Al's Blog-o-Sphere

Amber Logix bluetooth receiver

A little over a year ago, when I bought a used car, I was disappointed to find that the factory stereo it came with didn’t include the bluetooth option. It had the XM Radio, the OnStar with the ability to make phone calls hands-free, but not bluetooth. I searched and searched online for information to see if it could be added or upgraded, but nothing I found was authoritative. There was some indications that a module could be added or upgraded way down under the dash, but different sources gave different information about the modules location and even if it was available to buy.

I’m sure I could have taken it to a dealer or a car-stereo shop and had something done to upgrade, but it wasn’t hard to see that it was going to cost a lot of money. Continue Reading…

Well, it’s spring and the temperatures are finally inching upwards and a young man’s thoughts turn to … cycling!

Actually, my thoughts have been lingering on cycling quite a bit, thanks to the internet and postings from friends who live in warmer climates. I am just a little bit jealous of those who ride all winter. Actually, we have had a relatively mild winter and I kicked myself for having put away my bikes so early several times. But I’ve brought one of my bikes, the Tour Easy 2-wheeled recumbent out to the garage and am getting it ready to ride while I plot my plan of attack for the Expedition trike next.

Last year sometime, I spotted a neat product on Kickstarter. It was called the RapidoPro pump head for bicycle tire pumps. The name later changed to TaggioPro. It promised a better way of attaching a tire pump to your bike tires. Like building a better mousetrap, many have tried and many have failed. Continue Reading…

Maybe you are starting to think that I am obsessed with bicycle lights. Well, I am interested in the subject, but not to the point of obsession, it’s just that as I add to the stable of bikes I own, I keep needing to outfit them with lights for my safety and I keep looking for new, better models.

The technology keeps getting better and manufacturers keep coming up with different models that suit different needs. I’ve found lights for one bike that I wouldn’t use on another bike. Others are good all-round.

Read my other posts about bike lights.

It’s really tough to measure brightness, but lights are getting brighter in general, but the race to the top for brightest is dying down. A couple of companies now make lights that are in the overkill range and there is no longer any reason to keep on getting brighter. DiNotte even sells one model with a disclaimer you must accept saying that you won’t use it at night. But many consumer level lights in the $30-50 range are now bright enough to be considered “daytime-bright.” In other words, bright enough to be of use as a warning to motorists even during the daytime.

My latest purchase in a bike tail light is the Serfas Thunderbolt. I’ve been watching this light for over a year now and finally decided to buy one after reading some good comments about it’s brightness. I liked the way it attaches to the bike and decided it would be one of the few possibilities to fit the bar on the back of the seat on my Tour Easy.

It’s another USB rechargeable Li-Ion powered light. It is encased in some kind of silicone plastic and is supposed to be waterproof. It attaches to any tube or bar on a bike that you can wrap the two silicone bands around, making it very versatile. It’s one of the few I’ve seen that is equally at home on a recumbent and a diamond-frame bike.

Continue Reading…

It’s been too long since I wrote anything here. I’ve had this desire to write reviews of TV shows for a while, so I may as well do it.

I’ll write about one days’ shows at a time. All shows that air on the same night. I’ll rank them from +5 to -5 with zero = “meh, I’m too lazy to turn it off.” Also, I will only comment on shows I have actually seen. At least half a show. There are so many I won’t even waste that much time on.

So, let’s start with Sunday. Continue Reading…