So I bought a DJI drone a couple of weeks ago. Man is it fun to mess around with. The technology is incredible. I can put the thing in the air, mark a subject in the shot (me, my kid, my car, whatever) and it will continue to focus on it and track it in the middle of the shot. You can also tell it to move around the subject 360 degrees with a simple swipe. So cool. I got some great footage up in Door County with all the foliage. Can't wait to take it more places.

1 hour ago, Jenksismyhero said:

So I bought a DJI drone a couple of weeks ago. Man is it fun to mess around with. The technology is incredible. I can put the thing in the air, mark a subject in the shot (me, my kid, my car, whatever) and it will continue to focus on it and track it in the middle of the shot. You can also tell it to move around the subject 360 degrees with a simple swipe. So cool. I got some great footage up in Door County with all the foliage. Can't wait to take it more places.

DJI Mavic Pro that Costco sells for $1000? Or a different one?

I got the Mavic Pro with the Fly More Combo (mostly for the two extra batteries) but I got it used off Ebay. Got it for a great deal ($620). Tracked them for a few weeks and got lucky with an auction. 

 

11 hours ago, Jenksismyhero said:

I got the Mavic Pro with the Fly More Combo (mostly for the two extra batteries) but I got it used off Ebay. Got it for a great deal ($620). Tracked them for a few weeks and got lucky with an auction. 

 

I love the idea of having a drone, but I know I won't use it enough, and I'm not active enough outside to do any cool shots. I've always thought that renting a drone, if it doesn't already exist, would be a cool business idea. Especially in touristy places, you could fly it to their door, and have it fly back when they are done. 

Edited October 16, 20187 yr by ChiliIrishHammock24

On 10/15/2018 at 9:39 AM, Jenksismyhero said:

So I bought a DJI drone a couple of weeks ago. Man is it fun to mess around with. The technology is incredible. I can put the thing in the air, mark a subject in the shot (me, my kid, my car, whatever) and it will continue to focus on it and track it in the middle of the shot. You can also tell it to move around the subject 360 degrees with a simple swipe. So cool. I got some great footage up in Door County with all the foliage. Can't wait to take it more places.

I want a drone so badly, but I also know this is the type of price I would have to pay to get the one I really can use for photography.  This thing looks amazing.

They have another one that came out this year called the Spark that has a lot of the same functionality and software in a smaller package (literally can fit in your pocket). You can get a refurbished one for $279 straight from DJI, but then you have to pony up for a controller too (about $100).  But you can get the kit deals on Ebay for $350 or less. The main difference with the Spark and the Pro is a 2 gimbal set up vs 3, and it's 1080p, not 4k. Battery life is a little less than the Mavic Pro too, but the batteries are also a lot cheaper.

My big hurdle is going to be finding the time (and skill) to edit the videos. I'm hooked on about 4-5 vloggers on youtube and their footage is amazing but they also take about 1000 times more video than I do and they are really good editing the footage, color grading the footage, etc. They also are young and have no kids and their job is vlogging so...they have nothing but time to travel/edit.

Edited October 16, 20187 yr by Jenksismyhero

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/johnpaczkowski/apple-tim-cook-bloomberg-retraction

It's stuff like this that makes "fake news" a thing.

The crypto mining bubble finally and mercifully burst a while back and there's some great deals on used high-end GPUs - like a 1080 Ti for under $600. I think I might partake.

I am looking into smart thermostats for Christmas, what are your experiences with Nest/Ecobee?

Got rid of my iPad a few years ago but saw on Cyber Monday that Amazon had a deal on their latest Fire Tablet for $99 so bit on it. Can't wait to play around with it tonight.

1 hour ago, BigHurt3515 said:

I am looking into smart thermostats for Christmas, what are your experiences with Nest/Ecobee?

I got the nest, who knows if the ecobee would have been better. Nest works fine, I have 2 separate heating/cooling systems, so I can control both of them from my phone. I can look and see when the heater/ac was on during the day, I can preset temperatures. Its likely saving me money because when Im sleeping or away it drops the temp in the house. From a laziness perspective its nice that you never have to get up to change the temperature. 

