#stats and main traces (and secondary ones on many)

[thingswhatareawesome]

just could not get that 12th star in pure fiction. have retried so many times, ended up playing until way fucking longer than i should have. and yet i see people clearing the whole thing with fucking 70s. partly this is what i get for not having prioritized traces on my buffing characters. also this i guess is what i get for not pulling every single uber ranked 5 star even though part of it is getting fucked over by rng (I SEE YOU STANDARD WARP AND GEPARD AND FX). but also i guess this is what i get for rng fucking me over on so many halfassed to lousy relics? i think that's what gets me--is that it's just never enough. never enough 5* never enough pulling the RIGHT ones, never enough traces done never enough truly good relics bc the game won't GIVE me them

and it's not that i'm ftp anymore, i'm doing that little monthly jades subscription and the occasional bp here and there. but it's just never ENOUGH.

[tigerkirby215]

5e Psychic Ninja build (Theory Build)

(PsyOps Zed artwork done by David Villegas of West Studios. Created for Riot Games. This wasn’t meant to be a PsyOps Zed build but strangely this artwork works.)

Here’s a post in the not-quite-continual series of “random D&D builds I write at 1 AM and then queue to post at 11:40 because lol Tumblr because I can’t sleep and am waiting for the Worlds livestream to start at 6 AM EST.”

Do you wish that thrown weapon fighting was more viable? Do you think that Barbarians are boring and could use some more damage types? Do you wish that Rogues could be played with Strength instead of Dexterity? Do you think that throwing weapons as a Monk should actually be viable?

Do you want to protect your teammates not through heals or buffs but by intimidating your foes? Do you want to be the dark mysterious edgy character in the party but still play a support? Do you want to play a character who by all accounts is essentially a Monk and has pretty much zero connection to a Barbarian yet is somehow a Barbarian? Or do you just want to play with the Psionics UA stuff like I do?

I present to you: The Psychic Ninja

SOUL KNIFE (UA) 14 / ANCESTRAL GUARDIAN 6

When distributing stats prioritize Strength, then Constitution, then Dexterity. You need at least a 13 in DEX for this build to work though a 14 would be ideal for a +2 to DEX. Wisdom, Intelligence, and Charisma are all secondary in this build. (Though if you want to be Chinese Knockoff Shen invest in Wisdom.)

Start off as a Rogue (proficiencies duh) then get to at least level 3 to pick Soul Knife for Psychic Blades. After that go 6 levels into Ancestral Guardian Barbarian for Ancestral Protectors (the main one), Spirit Shield, and an Extra Attack. After that go all the way down Soul Knife until you hit level 14, but this build is honestly done at level 9 which is pretty nice as most campaigns end around level 10 anyways.

PROS

Okay so let’s talk about Ancestral Protectors from Ancestral Guardian. First of all: it has NO RANGE LIMITATIONS. (Thanks to Dungeon Dudes for pointing this out to me and no I had a build like this in mind long before seeing this video.) The effects of this ability work as long as you hit the enemy and as long as you’re raging. And let’s talk about its effects: firstly your foes just have disadvantage on anyone other than you. Secondly if they don’t hit you your ally resists the damage! That’s half damage practically for free!

Normally as a Barbarian you’re limited to melee range but that’s where Soul Knife comes in. Boom! 60 foot range! This means that you can sit in the backline while taking half damage and doing +2 on all your attacks and still “tank” for your team.

Beyond that? I mean there’s just a lot of general synergies between Barbarian and Rogue. Reckless Attack gives you guaranteed Sneak Attack (which is why you’re maxing Strength instead of Dexterity), Danger Sense plus Evasion means you basically won’t ever get hit by a Fireball (and it really ups the “ultra instinct” ninja flavor of this build), Fast Movement synergizes with Cunning Action (and again makes you feel more like a Monk.) Oh also your Soul Knife features aren’t spells, so you can use them while raging.

There’s so many characters you can make with this! Make an unassuming assassin who leaves no trace, make a bodyguard who disarms you and takes you down with their mind, make an unassuming detective with secret powers to help him on the case, make bumbling idiot whos ancestors pilot him like a meat puppet. Hell make a Warforged and be the weapon!

CONS

Other than the fact that you’re playing UA and I have no idea what Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything will do to my sweet Soul Knife boii?

The main thing to mention is that you have no armor and no actual “weapons”, meaning that magic armor and magic weapons are not an option for you. What’s more is that since you’ll be investing in Strength for your knives you likely won’t be investing much in Dexterity for armor. With the best case scenario of +2 to DEX and +5 to CON your AC will be a 17; not horrible but not exactly amazing either. You’ll still have a ton of meat points to soak up damage but even then the healer isn’t going to want to be pumping you with hit die all game.

Your going to have to invest a lot in physical stats which means your mental stats will be rather subpar. You can fix this in roleplay by getting Expertise in the skills that matter but you’ll still get screwed by saving throws.

Spirit Shield only reduces damage by 2d6, and it only has a 30 foot range. It takes your Reaction which could be used for Uncanny Dodge.

------

And that’s honestly about it. This isn’t a build I’ve tried it’s just something I’m theorycrafting as a cool idea for the Soul Knife subclass. In short I’m tired as hell and am waiting for the Worlds broadcast to start, even though by the time this is posted the stream will be done and I’ll probably be asleep.

Spooky builds still coming no they’re not Seraphine.

[data-monkey]

AO3 stats project: fun stuff

RANDOM FUN QUESTIONS I can ask of the AO3 data, coming right up!

The Data | Basic Questions | Fandoms | Tags | Correlations | Kudos | Fun Stuff

Thanks to @eloiserummaging for beta reading these posts; any remaining errors are my own.  A Python notebook showing the code I used to make these plots can be found here.

