Galaxy Ring - A cool new toy with potential

I've always wanted to track sleep (good sleep is important) and exercise (steps + heart rate). The best way to do that is via a smart device like a smart watch, but that may not work for everyone. The recent introduction of the Galaxy smart ring peaked my interest. However, there was no way I'd pay full price for a first gen product, so I waited for a sale. That sale finally came last week so, here is my new Galaxy Ring:

Battery status at 70% after 4 days

Wedding ring vs smart ring

I tried smart watches, from the original Gear S3 through watch 6 and 7. They're fun for a few months, but the regular recharging and taking up space on my wrist got old fast.

I'm a watch guy so I prefer to wear a traditional watch (no Always On Display will ever match a real watch face).

I tried to love my Watch 7 (comparison video) but it didn't work out. The watch 7 and my Gear S3 are collecting dust now, which is why I'm trading in the S3 for Galaxy Ring. That (plus some discounts) got the price under half, so I pulled the trigger.

I received my silver size 10 ring a few days ago and had been using it since.

Overall, I am impressed, especially comparing it to a cheap Colmi R03 (Chinese smart ring) I was testing out a few months ago. It was a beta test before buying a "real" smart ring. I also wanted to test out smart ring sizes as they are known to be different than regular ring size. The Colmi R03 does a good job as a "trial" smart ring. For some, it's perfectly fine and is 1/10th the cost.

I'll do a video comparing the two vs my watch 7, but here are a few things I like about Galaxy Ring:

1. Sleep and health tracking are way more accurate than the Colmi.
2. Size 10 Galaxy ring fits a bit more snug than the size 10 Colmi ring, but the slight flanged design makes it more comfortable. It's a subtle but nice touch that allowed me to forget about having it on my finger (as a ring should be). It's actually smaller than the Colmi, which is already smaller than same sized "cheap" smart rings.
3. It lasts about a week on a charge, despite turning on more often than the Colmi ring. This is Samsung's battery and power optimization magic.
4. Gesture Control works great and has a ton of future potential. I set it to trigger camera capture, which works perfectly. I use my S23U's camera a lot so, tapping my ring finger twice to remotely take a shot is a game changer. OK, I could've used the pen too, but this human interface function is so cool! I can imagine so many future applications for it (like double tap then hold to start recording video or triple tap to skip song). I can't wait for future updates to enhance this functional area. As a lifelong geek and tech enthusiast, I am giddy at the possibilities.
5. The charging case is beautifully designed (a far cry from the plastic case of my Colmi ring, which is already an upgrade from plugging cable directly to the ring). It guides the ring into the slot and the light running around the ring to show percentage charge is an awesome example of tech-fashion design. Wow!

Overall, this is well worth the spend for anyone remotely interested in smart ring.

I'm a bit bummed because silver size 9 was $100 more for some reason. I would've love to have it replace my wedding ring (wife approved). As is, it sits on my other hand, which is not ideal, but it'll do for now.

What an awesome charging case

 Samsung should apply this level of design to their earbuds

Packaging is minimalist but premium

Let me know what you think of the Galaxy Ring, especially if you have other "real" smart rings like Oura.

Black Myth Wukong - Incredible story told through an amazing video game

The game Black Myth Wukong was just released a few days ago and wow! The story is super complex but awesome.

New fishtank computer

Since I saw the Lian Li O11 Dynamic case a few years ago, I wanted to build one. It's a cool looking computer case with panoramic front and side glass panels showcasing everything inside. It's definitely an esthetic look, but that's what I wanted: a fun, cool-looking computer. The minimalist look of my BeQuiet Darkbase 700 is getting a bit boring.

These fishtank cases are pretty expensive so I've been waiting for a deal. That deal came about 2 months ago when I got a white Deepcool CH780 on sale. After that, the hunt for white components began.

I already have a cpu, mobo, and ddr5 ram from a 7700x combo I bought back in March, but I wanted a nice motherboard I can use for a long time. Because of that, I sold the basic mobo in the combo. 

