Jekyll2023-01-19T05:38:05+00:00https://alzulas.com/feed.xmlLeah ZulasA resume for a machine learning and data scientist.{"name"=>nil, "avatar"=>nil, "bio"=>"I work in Data Science, Applied Machine Learning, or Quantitative User Experience Research. I have years of experience in statistical analysis and this has helped me a great deal when working with machine learning algorithms. I would love to continue working with smart homes, tablets, wearable, or mobile devices, however I have found that so long as the questions being asked and the data being analyzed are interesting, nothing else matters.", "location"=>"Washington State", "email"=>nil, "links"=>[{"label"=>"Email", "icon"=>"fas fa-fw fa-envelope-square", "url"=>"mailto:alzulas@alzulas.com"}, {"label"=>"Website", "icon"=>"fas fa-fw fa-link", "url"=>"https://alzulas.com"}, {"label"=>"GitHub", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-github", "url"=>"https://github.com/alzulas"}, {"label"=>"LinkedIn", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-linkedin", "url"=>"https://www.linkedin.com/in/alzulas/"}]}Setting up AWS for PyTorch2019-09-01T10:17:00+00:002019-09-01T10:17:00+00:00https://alzulas.com/docs/AWSPyTorch<h2 id="how-to-set-up-your-aws-instance">How to set up your AWS Instance</h2>
<p>Posted on September 1, 2019</p>
<p><br />
This post is mostly here to remind me how I did this in the future, but it can also be useful for others. Just a heads up, I use older versions of PyTorch and Torch Vision to make sure that PySyft works.
<br />
PySyft is a library designed to help with federated learning. It allows tensors to be turned into binaries so that they can more easily be sent as packets across ports or https.
<br />
First, get yourself an account at https://aws.amazon.com
You will need to give them a credit card, as a free instance will not have enough memory to do the job and you will get memory failures.
<br />
Next, in the AWS panel, select “Launch Instance” to begin setup for your new AWS instance.
<br />
<img src="https://alzulas.github.com/Website/LaunchInstance.png" alt="" class="center-image" />
<br />
Then, select the type of OS you would like to run from. Preferences given to Ubuntu instances and “Linux” instances which are normally just CentOS.
<br />
<img src="https://alzulas.github.com/Website/SelectMachine.png" alt="" class="center-image" />
<br />
The next question will ask you what size machine you want. The more processors and RAM you select, the more expensive the instance. Unfortunately for this project, you cannot choose the free instance model. Running the server code alone will overwhelm the memory on the machine. I recommend large, just due to the amount of data that needs to be processed for machine learning. The task on the client side will run much faster if you choose this option. Medium will also work.
<br />
<img src="https://alzulas.github.com/Website/SelectSize.png" alt="" class="center-image" />
<br />
If you just choose select and launch, it will take you to the final screen where you can see the type of AWS server you have set up.
<br />
<img src="https://alzulas.github.com/Website/Launch.png" alt="" class="center-image" />
<br />
When you select launch it will ask you for a key. Use the top pull down menu to have it give you a key, and download it to a safe place on your machine. Make sure that you will have access to that location. And make sure that if your machine appends .txt onto the end of the key, that you remove that from the name.
<br />
<img src="https://alzulas.github.com/Website/CreateKey.png" alt="" class="center-image" height="700px" width="700px" />
<br />
Now you are ready to open a terminal and ssh into your new instance. If for any reason you have issues with the ownership of your key, use chmod 400 (name of your pem) to give yourself permission.
<br />
To enter your instance, if the instance is Ubuntu, type into the terminal:</p>
<div class="language-bash highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code>ssh <span class="nt">-i</span> nameofyourkey.pem ubuntu@your.aws.ip.address
</code></pre></div></div>
<p>If the instance is CentOS or other Linux</p>
<div class="language-bash highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code>ssh <span class="nt">-i</span> nameofyourkey.pem ec2-user@your.aws.ip.address
</code></pre></div></div>
<p><br />
<img src="https://alzulas.github.com/Website/Login.png" alt="" class="center-image" height="700px" width="700px" />
<br />
Now you have a new instance. QUICK! Update! As with all cloud machines, you should expect that it may not be entirely up to date. So don’t forget to update whenever you start up something new.
