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June 7, 2019 — Comments are off for this post.

An Apple Watch Band Unlike Any Other

Looking for an interesting alternative strap for your Apple Watch? Would you be interested in one made from a natural and renewable material that is also available in many different colors? If so, then you might want to take a look at the merino wool Apple Watch bands that Lithuania based startup “Some Loops” has for sale.  

Wool?  You’re kidding right?

Ever since I first laid eyes on felted wool slippers (on a 2006 trip to Iceland) I have never been without a pair. If you want comfy feet wool slippers can't be beat.  

  • Stylish, no. But these GLERUPS are COMFORTABLE!

Lithuania’s textile traditions are particularly rich and thanks to internet commerce wool products from the country are increasingly available to consumers around the world. 

These Apple Watch straps are a 21st century continuation of this wool tradition.  According to Some Loops founder Algimantas Časas they are made from a similar material to my slippers but with a heavier density wool. “Hand-felted wool would just not hold up that strongly as a watch band.” Instead he has gone with an “industrial density” merino wool which he claims is just as strong and resilient as, “a stubborn Merino sheep.” 

Nice Straps

The straps look sharp.  I ordered a dark gray one because I thought it would work for casual or formal outfits . . . and because it was on sale and had free shipping.

According Some Loops the band would be comfortable, wouldn't get soggy like a leather band, and wouldn't stick to skin like silicone. I never had that last problem but OK. I was still looking forward to seeing what eventually came in the mail.

Here's some photos of my Series 0 and my Series 4 with the gray wool strap.

  • 42 mm Series 0
  • 44 mm Series 4
  • Series 0 and Series 4

Some Loops has some really bright colors that certainly pop and would be a fun way to make a color statement with your watch. 

A bubble mailer arrived a couple of days after I placed my order. A box was inside and within the box was a really nice looking watch band.  The color looked great and the material felt very strong and thick - would be nice if it was a couple millimeters thinner - but the buckle was in my opinion rather huge. 

  • Buckle size difference!

If you’re familiar with the American holiday of Thanksgiving, the buckle is reminiscent of the hats worn by Massachusetts Pilgrims. It sort of let the whole thing down for me.  

Great Customer Support

I contacted Some Loops to see about returning the strap and Algimantas quickly got back and offered to send me a different one with a smaller buckle.  He was also willing to let me hold on to the first strap so I could make a side-by-side comparison for this review. 

I really like this strap with the smaller buckle. Some might not mind or even prefer the larger clasp but I think the smaller one is more discreet. 

  • Big Buckle
  • Little Buckle

The strap itself is a little itchy at first but that is to be expected.  After a few days of use and a couple of showers (yep, you can in fact get these straps wet) the fibers began to relax, stopped itching, and started conforming to wrist.  I suspect I won’t even feel it on my wrist when it's fully broken in. If you want to hasten the breaking in period check out this primer on “How To Soften Wool” by the Tricksy Knitter. 

Even after only a short period of wear I can say this strap is really comfortable.  And this is coming from someone who generally prefers the fit and feel of the standard Apple silicone straps (I currently use a pollen or nectarine strap most of the time). This wool strap has surprised me with how much I actually like having it on. 

At first I thought there should be more holes to allow for greater adjustment.  But as the strap stretched and mimicked the contours of my wrist this concern subsided. I think I’d like the strap to be a bit thinner but overall I’m satisfied with this purchase.

Try Out Some Loops

Say what you will about the actual watch, but Apple has certainly created a more robust strap industry. Who hasn’t seen a photo of a strap collection posted on r/AppleWatch? If you are one of those people with a strap collection, or if you’re someone like me who only has a few favorites - this wool band would make and interesting addition.

I feel like it will only improve over time and provided it has the buckle you want, will get more use than you might expect.

You gotta match your Minnie Mouse to the color of your strap.

Who Is This Strap For?

What type of person would really benefit from having one of these wool straps? Instinctually, I think outdoorsy folks - not necessarily hard core adventurers - who like hiking, maybe some canoeing or kayaking, or even just walking your dog around the neighborhood might like this band. If you are a big fan of REI, then you might get some use out of this band.

It absorbs sweat but doesn't get soggy, doesn't smell (at least not yet, but I can tell you from my felted wool slipper experience that the band probably won't smell hardly at all) and is completely washable.

In the winter wool can get wet but stays warm. So if you do any winter sports or indoor iceskating wearing your apple watch, it might be a good solution.