All right. You should probably read the earlier posts in this series if you want to really understand what's happening. This is basically my "fun stuff" post: all the questions that aren't grand, sweeping statements about what's on the Archive, but rather my own personal quirky interests. :)

First up: Drabbles! My most pointless hill to die on is that a drabble is exactly 100 words. Do creators on the Archive agree?

KIND OF! There's definitely a spike of things at 100 words. It’s actually big enough that you can see it on the general word count histogram from the basic demographics post. There's also a sense of "drabble is a short fic" (what I would call a "ficlet") of approximately 520 words, give or take...a lot. Okay, fine. (I'm still right.)

I looooove AUs. What are the most popular AUs, and how have they changed over time?

As with the previous plots I’ve shown like this, the height of the curves are relative within each tag but not correct between tags. Soulmate AUs are way less popular than modern setting AUs, but their curve looks taller because a higher fraction of works with that tag were posted in a short span of time.

Things to note: The biggest AUs (modern setting, canon divergence, college/university, and high school) all approximately trace the growth of fics on AO3 over time. I thought A/B/O would be the most recently popular AU type, but actually it looks like soulmates is even more skewed to recent times than A/B/O, which I didn’t expect! Human AUs have gotten less popular lately (I think this was really popular in Teen Wolf, so as the rate of Teen Wolf works has slowed, the number of human AUs has also slowed). I’m not sure what fandom liked canon AUs, or even what that is, but it was really popular in 2012-2013 nevertheless.

I was also curious about crossovers. Like I mentioned briefly in the fandoms post, there are things that are in two different fandom categories that we probably wouldn’t think of as an actual crossover: an Avengers fic can be in both Avengers and Marvel, but most readers would recognize that as the same universe. I made a list fandoms that appear together on works, weeded out the ones that look like same-universe crossovers, and came up with this list:

DCU and Marvel should have been predictable, I think. A little more surprising is that SuperWhoLock actually did have an effect on the number of crossovers, by a lot--you can see all pairs of those three fandoms on this list. (If a work had three fandoms A, B, and C, that counted once as a crossover for A and B, once for A and C, and once for B and C.) Harry Potter is a common crossover too, which I expected, as I’ve read a Harry Potter AU in every fandom I’ve been in that wasn’t Harry Potter.

But this graph has my single favorite piece of information in this entire analysis: there are a ton of Guardians of Childhood & Hiccup Series crossovers. If you’re not familiar, those are two canon sources made into Dreamworks animated movies: Rise of the Guardians and How To Train Your Dragon. I had no idea there was a large fanfic fandom for those, let alone that there would be thousands of works that cross them over!! Isn’t that awesome?

I used to be in Harry Potter fandom, so here's some fun with different Harry Potter ships. The top ten ships are:

Okay. I could have predicted...some of those. Note that this doesn’t mean those are the top main pairings: I expect that James/Lily is a common side pairing for Sirius/Remus, and that Hermione/Ron appears a lot in Draco/Harry fics. Draco/Harry is much more popular than my old stomping grounds of Harry/Snape, which I think was also true at the time, although the works represented on the Archive probably don’t include most of what I was reading in 2003.

Actually, we can check my point about secondary pairings. Here’s a correlation matrix for those top ten ships (remember, green means they’re correlated--appear as tags on the same work more often than you’d expect based on chance--and pink means they’re anti-correlated, or appear together less often than you’d expect):

Yeah, absolutely, some of these are likely secondary pairings for popular ships. Actually, there’s one obvious set of pairings I missed--the canon pairings, Harry/Ginny and Hermione/Ron, which are EXTREMELY correlated. You do also see some Hermione/Ron with Draco/Harry (it’s actually a big correlation despite the light color, because the scale has to account for the five HUNDRED percent relative likelihood of Harry/Ginny and Hermione/Ron). And, yep, James/Lily and Sirius/Remus are together. But apparently there’s also some Harry/Ginny with Hermione/Draco (not sure I would have picked that--or, actually, that Hermione/Draco would be this high on the list) and, more obviously, Harry/Ginny with Scorpius/Albus Severus.

There's a genre of fics that I see sometimes when browsing: the "Reader/somebody" genre, where you're explicitly supposed to insert yourself into the fic. (Some of these have Y/N scattered throughout the fic, for "your name", for example.) Who are the top characters that get paired with "Reader"?

Those aren't the same as the top character tags. So this kind of thing is serving a sub-audience of AO3 readers, different in certain ways from the typical reader, I guess. I don’t think I would have been able to predict this list in any way at all, either. I really like that fandom can encompass so many things that are different from what I read!

Finally: older fandoms on AO3. I asked my fandom friends to come up with what they thought of as "classic" fanfiction fandoms. Then I excluded anything with new (major) canon later than Nov. 15, 2009, when the Archive opened for beta, and anything with less than 1,000 works. Here's how those fandoms are faring on AO3.

I LOVE THAT THEY ARE STILL AROUND. I love fandom. That's all. Thanks for reading.

[kristablogs]

Scientists may have confirmed you can catch COVID-19 twice

At a news conference on Sunday, President Donald Trump touted this treatment as a “major therapeutic breakthrough,” with a 35 percent mortality reduction. But no one has been able to pinpoint where that percentage comes from. (Unsplash /)

As COVID-19 continues to rage in many parts of the country, public health experts warn people that it’s important to keep practicing proper social distancing. Even relatively small gatherings, and ones held outdoors, have helped to spread the virus. Following social distancing and wearing masks are still key to curtailing the pandemic. Here’s more of the latest news on the novel coronavirus.