Despite my wish for a white motherboard, I couldn't get a good deal on it. Closest was a $180 GIGABYTE B650 Elite AX Ice during Prime Day. It was still too expensive.

I did get a few good deals from Prime Day, including the awesome Lian Li Galahad II Trinity AIO cooler for $70. I also got in on a crazy deal for the Asrock X670E Pro RS but it won't ship until September so I settled on a black MSI B650 MAG Wifi when it dropped to $140.  The Asrock will be my long-term board as it supports PCIE5 and has a few other perks. That said, I might just sell it and put the money towards better RAM and a future upgrade to Ryzen 9000 series CPU.

Here's the current build list on Pcpartpicker.com. 

I'm not done with the build, but here's what it looks like at the moment.

Without side glass. Need to get streamlined VGA power cable

Infinity mirror

Glass panel still has wraps on and RGB not fully synced, but it's looking pretty good.
The unlit fan is because the AIO hasn't been initialized in software.

Prime day deals of 2024

It's that time again: Prime Day!

I saw a few good deals and needed a place to store them so I can quickly access them, hence this post. Hopefully it can help others take advantage too. 

Here's my short list:

1. TCreate SAMSUNG T7 Portable SSD, 1TB reate 32GB DDR5-6000 CL30 Ram (white or black) - $86
2. SAMSUNG T7 Portable SSD, 1tb - $80 External Solid State Drive, Speeds Up to 1,050MB/s, USB 3.2 Gen 2, Reliable Storage for Gaming, Students, Professionals, MU-PC1T0T/AM, Gray
3. Limited-time deal: EPOMAKER TH80 SE Gasket 75% Mechanical Keyboard - $45 NKRO Hot Swappable RGB 2.4Ghz/ Bluetooth 5.0/ Wired (Black Silver, Flamingo Switch)

War & the Long Peace

This is a somber, but ultimately insightful video. Watch until the end to see how it flips to the positive.

Many of us never experienced World War 2, or fully  understand it. Recent, and developing events are quite concerning, but it helps to zoom out to see just how good the world has been.

The Long Peace may end, but not likely. Humanity have learned and and evolved since WW2...hopefully. We may worry about the future, but we can rely on knowledge of the past; peace has benefited generations. We are better than we have ever been. We don't know what will happen, but we can take solace in the fact that the odds of continuing the Long Peace are much higher than its end.

Then again, the specter of WW3 haunts us.

"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." 

Albert Einstein 

Movie thoughts: 12.12: The Day

My all-time favorite movie is Kingdom of Heaven. It is a story of righteousness and honor, even in defeat.

Life is fraught with trials and tribulations: struggles beyond one's ability to cope and control. So, how do you fight and continue to fight for the right things?

Where do you draw that courage from? Religion? Hope? Those you care about? Or is it honor?

Kingdom of Heaven asks these questions and provides some good answers.

Beyond good acting, inspirational dialog, awesome cinematography, and great direction, Kingdom of Heaven sort of became my moral compass. It was THAT good.

Cut to November 2023 when I saw 12,12: The Day.

This movie was shaping up to be another Kingdom of Heaven for me. It's more visceral, dark, but the fight was similar. Two sides vying for power. Good guys vs kinda bad guys.

It's been a hot minute since I first saw Kingdom of Heaven. In the intervening years, I've become older, hopefully wiser, but definitely more jaded. My view of the World isn't as positive or naive as it once was. Life has a tendency to grind you down. I've become more tired, jaded, less hopeful than I was, but that fire to do the right thing still burns inside. The mantra of "Be the change you wish to see in the world" still resonates deep within me.

I watched 12,12 without knowing much about it. My wife told me it's some Korean action/drama about a real event, but that's about it.

Boy was I surprised. I sat through the movie and increasing became anxious as it unfolds. I immediately identified with the good guys, but I also understood the "kinda" bad guys, and everyone in between. Wow! This movie got deep and complex with so many characters. I love it!

As I was munching my popcorn, I found myself getting drawn into the event more and more. The many fights and surprises kept me on the edge of my seat. Good stuff!

