4 ms·

I listen to podcasts or audiobooks while commuting, and I figure it's roughly equivalent to sitting on my couch reading. I commute 40-60 minutes daily, so it's

I listen to podcasts or audiobooks while commuting, and I figure it's roughly equivalent to sitting on my couch reading. I commute 40-60 minutes daily, so it's pretty easy to get through long works that way.

CaptSpify 9y ago
One of the reasons I love public transportation is that I get a good amount of reading time while commuting. While yes, I'd prefer a shorter commute time, getting a long period where all I can do is read has been great.
- hycaria 9y ago
  I'm now able to walk to work (<20 minutes) and I miss reading during my commute :(
  - fsiefken 9y ago
    text to speech or use a hmd with low transparancy
    - lsc 9y ago
      >use a hmd with low transparancy Any recommendations? I owned a Xybernaut and a bunch of other HMDs throughout the years. Few were practical for reading and walking at the same time. (Interestingly, I've had several solutions that allowed me to do cardio on a machine while watching a movie.... and watching a movie, even a regular 2d movie in an occlusive HMD is, at least for me, super immersive and fun. None of the solutions I've tried were very robust, and they all end up breaking. If someone has a recommendation for something robust-ish that is easy to hook up to the major streaming services, I'm all ears. ) That said, I haven't looked at the current Microsoft solution; I thought it was tethered to a serious PC like the oculus. I own an Oculus and haven't yet setup a rig that lets me use it on a cardio rig. As an aside, there is a lot of focus on the various two degrees of freedom treadmills look cool, with the 'teflon dish, felt shoes" design looking the most practical, of course, but I haven't even setup one of those yet; I don't know if there is a useful game ecosystem for them yet. But, yeah, if there was something in the neighborhood of a kilobuck that would let me walk and read with reasonable safety, I would be super interested. I already live in an area/live a lifestyle where the 'dork factor' isn't an issue, which I think is the hardest part of solving this problem. I'll probably be buying an oculus go (or one of the competing 'all in one' HMD products) for treadmill use, and using them for watching movies on the treadmill (watching movies on a HMD is way better supported than reading on a HMD, but that means being on a machine)
      - fsiefken 9y ago
        Hi slc! I walked around with a monocular hmd for a while in the first decade (until the cable broke), reading was a problem as the text was going up and down in a sinus wave - not really suitable for following the lines. I thought about two solutions; using a hmd and overlay the text on a camera feed background with low transparency OR use RSVP for the words to stay in one place, or use both but the latter is simpler to implement. Cycling with a monocular was not a problem, worked great, and the are now several AR ventures for cycling. These can be used for using android RSVP apps... and you look a bit more normal :-) https://www.wareable.com/headgear/the-best-smartglasses-google-glass-and-the-rest https://www.wareable.com/headgear/the-best-smartglasses-goog... I remember that I was out drinking late with my friend (and now working at google) Orri Erling, he was blind and had a white stick, I held his arm on one side while on the other side I had a monocular on my head and a twiddler in my hand. We got some stares. What I ended up doing was switching to an audio desktop (Emacspeak) and text-to-speech the articles or books I wanted to read. I have tried the rowing machine with my GearVR, but putting a monitor in front of it is more comfortable. Even so I could try it with my Oculus or MR for a Bigscreen :-) or 360 view with some rowing video's. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XCrq6ytQeE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XCrq6ytQeE
        lsc 9y ago
        RSVP, you say? I have never heard of this technology. I just did a demo app and it looks really interesting. I'll check it out. (I'm super annoyed when people name things using overlapping namespaces... I have a long rant about ip for iproute, too.) And you say that it's compatible with the jock monocular displays? This is actually... pretty exciting.
        fsiefken 9y ago
        if the display can handle 10 fps (the VR headsets are), there is no issue. That said, I found it easier to navigate, cycle and walk with no visual distraction and switch to high speed audio and leave the occasional map, graph, wikipedia entry or image for the monocular. For example, it was very nice dancing on the beach being my own VJ.
  - archagon 9y ago
    Audible? These days, pretty much all the reading I do is in audiobook form.
    - hycaria 9y ago
      Strongly prefer reading over listening. I can barely sit through a podcast.
btrettel 9y ago
Definitely not roughly equivalent to sitting on your couch reading if you are driving. On the couch, distraction rarely ever endangers someone's life. When driving, if your attention moves from the road for even just a few seconds, that could kill. As a bicyclist I've felt hyperaware compared against a large fraction of drivers who are clearly distracted. I imagine this is even more apparent to motorcyclists due to the higher speeds. Phones are bad, and audiobooks can clearly be distracting as well. My suggestion if you have a long driving commute is to reduce the length of the commute, not do anything which endangers other road users. Alternatively you can switch to public transit or carpool and rotate drivers.
- slavik81 9y ago
  It seems that audiobooks are somewhere between a minor hindrance and a minor help in their effect on drivers. It seems that someone who is extremely bored is actually more likely to get into an accident. > During simple drives, people listening to audiobooks braked faster in response to hazards. Audiobooks also helped reduce speeding, a common driver response to mental underload, the study said. > The findings, said Trick, are particularly useful for people with long daily commutes on familiar routes or on long stretches such as rural roads. > During complex drives with various hazards, listening to audiobooks can be an added distraction for people who are poor at multi-tasking, the study found. People able to switch easily between tasks are not negatively affected, it said. https://news.uoguelph.ca/2018/02/audiobooks-improve-focus-long-boring-drives-new-u-g-study-reveals/ https://news.uoguelph.ca/2018/02/audiobooks-improve-focus-lo...

