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oldgregg

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Posts posted by oldgregg

  1. Only just seen this thread but if the dash features the same display I saw on Serenade then I know what you mean about the graphics.

    It's quite an innovative thing for a Broads boatyard to be experimenting with more modern instrumentation, but I think for a number of reasons they may have been better to buy off the shelf components rather than try to roll their own.

    The original implementation I saw was running on a Raspberry Pi and had been built by one of their engineering team. I would say that's quite an ambitious approach and could cause maintenance issues down the line, particularly if that member of staff leaves the business.

    I think the Broads is actually lacking a solution for hirefleet tech so I'm not totally opposed to the idea (though I'm not about to outline the full solution here :default_norty:) - But it needs to be robust and the user interface needs to be up to scratch.

    • Like 2
  2. On 21/04/2024 at 09:55, DAVIDH said:

    Sure it will be linked. It would be too expensive to have their own imagery. They will pay Google a fee for access.

    Indeed, though I do wonder why not use OSM given that one can contribute to and enhance it.

  3. 5 hours ago, catcouk said:

    Having said that, having the I formation on an offline app would surely be the best approach (a PDF was the closest solution I could come up with!).

    It's the maintenance that will be a pain in the bottom with an App. Don't forget that you'll also need to pay Apple £79 a year to run a free App, and have a Mac running a currently supported version of macOS to build and upload it from.

    An App requires a decent level of skill to get onto the store in the first place, and then it needs to be kept up to date. Fail to keep up with the maintenance required by Apple and Google, fixing bugs raised in reviews etc and it'll be pulled from the stores.

    It's hard work, I can assure you. I look after nine of them, one of which has been number 1 paid app in the UK.

    While a website is more likely to be hacked, a simple static site is much less of a risk and simpler for the average person to maintain and update. My personal opinion would be that the industry wants us to move more towards Apps for that very reason.

    • Like 2
  4. It's clear how much work has gone into this!

    I think it has potential as an App (with the content available offline!) but I also think it does work well in paper form because a low-tech solution that has no dependency on devices is always good when boating.

    A PDF that gets updated regularly is a much simpler thing to maintain than a website, App etc.

    There are a few people on here with design and typesetting skills so you might find a GD willing to help with layout, spacing, colour contrast etc.

    • Like 2
  5. I see that there is a potential buyer.

    If it does indeed happen (and of course buying a Boatyard is not as simple as buying your lunch), then I think an owner who is actually interested in running a Boatyard would be a very good thing for that site.

    • Like 3
  6. Does anyone remember this guy?

    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/dec/05/youtuber-jailed-after-staging-plane-crash-to-make-video-trevor-daniel-jacob

    The YouTuber who had the misfortune of suffering an engine failure on his light aircraft and had to bail out.

    Lucky that he was wearing a parachute and had a fire extinguisher strapped to his leg under his trousers..... :default_norty:

    It wasn't long before people analysed the video and suggested that the FAA got involved. He got six months in prison for staging the crash.

    • Like 4
  7. 33 minutes ago, twowrights said:

    Google AdSense pay monetized YouTubers, figures I've seen quote between ten and thirty pounds per thousand views, depending  on things such as subscriber numbers. 

    Indeed.

    And this is why there is so much clickbait on YouTube.

    There's lots of "You won't believe what happened" and "My latest car purchase was a huge financial mistake" titles on Videos, with the bigger channels also able to add a custom thumbnail of them holding their heads in despair.

    It's aways a good way of spotting the dullest videos where they were scraping the barrel for ideas.

    • Like 3
  8. I watch a lot of YouTube, particularly car and photography content but a fair bit about boating. Not so much about the Broads though.

    But I don't really watch any of the Broads 'influenzas' any more, they're all just producing the same stuff year on year. New faces and channels come along but it's just exactly the same formula rehashed again and again and again. 

    Someone sent me a link to the Ludham Bridge video person the other day. It was something like a 15 minute edit of just boats coming up to the bridge, some getting through, some turning round. I skipped through it, to see if there was anything interesting... Spoiler alert but there wasn't. 

    I get that sensationalism is easier and to make genuinely interesting content requires real talent and a lot of time and effort and therefore genuinely interesting content is going to be rare, but it's good to see there are still a few people about doing that.

    • Like 3
  9. Oh I didn't say they were any good.... Those approved repairers are often pretty terrible.

