Embracing Change: From Fitness Routines to Tech Gadgets

Ryan Purvis: [00:00:00] Hello, and welcome to the Digital Workspace Works podcast. I'm Ryan Purvis, your host, supported by our producer, Heather Bicknell. In this series, you'll hear stories and opinions from experts in the field, stories from the front lines, the problems they face and how they solve them, the areas they're focused on from technology, people, and processes to the approaches they took that will help you to get to the scripts for the Digital Workspace inner workings.

Heather Bicknell: I'm doing pretty well. How are you?

Ryan Purvis: Very good. Thanks. Very good.

Heather Bicknell: Lots of things starting up at the beginning of the year. I feel lots of energy second half of January anyway.

Ryan Purvis: It's crazy to how the month is flown by, which feels like it's flown by. It feels like only two weeks ago or a week ago, I was, it was the beginning of the month and it's already the end of the month.

So

Heather Bicknell: I feel that I know time flies anymore. Is that a weighted vest or it...

Ryan Purvis: It is weighted vest my, solutions and not getting to gym as much as I was. Cause I've just got so much work to [00:01:00] do. So I can't get to the gym. The gym has come to me. So I've been wearing a weighted vest most of the week, but that only arrived on Tuesday.

So, but, yeah, it's an extra 25 kilos and then I've got ankle weights on as well. I just walk around all day long with my waist vest and my ankle weights and, I'm on my balance board. So yeah, that's my gym home while I'm standing around.

Heather Bicknell: Do you notice it while you're working?

Is it comfortable or?

Ryan Purvis: It's a, well, so the actual putting it on, you've got to make sure that it's like lined up nicely and your shirt is like wrinkle free, like now it's not, so I'm just putting it down, but as long as that's okay and you've got nothing sort of creating friction a, or a bubble or a bump, it's actually fine if you forget about it, now typically it's been cold, so I've been wearing a Jersey on top or a top.

I look really bulky. So besides the strange looks that I get, especially like now in calls and stuff, and I see this black strip stuff. It's fun. I

like it.

Heather Bicknell: It almost looks like a [00:02:00] Patagonia vest or like, you know, like a, a sporty, like finance bro vest.

Ryan Purvis: It's funny who you talk to because depending on their background, they will ask the question in a different way.

So some people like South Africans will say, are you wearing a bulletproof vest? And it's been like five for five so far. Whereas if you don't, you know, have that kind of background, then you kind of ask different questions. Like, is it this, some people have said, are you wearing a weighted v est? And my wife thinks I'm mad.

Sure a lot of people think I'm mad, but, my logic to it is that when I, when you do like I do, like pretty long fitness routines and you stay fit and whatever it is, your body gets lighter and lighter. So you need to compensate. To burn the same amount of energy, you need to actually add the weight back on somehow.

So the weighted vest is a way to do that. But then the other thing, like when I'm sitting there now, I'll get the balance board and I'm balancing on one foot, for example, and I'm doing like hamstring curls, which I would normally do. You don't feel anything, but now it's just an extra two and [00:03:00] a half kilos, which is what's on the ankles.

It's like, wow. And then I've got the wrist ones here as well. So I'm just trying to figure out where I'm going to put the wrist ones. Because putting them on the wrist doesn't really work, but I was thinking of like putting them just above my elbow. And then, as I lean over to do something, I'm getting a little bit of a shoulder workout too.

And then. I think it's,

Heather Bicknell: yeah, it's ingenuity.

Ryan Purvis: I love it. And you know, it's so stupid. Like I drove, like, I was explaining to someone yesterday, I drove to Fred's house to work. And like, just getting in and out of the car is a whole different dimension. Now you've added 25 kilos. So like your, your center of gravity is different.

And then, you know, if I do sit down and then I get up every time you sit and get up, it's a squat. So, you know, it's just, I just think it's a good, this is a cool thing. And then like, cause I'm standing all the time, like even when you're standing normally, you'd lift your knee up sometimes just to give your hips a little thing, but now I'm doing.