Antibody-rich plasma treatment receives an emergency use authorization from the FDA

On Sunday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave the okay for physicians to use convalescent plasma in patients with COVID-19. This treatment involves extracting antibody-rich blood plasma from people who have already recovered from COVID-19, and infusing into people currently battling the disease. The idea is that the antibodies in the plasma will start fighting off the novel coronavirus immediately, and potentially kickstart the infected person’s immune system to create antibodies of its own.

FDA emergency use authorizations have been issued a number of times over the course of the pandemic, and the designation doesn’t mean the drug or treatment in question has received full approval from the FDA. Usually, to gain a green light from the government agency, medications and other treatments must undergo a series of three trials involving thousands of people. An emergency use authorization means that the FDA has deemed that there’s reasonable evidence that the drug may be effective and that the treatment’s benefits outweigh its known risks.

But many physicians and scientists studying plasma’s effectiveness argue that this might not be the case. At a news conference on Sunday, President Donald Trump touted this treatment as a “major therapeutic breakthrough,” with a 35 percent mortality reduction. But no one has been able to pinpoint where that percentage comes from. The approval seems to hinge on a study conducted at the Mayo Clinic and the National Institutes of Health that showed a small, but statistically significant reduction in mortality in people hospitalized with COVID-19 who received the plasma in the early stages of their disease—within three days of the onset of their symptoms. However, as outside experts have noted, the study had no placebo and it has yet to be published in a scientific journal.

While tens of thousands of patients had already received convalescent plasma before the FDA’s announcement, some experts are concerned that the emergency use authorization will lead to a greater demand of plasma, perhaps preventing it from reaching patients who could see the most benefit.

"We're going to get a gold rush towards plasma, with patients demanding it and doctors demanding it for their patients," Art Caplan, the founding head of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU School of Medicine, told CNN.

Some parts of the country have reached positive milestones, but others are still seeing spiking cases

New York and New Jersey, states that were both early coronavirus hotspots, have reported signs of improvement. On Saturday, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy reported that the state had its lowest number of COVID-related hospitalizations since March 24, according to CNN. And in New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo reported that the state’s infection rate has stayed below 1 percent for a record 15 days in a row.

But across the nation, other states are still experiencing surging case loads. In California, which is also in the midst of raging forest fires, the death toll for the novel coronavirus is almost at 12,000. And on Saturday, Georgia reached a death toll of 5,000. Check here to see how your state is faring.

Small gatherings can still spread the virus—even in low-risk areas

As some states, especially ones that were either once hotspots or have maintained low cases from the start of the pandemic, continue to reopen, it’s important to remember to practice social distancing. While meeting with the same small group of people (so-called social bubbles or quaranteams) can work in some situations, larger gatherings with family or friends are still risky. This week, public health officials in Maine reported an outbreak of the novel virus that seems to have originated at a wedding reception held in the state.

According to the Portland Press Herald, the wedding reception had 65 attendees, which exceeds the state maximum of 50 for indoor gatherings. Maine health officials are still conducting contact tracing, but so far, they’ve linked 53 cases of COVID-19 to the reception, which was held on August 7. According to the CDC, the cases appear to be both secondary and tertiary to the event, meaning that people who did not attend the wedding but were in contact with someone who was have been infected as well. There’s been one confirmed death tied to the wedding so far—and the deceased was not actually present at the event, but caught it from someone who was. This is a stern reminder that, while taking small risks can be appropriate at times, one does not just put their own health on the line when they decide to bend social distancing rules.

“Social gatherings such as weddings and receptions pose an elevated risk for virus transmission,” the Maine CDC said in a statement. “The possibility of COVID-19 transmission increases as the number of attendees increases, even when some attendees are indoors and others are outdoors. This is because outdoor attendees may reasonably be expected to come indoors and interact with others, increasing the possibility of COVID-19 transmission.”

This event isn’t the only tragic failure of human behavior. Nebraska health officials have traced seven cases of COVID-19 to a motorcycle rally held in the state for 10 days starting on August 7. Minnesota health officials have connected 15 confirmed COVID-19 cases to the same rally, and it’s likely that many more attendees with mild or nonexistent symptoms will remain unreported. If you’re attending an outdoor event such as a concert or rally, epidemiologists and other experts say that the best way to prevent transmission is to wear a mask that securely covers your nose and mouth, wash or sanitize your hands as frequently as possible, avoid touching your face, maintain at least six feet of distance from people outside your immediate household, and go home if you feel even a little bit sick.

If you do choose to attend a gathering, in addition to the precautions listed above, public health experts note that heavily limiting your exposure to the outside world for two weeks before and after the fact minimizes your risk of either bringing COVID-19 to the party or spreading an infection you caught during the festivities. If you or someone you interacted with starts to show even mild symptoms, health officials recommend getting tested right away—and being honest with your doctor and with contact tracers about where you’ve been.

Researchers in Hong Kong report what may be the first documented reinfection of SARS-CoV-2

Whether or not a person can be reinfected with the novel coronavirus is a question at the top of everyone’s minds, particularly those of immunologists and other health experts. Anecdotal cases over the past few months have suggested that reinfection could be possible, but most were concluded to be an error in testing. This week, researchers based in Hong Kong report what they believe to be the first case of true coronavirus infection. According to the report, the man had been infected with SARS-CoV-2 back in March. He tested positive again during a screening to re-enter Hong Kong after traveling to Spain and the UK.

Researchers at the University of Hong Kong sequenced viral particles from the patient’s two infections and reported that they did not match, meaning that the first infection wasn’t connected to the second.

How long immunity to the novel coronavirus lasts is still unknown, but immunologists and virus experts weren’t surprised that the virus caused this reinfection, according to STAT. Further, the man’s second infection was asymptomatic. This could mean that although his immune system didn’t totally prevent infection, it did seem to stop the virus from spreading out of control. Researchers also surmise that if reinfection is possible, it could be rarer than we thought, and only show up in a handful of cases. Over the coming months and years, researchers will begin to unravel some of these clues.

