A week into Automatic

Automatic is a small device that connects to the OBD port of the computer and reads in data from the automobile. I managed to get one from US and was planning to use it in India.

Package arrived safe in my hand and then things started falling apart a bit. The first problem was that the app was only available in US App Store for iOS. I had to create an account there and then get the app downloaded.

Then I connected the device and started setting it up, and when I reached a point where it reads the comp on board of my car, it popped up a message, VIN could not be decoded. Manual option of entering the VIN also did not move it any further, The Setup was stuck at that point and I could make any progress further. I came to a sad realization at that point that the device was meant to US only:-(

Plunging into the User groups, I came across a suggestion from their support head that I can request to bypass this! I immediately shot a mail to the id and got a response back in a day that yes, its possible, but some of the features won't work in India, Like the emergency response and Fuel pricing and Units like Kilometer and Liter instead of the US standard of Miles and Gallons

I was OK with that. So she took some basic info from me in the vehicle and set up my VIN in their system and next time, I tried the setup, all went well!

So now I have it setup and using the Apple Maps, it reports the route I drove, the mileage I got, also rates me on the kind of driving I did, as in any sudden breaks or any sudden acceleration.

Its really cool ride as of now! I have couple of additional features I had in mind, like if it can report if my A/C is on  or not, and for how long, because that gives another aspect to what the load on  the system due to the A/C. And I understand the device probably have a Gyroscope in it, else the Phone definitely has one, and some qualifier on the kind of bumpy ride if I have one, also will be an added data that will be of interest.

When the Phone is not in the car, linked to the system, the Geo positioning goes for a toss a bit, I have my maps offset from the real trip I took for the initial few days when the connectivity was at fault. May be because it could not effectively locate the current position as well as the Phone can.

Also I am not sure how to add more tags to the trip if I choose to, may be to group all my trips organized well.

The kind lady at support also told me that there is a Beta program going to come up later and if I am interested, I can be invited! I hope that will have some of these things considered along with the regional change of units.

I am very happy about the device as of now, it just goes into the background and does all the reading for me and puts in a simple chart in the phone for me to look at. I hope new features will get added to make it more useful by the time the novelty wears off:-)

Thanks team and thanks for the prompt support!

Just to add couple of points,
I have now set up the IFTTT link and is getting all my trip details loaded into an evernote note! Thats cool!

I miss the information about the Fuel level in the app. I believe it is retrievable? If it is, it will definitely a value add.
As mentioned above, an ability to tag the trip as some specific one, will be of great use. And then when I complete a trip in the same route, if it can prompt me with the same name, it will be awesome!
I noticed that the Automatic Dashboard was not working for me in Chrome and IE. It worked well on Firefox though.
Ability to define the local fuel price, and local units, I believe will be there in the Asian version?
And Geo location is also a bit off at times, though I do not hold it too much against the team. It may be a good idea though then to give an option to drag the map around a bit:)

Apple event and some thoughts

Apple had another show packed with things. I watched it with some joy and some pain and some concern.

Apple TV opening up for App store was a breath of fresh air for me. It was too constrained as it is locking up not playing many of the media formats and not able to access a network storage to directly play content. I had to always have some iOS or Mac OS machine on for my media player to work:( But now with the Plex and VNC actively jumping into the fray to build apps, I am hoping I can soon shelf the WD TV or atleast use it else where as a second player.

The Siri Remote was interesting. I am not a great gamer so did not get intrigued by that feature. But having Siri to control home is of interest to me as you could have understood already from my blogs. What I am not clear is if the HomeKit is already baked into the puck and do I have to keep pressing the Siri button on the remote to initiate the Siri or there is some way I can have it always On. Because for a media room it may be fine to have the button pressed, but for some other a hands free mode is very useful.

Then there was the iPad Pro. I always liked the ability to digitally draw and mark things up and the Pencil is right there. But it also meant that apple is slightly forking off from Job's ideas. The large iPad and the pencil were two was probably a sign of days to come. Also we saw a bigger spotlight on Microsoft and Adobe than couple of years before. Is that bad in itself? No. But something tells me the tracks are about to shift.

It looked to me that Johny Ive is a person of great skills and being now at a plateau where there is no one to really push him, he may be a bit lost with motivation. I feel that Ive is missing Jobs to push him. Now that Jobs not around, I would hope Ive will do it to himself and continue the legacy. 

One more time

Come September 9th, Once again Tim Cook will walk on to the podium and unleash a lot of applause.

Last time, I had guessed Apple TV will be announced, but that was not to be. But this time every one is sure it will be and I am not going to question it.  My request for the features remain  what it was last time, so nothing much to add there.

I am also guessing iOS9 and El Capitan will be available for public. Now, that is a very conservative list. But I am really eager to see what the Apple TV and Homekit will bring to the foray!