Flexible workouts. So like while I'm sitting talking to you, I can just al workouts. So [00:04:00] it just brings it's micro workouts and, yeah, I mean, you are like, my back's a little bit tighter today, like obviously adjusting to the weight. But I've had to improve my posture, so I'm like, I just can't see a downside to doing it.

So I'm actually investigating my own weighted design to make it, because this is very bulky, obviously. And I think there's a way to make it less bulky.

Heather Bicknell: Mm-Hmm. Um.

patent, your own way to vest.

Ryan Purvis: Uh, yeah, yeah.

Heather Bicknell: Well, it is one of the benefits of remote working. I feel that trying to incorporate exercise while you're working is much easier because you're not as visible.

So you don't have to, you know, if you wanted to take the vest off during meetings or something, because people made weird comments, you could do that. Or if you want to, you know, walk on a treadmill or, you know, Um, you know, you're not distracting anyone else and also your company doesn't necessarily provision it to you, so it's a

benefit.

Ryan Purvis: Well, exactly. And, you know, we've got a double story house. So, you know, if [00:05:00] I had a gap, which I don't always do, but I've had a gap, but I ran up the stairs quickly to take the washing up. Now, normally I run up the stairs without a weighted vest. Now I'm running up the stairs with a weighted vest and two and a half kilos per leg.

You know, if you just get a little bit of extra bang for your buck with, with doing nothing, nothing different. So, I just think, yeah, it's like, if you had to ask me, like, what would you spend a hundred bucks on to be at home, to do workouts? This is what I spend it on because even just playing with the little, I think this is two and a half kilos.

Ryan Purvis: I don't remember. I don't think there's no like, measurement on the side to check what the order was. I'd say this is about two and a half. Like just playing with it while we're talking, I get things thrown in my hand and it's just burning energy the whole time. So yeah, I think it's a win.

Heather Bicknell: That's

super fun. I like it. Yeah. Resistance training at the end of the day. Yeah.

Ryan Purvis: Well, that's it. And I think that's the thing that people, when you say that you're sedentary, Standing, I'm sitting behind a desk all day and mean, I had a very fancy, I've got a very fancy chair.

It's one of those, twist balls on a, on wheels. [00:06:00] So like, so when I sit on that, it's also not a typical chair. Even with that, I was getting a bit of back pain, so I've decided, 'cause I the motor on my standing desk broke. I was really either sit down or stand up. So I did the sitting for a while and I was like, you know what?

I'm, I've just become lazy. I have it that way. So I've forced myself to stand and it's funny how I was feeling so unproductive sitting. I can just feel like, why is it being so hard? Like I'm usually so much, like I can just do so much today now. So that's feeling hard. And I've realised it's because I've been sitting.

Sitting actually slowed me down, which is a stupid thing to say, but it is exactly that. So, yeah, it's all reset up. Everything's standing. I'm back on the balance board, which is awesome. Got the weights on now. So yeah, we'll see how this is in a couple weeks. And I've changed my diet too.

I'm basically going carnivore.

Heather Bicknell: Oh. Yeah. Okay.

Ryan Purvis: But mostly carnivore, I still, I mean, I'm giving myself sort of the 80, 20 rule. So there's 80 percent red meat, 20 percent other stuff.

Heather Bicknell: I don't think I've ever told you this before, Ryan, but I'm [00:07:00] vegan. So we're like complete opposites right now.

Ryan Purvis: Well, you haven't played the game. You haven't played the typical vegan card, you know, the typical vegan card. How do you know someone's a vegan?

Heather Bicknell: I, you know,

I've never mentioned it and I bet it's been, I've been vegan for 12 years. So the whole time you've known me.

Ryan Purvis: Oh, that's pretty good. That's pretty good.

Look, I mean, you would have known clearly being in South Africa that I would have been a meat eater.

Heather Bicknell: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, we

talked about it before. I just, you know, well, good, good to experiment with, with things and your health.