Regardless, as STAT points out, the Hong Kong case study also means that people who have recovered from COVID-19 should likely still follow social distancing practices and wear a mask, and should get vaccinated when a vaccine is made available.

[scootoaster]

Scientists may have confirmed you can catch COVID-19 twice

At a news conference on Sunday, President Donald Trump touted this treatment as a “major therapeutic breakthrough,” with a 35 percent mortality reduction. But no one has been able to pinpoint where that percentage comes from. (Unsplash /)

As COVID-19 continues to rage in many parts of the country, public health experts warn people that it’s important to keep practicing proper social distancing. Even relatively small gatherings, and ones held outdoors, have helped to spread the virus. Following social distancing and wearing masks are still key to curtailing the pandemic. Here’s more of the latest news on the novel coronavirus.

Antibody-rich plasma treatment receives an emergency use authorization from the FDA

On Sunday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave the okay for physicians to use convalescent plasma in patients with COVID-19. This treatment involves extracting antibody-rich blood plasma from people who have already recovered from COVID-19, and infusing into people currently battling the disease. The idea is that the antibodies in the plasma will start fighting off the novel coronavirus immediately, and potentially kickstart the infected person’s immune system to create antibodies of its own.

FDA emergency use authorizations have been issued a number of times over the course of the pandemic, and the designation doesn’t mean the drug or treatment in question has received full approval from the FDA. Usually, to gain a green light from the government agency, medications and other treatments must undergo a series of three trials involving thousands of people. An emergency use authorization means that the FDA has deemed that there’s reasonable evidence that the drug may be effective and that the treatment’s benefits outweigh its known risks.

But many physicians and scientists studying plasma’s effectiveness argue that this might not be the case. At a news conference on Sunday, President Donald Trump touted this treatment as a “major therapeutic breakthrough,” with a 35 percent mortality reduction. But no one has been able to pinpoint where that percentage comes from. The approval seems to hinge on a study conducted at the Mayo Clinic and the National Institutes of Health that showed a small, but statistically significant reduction in mortality in people hospitalized with COVID-19 who received the plasma in the early stages of their disease—within three days of the onset of their symptoms. However, as outside experts have noted, the study had no placebo and it has yet to be published in a scientific journal.

While tens of thousands of patients had already received convalescent plasma before the FDA’s announcement, some experts are concerned that the emergency use authorization will lead to a greater demand of plasma, perhaps preventing it from reaching patients who could see the most benefit.

"We're going to get a gold rush towards plasma, with patients demanding it and doctors demanding it for their patients," Art Caplan, the founding head of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU School of Medicine, told CNN.

Some parts of the country have reached positive milestones, but others are still seeing spiking cases

New York and New Jersey, states that were both early coronavirus hotspots, have reported signs of improvement. On Saturday, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy reported that the state had its lowest number of COVID-related hospitalizations since March 24, according to CNN. And in New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo reported that the state’s infection rate has stayed below 1 percent for a record 15 days in a row.

But across the nation, other states are still experiencing surging case loads. In California, which is also in the midst of raging forest fires, the death toll for the novel coronavirus is almost at 12,000. And on Saturday, Georgia reached a death toll of 5,000. Check here to see how your state is faring.

Small gatherings can still spread the virus—even in low-risk areas

As some states, especially ones that were either once hotspots or have maintained low cases from the start of the pandemic, continue to reopen, it’s important to remember to practice social distancing. While meeting with the same small group of people (so-called social bubbles or quaranteams) can work in some situations, larger gatherings with family or friends are still risky. This week, public health officials in Maine reported an outbreak of the novel virus that seems to have originated at a wedding reception held in the state.

According to the Portland Press Herald, the wedding reception had 65 attendees, which exceeds the state maximum of 50 for indoor gatherings. Maine health officials are still conducting contact tracing, but so far, they’ve linked 53 cases of COVID-19 to the reception, which was held on August 7. According to the CDC, the cases appear to be both secondary and tertiary to the event, meaning that people who did not attend the wedding but were in contact with someone who was have been infected as well. There’s been one confirmed death tied to the wedding so far—and the deceased was not actually present at the event, but caught it from someone who was. This is a stern reminder that, while taking small risks can be appropriate at times, one does not just put their own health on the line when they decide to bend social distancing rules.

“Social gatherings such as weddings and receptions pose an elevated risk for virus transmission,” the Maine CDC said in a statement. “The possibility of COVID-19 transmission increases as the number of attendees increases, even when some attendees are indoors and others are outdoors. This is because outdoor attendees may reasonably be expected to come indoors and interact with others, increasing the possibility of COVID-19 transmission.”

This event isn’t the only tragic failure of human behavior. Nebraska health officials have traced seven cases of COVID-19 to a motorcycle rally held in the state for 10 days starting on August 7. Minnesota health officials have connected 15 confirmed COVID-19 cases to the same rally, and it’s likely that many more attendees with mild or nonexistent symptoms will remain unreported. If you’re attending an outdoor event such as a concert or rally, epidemiologists and other experts say that the best way to prevent transmission is to wear a mask that securely covers your nose and mouth, wash or sanitize your hands as frequently as possible, avoid touching your face, maintain at least six feet of distance from people outside your immediate household, and go home if you feel even a little bit sick.

If you do choose to attend a gathering, in addition to the precautions listed above, public health experts note that heavily limiting your exposure to the outside world for two weeks before and after the fact minimizes your risk of either bringing COVID-19 to the party or spreading an infection you caught during the festivities. If you or someone you interacted with starts to show even mild symptoms, health officials recommend getting tested right away—and being honest with your doctor and with contact tracers about where you’ve been.