    It's more the case of they have to replace everything which is damaged rather than skip stuff which you or I would think is okay to leave. It's more about 'well, the insurer is paying' than actually doing a good job.

    But of course a 'specialist generalist' repairer is never going to have the knowledge of a brand specialist.

    It's all really broken.

  10. 18 hours ago, grendel said:

    All insurance companies are interested in nowadays is scrapping cars even with minor damage. and paying out as little as possible

    Unfortunately, having worked in the industry, I don't think you're too far from the truth.

    I get that the repair prices are high because insurers need to use approved repairers who meet a certain standard, and for the work to have a warranty etc.

    They also aren't allowed to compromise on repairs, again for example if a door was heavily damaged but there was nothing else apart from some very minor marking where the door had brushed against the closure then you or I would just replace the door and ignore those tiny scuffs. Insurer-approved repairers aren't allowed to do that and so a perfectly good car would be written off.

    The example I have cited happened to Mrs OG when she was hit by a third party and we settled for pretty much market value plus the car back as an unrecorded write-off. I found a replacement door for less than £100 and never did spot the marks that the car apparently had. There's something very wrong with the insurance industry.

    • Like 6
  11. I didn't realise it had closed, bit of a shame if so as it seemed to be a useful resource. The shop stocked the sort of stuff one tends to forget and the cafe was a handy breakfast stop.

    I've not stopped there since before covid, but I was talking to the owner back in 2019 and it did seem to be very much a lifestyle decision to be there.

    • Like 1
  12. Everything I've heard about the NDR from people in infrastructure seems to suggest that the Western Link was always planned, but that the council knew they'd never get the cost approved to build it in one go so they split the project into two.

    The overall cost of doing so (allowing for inflation, analysis etc) is almost certainly going to be more but that's public sector procurement...

  13. Gotta love 'Stives'.

    We've not been since autumn 2020... At which point any sort of holiday anywhere felt like an absolute luxury. A sunny week in Cornwall even more so.

    Only the other day we were saying how we need to get back there. Time for a pint in the sloop, and lunch at the Seafood Cafe :17_heart_eyes:.

    • Like 1
  14. I think that's the sweet spot. The post-2011 cars have more power but way more problems.

    I'm 6'2" with fairly long legs so a lot of cars don't fit me properly.... Z4's are better than most, though.

    • Like 2
  15. 17 hours ago, BrundallNavy said:

    You can buy mine only 24000 miles. Trouble is I will have to prize the keys out of H’s hands first. 

    It's surprising how many low-mileage examples there are out there, even in the first gen. They do seem to be a car that people keep a long time and cherish.

    I'm guessing you went for a pre-LCI with the N52? I test drove an LCI (I think it was a 2013 car) 20i at Inchcape and it was a lovely car in many ways, but without the six pot it didn't really 'feel' like a BMW roadster. I think the 23i and 30i are probably the ones to go for.

    24,000 is properly good though! If you do ever think about selling, I could be interested.

    • Like 1
  16. 20 hours ago, Mouldy said:

    Prestige brand and prestige prices!  Should be spelt Ow-di.  Could be worse - could have a BMW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . oh, forgot, he has! :default_coat:

    I think he's got one with the M54 though.... That and the N52 are pretty solid.

    It's the later turbocharged stuff with direct injection that is troublesome.

    I'm currently trying to work out which Z4 to buy. It's a bit of a minefield, but generally DI and turbo(s) = trouble - NA and port injection = reliable.

    • Like 2
  17. Yeah they're very good for the money. I've hired Major 2 a number of times and she's hard to fault.

    In 2020 I had her booked for my usual "boys weekend" in September..... Lockdown meant we couldn't all go together, but I kept the booking and Mrs OG and I had the boat instead.

    They're an excellent boat for a couple, tons of space and with no-one sleeping in the aft cabin it becomes a wonderful lounge/diner.

    Not many boats handle like them, either.

    I think the Pearl provides a more modern take on that design, with a bit of a layout re-jig and better stern and sidedeck access.

    • Like 2
  18. If only there was some sort of social network dedicated to the Broads, which didn't sell your data or use it to profile you for advertising and monetisation purposes and which wasn't run by some greedy global megacorp...

    :default_norty:

    • Thanks 2
    • Haha 1
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