Then the end came. Holy smokes! What the hell?! Noooo!

Spoiler Alert: The side I rooted for in all this struggles lost! After so much struggles and pains and support...how can it end like this?! I was shocked and distraught.

The ending hits me hard and shook me to my core.

I always thought doing the right thing is worthwhile. I always believed that light will be at the end of the tunnel. No matter how long or how dark it is, hard work perserveres. Yet, here is an outcome where it doesn't. Doing the right thing here, even for people waffling in the middle, didn't work. It was an utter failure.

Then comes the next shock: this was a real story that actually played out in Korea. What results is a regime of "bad guys", but it wasn't that bad. I mean, life went on and it was fine. The balance eventually swung back, but even before that, it was fine..

This is when I found myself asking an existential question: does it even matter to fight hard for the right thing?

It made me question my constant push to do the right things and to make the world better (at least in whatever capacity I have).

Do I give up now? Do I just go with the flow because it's not that bad either way?

The lessons from this movie are tough for me to accept, but it is real life. I have since embraced it while not giving up on what I think is right. All the things I know and appreciate are worth fighting for, so I will continue to fight.

Being middle-aged, I find myself still learning and growing. This is an experience that adds to my definition of right and wrong, and the path forward.

Wow! What a movie!

Movie thoughts: Civil War

This is Alex Garland's (director of Annihilation & Ex Machina) latest and last movie. He specializes in movies that make you think.

This movie depicts a fictitious future where civil war breaks out in America.

Written in 2020, Civil War is fictitious, but there are some parralels in real life (recent border crisis led to renewed talks of Texas seceeding). It's scary, but let's focus on the film.

My wife and I saw it last night. Wow! What a visceral depiction of war on American soil. The suspense/stress in some sequences is unreal. The movie does a great job at putting you in the war. It's an odd feeling, but it gets to the point where you'd want to hear gun shots to put your mind at ease, because it's away from you. Crazy to think of it as daily life for some folks.

I've seen many war movies, and Michael Bay films. I'm no stranger to explosions or the sharp "pings" of bullet shells, but this movie makes it feel so real. The constant unease and restlessness you experience is hard to describe.

When we got out of the movie, we both felt relief and a certain level of PTSD. Thank God it was just a movie.

We've also traveled to countries where we saw real destruction & military presence in civilian life. Serbia stood out as they still have big holes in bombed out buildings and burnt rubbles. Our bus was stopped at military checkpoints in Russia, a tourist police with gun accompanied us in Jordan (to keep us safe), and we saw men with huge semi-autos guarding McDonald's in Guatemala. Heck, I used to find bullets while foraging for copper as a kid (yes, that's a thing in 3rd-world countries). All that is to say: I've experienced real bits and pieces of war-torn places, but that's all after the fact. Nothing prepared me for the feeling of being in it like this movie.

This is an A24 movie so it makes you think, but this "thinking" is accompanied by such a visceral feel. Its cycle of fear, relief, suspense, fear, stress, shock...becomes a sort of wartime state of mind. Even as you become desensitized, the humanity in you questions who you are as crazy things happen around you, then you realize it doesn't matter because you might not live though it.

In our daily life, we have alot of control. In war, you become a ragdoll, thrown around, kicked around, and just existing until some future point where it hopefully stops. Hopefully you are alive at that point. Even then, you won't be you anymore.

This film takes us into a future of what could be. Now we get to think about why and how we can prevent it.

There are plenty who romanticize war & idealogy. This movie is a counterstatement to that romance.

Reminder: we have several wars going on in the world right now. In fact, on my upcoming vacation, I am going near one of them. Hopefully things don't get crazy. One realistic war movie is enough, I don't need to experience the real thing.

Oh shoot, I forgot we have an upcoming election where...nevermind.

New car: Genesis GV70

I thought I'd be spending at least 5 years with my 2021 Toyota Mirai, but that relationship was cut short when I was rear-ended, leading to the car being totaled.