Ryan Purvis: And then, and then my other cool toy, sorry. I'm just so excited to share this.

Heather Bicknell: Oh, yeah. Show me.

Ryan Purvis: Guess what these are.

Heather Bicknell: Oh, are they smart glasses?

Ryan Purvis: And they're Facebook ones. These are the better ones. And this is completely an impulse purchase. I saw a YouTube video on Monday. I ordered them because, and it is exactly what I expected with what the guy said. So one, you can record a minute of video just by double tapping.

You can take photos, and the reason why I bought it on the impulse, was that because, you know, often I'm with my [00:08:00] kids and they do something really cool. And you don't want to take your phone out or you don't have enough time to take your phone out, but now I can just double tap, provided I'm wearing the glasses, of course, and it just records and the quality is really good.

But the other thing is it's got microphones in the, in the bottom of the lenses and speakers just above the ears. So you don't have to wear AirPods. So it's pretty good. As long as the wind isn't blowing too hard, you can take, you can do phone calls while you're walking. It's amazing. It really is. I mean, I was kind of hoping that the lenses would have text writing on them, but it's still voice, you know, voice reads texts, which I don't like.

So turn all that stuff off. But then you've also got smart function and it says you tap twice. I think it is. And Spotify will start with your preferred playlist. So you can literally just walk in on the street, double tap, we listen to your music, but you're not wearing headphones. So you still aware of what's going on around you.

And if someone finds you just answer the phone. That's amazing. I don't even take my phone out of my pocket anymore.

Heather Bicknell: Do you, does the, can you tell that someone's calling you on the glasses or do you [00:09:00] still feel your phone?

Yeah. There's nothing, there's nothing on the, the visual like

vibration or something.

Ryan Purvis: Yeah. No, no. I mean the phone, cause I mean if someone finds me, , my watch will vibrate anyway and you'll get it, it'll give you the sort of sound on your, things, but you just tap and you'll answer. So that, works pretty well and double tap to hang up. So that's pretty straight forward in that respect.

But the point is that I'm trying to avoid using my phone to answer phone calls because it's just another time you take your phone out. So you answer the phone call and then because you got your phone out, you do something else typically unnecessary. So it was just a, it was one of the sort of maybe added benefits of not using the phone as much.

And specifically, at the moment it's linked into Spotify, which is fine, but I'd love to, and I expect this to get better. I'd love to be able to, as I say, launch the podcast that way. But, you know, I was walking this morning and I went to get something out of the shops and I had my podcast going on.

I could hear the podcast, but no one else seemed to be bothered that I was listening to a podcast. It's not like an invasive set. Like, you know, some people walk around with their phones out and you're like, they listen to this song and you're like, [00:10:00] why do I have to hear your music? You know, it's unnecessary sound travels.

Yeah. Yeah. But because I don't know how they've angled it or whatever it is, but it just comes up, you know, I could hear it, but it didn't seem to bug anybody else. I thought that was really cool. I'm impressed. I'm really impressed because I broke in my other glasses and I was debating buying another pair of the same ones again. And then this came on and I was like, well, it's only another a hundred bucks on top. So I'm getting the glasses and I'm getting a little bit extra value.

I thought for 300 bucks, it's actually not bad. 10. Yeah. Something like that. So that's my gadget of the week.

Heather Bicknell: Wow. Super fun. It makes you think of, I saw yesterday, there's a yogurt company who's running a contest where you can sign up to not use your phone for, I don't know if it's a month or three months or whatever it is. But like some sort of challenge where they'll send you a flip phone and you somehow lock your smartphone away or send them your SIM or there's some like agreement to it.

But I feel like the, [00:11:00] maybe it's the time of year, but you know, lots of folks talking about how addicted they are to their advices or just number of pickups in a day, you know, all the time we spend. Without really intending to, on our phones. So interesting that the, you know, the classes could give you another way to sort of disconnect.

I feel like the watch is also a bridge in that way. At least like, you know, I can check a text message or something like that without needing to look at my phone.