Another group would be folks who don't like synthetic fibers for whatever reason - allergies, ethical concerns, sustainability. The strap will eventually mostly rot (except for the two parts that attach to the lug) and the lugs and clasp can be reused with another strap. If you are at all concerned about animal welfare, Some Loops also ensures that no animals are harmed during the accumulation of wool for the bands. Though there is no third party documentation of this claim - maybe they can contact SCS Global Services or a similar company to get this certification.

Conclusion

The Some Loops merino wool strap is an interesting alternative to leather.  It’s versatile.  Comes in interesting colors. And is made from natural materials.

And they do actually look pretty cool. I think the red band with the rose gold apple watch would look really great (especially with the red crown). The big buckle looks kind of goofy but people don't really stare at the inside of your wrist anyway.

SOME LOOPS - Merino Bands for Apple Watch

General Band Specs:

  • Thickness: 5mm
  • Material: 100% merino wool
  • Buckle and adapter colors: black, silver, gold, rose gold
  • Weight: approx. 30g (1oz) in total.
  • PRICE: $50 to $60
Published by Jeremy Burnich in Product Reviews
Tags: apple watch, review, some loops, wool apple watch band
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May 10, 2019 — Comments are off for this post.

Spot The Fake Apple Watch Charging Dock

A few months ago I was duped into buying a counterfeit Apple Watch charging dock on eBay. Now, when I say duped I knew something was fishy since the price for a legitimate dock would be at least quadruple the $15.99 asking price (now it's $20.99) the seller wanted.

The same seller selling the same fake dock for five more dollars.

Since this was going to be an extra dock for my old Series 0, I was willing to give it a shot though. It arrived quickly and at first glance looked to be from Apple. But when I compared it to the dock I already had, it was clearly a fake. I was OK with this, as long as it worked, but it didn't. So not only did I get a fake dock but I got a fake dock that didn't have the decency to even function.

I got my money back thanks to eBay/PayPal's guarantee and forgot about the whole thing. Then the seller contacted me about changing my review of the transaction, since they were kind enough to refund me.

And then Best Buy had an in-store sale on Apple Watch Magnetic Charging Docks for $47.99. I bought one and dug out the fake to compare.

Can you spot the difference?

Both certainly look similar.

The fake dock is on the left. The only visual difference is the omission of the  logo.

The back of the box looks similar too. The counterfeiter didn't match the typeface correctly though - it's heavier than the light weight type Apple uses.

When you open the box the differences become noticeable.

Notice the color variation.

The two docks look different - especially right next to each other. If a legitimate dock wasn't available for comparison someone with only a passing acquaintance with Apple products and their design might get fooled - especially if the fake dock worked.

But if you look at the quality of the two you can see the difference.

Start with the packaging. The paper is decent but nowhere near approaching Apple's quality. And look at the corners of the box. The cuts and veneer pasting are very poor. There's no way Apple would ship any product in a package this shoddily made.

Now lets look at the dock itself. The top surface of the fake dock has a vinyl-like feel and appearance. And when you flip it over, not only is the typeface and text all wrong but you can see exposed wires on the underside of the flip mechanism which itself is also poorly made.

The genuine Apple dock has an alcantara-like top and the charge mechanism feels solid, like a bolt action rifle in terms of quality and feel. The metal is also not chintzy chrome plated plastic.

Check out the charging cable that came with the fake.

Here's the real thing.

The fake is a trademark of "Apple Ine" and if you need to contact them about FCC compliance write to "Cor porate Compliance."

Suffice to say the real instruction book was proofread by someone at Apple who did their job properly.

There's also a difference in the instruction pictograms.

The fake instructions. NOTE: all gray text and images.

Authentic Apple instructions. Notice the lime green arrows.

Conclusion

I know, I know. "You get what you pay for." And if I were going into a transaction with full knowledge that what I was getting wasn't made by Apple, that would be one thing. But this fake product was advertised on eBay using the Apple part number and uses packaging, instructions, and materials that are meant to fool consumers into thinking they are buying an Apple product - albeit at a steep discount.

This is fraud.

There's not much that consumers can do except be aware that this type of product fraud exists and make sure you go into transactions knowing as much as you can about what a real product looks like so you won't be duped.

When you're deal hunting on eBay or Amazon, even for something small like this dock, consider a few things: What if it caught fire? Or damaged your Watch? Who would you go after for redress?

