Author: jamesclay

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Amazon Smart Plug

Amazon Smart Plug

After writing about the end of my WeMo devices I did think about if I should get some alternatives. I guess Amazon were listening as when I visited their website, they had one of their Amazon Basics Single Outlet Indoor Wi-Fi Smart Plugs on a special offer for £1.99, which was good value compared to the retail value of £9.99. So I got it, to try it out.

It was relatively easy to setup, though you have to remember this is Amazon Basics plug and not an Amazon plug when scanning the setup QR code.

Then it’s just a matter of using the Alexa app to configure the device. I used my new plug with a standing lamp and it worked fine. Of course linked to Alexa meant that I could now use voice commands to control the lamp.

The only thing I now need to sort out, is some kind of automated routine, for when I am away.

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No more WeMo

light bulbs
Image by Bruno from Pixabay

Since I moved house last November, I have been using some WeMo devices from Belkin that I have had for a while, but hadn’t used for a fair few years in my last place. These were smart plugs and smart bulbs.

The devices were reasonably reliable, but I liked how I could enable rules to turn lights of and on when I was away. Also being able to use an app on the phone to control the lights was another feature.

However….

It’s quite a big however…

Belkin are going to stop supporting WeMo devices from January 2026.

Well a recent update to the app killed it for me, so much so I can’t even access the app, so I can’t control my smart plugs or smart bulbs.

So, now looking at other options that are out there.

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Problems with Prime Video App on the Apple TV

Apple TV

One of the apps I use regularly on my Apple TV is the Amazon Prime Video app.

I have recently updated my Apple TV to tvOS 26 and since then I have been having a few issues with the Prime Video App on the Apple TV.

The main issue is that when I open the app, it stalls. I have to exit (swipe up) the app and open the app again.

When streaming content, I have had some buffering issues. I am playing a video and then I get a whirling circle of death. Sometimes I can get away with restarting the app, other times I have to actually restart the Apple TV.

I did do a Google search to no avail, well nothing relevant to the current version of the Apple TV tvOS. 

I hope it will be fixed with an update to the OS or the app.

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Updated the Apple TV

Having updated my other Apple devices to the latest operating system, I took the plunge and updated the Apple TV to tvOS 26, which was released on the 15th September.

It adds the new Liquid Glass interface, now I am not so sure I am a fan of this new look. However the familiarity was that it was inspired by the Aqua interface, which was released twenty five years ago by Apple.

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This programme is not available in your current location

I was wanting to watch the F1 race highlights, when I was in the Netherlands.

Well, there I was thinking I was lucky. I knew I wouldn’t be able to watch the F1 race live, as I would be flying. Wondered if I would be able to watch the race on catch up. So, I avoided any news sites just in case, to avoid any spoilers. 

When I roam with Three the phone does act (generally) as if I am in the UK. For example, the BBC News doesn’t have adverts. However when I tried with the NOW app it said not available in my location. 

So, then tried using the Channel 4 to watch the F1 highlights, and that was working. So, managed to watch the F1 race, having not seen any spoilers. Yay.

Or so I thought…

Then…

Screenshot

There was an error and the Channel 4 app said the programme was not available in my current location.

They had discovered where I was!

So, I decided I would wait until I was back in the UK. Well I said that, the reality was I checked the BBC News website to see what the end result was.

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Roaming in the Netherlands

Amsterdam canal

I usually blog about my roaming experiences when I travel abroad. Sometimes I have issues, but more recently things have gone very smoothly.

I had visited Amsterdam nearly two years ago, back in October 2023, then I had no issues with roaming. I was visiting the Netherlands again, though this time I was attending a conference in Delft.

When I go abroad the process I use is go into Settings -> Mobile Data and turn off virtually all the apps which could use mobile data.  I would turn off mobile data for virtually all my apps and also specifically iCloud Drive and iCloud Backup. I am pretty sure they were the culprits for my excessive data usage whilst in Portugal. This time, as with my recent trip to France, I only turned off mobile data for iCloud Drive and iCloud Backup and a few data heavy apps.

The hotel I was staying at had good wifi, and the conference venue at TU Delft had eduroam. Having said that I did make use of mobile data when I was in coffee shops, on the train, and walking around various Dutch places. I was impressed with the mobile data speeds that were available.

I was there for five days and when I landed back in Bristol, I had not used up all my data.

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Why so slow…

I have to say that I still get confused what to call different kinds of chargers, what with fast chargers, rapid chargers and the like…

I was needing a quick charge after a slip road closure had caused me to make a twenty mile diversion. When the Funky Cat gets down to a 10% charge then the range and battery usage seems to be unreliable. I only wanted to add 15-25% extra charge on the battery, it was getting late, and motorway chargers are expensive. I stopped at the southbound Sedgemoor Services, firstly hoping that they did have chargers, and secondly they would work!

