NC #752 Tunity Revisited, Flotato for iOS Apps on the Mac, Adding Forgotten Workouts to Apple Health, Sleep Tracking is Stupid, Security Bits

Terry Austin is back with a review of an app called Tunity that I reviewed ages ago (he’s got a different perspective). I’ll tell you about Flotato, an app that will let you run some iOS only-apps on your Mac. Then Sandy Foster tells us how to add a workout back into Apple Health if you forget to record it using your watch. I’ll tell you why I think sleep tracking is stupid. Bart Busschots is back with another installment of Security Bits.

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Hi, this is Allison Sheridan of the NosillaCast Apple Podcast, hosted at Podfeet.com, a technology geek podcast with an EVER so slight Apple bias. Today is Sunday, October 6, 2019, and this is show number 752.

Chit Chat Across the Pond

Bart finishes up our first exploration of Bootstrap 4 with a look at one its most versatile components, the so-called Card. This is one of those components that’s so generic it’s hard to describe, but once you learn about it you’ll start seeing it all over the web. Cards really are ubiquitous!

It’s important to stress that while we’re wrapping up our exploration of Bootstrap 4 with this installment, that does not mean we’ve come close to covering every feature this impressive library offers. Instead, the aim was to cover the big-picture items, and leave you with enough experience to be able to learn the rest independently by reading Bootstrap’s excellent documentation.

You can listen to the show right at Podfeet.com or in your podcatcher of choice under Chit Chat Across the Pond or Programming By Stealth.

Blog Posts

Tunity app review REVISITED – by Terry Austin

Flotato Brings (Some) iOS Apps to the Mac

Apple Health: How to Add a Forgotten Workout – by Sandy Foster

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Sleep Tracking is Stupid

I really expected to get a lot of negative responses to this article, but so far I’ve gotten general agreement. Even people who love sleep tracking and love the quantified self admit that they can’t really figure out how to do anything about it just because they’re tracking.

My favorite response came from Eric. He wrote this comment on the blog post:

Allison, as a sleep tech, I applaud your analysis. People who have symptoms of restless leg or sleep apnea should get checked out in a lab. Other sleep tracking is fun, but doesn’t really change outcomes. As long as you don’t drink Mountain Dew before you go to bed (seen it), eat hot wings in bed (seen it), or get wasted before you g to bed (saw it Thursday night), besides giving yourself enough time to sleep (very few people do) there is very little we can do to affect our sleep.

That said, some doctors and insurance companies will be moving patients to sleep testing using Apple Watch over the next few years because it will save time and money. In-lab studies and even the home tests are clunky and patients often struggle to adjust to the change in their environment that the study adds. We affect the test by testing. The Apple Watch will be a perfect solution…once Apple adds the needed accoutrement for testing restless leg, blood O2, and breathing patterns. It is inevitable like self-driving cars.

I love this response because he knows what he’s talking about; he’s not just some dork with a microphone like me spouting opinions. Secondly I want to emphasize that I don’t believe sleep tracking will be stupid forever. As the tools evolve and the professional studies continue, we’ll get a better grasp of what causes us to lose sleep and be able to track both the root causes and the results.

I kidded around at the end of the article about David Smith having an app called Sleep++. I did download and install it. It’s free, but he invites you to give him $2 because he’s awesome so I paid the $2.

I tracked two night’s sleep and remember since we find ourselves fascinating, I’m convinced that my results will be fascinating to you, so I’m going to tell you about them. I also think the results are pretty funny.

On Friday, I got a Shingles vaccine. The vaccine is known to have some pretty nasty side effects, but Shingles is a hideous illness and a few days of discomfort is worth getting vaccinated. It’s a two-dose vaccine, and other than feeling like I’d been punched in the arm by Mike Tyson, I had no other side effects. But on Friday night when I went to bed, I was convulsed with shivering. It was horrible. I couldn’t get to sleep and I was miserable most of the night. I got up at 3:30 and took my temperature and it was 102F. I took some aspirin and finally went into a fitful sleep. I awoke in the morning with no fever, but I clearly was sleep-deprived. I even took a mid-morning nap to try to recover some of what I’d lost. So that was my Friday night story.

Saturday night I went to bed feeling great and had a fabulous night’s sleep. I went to bed a little later than usual so it was only 7 hours, but I woke up feeling great.

Now here’s the funny part. According to Sleep++ as recorded by my Apple Watch, I had 6h 52m of restful sleep on the night I had a 102F fever, and 6h and 25 m (27 min less) sleep on the night I felt great.

In other words, I’m standing by my statement, Sleep tracking is stupid.

Security Bits – 5 October 2019

That’s going to wind this up for this week. Don’t forget to send in your Dumb Questions, comments and suggestions by emailing me at [email protected], follow me on twitter @podfeet.  Remember, everything good starts with podfeet.com/. podfeet.com/patreon, podfeet.com/facebook, podfeet.com/slack!  And if you want to join in the fun of the live show, head on over to podfeet.com/live on Sunday nights at 5pm Pacific Time and join the friendly and enthusiastic NosillaCastaways.   Thanks for listening, and stay subscribed.