Making lemonade from a lemon situation, I went shopping for another car.

Yes, interest rate is high so this isn't a good time to buy a car, but I needed something. Sharing my wife's car would save us a bunch of money, but at the cost of great  inconvenience. That and I realized this would be the 2nd or 3rd to last car I buy so, let's enjoy it.

Competition & other considerations

Part of me wanted a fun weekend car so I thought about the Toyota Supra and Nissan Z, but they're too small and rough. As such I looked towards SUV land (my wife approves). Specifically, I was cross-shopping Lexus NX350, Audi Q3, Q5, Toyota Venza, and Tesla Y & X (incredible deal on one of my dream cars). The Venza is no longer available while Lexus has next to no discount. Audi Q5 looks decent but interior is dated. The Q3 has a modern interior but its available engines are too weak. After some considerations, I decided to not deal with charging hassles so I eliminated all EVs (Audi Q4, GV60, GV70e are great EVs if you go that route).

To broaden the horizon, my wife and I visited the LA Car show. There, the only manufacturers that peaked our interest were Lexus and Genesis (and a certain Honda Prelude concept 😱).

Availability and lack of deals kept us away from Lexus, but the Genesis showcase wowed us. Everything from the G70 sedan to GV80 SUV held our attention. The design, tech, fit and finish were top-notch. I quickly zeroed in on the GV70 due to its design and affordable price point. A few days and a bunch more research later, I was set on a 2023 2.5t GV70 Advanced. It had most of the features I wanted without the low profile (rougher ride) 21" wheels and cheap-feeling mesh seats. It's also the sweetspot as it has several features that are moved to the top of the line Sports Prestige package in 2024.

The car

Over the years I've purchased and owned a fair bit of cars, some with many nice features and amenities so I'm no stranger to "luxury features" like HD surround cameras, cooled & heated seats, auto highbeam, panoramic roof, etc. Still, the Genesis GV70 wowed me, even after owning the lovely '21 Toyota Mirai.

Here's my beautiful 2024 2.5t Saville Silver (no metallic/pearlescent white on GV70). She makes 300hp and 311 lb/ft of torque (for quick acceleration).

Looks nice with the Genesis 2-line design language. Those 19" wheels are nice and soft. Silver brake calipers front and back too.

Detailed interior with ambient lighting. I wanted the tan interior but they don't make them for 2024. Doh!

Blue ambient lighting shown on the door handle. This is their wave line backlit trim.

Day time view

Glass crystal & aluminum shift by wire knob + touch pad MMI controller for infotainment. Yes, it has ambient lighting and the shifter changes with the rest of the lights.

Analog gauge on left + digital. The glowing light saber tach means you're in Sports mode.

Beautiful rear with bright LEDs. The LED brake lights are awesome too, but I didn't get a chance to catch them in picture.

Puddle and handle lights are even better than in the Mirai

Other features I love

• Sports mode is amazing. It feels like driving a sports sedan vs comfort mode. It's faster than a GR86 because it's the same engine as the awesome G70/Stinger.
• Blindspot cameras show up on the instrument cluster as you signal. I've never seen this in other cars.
• Power lift-gate with auto detection so you don't have to touch any button. Just stand behind the car for 4 seconds with your key and it auto opens, hands free.
• Double-sided glass for all windows plus many other techs insulate the cabin for a luxurious, cushioned experience.
• Ambient lighting is so cool in this car.
• Interior design (inspired by air plane's wings) is unique to this car.
• Huge 14.5" infotainment display with crystal MMI controller.
• Included sounds of nature + OTA software updates.
• Life time connect services (for cool things like remote lock, remote start, location tracking, etc.) You can start and stop your car anywhere in the world!
• Heated steering wheel (got it back since my Mirai didn't have it).
• Panoramic sunroof (missing on the '21 Mirai).

Leg work

It's the end of the year, dealers need space to bring in new models so they have more room to negotiate on 2023 models.

I also saw 2023 models have $1k incentive + $1.5k competitive owner incentive + 3.5% APR promo financing. 