The legit product may cost more - we've all aware of the perceived Apple Tax - but there are reasons for this besides greed. One reason is that there is an actual company that stands behind these products. If anything goes wrong or something needs to be replaced, the company is in a place to offer a fix. I know, some of their keyboards aren't really holding up but Apple is pretty good - not perfect - about fixing defective products.

When you get a bargain, you may not be getting what you think you bargained for, just be informed.

Published by Jeremy Burnich in Investigations, Tips
Tags: apple, apple watch, Counterfeit
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January 3, 2017 — Comments are off for this post.

Steampunk Apple Watch Cover

Steampunk Apple Watch

Synopsis: How I made a steampunk cover for my Apple Watch.  It was designed using Rhino & Zbrush and manufactured in copper by i.materialise.

After completing the Ironclad Apple Watch cover I posted photos about it online.  One place I posted to was Reddit, a news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website - basically a big community discussion board separated by interests. Posting personal creations on Reddit is always an experience.  Reactions can range from incredibly nice to just as incredibly savage.  You quickly learn to build a thicker skin.

A portion of the criticism on Reddit can be described as trolling - attacks meant to be hurtful -  and though some trolls are pretty funny you learn to ignore the assholes and get on with your life.  But it's not all trolling. In fact you get a lot of nice comments; and it’s really gratifying to get compliments from strangers throughout the world. 

But it’s also helpful to receive honest, even if it’s harsh, criticism from people who appreciate the work put into something but explain why they don’t like it. I take that criticism to heart because it causes me to reevaluate my work by seeing it through new eyes.

Sometimes a person will say something and their observation is so obvious that I ask "why didn't I think of that in the first place?!" The answer is that sometimes you get caught up in a design that you lose sight of the bigger design picture.  Other times the critique is more subjective and I won't change it because it's a choice I stand by no matter the criticism.    

One comment on Reddit about the Ironclad Apple Watch cover stuck with me:   

Riveted Iron is not the same as steampunk.

That term gets way overused online, it's almost lost all meaning 🙁

This critic was right.  But in my defense, I thought that not too many people would immediately know what “ironclad” meant. But if I used “steampunk style” as a catch all, people clicking on the link who were unaware of ironclad ships would have an notion of what to expect since they probably had some idea of what "steampunk" meant.  I guess it’s sort of like cheese-food in relation to real cheese; it’s similar but not the really same.

I decided to fix that and go full on steampunk. 

Copper: A Steampunk Staple

I previously worked with bronze and silver for the Ironclad covers but for that true Steampunk aesthetic this cover had to be copper.  I've been trying to get something made in copper ever since i.materialise started offering it as a material. Copper is a beautiful metal that gains character through use and is lustrous when polished so I really wanted to work with it. The problems I had were either related to money  (too expensive to justify) or design (I kept getting rejected for one reason or another).   With this project I knew I had a good candidate for something affordable and castable. 

I wouldn’t have to do too much redesigning because I had the unadorned base model from the ironclad cover. This was sort of accurate.  I didn’t have to do much but what I did do was very fiddly and I don’t know if it would have been easier to just start from scratch like I did with the 38mm cover or do what I did and just play around with the model I already had. 

Everything worked out but the real big thing that I had to do before remodeling was to get ideas about how I wanted this thing to look! Steampunk items look very high tech in an old tech way.  I did some google image searches for 19th century steam boilers and electrical transformers of the same era (along with dynamos, turbines, etc).

This old engine picture inspired several parts of the Steampunk cover.

Since the Apple Watch obviously runs on electricity this cover was going to have to look like it used a boiler of some kind to convert steam to reciprocating motion to generate electricity to power the watch.  Given the real estate available, I decided to compartmentalize things.   Each side of the watch would serve a different purpose that when operating in concert would  make the "Apple Watch Machine"  work.

Since one side had the digital crown and a button I decided that would be the control area of "the machine”. The bottom quarter would house steam fittings, the left quarter would be the gears and a connecting rod, and the top quarter and bezel would have electrical related things.  And the whole case itself would be the boiler.  

The cover pre-sculpt with the various parts highlighted. The "Control Panel" can't be seen from this angle unfortunately.

Once I decided on a design it was just a matter of making neat little pieces that would fit on the watch and meet the design specifications for wax printing and then copper casting.  Oh, and sculpting the little extras that I prefer to do in ZBrush rather than in Rhinoceros.

Waiting, Receiving, and Patinating

I knew that this cover would fit my watch so once I was happy with the overall design all I had to do was upload it to i.materialise and wait.   One of many nice things about i.materialize is that they won’t just cancel your order if it’s something that has some potential manufacturing issues. After their engineers complete their manual review of the model, they will contact you and explain the potential problems, and ask if you want to proceed.