Ryan Purvis: And I think we've discussed this before, but when I got my first Apple watches, um, and ones that didn't have the 3g 4g built into it.

So, and I always said to people, well, you don't need to get the 4g built in because you got, it's always going to be tailored to your phone. But as I've gotten down this route and I'm now looking at the next version again, so the next replacement watch, I'm definitely gonna get the one with the 4g 5g built into it Because I don't want it if I'm gonna go for a walk, I don't always want to take my phone with me because it's one more thing to carry and one more distraction from going on the walk.

And I mean, you know, [00:12:00] most, of the apps that I would use, like if I'm listening to a podcast or an audio book or whatever it is, they have the watch app anyway, and they'd have the storage, you have enough storage to take, you know, the five books you're reading or listening to at the same time or podcast or whatever it is.

So, and obviously the AirPods typically will connect to that device anyway. So, and if someone does phone you, cause the big issue is I'd carry a phone with me, even if I drive my kids to the nursery school or something, is it in the case of something going wrong? If there's an emergency. So my view on it has changed the point that actually the next watch has to be enabled and I actually want to reduce having the phone makes you making my phone simple and simpler all the time.

At this stage you can't get rid of it. And sometimes you want to draw a picture and the phone's just, you can't draw it on your watch. it needs to draw on notes or whatever it is.

Heather Bicknell: Yeah. So like, yeah, hard to go cold turkey or completely get rid of it for a whole host of reasons.

Ryan Purvis: Look, it's a product.

I mean, you know, we live in a world that, being connected is a necessity. And especially like, as you say, working from home, you know, if you shoot to the [00:13:00] shops to get something and it is something that you need to do, like make it at a reminder or set up a meeting or something like that. Yes, you can do the reminder on your watch, but setting up a meeting, inviting people, having the team,

Heather Bicknell: checking an email, responding to an email,

Ryan Purvis: approving a document, you know, whatever it is.

You know, it's still, you know, necessary to have it.

Heather Bicknell: Where was the, uh, tech in the glasses? They look pretty sleek. Is there like a little,

Ryan Purvis: well, yeah, this is the thing. So, it is actually really, really good. So, so on this side is the button and the, we call it volume or touch pad.

And then over here is one of the cameras. And on this side, I think is the other camera. And then there's an on off switch on the inside there, and then it just fits inside this case, which has got a charging thing and the USB C, and the mistake I made this morning is I took them with me, but it was actually quite a murky day now it's the sun's out.

So it's actually [00:14:00] thing. So I bought the lenses that I thought were light adjustable. But they're not. So it's quite dark to wear them on a dark day, but we're going to Dubai next week. So, they'll definitely be used there. The thing that I like about them, so the mistake I made was that when I took them out of my, off my head, put them in my pocket is I should have actually had the case because they're charged.

Cause I think you're about six hours. Out of the battery, and also don't want to scratch the lenses, which is not always a good thing. but the thing, the thing is quite nice when you set the app up, you can, configure it that when it's on your wifi, it'll automatically import your pictures, your video, et cetera, into your albums, and do its updates and all that kind of stuff.

So I quite liked that because if I go to a hotel or something like that, I don't necessarily want it to be using the wifi at the hotel. I want it to synchronize with the phone. In a safer location, not that I'm doing anything that's sensitive or whatever, but I just don't want this.

I don't trust Facebook enough to, be connecting in where I am cause I don't have the Facebook app on my phone and any of my devices, [00:15:00] except for WhatsApp. That's the only one that I unfortunately have no choice on. But I must admit if it wasn't Ray Ban endorsed, I probably wouldn't have bought it.

That was kind of, it was quite an interesting decision because if it had been just a Facebook Glasses, I wouldn't have done it, but because I had such a good experience with Ray Bans my whole sort of adult life. I was like, well, it should be okay. And then everything through the app is about privacy. Like the whole time, like you can't just take photos.