Armed with this information, I went shopping.

Using dealer's websites, I searched GV70 inventory all over Socal and found a dealer 40 miles away that has the model I wanted along with a few others (for backup).

Long story short, the model I wanted was in transit and already spoken for, and a 2023 SP model I test-drove was also sold earlier in the day (doh!). To make it up, the dealer made me a good offer on a 2024 Advanced in the color of my choice. After some more research (tried to find the 2023 advanced across the US to no avail) and negotiations, I took the deal.

The deal & my process

MSRP was a bit over 53k (including some dealer add-ons like cargo net and such).

I did my research and knew leasing with Genesis is a no go, so I went the finance path. But first, I focused on getting that MSRP down. This is the most important thing when buying a car. Monthly payment means nothing, and dealers often use that to hide the real price.

Genesis incentives most should qualify for:

1) 1k customer cash for month of November & December. 

2) 1k for owner of competitor cars (Toyota, Mazda, etc.)

From there, I pushed. Bring on other competitor cars' offers (check leasehackr.com for pre-negotiated deals to get a benchmark of what deals look like off MSRP). I used this method and focused on an Audi Q3. Apparently Audi weren't moving much inventory so they offered 13% off msrp in a lease deal where they can make roughly $2.5k extra. Using this as my base "deal" price, I set a target of 10% off MSRP. 

What I didn't know was the GV70 were selling like hot cakes and most dealers won't budge off MSRP. My target of 10% was pie in the sky. Still, I found a dealership saddled with a ton of inventory and needed space, so I pushed hard.

Let's just say I got close to 10% off msrp with the incentives. 😁

This is with a dealer in a unique situation so it will be hard to replicate. In fact, I spoke to a few other dealers who wouldn't budge even 1k on top of the 2 incentives above.

One thing to note: dealers know high interest is hurting sales. They also know going into next year, economy won't be strong, so car buying is going to be tough. A glut of EV's are already on the market and other models are over produced (low demand, excess supply). If they can get a decent deal this year, they would take them, so car buyers have that going for us.

This was my recent car buying experience. Good luck with yours.

Samsung deal & overview of S23 Ultra, Tab S9 Ultra, and Galaxy Watch 6

Samsung recently offered a crazy deal where you can get the S23 Ultra, Tab S9 Ultra, and a Galaxy watch 6 for around $400 (+ tax) with various trade in items. You could also add 2 Galaxy Buds 2 Pro for $50 each (which was a deal on its own). I was going to wait for the S24 Ultra but this was a deal I couldn't pass up.

How to add fast wireless charging to your S23 phone

I recently took advantage of a great deal from Samsung and upgraded to a Samsung S23 Ultra from my launch S22 Ultra (1 year and 7 months old).

S23 Ultra with Spigen's Zero One case

Everything was great until I found that my fast wireless chargers don't fast charge the S23U. I was scratching my head for a while. I thought my S23U was defective...but it couldn't be. Everything else work fine.

I looked around and found this article: https://www.androidpolice.com/samsung-galaxy-s23-wireless-charging-speeds-capped/

Apparently for the 2023 model year, Samsung capped wireless charging speeds for non-Samsung wireless chargers to 10W while even their own fast wireless chargers aren't allowed to fast wireless charge at max speed (15W). This is apparently done to reduce heat and extend battery life.

So, all Qi compatible fast wireless charging (15W) chargers can only charge S23 series phone at 10W. Doh!

For 15W fast wireless charging, you'll need to use Samsung's own fast wireless charger. I happen to have one so that will do. But, you still need to enable it in software.

The article above doesn't mention it but if dug around and found out how. 

1. Go into Settings by pulling down from the top of the screen then clicking the gear icon.
2. Go to Battery & device care > Battery > More Battery Settings
3. Here, scroll down and click the option for Fast wireless charging to enable it. 
   
   
   
4. Now put the phone on your Samsung fast wireless charger and you should see it charge at the faster speed.
   
   
   

That's it! Enjoy your fast wireless charging.