If you need more than 1 and you have comed, try and buy directly from them. Google would only give 1 $100 rebate, where as comed will give you 2 $100 rebates if you buy 2. So basically saved $100 buying from comed. 

1 hour ago, BigHurt3515 said:

I am looking into smart thermostats for Christmas, what are your experiences with Nest/Ecobee?

I received the Ecobee 3 as a Christmas gift a few years back, and I'm a fan so far.  I chose it over the Nest because Ecobee allows you to add room sensors.  It comes with one sensor, and I purchased 2 more so that each bedroom  in my house has it's own sensor.  It has very similar functionality that Soxbadger listed for Nest.

And yes, do go through ComEd to purchase your smart thermostat; I just bought my mom the Ecobee 4 for $100 on Black Friday thanks to ComEd's rebates (looks like it's up to $149 now).  https://www.comedmarketplace.com/

I kinda want a 1080Ti, and I could get one used on Amazon for a pretty decent price but this is crypto miners trying to unload them after the crash to cut their losses, and I just don't feel like any of them should have that behavior redeemed in any way whatsoever because of what they did to the GPU market last year.

oh cool I only have a few hundred nights in that timespan I'm probably good. tweet headline doesn't mention it but they could have your passport # too if that was tied to your reservation or user account.

 

 

Anyone know if I can do iOS messaging on my fire tablet?

1 hour ago, Brian said:

Anyone know if I can do iOS messaging on my fire tablet?

I don't know.

4 hours ago, Brian said:

Anyone know if I can do iOS messaging on my fire tablet?

Nope, only SMS

My favorite thing about my job is effecting consumers on a daily basis. My favorite up to today is the Starbucks app, but the new Walgreens one is about to take over. 

14 hours ago, RockRaines said:

My favorite thing about my job is effecting consumers on a daily basis. My favorite up to today is the Starbucks app, but the new Walgreens one is about to take over. 

I kinda find the Starbucks app tough to navigate. I use it to pay and get stars, which I also think they need a better rewards program. Dunkins is far superior.

On ‎12‎/‎25‎/‎2018 at 12:12 AM, RockRaines said:

My favorite thing about my job is effecting consumers on a daily basis. My favorite up to today is the Starbucks app, but the new Walgreens one is about to take over. 

Can you please let the NFL know they have the shittiest app of all the major sports, and that their website sucks too

On 12/25/2018 at 1:41 PM, Brian said:

I kinda find the Starbucks app tough to navigate. I use it to pay and get stars, which I also think they need a better rewards program. Dunkins is far superior.

Ha I know the guy who is the product manager for the Starbucks reward program.  He's trying to build it out more, always corporate stuff in the way.

On 12/24/2018 at 11:12 PM, RockRaines said:

My favorite thing about my job is effecting consumers on a daily basis. My favorite up to today is the Starbucks app, but the new Walgreens one is about to take over. 

Mannn I hate the SSO tech at my company, went with it because it was already included (Azure) but it feels like they are always playing catchup to you guys and others.  Wish I was here when they decided, the amount of time we spend integrating apps and turning on MFA is ridiculous.  

6 minutes ago, bigruss said:

Ha I know the guy who is the product manager for the Starbucks reward program.  He's trying to build it out more, always corporate stuff in the way.

I  can imagine. I get one free drink like every couple of months. With Dunkin, I'm getting a free one every 2 weeks plus other deals and discounts.

Let me know if he holds a focus group. ha

7 hours ago, bigruss said:

Mannn I hate the SSO tech at my company, went with it because it was already included (Azure) but it feels like they are always playing catchup to you guys and others.  Wish I was here when they decided, the amount of time we spend integrating apps and turning on MFA is ridiculous.  

Your old company made the switch last year. 

Microsoft includes our stuff in Azure for a reason. Their security tech is fucking terrible. Almost all of those hosted platforms are spending their time fending off attacks. Instead of going after thousands of orgs they only have one or two targets now. It’s so easy. 

On 12/25/2018 at 1:41 PM, Brian said:

I kinda find the Starbucks app tough to navigate. I use it to pay and get stars, which I also think they need a better rewards program. Dunkins is far superior.

It was so much worse before. Consolidating many systems to one was a lot of work.