You can't just take video without like, it reminds you all the time and then you answer a few questions about what you can share with Facebook that stuff off. So in that respect, Yeah, this is quite a good. A good product, generally speaking. And it looks like pairs of sun glasses.

Heather Bicknell: Cause they look almost like normal Ray Bans. That's why I was surprised except for the cameras are kind of the tell.

Ryan Purvis: Yeah. And then the cameras, if you, if it's running,

So it's just come on now. So you, so I'm just taking a photo of you. And if I double tap, it's a long press. So now there should be a white, you see the white.

Heather Bicknell: I see the dot. Is that like a flash or just to. Let [00:16:00] other people know you're taking a photo?

Ryan Purvis: That I'm, that I'm taking a recording. But as you think about it, someone goes into a change room or washing at like a, you know, wherever, a swimming pool area.

You'd want to know, someone's recorded. I mean, you can't, you know, they're gonna have to get a double tick all the time to take photos. So that would look a bit obvious after a while. But I mean, people walk around in swimming pools with their phones taking pictures. So, you know, I don't think you're gonna save much there.

But, yeah, I messed with it for a while. You know, general lifestyle product. it's taking a lot of boxes right now.

Heather Bicknell: You got gadgets are always fun.

Ryan Purvis: Yeah. I haven't bought a gadget in a long time, besides like for work. This is definitely a gadget for fun. And like my son this morning, I walked him to school and he was jumping over puddles and stuff.

So I was recording him jumping over puddles, but not, with my phone. So now I can actually like, all I did was, okay. In fact, I don't think she actually recorded it. I think I was just taking photos because I didn't realise it, press and hold, which I've just realised now. So tomorrow I'll do the same thing, but the point is for like, You know, him running around, jumping around.

He's not worried about me taking photos of him to pose for them. He just sees me [00:17:00] watching him and I'm not actually worried about holding the phone in the right place. I'm just looking at him. I think that simplicity just makes it so much better, to bridge that gap, which is what I wanted to bridge was how do I record my son, my daughter doing stuff that's fun quickly.

Heather Bicknell: Yeah.

Ryan Purvis: Outside.

Heather Bicknell: Good use case for it. So now you have, you have the ring, you have a watch. You have the glasses, you've got all the accessories. What else is there?

What's next?

Ryan Purvis: Well, I think, I mean, I think the watch, as I said, is this one, I mean, I'm trying not to buy more stuff. I don't think I need anything more per se.

Like the watch, for me is a really important part of my functionality. Like for gym

and all that kind of stuff. So I'll just keep going on the Apple train every year or two, whatever, when these watches start to die, just buy the next one. And I won't buy the latest one. I'll just buy the one before, you know, take a man, whatever.

I don't really, at this stage, it doesn't have to be the first one, the brand new one, it just has to be, one that works. And I, and I buy a lot of them secondhand now. I don't even buy the brand new one because often someone gets [00:18:00] the, you get those people that want the first one and then they use it for six months and they don't like it.

Or the next one comes out, so they buy the next one and they get rid of the old one. So, and you get it for like two thirds of half the price. And it's a pretty good neck. I mean, this one that I'm wearing now, I think I paid a hundred pounds for it, which would have been 500 new and had one little scratch on the corner of the screen, which I hardly even notice.

You know, I don't even really care, you know, for that kind of thing. But yeah, the ring works great. I can see myself just getting another ring every year. Two, three years. whenever I get sick, it always tells me I'm sick. Like it's, it's always, the data is always pointing in the same. It confirms what I already know.

So, I'm just looking forward to better tools that use that data. on an ongoing basis. And then the phones, the only thing I want to do with the phones want to just get it, just get the USB C.

Heather Bicknell: Upgrade when that's available.

Ryan Purvis: Yeah. Cause the Thunderbolt, the Thunderbolt thing is just a pain to have so many cables and everything else is USB C. So that's the next thing I'll do later this year is just go to USB [00:19:00] C. Cause I mean, my phone's fine, but it does this weird thing where it resets like every two hours, just reboots.