<br />
Ubuntu:</p>
<div class="language-bash highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code><span class="nb">sudo </span>apt update
<span class="nb">sudo </span>apt upgrade <span class="nt">-y</span>
</code></pre></div></div>
<p>CentOS:</p>
<div class="language-bash highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code><span class="nb">sudo </span>yum update
</code></pre></div></div>
<p><br />
And then do a quick reboot and log back in.
<br />
The next part is pulled mostly from https://github.com/NovaVic/PySyft/wiki but includes several additions for new aws machines.
<br />
To begin, just as in the turotial, set up Miniconda:
<br /></p>
<div class="language-bash highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code>wget https://repo.anaconda.com/miniconda/Miniconda3-latest-Linux-x86_64.sh
<span class="nb">chmod </span>755 Miniconda3-latest-Linux-x86_64.sh
./Miniconda3-latest-Linux-x86_64.sh press <span class="nb">yes </span>to various prompts
</code></pre></div></div>
<p>and do init of conda as shown in prompt. With that, conda is added to ~/.bashrc
To activate the base conda virtual env:</p>
<div class="language-bash highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code><span class="nb">source</span> ~/.bashrc
</code></pre></div></div>
<p>Install pytorch and cudatool and torchvision, however, you will need an older version of both to make this work</p>
<div class="language-bash highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code>conda <span class="nb">install </span><span class="nv">pytorch</span><span class="o">=</span>1.0 torchvision <span class="nv">cudatoolkit</span><span class="o">=</span>9.0 <span class="nt">-c</span> pytorch
</code></pre></div></div>
<p>Now you will need to download PySyft and build from source, but to do that, we will first need git.
On Ubuntu</p>
<div class="language-bash highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code><span class="nb">sudo </span>apt-get <span class="nb">install </span>git
</code></pre></div></div>
<p>On CentOS</p>
<div class="language-bash highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code><span class="nb">sudo </span>yum <span class="nb">install </span>git
</code></pre></div></div>
<p>Now you can pull a clone of the PySft github</p>
<div class="language-bash highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code>git clone https://github.com/OpenMined/PySyft.git
</code></pre></div></div>
<p>Next you will need to go into the PySyft that you just downloaded and change the requirement.txt file slightly, so that it accepts the correct versions of PyTorch and TorchVision.</p>
<div class="language-bash highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code><span class="nb">cd </span>PySyft
nano requirements.txt
</code></pre></div></div>
<p>Change these two areas:
torch==1.0
torchvision==0.2.2
<br />
Now we can install PySyft properly onto our new machine, but first we will need to install a gcc compiler.
On Ubuntu</p>
<div class="language-bash highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code><span class="nb">sudo </span>apt <span class="nb">install </span>gcc
</code></pre></div></div>
<p>On CentOS</p>
<div class="language-bash highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code><span class="nb">sudo </span>yum group <span class="nb">install</span> <span class="s2">"Development Tools"</span>
<span class="nb">sudo </span>yum <span class="nb">install </span>man-pages
</code></pre></div></div>
<p>And finally we can install PySyft!</p>
<div class="language-bash highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code>python setup.py <span class="nb">install</span>
</code></pre></div></div>
<p>You may also wish to add a newer version of Numpy and Jupyter notebooks, depending on which client you run.</p>
<div class="language-bash highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code>conda <span class="nb">install </span>numpy
conda <span class="nb">install </span>jupyter notebook
</code></pre></div></div>
<p>When I was working on this setup, I was also working with a group in a “Secure and Private AI” class on Udacity. We had some working code for creating a client and a server, sending models from the client to the server, and then having the server calculate the overall model using the models it aquired from the clients. This tutorial utilizes the MNIST data set. You can also download the code from this project onto the machine, to start off running. For that, cd.. until you are back into the home area of the file system. Then:</p>
<div class="language-bash highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code>git clone https://github.com/jess-s/SPAIC-Scorchers.git
</code></pre></div></div>
<p>And now you’re ready to start a server and a client!