Researchers in Hong Kong report what may be the first documented reinfection of SARS-CoV-2

Whether or not a person can be reinfected with the novel coronavirus is a question at the top of everyone’s minds, particularly those of immunologists and other health experts. Anecdotal cases over the past few months have suggested that reinfection could be possible, but most were concluded to be an error in testing. This week, researchers based in Hong Kong report what they believe to be the first case of true coronavirus infection. According to the report, the man had been infected with SARS-CoV-2 back in March. He tested positive again during a screening to re-enter Hong Kong after traveling to Spain and the UK.

Researchers at the University of Hong Kong sequenced viral particles from the patient’s two infections and reported that they did not match, meaning that the first infection wasn’t connected to the second.

How long immunity to the novel coronavirus lasts is still unknown, but immunologists and virus experts weren’t surprised that the virus caused this reinfection, according to STAT. Further, the man’s second infection was asymptomatic. This could mean that although his immune system didn’t totally prevent infection, it did seem to stop the virus from spreading out of control. Researchers also surmise that if reinfection is possible, it could be rarer than we thought, and only show up in a handful of cases. Over the coming months and years, researchers will begin to unravel some of these clues.

Regardless, as STAT points out, the Hong Kong case study also means that people who have recovered from COVID-19 should likely still follow social distancing practices and wear a mask, and should get vaccinated when a vaccine is made available.

[bodizwonder]

Testing the Apple Watch Series 3

To actually perceive why the Apple Watch Series 3 issues, you need to recall a little bit of latest tech historical past: the announcement of the primary Apple Watch in 2014 was a really large deal. For the primary time, a number one expertise firm was plunging headfirst into the smartwatch area. While evaluations of the Watch had been blended, consumers were enthralled. And the product sold well. Because the Watch had fitness-tracking capabilities, many analysts predicted that it will mark the the tip of manufacturers like Garmin and Fitbit. 

Instead, the other occurred: the Apple Watch made whole wearables market higher. Sales of smartwatches and trackers surged. Garmin launched the Forerunner 225. Fitbit launched the Blaze. Meanwhile, software program builders like Strava made wearable-friendly apps.

An analogous state of affairs performed out in 2016, with the discharge of the Watch Series 2. Apple added well being and health capabilities, however as soon as once more the competitors responded with their very own upgrades, most notably enhancing construct high quality, persevering with to roll out optical coronary heart fee monitoring, and including smartwatch options. 

After per week of testing the $399 Watch 3 on an abbreviated health circuit—bike rides, lengthy walks, navigating cities—I can safely say that Apple will as soon as once more have an outsized impression on the smartwatch business. The Series 3 isn’t excellent, however at the least within the short-term, it’s going to make each different smartwatch available on the market really feel out of date. 

What Is This Thing, Anyway?

In our preview of the Series 3, we declared it a watch that athletes will need. This earned us scorn from some Facebook readers who had been underwhelmed by the Watch’s battery life and insisted that it shouldn’t be categorized as a high-performance health tracker. 

They’re proper. But Apple has by no means introduced the Watch as essentially the most refined health tracker available on the market. The first model was a smartwatch with some strong fitness-tracking options. In model 2, it grew to become a bona fide health tracker with robust smartwatch capabilities. Version 3 is a stellar health software, and fingers down the very best smartwatch out there for iPhone house owners. 

By design, the Watch shouldn’t be purported to be the proper present on your Ironman-obsessed sister-in-law. There are some nice high-end, sport-specific merchandise that already do issues like sync with SRM energy meters. Instead, it’s meant for the a lot bigger variety of us who desire a gadget to trace our hikes and rides however that may deal with smartwatch features like streaming music and responding to texts. This overview is written with these readers in thoughts. If, like a few of my Outside colleagues, you demand a tracker that holds a cost for 5 days and has tactile buttons for exercises, be at liberty to cease studying right here.  

The New Hardware

The Series 3 appears to be like and feels identical to another Apple Watch, and it is suitable with all of your outdated bands. Complete particulars are on Apple’s web site. And you’ll discover them thoughtfully dissected and defined on websites like The Verge. For our functions, there are 2 essential concerns: 

Cellular connectivity. That’s the large headline. You can now (really, coming subsequent month), stream music out of your Watch, make calls (straight on the Watch or by utilizing Apple’s AirPod earbuds), obtain texts, and let family and friends observe your location with out your iPhone. This all occurs seamlessly out of your present cellphone quantity. And it really works higher than marketed: the calls are crisp and the Watch is responsive. I anticipated that I’d discover myself lacking my cellphone. I not often did.

(Note: Other reviewers experienced significant issues with the Watch’s cellular connectivity. In our expertise, just a few texts did fail to ship on the Metro and Siri wasn’t speaking again. But calling labored simply fantastic in D.C. and Santa Fe.)

Beyond the mobile improve, there’s the addition of a barometric altimeter. This software helps the watch precisely measure elevation acquire. There isn’t a lot else to say past: it really works, and that’s one thing that can make athletes joyful. You can now journey and run with out your cellphone and get correct climbing knowledge.

What about GPS and the center fee monitor? Given the well-established credentials and limitations of the Watch plus its efficiency all through the check, we will not be bearing on these beforehand reviewed characteristic. We will nonetheless briefly reward the brand new Sport Loop. It’s snug, appears to be like enjoyable, and it permits you to put on the Watch extra tightly across the wrist. That cosy match helps the optical coronary heart fee sensor carry out at its finest.

