Eric briefly updates the audience on the Orenda App projects and the new Watershape University chemistry course being created. This would have been an Olympic preview, but due to technical difficulties with our last guest, we will have to re-record after the Olympics.
00:00 - Introduction
03:29 - LaMotte integration with 601 discs
04:41 - App login vs. Orenda Academy login
06:28 - Watershape University course
06:55 - Closing
[00:00:00] Eric Knight: Hey everybody. And welcome back to the Rule Your Pool podcast. This is episode 150. I'm your host Eric Knight with Orenda and HASA. And unfortunately I am doing this one alone. Wasn't trying to, I actually interviewed an Olympic swimmer and a very popular podcast host last week. He's got the most popular swimming podcast in the world. It was a real honor to have him on, his name's Brett Hawke. He's an Australian Olympian and we did this Olympic preview show and I thought things were going fine.
[00:00:26] But as is my luck, I'm learning, after the Rowdy Gaines episode, it wasn't my microphone that failed. It was his. So we had technical difficulties and unfortunately, nothing he recorded was usable. And then the Olympics started and he's doing daily podcasts once he got his thing figured out, uh, he's just too busy right now. So maybe we'll have to do an Olympic recap show instead of a preview show.
[00:00:50] But I will say it was really awesome to talk to him because this is his living. He's been an Olympic coach multiple times so he has a lot of insight into the sport. And he made some predictions that so far, today's July 31st, they're all coming true.
[00:01:05] So Summer McIntosh, he predicted Leon Marchand, they were going to stand out. They're going to win the 400 IM. They did in resounding fashion. He also called David Popovici who won the 200 free and we'll see tonight if he wins the 100 free.
[00:01:17] We're probably going to do a recap. It was a really insightful conversation with him, and you may not care about competitive swimming. But you got to remember we're in the aquatics business. I personally think it's cool to talk about Olympic swimming. It comes around every four years. And it is the absolute apex of our sport. It's pretty cool to see people performing at their best.
[00:01:36] That said, before getting into this, I have seen some things floating around social media and I've gotten a lot of text messages and questions from our customers and listeners asking what I think about this. Apparently there's some controversy about something wrong with the pool that people are swimming a lot slower. And there's no doubt that a lot of the times are off the world records. I don't really know enough information to answer on that.
[00:02:01] And that's what I've been saying to people. I don't know if there's something wrong with the pool. I doubt it. I know that by FINA regulations, you have to have at least two meters of depth, but people are saying that this 2.1 meters is shallower than most pools. I mean, maybe it is. It seems a little shallow, but um, I don't think that would really have that much of an impact on speed.
[00:02:23] One thing I will say that stuns me is I'm watching it on TV and the pool is really cloudy. Hey Olympic committee, we can help you. It doesn't have to be that cloudy. It's the Olympics. So anyway. Olympics are in 2028, hope we can help them then. They're going to be in Los Angeles. So hopefully that water is really, really clean. And if it's not, you're going to know that we were not able to get involved.
[00:02:47] Anyway. This episode was going to be an Olympic preview, unfortunately, it is not. So this is on short notice and I thought this would be a good opportunity to do some mid-summer updates for you since we've been getting a lot of questions about some various things, and in advance, it's going to be all over the place. So. Sorry.
[00:03:29] Eric Knight: Update number one, let's talk about the LaMotte integration. The LaMotte integration that we built a few weeks ago is working very well from all the feedback we're getting. And it was designed for the 203 series SpinTouch discs. I personally was unaware that there was a different type of disc called the 601 series.
[00:03:46] And apparently there's many other types of discs that I am now becoming aware of, but we designed it around the 203, because that's what was sent to us. We did not know that there were others and apparently the 601 disc has three sections so that you can do three different pools with the same disc. That's pretty good cost savings. It does pH, total alkalinity, and free chlorine. Pretty awesome, you can do three pools with it.
[00:04:09] The problem is it doesn't fit how we built our integration around the 203. So we're working on that. But here's the bottom line.
[00:04:16] We had to fly our developer from overseas to build the last integration. It's Bluetooth. You have to be able to test it with the machine. And we're trying our best to make this work remotely. I just got the discs over the weekend. If this works, we should hopefully have an update that allows you to use the 601 disc. These things take time. And it all costs money. And we're doing this for you. We're trying to balance a bunch of projects, so just please be patient. We are aware of the 601 disc now, and that's what we're working on.
[00:04:41] Eric Knight: Okay onto the next thing about the app. Let's talk about the login. I introduced the login when we talked about this most recent app update in episode 146. And in that episode, I said that this is the same log in as Orenda Academy. I found out after the fact that's actually not the case. And a lot of you customers have told me that. I was just as shocked. And nobody's more frustrated about this than I am. We are trying to get this compatible. Apparently it's not as easy as it sounds.
[00:05:11] I don't know what the answer is, but we've got a lot of people working on it right now, trying to make sure that you can have one login that counts for your app and all of your Orenda Academy information. I don't know if it's going to be a clean transition. I really don't. I hope it is. We're trying to find the best solution. We don't have one yet.
[00:05:30] And as a result of that, just being transparent because that's what we do, I have paused development of phases two and three of this app update that we're talking about. Yes, they're still on the radar. We still want to do them. But I can't do them until we have this right.
[00:05:46] And speaking of the app, we are mulling around the idea of offering an alternative user interface to allow people to type in their values instead of using dials. Well, we've never had that in the app, but maybe there's a way that we can change that and give you the choice if you want to be able to tap and type.
[00:06:06] It's a worse user experience in most cases. But maybe that's the experience you want. And you want that precision. We're looking into how that might be done. There are some other feedback that we've gotten from customers and we hear you.
[00:06:17] So when you email podcast@orendatech.com, or you reach out, we hear you. So your feedback matters to us. As long as it's constructive and you have a good case for it, we'll try to make something work.
[00:06:28] Eric Knight: All right, moving on. The other thing I'm doing is writing the first ever chemistry certification course for Watershape University. It's going to be an eight hour course. We're going to be unveiling that at the International Show this fall, we will also be doing it at the Northeast Pool and Spa show and the Western Show. And maybe the Florida show, I'm not sure.
[00:06:47] And as soon as I have more details on how that class will roll out, I will announce them. We'll share them on our website and social media.
[00:06:55] Eric Knight: Anyway. This is the mid-summer update. I'm your host Eric Knight with Orenda and HASA. If you have questions, please read the website first, our help center is ask.orendatech.Com. We've got more cool guests coming. It's just a matter of scheduling them and making it happen. And hopefully having their microphones work. That's all I got. Thanks.