<br /></p>
<h3 id="enjoy">ENJOY!</h3>A. Leah ZulasHow to set up your AWS InstanceSecure Kali Pi 20192019-05-12T10:17:00+00:002019-05-12T10:17:00+00:00https://alzulas.com/docs/KaliSecure2019<h2 id="warning-im-not-done-with-this-yet">WARNING, I’m not done with this yet.</h2>
<h2 id="secure-kali-pi-2019">Secure Kali Pi 2019</h2>
<p>Posted on May 12, 2019</p>
<p><br />
This tutoial is meant to assist those looking to create a full disk encryption on a small portable computer using Kali and LUKS. I attempted to use the Kali website and follow their instructions (See: https://www.kali.org/tutorials/secure-kali-pi-2018/) and a Raspberry Pi 3 B+, but there were several issues that arose from their methods. It might be because the instructions are a year old at this point, that they are incomplete, or that Raspberry Pi’s are just really difficult for this. But if you were starting from just hardware and you need to get to the point where Kali is loaded, the disk is encrypted and you can ssh into it with a Yubikey, then this is the tutorial for you.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>First things first, put your Raspberry Pi aside, and buy an Atomic Pi with a baby breakout board. It’s a little bigger than the Raspberry Pi, but it’s still just $35. The Atomic Pi uses Intel instead of ARM, which is easier for Kali and LUKS, but it also has a BIOS so that you don’t have to take the SD card out and use a second system to finish the encryption. The baby break out of only $3 extra, and gives you a barrel connector for power. Otherwise, you’ll be wiring up your own power.</p>
<p><br />
This tutorial will:</p>
<ol>
<li>Create a normal Kali Linux installation disk on an SD card</li>
<li>Install Kali with encrypted LVM</li>
<li>Set up remote SSH login</li>
<li>Use Dropbear and Busybox to remote unlocked the LUKS encrypted disk</li>
<li>Setup Yubikey-LUKS to use your Yubikey to unlock the encrypted disk</li>
<li>Hack away!</li>
</ol>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Hopefully this tutorial will keep you from having to reload Kali severl dozen times on the same SD card just to get the encryption right.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>First things first, go get yourself some Kali on their website.
It’s important to not only download Kali but verifying the signiture on the download. The last thing you need is to download a bad version of Kali to start with. I got my version of kali for pi from offensive security: https://www.offensive-security.com/kali-linux-arm-images/ The Pi version is in the list at the bottom.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Then use the instructions for verifying your image. https://docs.kali.org/introduction/download-official-kali-linux-images</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Then use the instructions for your particular system to put Kali onto your SD card: https://docs.kali.org/downloading/kali-linux-live-usb-install Which, so long as you’re on Linux or Unix is basically just…<br />
<code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">sudo dd if=kali-linux-2019.1-rpi3-nexmon-64.img of=/dev/disk2 bs=1m</code><br />
With whatever the location of your kali is as the if= and whatever your disk is as of=, but see the link for more description.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>When you first boot up, make sure that your dates are correct. This was an issue for me several times. So run the command :<br />
<code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">date</code><br />
If your date is off, I have a good way to help you out with it. Run this command :<br />
<code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">ntpdate ntp1.eecs.wsu.edu</code><br />
It will ping the WSU.edu university time servers to update your machine. :)</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Run the two most basic first things you should:<br />
<code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">apt-get update</code><br />
<code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">apt-get full-upgrade</code><br />
And go get a coffee, because this will take a while.<br />
Then make sure to reboot.<br />
<code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">reboot</code></p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Get all the packages you will need to make this work:<br />
<code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">apt install cryptsetup lvm2 busybox dropbear</code></p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><a href="./">Back</a></p>A. Leah ZulasWARNING, I’m not done with this yet.A Summer as a PostDoc2016-10-03T04:17:00+00:002016-10-03T04:17:00+00:00https://alzulas.com/docs/PostDoc<h2 id="a-summer-as-a-post-doc">A Summer as a Post Doc</h2>
<p>Posted on October 3, 2016</p>
<p><br />
This summer my advisor, Dr. Matthew Taylor, had me work for him as a post doc. I think much of that was due to needing more help around the lab. The solar smart home was just ramping up so he needed someone to make sure that everything was on track for that, he had students writing a variety of papers that needed assistance with their statistical analysis, and several IRB’s that need to be written and submitted. These were all tasks I was well prepared for from my PhD. I was glad to have more autonomy around the lab and to try out some of my leadership skills by keeping students on track with their research. It was a really great experience this summer and made me feel more like I was using the degree I already had.</p>