I mention that because I did in fact receive an email  wherein they explained that some of the details on the design were a bit too fine and would probably be lost during production. Since I knew I would be doing further surface treatments I told them to go ahead and produce the cover. It’s nice from a customer point-of-view that i.materialize just doesn’t cancel an order outright but give the designer opportunity to correct the issues identified

Now it was just a matter of waiting for the case to be made and shipped to me.  Copper is usually done in 10 days so I had at least that much time to go look for an appropriate band to go with the cover. I didn’t want another cuff design like last time but it did have to be leather.  I saw a photo of the Apple Watch Hermès with the double tour band and thought something like that would look amazing with the copper cover. I went on Amazon and did a search for double tour bands.  I really liked this green leather one I found on Amazon Handmade; but I also happened upon this other green leather band that came with a cuff in case I wanted to go that route and a second shorter band.  Even better, I got it used! It arrived in a few days and looked even better than the photos.  I was getting excited to see how it would pair with the cover.

I got an email letting me know that the cover was shipped and should arrive from Belgium in a couple days.  When UPS drove up I pretty much ran out to door to get the package and ran back inside to open it up.  I was really pleased with what I saw.  Here are some photos of the cover straight from the box.

It was beautiful and nearly perfect, but sadly the connecting rod on the left side of the cover didn’t survive the manufacturing process. But I had been warned that some parts might not make it, so I wasn’t complaining, since every other detail looked perfect. I especially liked how the little “control hood” over the button came out – it’s my favorite part of the cover.

I liked the bright and shiny appearance, but now I had to decide if I actually wanted to go through with giving the cover a surface treatment. I waited a few days then said “What the hell” and dumped it in a solution of liver of sulphur and hot water.  The surface changed pretty much instantaneously from shiny coppery orange to a matte charcoal black. There was no going back now.

Now the cover required some careful Dremel work. The steam fittings and the “electric wires” on the bottom and top would be very susceptible to damage, so I had to be careful. This part of the process took a good bit of time. I switched bits frequently depending on if I wanted scratches, high polish, or something in between. It had to look beat up but also cared for, like a real piece of machinery at a manufacturing plant.

 When I was happy with the look, I applied some Renaissance Wax to protect the patina. You can see the results above.

In the end I do like the patina more than the polished copper; but I really like how that polished copper looked as well. It would be nice to have both on hand to do a side by side comparison. 

I believe this cover can definitely be called “steampunk” without reservation.     If you want one for yourself, it can be purchased on my Etsy store. 

Note on the photos:  I use an Olympus E-PL1 camera and an Olympus 60 mm macro lens. All the photos are taken using a Foldio 2 as a lightbox. 

If you find yourself needing to take lots of pictures of small things it’s invaluable to have around.  The Foldio 2 is great because it’s bigger than the Foldio 1 (which I had been using) and it has two LED light strips that plug into the wall (the first one had one strip and it ran off a 9 volt battery).  It makes it super easy to take photos in a neutral environment which makes color correction in Photoshop a snap. 

 

Published by The Owner in Uncategorized
Tags: apple watch, Concepts, steampunk
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November 4, 2016 — Comments are off for this post.

Ironclad Apple Watch Cover Revisited

bigandlittle-01

I decided to revisit the Ironclad Apple Watch cover after the success of the initial version.  (The detailed account can be read here.) I had planned on making a truly steampunk version -  still in the works, I’ve just been sidetracked by things lately - but I did get around to making a copy in silver and a cover for my wife’s 38 mm Apple Watch.

The Silverclad Cover

One reason why I chose bronze when I made the first cover is that silver is more expensive than bronze. I did make plastic prototypes on my home 3D printer to minimize the likelihood of a mistake but I think we’ve all had those times where we’ve measured something multiple times and then when you cut the 2x4 the piece magically doesn’t fit. 

If I had somehow messed up on a measurement it would have been more costly had I made my first metal cover in silver.  I did like the bronze color, especially for that vintage look, however silver with a nice patina looks really classy and goes with more things. 

