Leitner Electric Bike Review versus Anaconda Electric Bike

On a recent short stay in Torquay, Victoria I noticed the property had a number of Leitner Electric Bikes for hire. I couldn't miss the opportunity to take one for a test ride.

Kelvin

Error starting GoPro Player software. "GoPro Player is not currently available in your account."

Recently I had an issue starting the GoPro Player software. I have a GoPro and without the GoPro Player software there is no way to view or use the 360 videos. A complete downer. The following are the various error messages I received.

 

This felt to me to be more of a Microsoft issue rather than a GoPro issue so I decided to leave feedback on the Microsoft store. Given I'd not been able to access the files for a few days, shortly after posting the feedback the issue disappeared. Coincidence or Microsoft actually checking the feedback I don't know.

The main reason I'm sharing is if others find themselves in the same situation, sharing my experience might save some time.

Kelvin

VicRoads Geelong, Practical Driving Test #4

VicRoads Geelong, Practical Driving Test #4 complete with audio guide for travelling the route is now available at www.PracticalDrivingTest.com.au.

Kelvin

VicRoads Dandenong, Practical Driving Test #6

The VicRoads Dandenong, Practical Driving Test #6 is now available on YouTube.

Kelvin
www.PracticalDrivingTest.com.au

VicRoads Coolaroo, Practical Driving Test #5

VicRoads Coolaroo Practical Driving Test #5 is now available and can be found at www.PracticalDrivingTest.com.au.

Kelvin

VicRoads Ringwood, Heatherdale Road, Practical Driving Test #3

The third Practical Driving Test video is now available including audio guided turn by turn instructions for those wishing to complete the practical driving test route.

Kelvin
www.PracticalDrivingTest.com.au

Location of Dan Andrews' wife Catherine Andrews crash with cyclist in 2013.

Today I noticed an article about the crash involving Dan Andrews' wife Catherine Andrews and a 15 year old cyclist that occurred in 2013.

Dan Andrews grilled over 2013 Blairgowrie crash with Ryan Meuleman | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site

I decided to check out the location. You can find the location by copying and pasting the following coordinates or address into Google Maps.

-38.37233221847381, 144.77570100737393
(Melbourne Road and Ridley Street, Blairgowrie)

The accident occurred at 1:10pm on the 7th of January 2013. In 2013 Melbourne Road had a speed limit of 70km/h, which is also the current speed limit. Ridley Street had/has a speed limit of 50km/h.

All I can really say is it must have been gut wrenching for all parties involved. I was once pulling out of a drive very, very slowly where the hedge obscured my view and out of the corner of my eye I noticed something and immediately hit the brakes. It was a small child on a bike who had got ahead of the mother. The bike ended up on it's side and just near or possibly under the wheel of my car (I can't quite recall). No one was hurt, the bike was not damaged, but I was shaken and lived with the memory for some time. There's no winners in this situation.

I don't like checking out accident information as it's often horrible. I do like to understand what may have happened in broad terms so if there's something to learn, I can learn and pass the information on to family and friends.

Using Google Streetview to check out the location you'll see there's no warning to cars that a bike track exists. Nothing. Visibility is very limited. The path is around 17 metres from the main road. There's perhaps 2-3 metres visibility of anyone on the path. A bike travelling at 20km/h would give a driver 0.36-0.72 seconds to respond and hit the brakes. On roads for traffic lights, response time is assumed to be around 1 second. In other words, there may be insufficient time for a driver to respond and apply their brakes irrespective of their speed.

The bike path being 17 metres from the main road is around a house block in from the road. Drivers expect paths to be near roads, not a house block in. But it is a warning when in these areas look out for signs of bike paths and drive appropriately. Cyclists also need to consider they may not be seen. Perhaps some signage or line markings indicating cycling crossing point may be worth considering.

I hope this information may help others in some way. It has certainly taught me to be more alert for bike trails and paths.

Kelvin

TAB nearest to me has now been added to Mapz.

With the Melbourne Cup fast approaching there's one question at this time of the year I hear. It's where is the TAB nearest to me or a variation such as TAB near me. It makes sense. A lot of people place bets on the Melbourne Cup who would normally not place a bet and frankly I would know where the nearest TAB is located.

Over the next couple of weeks, I'll keep populating the map on Mapz for TAB Nearest To Me. You can find the map at TAB Nearest To Me, TAB Near Me (mapz.com.au).

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au

Why you shop around each year for car insurance.

If you're not checking around for car insurance each year, it can cost you quite a bit. Today I checked around for car insurance for a Mazda CX5 (2015) for a person over 80.

Coles: $1,198.16

Woolworths: $2,544.33

Woolworths drive less pay less: $1,701.69

Insured for $20,100

Excess $800

AAMI: $1,108.75

Excess $800

Market value

RACV: $1,747.02

Excess $825

Market value

As you can see the premiums can vary considerably from one car insurer to another by over $1,400. Coles was the cheapest last year but now it's around $90 cheaper than the cheapest car insurance.