<p><br />
I really did like being in charge on projects and having people feel like they could come to me because I was an expert in what they needed. It makes me realize that I can be an effective lead on projects and I really enjoy working with others. It might not have been another internship, but it was a great summer regardless and I still learned a lot about my own skills.</p>
<p><br />
<a href="./">Back</a></p>A. Leah ZulasA Summer as a Post DocJuggling Gear!2016-05-16T04:17:00+00:002016-05-16T04:17:00+00:00https://alzulas.com/docs/Juggling<h2 id="juggling-gear">Juggling Gear!</h2>
<p>Posted on May 3, 2016</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><img src="https://alzulas.github.com/Website/juggle.jpg" alt="" class="center-image" height="700px" width="700px" /></p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Another year, another WSU Hackathon. This year Crandall, Mackenzie, and myself built and coded some fun juggling toys.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>There are arm wraps where the lights move faster and get brighter the faster that the person moves.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<iframe width="853" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fE_5JhMOmcY?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<p><br /></p>
<p>And there are juggling balls, that get brighter the higher they go and dimmer as they come back down and they also change color if they’re spun.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<iframe width="853" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GRFo9XbSsZg?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<p><br /></p>
<p>This year was so much fun, and we came away with 5th place!</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><a href="./">Back</a></p>A. Leah ZulasJuggling Gear!Smart Home for Christmas2016-01-25T04:17:00+00:002016-01-25T04:17:00+00:00https://alzulas.com/docs/SmartHome<h2 id="smart-home-for-christmas">Smart Home for Christmas</h2>
<p>Posted on January 25, 2016</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>During winter break, I decided to relax with some soldering, once again. I find it strangely fun and relaxing. I used some networking cable for cleanliness and 6 temperature/humidity sensors all connected to an Arduino Uno Ether Net. This connects to the ethernet that runs throughout the house. The temp/humid sensors will run the length of our crawl space and report back to a main server. The server will let us know anytime that the temperature or humidity go outside of spec so that we are aware if there is a problem in the crawlspace. No one ever goes down there, so it would be nice to know if it were flooded before the boards rot. Next on the list is a push notification app for iOS to have the server notify our phones in the event of a problem.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><img src="https://alzulas.github.com/Website/smartHome.jpg" alt="" class="center-image" height="700px" width="700px" /></p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><img src="https://alzulas.github.com/Website/smartHome2.jpg" alt="" class="center-image" height="700px" width="700px" /></p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><a href="./">Back</a></p>A. Leah ZulasSmart Home for ChristmasRunning Headband2015-11-16T04:17:00+00:002015-11-16T04:17:00+00:00https://alzulas.com/docs/RunningHeadband<h2 id="running-headband">Running Headband</h2>
<p>Posted on November 16, 2015</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><img src="https://alzulas.github.com/Website/running.jpg" alt="" class="center-image" height="600px" width="600px" /></p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>The winters in the North West are pretty dark and difficult for finding time to run when in the daylight. While I have a headlamp for when I need to see the blacktop in front of me, I decided I wanted a fun headband just to make myself visible on grey days. Days when it’s not that it’s pitch black outside, but just that it’s so cloudy and overcast outside that I might be hard to see.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<iframe width="853" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/znJRge0uRHA?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<p><br /></p>
<p>I used an AdaFruit Gemma micro controller sewed together with a parallel series of NeoPixels. I then gave it some code to make it rainbow through all the NeoPixel colors. Makes me so very easy to see! And stylish. 🙂</p>
<p><br /></p>
<iframe width="853" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cGd2u725SaU?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<p><br /></p>
<p><a href="./">Back</a></p>A. Leah ZulasRunning HeadbandLED Bike Helmet2015-09-21T04:17:00+00:002015-09-21T04:17:00+00:00https://alzulas.com/docs/BikeHelmet<h2 id="led-bike-helmet">LED Bike Helmet</h2>
<p>Posted on September 21, 2015</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>This summer, I was riding my bike everywhere. San Francisco is a difficult place to drive or park, so it made more sense to bike everywhere. At night that could be a very scary plan, as you’re riding in traffic and cars don’t pay much attention. So I came up with a good way to light up my helmet at night and keep myself safe.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<iframe width="853" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hrqgW0ejLR0?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<p><br /></p>