The New Software

(Apple)

The largest health upgrades come courtesy of watchOS4, the brand new working system out there to all Watch house owners. This is a radically simplified interface that places your well being on the heart of the expertise. Practically talking, it means you get a refreshed Workout app, plus some thrilling new heart-rate monitoring options:

Heart-rate variability monitoring. This stat can be utilized to grasp how well you’re recovering and if you’re about to get sick. The Watch measures this if you provoke the Breathe app (Apple’s mindfulness software) and through different occasions the Watch detects to be appropriate all through the day.

Resting coronary heart fee: The beats per minute of your coronary heart at relaxation, a measure of total health and fatigue.

Walking common: A brand new software from Apple that measures your common coronary heart fee whereas strolling.

Heart fee restoration: How your coronary heart fee responds after a exercise, one other potential measure of health and fatigue.

Elevated coronary heart fee: An opt-in system designed to inform you if their your fee goes above a self-selected threshold if you’ve been inactive for ten minutes or longer

The above upgrades are vital sufficient to warrant a software program replace.

How Does It Work?

For this overview, I went on a handful rides and spent a number of days trekking round Washington, D.C. on a visit. I didn’t get an opportunity to check the Watch within the pool or on a path. For our long-term check, we’ll be placing the Watch by a extra thorough battery of exercises. 

(Scott Rosenfield)

Exercising with the Watch 

I obtained the watch at about 4:45 p.m. on Tuesday, September 12. I jumped in a automobile with Outside govt editor Michael Roberts at about 6 p.m. While he drove away from the Apple Park to flee visitors, I arrange the Watch, gossiped about coworkers, and ate an vitality bar. By 7:30 p.m., I used to be able to journey. And whereas my unique Watch died partway by the tour, the Series 3 stored its cost.

During our hour-long journey, I concurrently tracked my exercise by the Workout app and on a secondary cellphone (that wasn’t paired with the brand new Watch) utilizing Strava. I didn’t hearken to music or textual content my pals whereas driving, however the Watch’s new was a distinction maker. It made me really feel that I’d have been snug exploring and not using a cellphone. And it allowed me to trace an elevation acquire of 1,200 toes. These look like small issues, however a product like that is about small advances and upgrades.

On my 2nd journey, again in Santa Fe, the Watch confirmed an incorrect elevation acquire recording, seemingly the results of a thunderstorm that blew in whereas I used to be out. The drastic change in air stress would have have affected any barometric altimeter. As anticipated, it was a problem I didn’t expertise on another rides or walks.

(Scott Rosenfield)

Choosing between utilizing Strava and Workout is a typical Watch expertise, and one which predates the Series 3. You must assume about the way you’re monitoring your exercises and storing your knowledge otherwise you’ll find yourself with a complicated coaching log. There are additionally actual tradeoffs to be made relying on what app you employ.

Let’s begin with the Apple ecosystem. For these new to Watch, it really works one thing like this: on the Watch you document your exercises in Workout and observe your total exercise (hours of the day with standing, total motion, and minutes spent exercising) in Activity; on the cellphone, all of your knowledge is introduced in Health with exercises particularly showing in Activity. That makes Health your default coaching log. If you’re new to coaching or exercise monitoring—or in the event you’re snug storing all the pieces in Health—this isn’t a problem. Your knowledge is multi functional place. 

For individuals with years of information saved in apps like Training Peaks, or for folk who desire a sturdy desktop interface for reviewing their stats, it’s a bit problematic. Apple does not have an internet app or any desktop interface for viewing Health knowledge (and due to the corporate’s privateness stance, there seemingly is not 1 on the horizon). And whereas exporting your knowledge is doable, it isn’t handy—a large disadvantage for a tool designed to make well being and wellness simple. Practically talking, it implies that if you wish to document all the pieces by Workout—since you favor the interface or identical to preserving all the pieces inside Apple—after which have that knowledge routinely export and sync to, say, Strava, you are out of luck. How large of a deal is that this? For Outside readers, it hasn’t been a regularly voiced concern. And for me, it simply implies that I ought to ultimately decide 1 main platform. 

Overall, the Watch—from a sensor and software program perspective—accomplishes what I at the moment want from a health tracker on the bike. It exhibits me distance and period in actual time. And if I am utilizing Strava, it uploads my journey after I’m accomplished. It has changed my Garmin pc in nearly each state of affairs (save for ultra-endurance demise rides). But the Watch kind issue shouldn’t be the perfect software for cyclists. To view any of the stats, I’ve to boost my wrist from the handlebars. And to regulate music or fiddle with settings, I’ve to take each fingers off the bars. To be clear, these are criticisms of all watches. But they’re extra pronounced with the Watch. Some watches have an always-on display that make the glancing simpler. And different manufacturers include handlebar attachments. Runners I’ve spoken with have expressed skepticism concerning the lack of buttons and the display’s capability to reply in rain and thru sweat. This is a legitimate concern, however 1 I haven’t actually seen on the bike (besides whereas sporting long-finger gloves). The touchscreen all the time—even in mild rain—has labored fantastic for me. I’ve additionally discovered it to be seen underneath shiny daylight.

(As somebody who as soon as fancied himself an honest bike owner, essentially the most Watch-specific subject is that it doesn’t at the moment sync with ANT+ gadgets, reminiscent of energy meters. That pertains to a small subset of cyclists, however in the event you don’t go away residence with out your energy meter, the Watch is not going to be your all-in-one health tracker.)

Texting and Calling on the Watch

I underestimated simply how impactful the Watch’s mobile connectivity can be. On quick rides, it provides me the consolation to go with out my cellphone. If one thing had been to occur, I’m assured that I may name for assist. When paired with the AirPods, the decision high quality was clear. Likewise, having the ability to rapidly ship a textual content was a surprisingly vital characteristic. Running late? Instead of leaving somebody on the opposite finish worrying, I may rapidly shoot a message. While I didn’t check the GPS mapping performance on the bike, I did use it to get residence from a live performance after my cellphone died. And I may see it serving to me navigate a brand new metropolis whereas on a run or journey. 