CaptSpify 9y ago

One of the reasons I love public transportation is that I get a good amount of reading time while commuting. While yes, I'd prefer a shorter commute time, getting a long period where all I can do is read has been great.

hycaria 9y ago
I'm now able to walk to work (<20 minutes) and I miss reading during my commute :(
- fsiefken 9y ago
  text to speech or use a hmd with low transparancy
  - lsc 9y ago
    >use a hmd with low transparancy Any recommendations? I owned a Xybernaut and a bunch of other HMDs throughout the years. Few were practical for reading and walking at the same time. (Interestingly, I've had several solutions that allowed me to do cardio on a machine while watching a movie.... and watching a movie, even a regular 2d movie in an occlusive HMD is, at least for me, super immersive and fun. None of the solutions I've tried were very robust, and they all end up breaking. If someone has a recommendation for something robust-ish that is easy to hook up to the major streaming services, I'm all ears. ) That said, I haven't looked at the current Microsoft solution; I thought it was tethered to a serious PC like the oculus. I own an Oculus and haven't yet setup a rig that lets me use it on a cardio rig. As an aside, there is a lot of focus on the various two degrees of freedom treadmills look cool, with the 'teflon dish, felt shoes" design looking the most practical, of course, but I haven't even setup one of those yet; I don't know if there is a useful game ecosystem for them yet. But, yeah, if there was something in the neighborhood of a kilobuck that would let me walk and read with reasonable safety, I would be super interested. I already live in an area/live a lifestyle where the 'dork factor' isn't an issue, which I think is the hardest part of solving this problem. I'll probably be buying an oculus go (or one of the competing 'all in one' HMD products) for treadmill use, and using them for watching movies on the treadmill (watching movies on a HMD is way better supported than reading on a HMD, but that means being on a machine)
    - fsiefken 9y ago
      Hi slc! I walked around with a monocular hmd for a while in the first decade (until the cable broke), reading was a problem as the text was going up and down in a sinus wave - not really suitable for following the lines. I thought about two solutions; using a hmd and overlay the text on a camera feed background with low transparency OR use RSVP for the words to stay in one place, or use both but the latter is simpler to implement. Cycling with a monocular was not a problem, worked great, and the are now several AR ventures for cycling. These can be used for using android RSVP apps... and you look a bit more normal :-) https://www.wareable.com/headgear/the-best-smartglasses-google-glass-and-the-rest https://www.wareable.com/headgear/the-best-smartglasses-goog... I remember that I was out drinking late with my friend (and now working at google) Orri Erling, he was blind and had a white stick, I held his arm on one side while on the other side I had a monocular on my head and a twiddler in my hand. We got some stares. What I ended up doing was switching to an audio desktop (Emacspeak) and text-to-speech the articles or books I wanted to read. I have tried the rowing machine with my GearVR, but putting a monitor in front of it is more comfortable. Even so I could try it with my Oculus or MR for a Bigscreen :-) or 360 view with some rowing video's. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XCrq6ytQeE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XCrq6ytQeE
      - lsc 9y ago
        RSVP, you say? I have never heard of this technology. I just did a demo app and it looks really interesting. I'll check it out. (I'm super annoyed when people name things using overlapping namespaces... I have a long rant about ip for iproute, too.) And you say that it's compatible with the jock monocular displays? This is actually... pretty exciting.
        fsiefken 9y ago
        if the display can handle 10 fps (the VR headsets are), there is no issue. That said, I found it easier to navigate, cycle and walk with no visual distraction and switch to high speed audio and leave the occasional map, graph, wikipedia entry or image for the monocular. For example, it was very nice dancing on the beach being my own VJ.
- archagon 9y ago
  Audible? These days, pretty much all the reading I do is in audiobook form.
  - hycaria 9y ago
    Strongly prefer reading over listening. I can barely sit through a podcast.

btrettel 9y ago

Definitely not roughly equivalent to sitting on your couch reading if you are driving. On the couch, distraction rarely ever endangers someone's life. When driving, if your attention moves from the road for even just a few seconds, that could kill. As a bicyclist I've felt hyperaware compared against a large fraction of drivers who are clearly distracted. I imagine this is even more apparent to motorcyclists due to the higher speeds. Phones are bad, and audiobooks can clearly be distracting as well. My suggestion if you have a long driving commute is to reduce the length of the commute, not do anything which endangers other road users. Alternatively you can switch to public transit or carpool and rotate drivers.

slavik81 9y ago
It seems that audiobooks are somewhere between a minor hindrance and a minor help in their effect on drivers. It seems that someone who is extremely bored is actually more likely to get into an accident. > During simple drives, people listening to audiobooks braked faster in response to hazards. Audiobooks also helped reduce speeding, a common driver response to mental underload, the study said. > The findings, said Trick, are particularly useful for people with long daily commutes on familiar routes or on long stretches such as rural roads. > During complex drives with various hazards, listening to audiobooks can be an added distraction for people who are poor at multi-tasking, the study found. People able to switch easily between tasks are not negatively affected, it said. https://news.uoguelph.ca/2018/02/audiobooks-improve-focus-long-boring-drives-new-u-g-study-reveals/ https://news.uoguelph.ca/2018/02/audiobooks-improve-focus-lo...