<p>I used an Adafruit Gemma, and two strips of neopixels. Little bit of solder and wiring along with code to make the red lights and I was up and running. It took a lot more trouble shooting than expected, I had one burned out pixel that made one of the strips not work at all, and a bad board to start with. In the end, I think it all turned out really well.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><a href="./">Back</a></p>A. Leah ZulasLED Bike HelmetI was on AdaFruit!2015-03-19T04:17:00+00:002015-03-19T04:17:00+00:00https://alzulas.com/docs/AdaFruit<h2 id="i-was-on-adafruit">I was on AdaFruit!!!</h2>
<p>Posted on March 19, 2015</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>I made it to show-and-tell! Check out all my projects. I start to talk at 4 minutes 30 seconds. 🙂</p>
<p><br /></p>
<iframe width="853" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wPUK_9MaTBY?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<p><br /></p>
<p><a href="./">Back</a></p>A. Leah ZulasI was on AdaFruit!!!Wearables - My Latest Projects2015-01-09T04:17:00+00:002015-01-09T04:17:00+00:00https://alzulas.com/docs/Wearables<h2 id="wearables--my-latest-projects">Wearables – My latest projects</h2>
<p>Posted on January 9, 2015</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>With all of the new possibilities of wearables, an insatiable interest in technology (coding and soldering), and a lust for the fiber arts, what’s a girl to do with herself next? It’s time to build!</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>I may have started my exploration into making wearables by thinking a bit too large. I thought about making an article of clothing that could be paired with the smart home that I work on and get vitals and location information on those living in the home. I began working on this project, but there were so many things I did not know yet: networking protocols (which I still don’t know), how to code for Ardinos, and how to put together the right components to make projects work how you expect them to.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>So, it was time to start smaller. With a fun passion project. I went to my local yarn store for some fun yarn, bought some items from Spark fun and began a project I would wear to keep me warm at conferences. Between the sparkly merino wool yarn and the sparkly LED’s, this one went over incredibly well.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<iframe width="853" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/a3ex35uwNXw?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<p><br /></p>
<p>I quickly made it a habit of watching AdaFruit’s Wearable Wednesdays to learn about new projects and techniques. I watched tear downs of some of the commercial favorites, Misfit Shine, Jawbone Up, Fitbit Force/Flex, cat ears with an EEG headset, dog collars with GPS, and the list goes on. Every new device, a great new idea, but generally the same hardware. I wanted to try more!</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>AdaFruit came out with a new project kit, <a href="https://www.adafruit.com/products/2221">the NeoPixel ring Goggles set</a>. They had put them on their website before as a possible project, but now they were in a kit!</p>
<p><br /></p>
<iframe width="853" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uOYwzbgIpsc?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<p><br /></p>
<p>The lights change from red to green to blue. I took this project a little further and I added a switch, so that when they’re on your head you can turn them off. Not a big change, but useful when you want to wear them to class and not blind your professor. I want to add more colors, but that means changing the code to R, G, B tuples instead of it being bitwise changes as it is now. Also, I need to figure out the tuples that make specific colors and haven’t found a good guide for color combinations (yet).</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>More recently, AdaFruit started to add a lot of 3D Printed wearable projects. These are difficult, because it means finding someone willing to print your project’s casing before you can finish it, but there are a few printers around campus. I thought I would try out a new project on the website, <a href="https://learn.adafruit.com/scrolling-mario-clouds-tft-jewelry">an animated Mario clouds necklace</a>. This being a project and not a kit means that many things would be slightly more difficult. You have to decide what items you want to use in comparison to what the person who wrote up the project used. You have to deal with less complete instructions, more bugs, and occasional wiring errors. But I was ready!</p>
<p><br /></p>
