Apple Maps

There are some reports complaining about the accuracy of the map application on the new iPhone. I haven't seen any problems myself, in fact, I am a happy user, because it appears that Apple is using much newer information in Scandinavia.

 

How do I know that? Well, I took a look at Aspö on my iPad and was pleasantly surprised to see our house!

I've made a collection of four screenshots zooming into the black roofs of our little cabin and the even teenier guest house beside it. 

How cool.

Design House Stockholm

Dwell has a blog entry about the 20th anniversary of Design House Stockholm. We just missed the store's opening when we lived there, but we have visited their shops in Sweden and the UK many times since.

I would be happy to own nearly everything I've ever seen in one of their stores! I see they have an outlet in Minneapolis now. Maybe I'll stop by next time I'm up in my home town.

(The same is true of the Nordiska Galleriet, for that matter. I have visited them many times over the years, lusting over one beautiful object after another!)

A few quick updates

• Annika has sent a few photos over the past weeks, and I always update them on her photoset. The latest one was of a stormy boat ride yesterday!
• The Local has an interesting article about the Systembolaget testing home delivery. It's not the archipelago yet, but one can live in hope...!
• Lastly, Sooz and I have settled in October 6-13 for our final trip of the year. It's taken a lot of juggling to find a week that works, but we're all set now. Further details forthcoming of course!

Cable lights

I posted previously about my cable light installation and that I erred on my choice of the light fixtures. We experimented last trip with a few low-cost fixtures and bulbs to figure out what might work best. Sooz liked a narrow beam focused on the sink and work tops. The problem is that the simple fixtures I bought weren't very adjustable.

A bit of research found me these, the 'Orion' by Prima lighting. A very responsive assistant at Brilliant Lighting helped me choose the right combo for my already-installed cables.

These look to be the business; they're very adjustable both in direction and angle, and they're nice and sturdy. When we're out to the house in October, I think the extra light will come in very handy during the early evenings!

Painting once again

The paint we have purchased is from Ottoson in Skåne, experts in linseed oil painting. They have a YouTube channel with lots of English-language videos about using their product, which is pretty impressive, since most of their production is in Sweden, with only a little bit in northern Europe.

I looked at all of their videos and this one seems to be exactly what I was thinking of for our house:



I contacted the company for a bit of advice and, through an email conversation, they agreed that the 50% paint/40% oil/10% balsam turpentine is the way to go. It should cover in one coat, dry quickly, and be able to be applied in temperatures as low as 5°C. 

Although I have the paint already, we will have to shop for the oil and turpentine when we're in Sweden, before we head out to the house in October. More on that next trip soon.

Broadband Internet

I've been corresponding with the people on Aspö and Nämdö about the progress of our broadband internet project. Since my last update in April, we have made our application, and I am officially part of it.

We will know more after a meeting this fall, but it appears our island neighborhood is one of six that is being discussed for wiring. The key question is when, and we'll know more after that meeting. Realistically, it will be 2 or 3 years I think.

The cost still looks like 20,000kr delivered to the house. Frankly, I'm up for that; 100mps broadband is very appealing, especially out in my favourite place!!!

Sooz, on the other hand, is not so keen. She's plenty happy with our little wifi hotspot today, which, to be fair, although a little slow and fiddly, is plenty good enough for email, Facebooking and iPhone games. She also believes, quite rightly, that the wireless technology should improve, making our current solution better in the coming years.

My biggest fear is not being part of the initial broadband club, and then having a much more expensive installation in the future. I also think Grant would be more likely to visit if I had super-fast internet access. It also may be easier for me to spend time away if I have a strong connection back to the office.  (How's that for rationalization!)

Either way, there's no need to decide just yet. We'll wait for more news later this year.

UPDATE: Apparently Sweden wins at the internet!