Since I knew that the cover would fit all I had to do was order another copy from Shapeways. I picked raw silver because it’s just mechanically polished and tends to show print lines and have a rougher surface texture. Since I wanted the cover to have more pits and scratches - i.e. - places for the patina to reside - it was the perfect choice.

ironclad-rawsilver-01
Now it was just a matter of waiting for the case to be made and shipped to me.  I placed my order on 10/19 and it arrived on 11/03 - around two weeks. Like last time, I ordered an EloBeth leather cuff from Amazon for $22 with free Prime shipping.  I got it in gray to go with the silver cover. I think the brown cuff I previously purchased is slightly better quality, but for the price I’m not really complaining.

ironclad-rawsilver-02

There can be slight variations between individual prints so when the cover arrived from Shapeways I immediately put it on my Apple Watch to check for fit.  This is especially true when printing something in steel (which I don’t recommend using if you need accuracy because it will shrink and distort depending on it’s print orientation and how it’s cured).

The "Silverclad" cover was fine though! It fit exactly how its was supposed to and looked pretty cool to boot. I almost didn’t want to add the patina.  Almost. 

I filled my trusty beaker with a mixture of Liver of Sulphur and hot water and placed the silver cover into the stink (REALLY rotten eggs). After a time I removed the cover and it had a really cool looking matte gray.  It almost looked battleship gray which, à propos of the design inspiration, seemed appropriate. Again, I almost didn’t want to change it.  Almost.

Battleship Gray

Battleship Gray

I popped a polishing bit on my Dremel and started the process of distressing the cover.  As I went about the task I grew more glad that I did the patina because (a) I thought it was coming out really great and (2) it gave me some really cool ideas on where I would like to go in the future.

Here are some photos of the finished cover on the Apple Watch and with the gray leather wrist cuff.

The Ironclad ’38

My wife also just got an Apple Watch and as you might guess, it was the smaller version.  Now I could use her watch as a cover Guinea pig!  You’d think - and I certainly did - that it would be easy enough to just scale the 42 mm cover down to fit the smaller watch.  But, it didn’t work right so it was back to the drawing board. 

Since I had gone through this when I made the 42 mm cover the process went somewhat quicker.  Again I consulted the “Band Design Guidelines for Apple Watch,” made a new digital lug in Rhino, and got to work.  In deference to my wife I made the new case as thin as I could so as to not add too much extra bulk to the watch.  We’re talking shaving off a few tenths of a millimeter here and there but I’m a firm proponent in the aggregation of marginal gains.

New design, new prototypes on my New Matter MOD-t.

New design, new prototypes printed in SLA on my New Matter MOD-t 3D printer.

The first prototype is when I just tried to scale the original cover to fit the smaller watch.  It didn’t work at all.  So really, it only took me two prototypes before I got a cover that worked.  Then it was just rinse and repeat; open the finished cover in ZBrush and start sculpting in the details.  After that, upload to Shapeways and order a print.  I got bronze again because I didn’t want to be out too much money in case it didn’t fit - and I was more concerned about that this time because the tolerances were a lot tighter than for the previous cover. 

Aesthetically this version had to be more feminine so instead of the cuff style band I opted to get the Double Buckle Cuff that EloBeth offers. It’s slightly more affordable than the Hermès version that Apple sells.  I wasn’t sure how it would pair with the cover but I figured I might as well give it a shot.  (I think it looks really awesome).

When the cover arrived (it arrived with the silver cover) I went about my business. So while I was working on the Silverclad cover the ’38 was sitting in the Liver of Sulphur.  I thought it might be neat to show just have fast a reaction the sulphur bath has on the metal.  I put half the cover in the water for about 30 seconds and then removed it.  The photos show the difference.  Pretty crazy huh?

Anyway, soon I was polishing the cover with the Dremel and really getting a kick out of how it was coming out.  When I reached a point where I was happy with the patina, I applied some Renaissance Wax (I omitted this step in my previous post) to preserve
the finish and buffed it with a paper towel.

renaissancewaxpapertowel

Here are the photos of the finished cover!

If you are interested in purchasing one of these Steampunk Apple Watch covers I have them for sale  on this website (42 mm | 38 mm) on Etsy, and via Shapeways.

Side note on the photos:  I use an old Olympus E-PL1 camera and an Olympus 60 mm macro lens. All the photos are taken using a Foldio 2 as a lightbox. 

foldio

If you find yourself needing to take lots of pictures of small things it’s invaluable to have around.  The Foldio 2 is great because it’s bigger than the Foldio 1 (which I had been using) and it has two LED light strips that plug into the wall (the first one had one strip and it ran off a 9 volt battery).  It makes it super easy to take photos in a neutral environment and which makes color correction a snap. 

Published by Admin Astrator in Uncategorized
Tags: apple watch, steampunk
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