Eric Walker

I really do like my Apple Ultra watch and am glad to only be rocking one watch on a daily basis unlike a couple years ago. However, having the Ultra well over a year now and knowing the Apple Watch itself has been out so long I still can’t believe that the missed opportunity to have a route mapping function on the watch with in the stock Workout app. Typically I don’t need it often but when I map out some really long runs on my phone I have to pull it out from time to time to make sure I catch the right trail or street, two things I don’t love doing when I am out running and also further makes me not want to run with out my phone.

Now, yes there are a couple apps out there that can allow you to get turn by turn directions but most are not great or require an additional subscription to use and I had found a hadful of them don’t work that great or are complex to setup. Also, you run into the issue of are you going to run just that or the Workout app as well and how do you flip back and forth.

With all of that said and even with some of the limitations that are still there I was pointed in the direction of WorkOutDoors app from Mat Routley which I have actually found to be a solid running map navigator. I have used it a handful of times now and been running the workout app at the same time but in the background. Flipping between them if I need to for any reason is a pain but I am getting used to it. However, my last longer run I started the Workoutdoor app then started my workout app and then went back to the workoutdoor app until about a mile or so left because I knew the direction. It didn’t kill my battery for being out there for 2 hrs and 45 min of two GPS apps running and timing.

I had to buy this app but honestly I have no issues paying for an app that does what it says and it woeked better than others that wanted more of a subscription base. I will say this app has a lot of settings but I think that is what I like about this, check the settings you want on your phone, load the GPX map you want to follow or map it in the iOS app and go. Nothing to crazy just filling the gap that the WatchOS left in the Workout app. Maybe someday that will be corrected but for now I don’t mid this setup and again it allows me on longer or more complex runs to leave my Garmin again at home.

Every now and then I run across something that has me remember something from my past and today it was a computer game called Bolo by Stuart Cheshire. Don’t be mistaken by the 1982 game that was for the Apple II as I am talking about the 1987 game.

I mean what wasn’t there to like about this very basic game, you were a tank on an island for a winner or team take all. In the game you could capture pillboxes (automatic gun turrets), refueling bases, build walls and boats, join alliances, farm trees, and lay mines. You could find other built maps or even create your own to add to the challenge if you wanted to play alone or even with others.

“Bolo is the Hindi word for communication. Bolo is about computers communicating on the network, and more importantly about humans communicating with each other, as they argue, negotiate, form alliances, agree strategies, etc.”

To top if off if you were lucky enough you could play against others on a local network at your school which is what some of my friends and I did. It helped that this was back when Mac computers were starting to show up in school and my dad was the Middle School Principal so he would let a couple of us go into the computer labs after school. Most of the time there was only 2-4 of us so we would boot up as many computers as we could and set most of them to be on autopilot with various “Brains” we had downloaded to the disks we had.

In my stumbling around to find out more about this old game I used to enjoy I found where you can play an old version online in the Internet Archive.