Music on the Watch

There are legit causes to remain inside Apple’s ecosystem. On the Watch, their apps have a tendency to simply work a little bit bit higher, at the least proper now. The largest instance of this for me is the mixing of Music and Workout. When I journey on quiet roads, I wish to hold 1 earbud in to hearken to music and the opposite dangling in order that I can higher hear approaching vehicles. My AirPods plus Watch have changed a full suite of gadgets I used to journey with: a cellphone for connectivity, wired headphones, and a Watch for health monitoring. In Workout, it’s easy to vary the tune or quantity: simply swipe after which use the controls as standard. You keep inside Workout your complete time. It’s not really easy in Strava. You should exit out of the app, open Music, make the change, and transfer again in. Again, it’s a seemingly minor grievance. But if you’re in the midst of a run or journey, these inconveniences matter—each by way of pacing and likewise preserving your consideration on visitors. Again, take note of the apps you employ and the way you want to make use of them. Spotify gives an app for AndroidWear however doesn’t have 1 but for the Watch (although there’s 1 coming).

Testing the Battery

Everyone needs to find out about battery life. The downside with measuring battery life is that utilization can range dramatically between individuals. To present essentially the most correct attainable evaluation, I performed a wide range of checks: 

Go-till-you-die with heavy use: Almost 16 hours. I began utilizing a fully-charged Watch at 7 a.m. I used all of it day whereas touring to reply to Slacks and texts. I turned it off at evening for about eight hours. I turned it on the next morning and it made it till about 11:00 a.m.

Go-till-you-die with Workout: About 3 hours. This was essentially the most stunning results of the check. I began a strolling Workout, used the Watch to textual content and navigate, and performed music. It didn’t final lengthy. To verify the consequence, I examined it once more however spent much less time enjoying with apps on the Watch. In that case, I obtained over 4 hours of Workout monitoring—within the context of a full day of use whereas touring—earlier than getting the 10 % battery remaining warning.

Workout Power Saving Mode: Full day. I launched this mode, which disables the mobile connectivity and optical coronary heart fee monitor (however maintains GPS performance), and initiated a strolling Workout. I stored the session going for about 5 hours. Then I turned off power-saving mode and went about the remainder of my day with out operating out of cost. 

If you’ve owned a Watch beforehand, there isn’t a lot new right here. Using extra options drains the battery extra rapidly. Expect this Watch to final about so long as the outdated 1, as long as you’re not continuously calling or texting individuals. If you’re new to the Watch, although, some clarification: for many exercises longer than 2 hours, I take advantage of an exterior heart-rate monitor and disable the optical HRM. That helps protect battery. 

What do I make of the above? For 95 % of my use instances, the Watch can have sufficient battery to make me a contented person. Long rides? Check. Long hikes? Check. Ironman triathletes gained’t be in luck, however they could need one other gadget particularly tailor-made to triathlons anyway. 

In-house, we’ve devised a holy grail check for health trackers: driving to a campsite, tenting out, going for a brief hike, after which driving again residence. The Watch ought to theoretically be capable of maintain a cost for that (one thing I’ll verify within the long-term overview). More than another facet of the Watch, that is one which I’m desperate to proceed testing.

Activity and Workout 

(Scott Rosenfield)

If you already personal an Apple Watch, the brand new software program will dramatically rework your gadget. The adjustments to Workout and Activity are refined, however they reveal a lot about Apple’s understanding of well being and wellness.

When I interviewed Jay Blahnik, Apple’s director of health for well being applied sciences, in 2015, he synthesized Apple’s wellness stance as follows: there are 3 key trackable parts to exercise, together with standing, all-day motion, and train. The Watch is designed to measure all 3—and to nudge you into making smarter decisions. To observe every factor, the Activity app options 3 rings, 1 for every of the above parts. Your day by day purpose is to shut all 3 rings. 

In latest years, Apple has added sleep, vitamin, and mindfulness to their well being combine. While the Watch now has a built-in Breathe app to encourage mindfulness, sleep and vitamin are notoriously troublesome to trace and absent from the Apple native app ecosystem (save for third-party apps). Many research and anecdotes have shown sleep tracking to be, in short, a sham. And calorie counting requires person energetic person participation: you need to really enter what you’re consuming. 

This understanding of well being is surprisingly hack-free and correct. That’s the place the most recent model of watchOS is available in. The gadget is slowly however steadily gaining the flexibility to affect conduct. Until now, Apple largely achieved this by the ring interface. But with smarter Activity teaching, Apple is taking an enormous step ahead. In the morning, the Watch will immediate you to remain extra energetic by figuring out a streak you’re on and urging you to stick with it. If it could actually’t discover one thing forward-looking, the app will pick 1 good factor you probably did the day earlier than and urge you to do it once more. The smarter teaching exhibits itself in 2 different conditions. If you’ve closed your ring on a run, the app gives you an in-the-moment notification. This brings the reward lots nearer to the motion. And, maybe most significantly, in the event you’re not on observe to shut your rings, the app will immediate you to rise up and go stroll at a brisk tempo. It’ll additionally inform you the precise period of time it’s worthwhile to transfer to hit your purpose. Apple picked strolling as a result of it’s one thing nearly anybody can do in nearly any state of affairs. (It sends the notification early sufficient within the day that you would be able to take motion. There’s one other notification in the event you’re a hair away from hitting your targets.) 