And, I could probably reset it and probably fix it. But then that's like an hour of mucking about. Yeah. Oh, the other thing which I've done, which you may have noticed is now. Is I'm not using my laptop for calls anymore as a primary device, I'm using my iPad mini. Okay. And the reason why I'm doing that is it's got a camera that, follows you.

Heather Bicknell: I did, you know, I, I, you know, I wasn't sure if you were moving or it was moving. Yeah. I see that now.

Ryan Purvis: Yeah. So it's actually in front of me. So my laptop's on a stand, I've got my two screens next to it. And then I've just put the mini one in front of the thing. And in fact, I could probably do it this way too.

Yeah, it's going to be the wrong angle, um, but it's on its stand on its, pad triangle thing stand, and it just follows me on. Oh, how's that? So the photo I took, with my sunglasses, can you see it? [00:20:00] Yeah. So that's the photo I took with the, glasses. I'll send it to you anyway.

But it's kind of on my watch to remind me that it's just important that this photo was taken and I can import it. So I will, and then I, in fact, I'll share it to you. Cause you see what happens the minute you put it, the glasses back in the case on the wifi that it knows about, it tries to import. So yeah, useful.

Heather Bicknell: Yeah. I didn't know the iPad mini had the Any of the Apple products had the camera tracking tech, so that's cool.

Ryan Purvis: It was completely a, surprise because I bought this mini, because my other mini was just getting old and thing, and I actually had an iPad, a Mac, MacBook Air, the first, M1.

That because of work, I had a MacBook pro two. So I didn't need that one. So I went and traded that in for the mini and I'm denied at the time. Do I get the 64 gig? Do I get the bigger one? Whatever it was, I was like, I'm only gonna use it for books really. And the odd YouTube [00:21:00] series or thing that I'm watching.

And, I'm regretting buying the 64 gig now. Only because of storage, but that the camera was a surprise. I was like, wow, I didn't even expect that. I'm actually debating at the moment, getting a cradle so that I can put this a little bit higher on an arm and move it around.

Because it's actually, it's putting stress on my neck, but I'm always looking down. Yeah. And I'd rather, you'll see in the photo when I send it to you, I'd rather put the iPad above my, laptop screen. So I'm looking up and straight, but because it'll follow me, It'll just get a little bit better of an experience.

Heather Bicknell: Yeah, that makes sense.

Ryan Purvis: Because sometimes I lean over here, or Yeah, cool.

Heather Bicknell: Great, great setup. It's really coming together.

Ryan Purvis: Yeah. Yeah. Good. Oh, thanks for these. Sorry. We talked about me for the last 25 minutes.

Heather Bicknell: Well, I was, I've been meaning to tell you, since you just mentioned TV series, or YouTube series, I've officially finished, the next generation. So I've watched, D space nine [00:22:00] now next generation and moved on to Voyager. So slowly making my way through my first time, star Trek watch, and I'm enjoying it.

Ryan Purvis: I'm interested to know if anything is your favorite. Let's say what would you, which is your favorite so far out of the two?

Heather Bicknell: Deep space time.

Ryan Purvis: Yeah, it was good. It really was good. Voyager for me is my favorite. Mm. But I mean, they're all good in their own ways. Yeah. But, but Voyage is still my favorite. I think Jane Way is still the best. He's probably the best captain for me. Card's pretty close, but, uh, yeah, I'll be, just know when she finished.

In fact, I'm gonna start watching Voyage as well now because I,

Heather Bicknell: Got inspired. Yeah. No, it's, uh, it's a good, good watch. 3:00 AM

Ryan Purvis: Awesome. Well, let's, catch up next week. Have a good weekend.

Yeah, sounds great. You too. Until next session. Bye. Bye.

Thank you for listening to today's episode. Heather Bicknell is our producer editor. Thank you, Heather. For your hard work on this episode, please subscribe to the series and rate us on iTunes at the Google Play Store.

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