Unlike other services on the M5 they only have a few Gridserve chargers. The Exeter services on the other hand have over fifty chargers!

I have the Gridserve app, and despite having the app, I always seem to have to log into the app. Why is that? I always have an issue with that as the username and password are not saved in my iCloud passwords, I always forget that I used Apple to sign in… Once I got past that hurdle I plugged the car in. 

It was an CCS 50kW charger, so I thought, well this should put on enough charge in 15 minutes… 

Other Funky Cat owners have had issues with Gridserve chargers when the car was initially launched, however a software update (on both sides I believe) sorted that out.

It took a while for the charging to start, I was a little nervous about that, but eventually it got going.

It started off at 26kW which isn’t the best I’ve had from a charger, but with a 50KW charger I was expecting to get above 40kW. I went to get a coffee, and then looking on the GWM app I could see the car was charging slowly, more slowly than I was expecting. So, I checked the Gridserve app and was a little surprised (and a little annoyed) to see the charging level had dropped to 13kW. Well I had little choice, so I left it charging. As the charge level got closer to 25% I could see the charging level had risen to 26kW again.

Overall it had taken 30 minutes to get from just below 10% charge to 25%. At this point, it was getting late, so I stopped the charge and headed home.

Not sure why it was slow, was it my car, was it the charger? There was no one else using that charger, though other cars were charging on the other chargers, would that make such a difference? I don’t know. All I will say is, it was frustrating when all I really wanted to do was to get home.

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Falling range

When I first got the Funky Cat in August 2023 whenever I charged to 100% my predicted range was usually 185 miles. Not quite the 193 of the advertised WLTP range but pretty close.

For pretty much of 2025, well the warmer months, when I have charged to 100% I now have a predicted range of 175 miles, well with the odd exception.

I have noticed over the last month or so that the predicted range as now dropped to 172 miles when I charge to 100%. 

It’s known fact with electric vehicles that they do deteriorate over time and the storage capacity of the battery is reduced as it is used and charged.

The ORA Funky Cat I have is the original First Edition model and has the Lithium Ion Phosphate battery, which is fine to charge to 100% on a regular basis (or so I read on the internet), this is the battery in the newer ORA PURE. The newer ORA 03+ or even newer ORA PRO has a Ternary Lithium battery, which has a 30% increased capacity and range, however the advice from the internet on this kind of battery is not to charge to 100% on a regular basis.

As my car is a lease car, I will be returning it in just under a year, so I won’t have to worry too much about the falling range.

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Mapping it badly no more

Last year I blogged about some mapping issues I was having with Apple CarPlay on the Ora Funky Cat.

I have noticed a glitch with Apple Maps on CarPlay on the Ora Funky Cat ever since I upgraded to iOS 18. Starting CarPlay, opening Apple Maps I am in completely the wrong location.

Over the next few months I would have the same glitch with Waze and Google Maps. I would start the car, CarPlay would start and though I knew where I was as far as the car was concerned I was about 100 miles to the east.

Usually within a few minutes the error would correct itself and I would find that Waze would place me in the right location. It certainly was annoying, also when I actually needed the sat nav to work it was quite frustrating. One solution was to disable CarPlay and either use the built-in navigation (which worked fine) or use the phone separately and balance it on the dashboard.

This also impacted on Google Maps timeline, which would often show me having travelled a hundred miles in just a few minutes!

I kind of just lived with it.

I have noticed over the last few months that the glitch seems to have resolved itself. I’ve not updated the car, so it must have been an iPhone update. Whatever, now I have a sat nav works just fine, which is nice.

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But I don’t smoke…

So the month I took the Funky Cat to France (and Belgium) on a driving holiday. I have (kind of) gotten use to the way in which Ora (the voice assistant in the car) issues verbal warnings. Some are quite useful, most not so much. Please brake as you approach a black coloured car, or when coming up behind a parked car before driving around it, when you didn’t need to brake. 

On this trip though there was one voice warning which I was quite surprised by.

Please smoke in moderation and drive carefully.

One, I don’t smoke.

Two, I don’t intend to start smoking.

Not sure what I was doing that triggered the warning, but it happened a number of times. 

When the sun is shining low in the sky and I can be squinting, I sometimes get Ora telling me to concentrate and not get distracted, or don’t drive whilst tired, this warning however was the first time that she asked me to do something that I wasn’t doing. I don’t smoke and I don’t want to smoke!