<iframe width="853" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/z0t-lyPuDn8?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Currently, it’s only missing some painted on buttons on the front and a way to close the case (the instructions select using a screw that goes to no where), but one of the coolest projects I’ve made to date!</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>In February I have a team for a Hackathon, and we have some amazing projects lined up. All of this has been great practice, but when the Hackathon comes we will be making projects that have no tutorials. We will be making some things that are aesthetically brilliant, some that are entertainingly functional, and some that are just pure fun. I look forward to sharing them with you in the future.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Until next time, keep building!</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><a href="./">Back</a></p>A. Leah ZulasWearables – My latest projectsNew Direction - Wearables, Robotics, Code2015-01-03T04:17:00+00:002015-01-03T04:17:00+00:00https://alzulas.com/docs/NewDirection<h2 id="new-direction--wearables-robotics-code">New Direction – Wearables, robotics, code</h2>
<p>Posted on January 3, 2015</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>It’s time to take this blog into a slightly new direction. It’s time to discus things I’m working on that interest me that are not of a usability subject. As a person who loves to run, I started my interest in wearables before they had a name. I saved up for months at the Applebee’s I worked at to afford a Garmin Forerunner 101. At the time, it looked like you strapped a computer to your wrist, although now they look more and more like watches.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><img src="https://alzulas.github.com/Website/garmin.jpg" alt="" class="center-image" /></p>
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<p>It was bulky, especially on my small frame. It’s battery was small and difficult to charge (it might not last a marathon). It couldn’t find you among tall buildings, under dense tree canopies, or under heavy cloud cover. But it was amazing for its time. Before this wonder, in order to figure out a good running loop, you would drive your car around and check the number of miles. This was something I had to do to make sure that my distances were right for cross country training. But by the time I started training for my first marathon, I had one of these.</p>
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<p>Garmin had spent some real time and care thinking about the type of person who would want a Forerunner. It included basic things like pace, distance, and time, but you could also calculate splits and set an 8-bit “running buddy” who would beep at you if you ran too slowly or too quickly so that you could work on your pace for longer distances. I thought I would always use one of these for running and eventually upgraded to a 405 (mostly because a friend of mine broke my 101), but then smart phones came along and made these guys obsolete.</p>
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<p>Companies are forever working towards a new athletic device to recapture the usefulness of devices like the forerunner. I myself have a Misfit Shine on at all times. I joined the Kickstarter back when they first started and between the durability and attractiveness of the device and the excellent customer service I have never regretted that purchase.</p>
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<p><img src="https://alzulas.github.com/Website/misfit.jpg" alt="" class="center-image" /></p>
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<p>The myriad ways in which the device can be worn makes this an excellent companion for my use case. I can wear it in the above necklace when I’m attend conferences or teaching class, wear it in the belt loop holder at the gym, and occasionally in the wrist band when doing something like swimming (it will never replace the watch my dad gave me, sorry Misfit). While the Shine is never 100% accurate (it thinks I’m walking when I’m knitting if I wear it on my wrist) it gets amazingly close for a device with only a 3-point accelerometer inside. By pairing it with RunKeeper and MyFitnessPal I get a great holistic view of my day.</p>
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<p>I often find myself thinking like David Sedaris does about his Fitbit, if I run a little further, I can make it happy, I can make all it’s lights blink and make it proud of me (His article from the New Yorker <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/06/30/stepping-out-3">here</a>). Like he does, I find myself pacing Airports on travel days and going on long walks to reach my daily goal. I don’t want to lose my streak. This is the way that activity devices should make you feel, like it’s part of a game and you want to make your running buddy happy by keeping pace with it or your Shine happy by making all of it’s lights blink. It makes you want to use the device and want to reach your goals. Wearables succeed when we want to use them, when they add to our lives by making us want to reach our goals, and when they work in ways that fit our specific needs.</p>
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<p>That’s why I enjoy learning about, watching tear downs of (<a href="https://learn.adafruit.com/shine-activity-monitor-teardown/inside-the-shine">AdaFruit Shine Teardown</a>), and trying to make wearables. In future posts I plan to show you some of my wearables, as well as talk about robotics and my experiences in code. Until next time, don’t stop building.</p>
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<p><a href="./">Back</a></p>A. Leah ZulasNew Direction – Wearables, robotics, code