Turns out, there is no native way to show real-time swim distance (but you can for running, walking and cycling?) Now integrating a bespoke solution, but one with greater control and accuracy which I am excited about.

meh, that didn't work. But the tweens in my backyard giggled then joined me in my "Air Swim"

The open water swim app I'm building will only show live distance and pace when moving my arms. I'm about to go in my backyard and "Air Swim".... #SwiftUI

Spending the rest of the day right here 🌊 🧘‍♀️

When you pack consumer electronics with lots of sensors and powerful software, it can be so much more than a phone and weird little computer. DopFone app tracks fetal heart rates with your smartphone. www.washington.edu/news/2026/02...

Attention Physical Oceanographers....NOAA is hiring?! 5 positions, closing date is 3/25 so hurry. 🌊🧪 #oceanography www.usajobs.gov/job/861651700

Attention Physical Oceanographers....NOAA is hiring?! 5 positions, closing date is 3/25 so hurry. 🌊🧪 #oceanography www.usajobs.gov/job/861651700

Took a much needed break from doing taxes to do some backyard wave buoy upgrades. A pool noodle was sacrificed for the cause. #lowcost #oceantechnology #oceanexploration

Bob 2.0 is out on the app store! Now you don't even need a watch, just log data with your phone! Also, I forgot to stop sampling yesterday and have logged 35+ continuous hours of my location, my motion and air pressure. apps.apple.com/us/app/bob-e...

Bob 2.0 is out on the app store! Now you don't even need a watch, just log data with your phone! Also, I forgot to stop sampling yesterday and have logged 35+ continuous hours of my location, my motion and air pressure. apps.apple.com/us/app/bob-e...

My buoy design principle: what can I do with $20, a quick trip to the hardware store, limited technical knowledge and a smartwatch?

This is so cool!

My buoy design principle: what can I do with $20, a quick trip to the hardware store, limited technical knowledge and a smartwatch?

First test of using a smartwatch as combo Wave and Tidal inundation buoy is a success!

And found my first bug. The phone app stops sampling when the screen turns off or I navigate to another app.

Any one want to be a Beta Tester? The process is simple, you can play around with the app for free, and then give me feedback. Good or bad, it helps me build something better.

Done! Finished the code that Bob Environmental that turns your iPhone and your Apple Watch into a smart sensor for science. Now to update the App store version 😀 #SwiftUI

I have an unexpected opportunity to do a quick field test for a wave buoy/tidal inundation mooring with the watch, so planning and taking advantage of it this weekend.

We had a pod of Dall’s Porpoise escort us out to our mooring site near Qutekcak (Seward), AK. Mangaq is Sugpiaq/Alutiiq for porpoise. 🧪🌊🦑🐬 #FieldworkFriday #AlaskaSky

Smartwatch being used for science in the wild!

We did an experiment today too! Except we like our buddy that fished the watch out of the water!

Making progress on the phone app! ✅ Logs data ✅ Clear real-time display ✅ Adjusted user interactions for intuitive use on phone Still need to - Update layout for largest accessible fonts - Add settings for phone sampling

Going down the wormhole of accessibility and dynamic type for mobile apps today. Default looks great, the accessible large font does not with numbers cut off. #SwiftUI

Someone please do the project where you track your cat. My cat/queen was not having it.

Wow, amazing #sciart via @thisiscolossal.com

Still working on the UI for the real-time data display for the phone all. It's coming along, but I am not happy with it yet.

I would 100% leave this in a different tide pool (at the marine station) every day for a week and see what's what. Put it on a float off of Agassiz Beach. Let it swing in the breeze outside my office (facing the beach). So many fun little things to try! 🧐

This is the way. 🌊🦑

🌊 cool projects for oceanography classes.

What can you do with all the sensors on your smartwatch? Here are some ideas to get you started. - Build a Wave Buoy - Measure Tidal Inundation - Deploy as a stream gauge - Classify road quality while bicycling and 10 additional projects below. www.tiniscientific.com/field-projects

At the price of 1 apple watch + 99¢ for the app, this is an order of magnitude less than commercial instruments.

Took a kiddo to the dentist this morning and they got to listen to the dentist music of my youth: easy listening. Doobie Brothers Fleetwood Mac The Cars Hall & Oates Kenny Loggins It was glorious.

Sometimes I just take data with my watch to see what it would look like. Behold, the barometric and altimetric data my ascent and descent into the North Cascades.

I was trying to do a backyard experiment measuring diurnal heating and cooling with my watch. Instead this jerk and their buddy fished the watch and the rope it was tied to out of the water and were playing with it like kittens.

It's ugly but it works. Working on an update to Bob Environmental where you can just take data with the sensors on a phone. No watch required.

Spent a bit of time looking at my spectra of my motion while swimming, both open water and in the pool. Which peaks are due to me swimming and which are due to being in ocean waves and currents? Still a bit of analysis to be done but it's a start.

My wife is at #OSM26 and I am not. I am on social media and she is not. I am taking screen shots, sending them to her, and asking if she saw The Princess Royal in ALL CAPS. She did not.

Things about collecting data that really frustrated me as an oceanographer - cables - UI from the 90s - can't see data in real-time - 8000 steps to plot data It was a joy to fix that in Bob Environmental, and turn smartwatches into accessible and low-cost smart sensors for science.

This feels so silly, but having an app update go through in less than 24 hours feels like something to celebrate! For context, it took 6 submissions to get the version 1.0 published. Into version 1.0.2

How do I take data? While swimming! Here a look at the raw data from hopping in the water with friends at Alki in Seattle. It was cold 🥶 You can see my trajectory in the location data and my swim strokes in the motion data from the IMU. apps.apple.com/us/app/bob-e...

At the price of 1 apple watch + 99¢ for the app, this is an order of magnitude less than commercial instruments.

For all of you at #OSM26 with kids this year, I present to you my #OSM24 poster session scavenger hunt I made for my kids.

I did it! I made a low-cost app that turns your Apple Watch into a smart sensor for science! GPS, IMU, Water Temperature, Depth, Barometer. All in one wrist sized package. Try it and tell me about it. All feedback makes this a better tool for scientists. apps.apple.com/us/app/bob-e...

Love it! As someone that has brought their kids to multiple Ocean Science meetings, having day care was crucial #OSM26

I just started a "Running list of press" doc for my startup, because @rejectedbanana.bsky.social and I just had our first appearance in someone else's blog and I'm dreaming big. Look out, world, someday we will have TWO FEATURES 🏆 Read the blog post here: altasea.org/ocean-startu...

Testing sampling on my smartwatch. Unsurprisingly, in regular mode it's inconsistent, prioritizing memory to do things like receiving texts from my family. In airplane mode, the sampling interval is amazingly consistent and you get double the battery life for ~24 hours of sampling.

Second, longer endurance tests confirms a minimum 12.5 hours of continuous logging! Next step, increasing endurance with low power mode and turning off wireless communication (Wifi, bluetooth, and cellular)

BTW, I’ve made an app that turns your smartwatch into a smart sensor for scientists.

Doing endurance testing on the Bob app today. First rough estimate, 12.5 hours of continuous logging. That’s GPS, IMU, barometer and still receiving texts from my family.

My startup's app lets anyone collect 🦑🧪 data with the sensors in their smartwatch (Co-Founder: @rejectedbanana.bsky.social) A UW Tacoma team designed a 3D printed buoy to enclose a watch & measure water velocity. And got 3rd place in @cerfscience.bsky.social's Student Coastal Design Competition! 🎉