Kelvin

Dancing Coca Cola can

 

Interesting condensation effect causes Coca Cola can to start dancing.

Practical Driving Test #2 - VicRoads Ringwood Heatherdale Road test route 1

The second Practical Driving Test video is now available. The video covers a reported test route at VicRoads Ringwood, Heatherdale Road.

Kelvin

www.PracticalDrivingTest.com.au

VicRoads Near Me added to Mapz to enable people to find their nearest VicRoads customer service centre.

I've started to create Practical Driving Test videos and audio guides. Practical Driving Tests start at a VicRoads customer service centre, so I thought I'd provide a map of the VicRoads' customer service centres.

You can find the VicRoads Near Me map at https://www.Mapz.com.au/vicroadsnearme.

I hope you find the map useful.

Kelvin Eldridge
VicRoads Near Me

Two updates speed camera locations in NSW and WA on Speed Camera Locations site.

Two changes today.

Today I was able to find the speed camera located on the Great Northern Highway, Bullsbrook, WA. The location of the camera has now been added to the map. This camera's location has eluded me for some time and was the last camera in WA where the location wasn't known.

NSW have issued a press release for a new red light speed camera in Bankstown NSW at the intersection of Rickard Road and Lady Cutler Avenue. As per new cameras I don't know which part of the intersection is located or the direction of the camera so the middle of the intersection is used until additional information on the location is found.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.SpeedCameraLocations.com.au

Making Money On YouTube. It's harder than people think.

In this video I share my analytics and plug the values into the Making Money On YouTube web app I created which lets me know how long it will be until I get monetised and a share in the advertising revenue.

Kelvin

Driving Melbourne, Templestowe to Heidelberg Repat COVID testing and Pro...

Driving Melbourne at night, Dandenong South to Templestowe

Driving NSW, New South Wales, Victoria, Yarrawonga Mulwala to Templestowe

Mobile Phone and Seat Belt cameras, Coffs Harbour, Newcastle, Sydney

On a recent driving holiday I had the opportunity to see the new mobile phone and seat belt detection cameras. As people may not have seen these cameras as well, I thought it would be good to share what they looked like.

Kelvin

Play radio in background of YouTube videos using freeRadio (free radio).

The freeRadio web app was created as part of an evolving process. I create videos for YouTube which are driving videos, however I don't include sound, just the visual component. Why? Generally because of privacy of others in the car. 

I also don't add music to the videos for a couple of reasons. If I add music before uploading YouTube often marks the music as a copyright strike even though I've used Microsoft's provided music. I also find I don't like the music choice of others so I'm sure others may not like my choice, but more importantly it is very time consuming and if I had to spend that time I couldn't justify making the videos. The return simply isn't there.

My original thought was it was easy for people to put on their favourite music as they watched my videos.

Over time however I found with websites I was developing I could include YouTube videos in my own web pages for my own sites such as www.SpeedCameraLocations.com.au. As my knowledge evolved I worked out I could zoom in on YouTube videos which isn't a feature provided by YouTube and sometimes that was important to me. Next I worked out I could add streaming radio to my web pages. I now had all the techniques I needed and created the freeRadio site www.freeRadio.com.au so people could play radio streams as they watched my videos or videos from others. I then added the option to freeRadio so people can enter the YouTube video's unique identifier to provide zooming and radio streaming in the background all within the one web page.

If you'd like to play a radio stream in the background of a YouTube video then give freeRadio a try.

www.freeRadio.com.au

Kelvin

freeRadio web app now live. Free Radio, Internet Radio, Online Radio

I create videos of my drives and upload them to YouTube. I produce the videos without sound to ensure I don't breach copyright and respect the privacy of passengers in the car. My aim was for people to play their own radio or music in the background whilst watching the videos.

Here's a link to my YouTube channel.
Ride, Drive, Walk by Kelvin - YouTube

Feel free to subscribe using the following link.
https://www.youtube.com/user/kelvineldridge?sub_confirmation=1

I could add music to my videos whilst creating them but unfortunately I never know if YouTube are going to mark the music copyright, which they have in the past, even though the music is supposedly copyright free. I could also add free music to the video using the YouTube editor but frankly it's hard to go through all the music to find something I like, let alone what other people will like. Frankly I can't stand the music many people add to their videos on YouTube.

I decided perhaps a good way around this problem was to create my own freeRadio web app. On a desktop computer if freeRadio is opened in one tab and YouTube in another freeRadio will keep playing. Whilst this is possible on Apple iPads, it's too clumsy and on Apple iPhone the YouTube app cuts off the freeRadio sound. That's OK because most people have an older phone they can connect to their network or hotspot and use that phone as a radio.

I've put in a selection of internet radio streams for people to choose from. If you want nothing more than to listen to radio whilst travelling on the train, bus, or even at home or work, freeRadio can be used for that too.

You can find freeRadio at www.freeRadio.com.au.

Kelvin