I admit that the above doesn’t sound notably impactful. Will a notification really make anybody more healthy? In my expertise, the reply is sure. While I do know some Watch house owners who by no means took to the rings and don’t discover them motivating, I’ve had the other expertise. The Watch helped me change into the healthiest model of myself, in a time interval when it was most troublesome to remain match. And on the flip facet, when a damaged band stored my Watch out of fee for over a month, I discovered myself gaining weight, transferring much less, and ignoring my physique. Coupled with the experiences of so many others, I firmly consider that the Watch can have a big impression—in case your character is primed to reply to its prompts. For this inhabitants, I feel the brand new notifications can be a big step ahead. They’re mild sufficient to not be annoying, but additionally actionable sufficient to vary the trajectory of a day. Their impression is one thing I plan to trace fastidiously over the subsequent few months of long-term testing.

It bears mentioning that whereas Activity is the epicenter of change in watchOS4, the Workout app can be a lot improved. You can transfer from exercise to exercise seamlessly (say, in the event you’re transitioning from operating to biking). And the app itself is simply a lot cleaner and simpler to make use of. 

Heart Rate Monitoring

It’s too early to say how useful and influential Apple’s foray into refined heart-rate monitoring can be. But I get the sense that it’s about to show a big subset of Watch customers into biohackers.

Historically, the Watch did basically 1 user-facing factor with coronary heart fee: it offered a mean following exercises. That was it, and it was lots much less refined an output than what most different apps and watches offered. With watchOS4, Apple has opened up a lot extra knowledge. For the needs of this overview, I’ll section it into 2 buckets: efficiency and well being knowledge. 

Let’s begin with efficiency. Measures like heart-rate variability, resting coronary heart fee, and restoration coronary heart fee have lengthy been utilized by athletes throughout a complete spectrum of sports activities. When in severe coaching, I’ve discovered restoration coronary heart fee and resting coronary heart fee to be surprisingly efficient instruments. In mixture, the 2 measures have predicted widespread colds and helped me tailor my coaching load (at the side of measuring coaching stress rating by Training Peaks). I’ve additionally discovered the measurements to be useful for athletes I’ve coached, notably in convincing them to hearken to their our bodies (individuals are inclined to belief a heart-based quantity greater than perceived exertion). While I by no means earlier than had entry to Apple’s strolling coronary heart fee common, I did have my very own model of it. I’d begin every indoor exercise with a 10 minute interval at 200 watts, or a brisk tempo. Tracking my common coronary heart fee throughout this interval after which measuring the restoration interval afterward was the only simplest metric I had in coaching. And it’s one thing that Apple is making an attempt to copy with strolling coronary heart fee. 

When it involves evaluating these metrics, it��s price preserving just a few issues in thoughts: there isn’t consensus on their use, however loads of individuals discover them useful. That could also be why Apple has chosen to avoid offering actionable insights from the stats. If your resting coronary heart fee has risen for per week and your coronary heart fee isn’t recovering prefer it used to, the Watch gained’t inform you to take a preemptive sick day. But there’s nothing stopping an app-maker from utilizing that knowledge to offer such insights. While I’ve criticized fitness-trackers for the shortage of helpful suggestions prior to now (possibly due to FDA restrictions), I feel Apple made the best transfer. This kind of biometric knowledge is simply too seemingly too private to offer population-level takeaways from. I’d favor for a third-party app that focuses on any such evaluation take the lead. This is best for the Watch’s credibility and for customers.

Given the above, the next might come as a little bit of a shock: I’m very excited to see the place Apple goes with its Heart Study and the elevated coronary heart fee notification system. The former is a examine designed to assist spot issues like irregular coronary heart rhythms. The latter is one thing you can begin utilizing now. If you decide into the monitoring, Apple will notify you in case your coronary heart fee goes above a set threshold of 100 to 150 beats per minute throughout a interval during which you’ve got been inactive for 10 or extra minutes. This is designed that will help you flag potential well being points like panic assaults and tachycardia. In a group assembly post-keynote, a handful of Outside editors debated the deserves of such a system. Would it create a wave of false positives resulting in pointless and costly testing? Would individuals merely ignore it? 

The train and well being sources I reached out to concerning the expertise had been cautiously optimistic concerning the performance, however had been hesitant to go on document with out utilizing the gadget or talking with Apple. In my expertise with the Watch, I had 1 notification. After wanting on the surrounding knowledge, I concluded that it was an odd combine up versus one thing to name my physician about. Given that the warning is opt-in and comparatively muted, it’s exhausting to think about the expertise resulting in a sequence of false positives and pointless interventions.

The Watch as Your Phone

Will the Watch enable you to go all day with out your cellphone? If you employ your iPhone largely as a cellphone, the Watch is a superbly good all-day substitute; in the event you use your iPhone as a smartphone, it would be best to use one thing extra highly effective than the Watch sooner or later in the course of the day. Essentially, the Watch does issues like responding to fast texts, putting calls, and surfacing pressing e mail very well. In some ways, it really works higher than the cellphone. Many customers arrange the Watch to display out all however essentially the most essential notifications. This brings the vital into higher reduction. Because the one people who can attain me on my watch are quick household and my boss (and his boss), I soar when it buzzes. Since anybody can attain me on my cellphone, I don’t pay as a lot consideration to the notifications. But for many all the pieces else, the cellphone is unsurprisingly a greater gadget. 

The Bottom Line

When the Series 3 was introduced, we put collectively a quick submit with our preliminary ideas. Essentially, we tried to find the product’s viewers by saying: it’s good for the well being and wellness set, actually good for the health set, and OK for the hard-core athlete set. We stand by that overview. This Watch is a tool that almost all readers may gain advantage from. If you’re nonetheless utilizing an unique Watch or want to purchase your first wearable, the Series 3 is the software Apple all the time wished to construct: a health software with smartphone capabilities too helpful to take off.

Source: fitnesscaster.com Source: Bodiz Wonder