement after submersion in water for longer than 30 minutes or at a depth greater than 1m.

Hanzi Smatter: Bing Mi! restaurant

Bing Mi! restaurant

劍兵 (sword soldier) on the sign is not associated with the delicious wrap in terms of context, rather it is the homophone of 煎餅 (Chinese pancake wrap).

Click through to the full article.

I don't personally have a problem with a Chinese restaurant that is not owned and operated by a Chinese person, but their (or their marketing consultant's) decision to generate a Chinese logo using the wrong text is just unforgivable. Google Translate is not a suitable source for things like this, and nobody who actually reads/writes Chinese would make a mistake like this.

Yet another reason I don't like consumer networking gear

As those who know me in real life (and those who have been reading between the lines on this blog) know, I am a network professional. I develop software for commercial networking equipment. The really good stuff that phone companies use to make their networks work. So, in addition to having a healthy respect for how complicated a networking problem can get, I've also come to expect a certain level of quality in the equipment I use. Unfortunately, I can't afford to install commercial routing gear in my home. It costs too much, uses too much electricity, generates too much heat, etc.

So, for my home LAN, I use consumer gear like everybody else. Right now, this consists of a Zoom cable-modem/router, two Linksys routers in bridge mode (acting as Wi-Fi access points), and three powerline network adapters to connect them all.

Simcha Jacobovici: Proof for the Biblical Exodus!

Proof for the Biblical Exodus!

There’s now a new translation of an ancient Egyptian monument known as a “Stela” that has just been published in the Journal of Near Eastern Studies by Professors Robert Ritner and Nadine Moeller, of the Oriental Institue of the University of Chicago. The translation basically links Pharaoh Ahmose (18^th Dynasty/New Kingdom) with the eruption of the Thera/Santorini volcano. In the past, scholars argued that Ahmose and Thera were divided by more than a century. The new translation proves that they were contemporaneous i.e., Ahmose witnessed the effects of one of the deadliest volcanic eruptions in human history. This goes a long way towards linking Thera, Ahmose and the Biblical Exodus.

Still more evidence that the Exodus really happened.

Simcha Jacobovichi: Decoding the El Arish Stone

Decoding the El Arish Stone – blog entry 1

Almost forgotten, in the tiny museum of Isma’ilya, some 125 km northeast of Cairo, is an artifact that corroborates the Biblical Exodus and provides us with the inside story from an Egyptian point of view.
...
In the past, I’ve always summarized the findings. Now, what I want to do is treat the hieroglyphics on the stone as a series of posts. I want to decode the 2,300 year old inscriptions and see what secrets they may reveal.

This is a fascinating article describing the first evidence (that I know of, anyway) that describes the Exodus from the Egyptian point of view. Click through to read all three parts:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal #145

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal #145

I recently ran across this completely ridiculous webcomic. Share and enjoy.

Dry Bones: Looney Tunes

Looney Tunes

Please click through for a summary of the new item that this strip is referring to. And if you have time, click again to see the full article it cites.

So can someone tell me what purpose the UN serves? It's just a collection of terrorists and terrorist-sponsoring states using it as a platform to spread their propaganda, all against the US, against Israel and against Jews.

It's about time that they go away. We should stop funding them, stop giving them all that office space in New York, and stop caring (or even reporting) what they say. Let's drop the pretense and recognize them for what they are - the loudest voice in the effort to legitimize evil in the world today. All the rest is commentary.

Rationalist Judaism: Angry Rabbits and Ticked-Off Tigers

Angry Rabbits and Ticked-Off Tigers

On the advice of a reader, I just purchased a book in Hebrew for toddlers. On the cover is the title, Shafan, with a stripe of black paint over it. Beneath it is the animal who painted it over: an angry rabbit!

The book is about how this rabbit is very angry that everyone calls him by the wrong name. Instead of calling him arnav, which is the proper name for "rabbit," he is called shafan. Eventually, he leaves town in disgust, and goes to find the real shafan in the wilderness - a hyrax. They switch places, but it doesn't work out too well - the rabbit does not like living in the wild, and the hyrax doesn't like being pulled out of a magician's hat. And so the story ends with the rabbit going back to his old life, and hoping that writing this book will help people call him by the right name.

I love it. I may have to get a copy. I'll have to brush up on my Hebrew in order to read it, but this book is (or should be) a classic.

The Intercept: iSpy: The CIA Campaign to Steal Apple’s Secrets

iSpy: The CIA Campaign to Steal Apple’s Secrets

Researchers working with the Central Intelligence Agency have conducted a multi-year, sustained effort to break the security of Apple’s iPhones and iPads, according to top-secret documents obtained by The Intercept.

The security researchers presented their latest tactics and achievements at a secret annual gathering, called the "Jamboree," where attendees discussed strategies for exploiting security flaws in household and commercial electronics. The conferences have spanned nearly a decade, with the first CIA-sponsored meeting taking place a year before the first iPhone was released.

None of this should come as a surprise to anyone, but it is interesting to read what our government is doing in their attempt to spy on everybody all the time. I'm also happy to see that Apple is (at least for now) on the side of their customers.

Stupid spam/scam

I noticed this amusing bit of spam in my spam folder today (some headers stripped away. I'm only including those I'm using to make my point):

To: (my e-mail address)
Subject: (first 4 letters of my e-mail address), Notice to Appear in Court
From: "State Court" <support@electricgroovecrusade.com>
Reply-To: "State Court" <support@electricgroovecrusade.com>

Dear (first 4 letters of my e-mail address),

You have to appear in the Court on the February 19.
Please, do not forget to bring all the documents related to the case.
Note: The case may be heard by the judge in your absence if you do not come.

The Court Notice is attached to this email.

Yours faithfully,
Angel Denton,
Court Secretary.

Attached to this mail is a zip file named "Court_notificaton_#####.zip" (where #### is a bunch of digits I can't be bothered to re-type.) I didn't download it, but I think we can be 99% certain that this attachment, when opened, will install malware on your computer.

So let's see how stupid you would have to be to fall for this spam. In order to trust the source and believe it is important to open this zip file, you would have to believe:

• That a legitimate court will issue a summons via e-mail
• That such a summons will not identify which court it is that is issuing the summons
• That a court will issue a summons without your name on it, preferring instead to make up a fake name based on your e-mail address.
• That despite not knowing my name or address, they somehow know my e-mail address.
• That a court is going to send official correspondence from domain belonging to Electric Groove Crusade (a rock band whose web page has had nothing more than a "coming soon" message since 2010) and not from a domain that actually belongs to the court.