#meritislife
You weren't reading this if you weren't basically agreeing on this.
So why frantically refresh your merit page and hit the "Show new replies to your post" link when you can be notified via haptic feedback and immediately revert to the forum in the rare occurrence of real life interfering with logged in time?
In this guide i will show you how I setup a very quick, easy and cheap notification machine.
This is the plan:
- 1. Buy a simple and reliable smartband
- 2. Subscribe to a Notification Bot
- 3. Configure the smartband to receive the right notifications from the phone.
Let's go!
1. Buy a simple and reliable smartband. What we need is a smartband to show incoming notification.
We are focused on the forum, so we want it to be reliable,with a long battery life (we don't want to lose notifications because we are charging it). Added features are a bonus.
My choice was on the
Xiaomi MI band 4Here the specs:
https://www.mi.com/global/mi-smart-band-4/specsWeight | 22.1g |
Water Resistance Rating | 5 ATM |
Display Type | AMOLED |
Screen Size | 0.95" |
Resolution | 120 x 240 RGB |
Colour Depth | 24bit |
Screen Brightness | Up to 400 nits (max brightness), brightness adjustable |
Touchscreen type | On-cell capacitive touchscreen |
Screen protection | 2.5D tempered glass with anti-fingerprint coating |
Button | Single touch button (wake up, go back) |
Wrist strap type | Removable wrist strap (Mi Smart Band 4 is compatible with Mi Band 3 straps) |
Wristband width | 18mm |
Wrist strap material | Thermoplastic polyurethane |
Adjustable wrist strap length | 155-216mm |
RAM | 512KB |
ROM | 16MB |
Sensors | 3-axis accelerometer + 3-axis gyroscope; PPG heart rate sensor; Capacitive proximity sensor |
Wireless connectivity | BT5.0 BLE |
Battery | LiPo, 135mAh |
Charging Type | 2Pin Pogo Pin |
Charging time | ≤ 2 hours |
Standby time | Up to 20 days |
Motor Type | Rotor |
Body material | Polycarbonate |
App | Mi Fit |
System requirements | Android 4.4, iOS 9.0 or above |
Features | Sport Functions: 6 workout modes: Treadmill, exercise, outdoor running,cycling, walking, pool swimming; Count steps, distance, and calories burned |
Health monitoring | Workout completion notifications, goal setting, sleep monitoring, heart rate monitoring, all-day heart rate checking, resting heart rate, heart rate chart, idle alerts |
Other features | Alarm, proximity sensor, pre-set watch face, customizable watch face, lock screen, timer, stopwatch, phone alarm and notifications, incoming calls, message notifications, calendar notifications, app notifications, weather forecast, Find my phone, phone unlock, event notification, Night mode, Do not disturb mode (works even without phone), music controls on band, Bluetooth broadcasting, battery level display, different ways to wear, OTA updates |
I think it is a quite cheap piece of hardware at roughly 30 USD.
You can find it easily on
Amazon.
Once we have it on our hand we have to install the companion app, pair with our phone and activate app alerts.
The companion App requires a link to a social profile (Facebook or Google) or an email activation.
If you are concerned about your privacy I suggest you to create a throwaway mail at @protonmail using it only for this specific task.
To activate App notification proceed as indicated below:
As you can see from the above image, I am at 18% of battery having charged it last time 20 days ago. Pretty good considerting I have hearth monitor and sleep tracking activated and other few notification added.
This will allow the smartband to show notification from phones.
We can now subscribe to Notification Bot
2. Subscribe to a notification Bot. I was so used to @Piggy Bot, that when it suddenly failed, I realised how much eased using the forum.
A good notification Bot is like freedom or good health: one of those underappreciated asset you don't care about until you suddenly lose them.
Regarding the Bot to use, there are at least two main options to choose from:
3. Configure the smartband to receive the right notifications from the phoneI don't know anything about you, but I am in several Telegram channels with thousands of members.
Hence receiving a notification from every channel would be a mess, with constant notification nightmare and a really fast depleting of the battery.
So I decided to setup Telegram to cast notifications for this particular channel only.
Go to
Settings=>Notifications =>Telegram
Toggle Allow Notifications: ON
Those following customisation are optional and deemed viable only for your Mobile UI
Choose your Notification Style for The main device

Then Click to the last row
Telegram Notification Settings
to be taken to the Telegram Notification Menu.
Here, the relevant section is the first one, as the Bot is classified as a chat.
You have to disable all the notification except for the Bot's one.
Here all
All the other sections (Group/Channel) must be disabled:
In case you want to prevent being notified during sleep hours you can activate a Do Not Disturb function in iOS.

You can read more about this function
here.
With these setting notifications are disabled between 23:00- 7.00 when you can
sleep concentrate more on the forum without being disturbed by notifications.
The result is the following:
Hairy Wrist Gallery
| Fillippone | VB1001 | TheBeardedBaby | Rosilito |
| Vod | TheBeardedBaby (MI5) | Fillippone (MI5) | Maus0728 |
| ChuckBuk | NeuroticFish | TryNinja | Mendace |
| cygan
| Porfirii
| Fillippone MI Band 8
|
Bot specific instructions for the main Bots:
1.

Giammangiato Bot Specific Instructions
Main Bot thread:
[TelegramBot] Merit watcher and Mention Notification BotHow to join the Bot:
/start

- Subscribe to the merit Bot with your UID
/uid $$yourBitcoinTalkID$$

- Subscribe to the mention Bot with your NICKNAME
/nick $$yourBitcoinTalkNICKNAME

The Bot runs every minute. Every time you are mentioned in a post, a post of yours is quoted, or you receive a merit, a Telegram notification will appear on the Telegram chat with the Bot.
Now the last task is to setup Telegram to properly show only the relevant notifications (only the ones coming from the forum bot, of course).
2.

TryNinja Bot Specific Instructions
Main Bot thread:
[TELEGRAM] Yet Another BitcoinTalk Notification BOT (merits, mentions, topics,+)Joining the Bot is very easy, as there is a very convenient setup process guiding you trough the whole process.

I will guide you step by step.
/start

Select the language you prefer to use

Type your nickname and confirm it.
- Insert your BitoinTalk UID

Type your UID and confirm it.
Now specify which notification you want to activate, there are two separate options for mentions and merits:
- Approve the request for mention notification:

- Approve the request for merits notification:

- All done! You can call again the menu with the command
[/list]
/menu

As you noticed, there is the possibilitiy to customise the interface language. A few languages are already available, and more are on their way. Contact TryNinja to provide translation in your own language.
This post is eligible for my project:
I am a strong believer in the utility of local boards.
I am lucky enough to be able to express myself in at least a couple of languages, but I know this is not the case for everyone.
A lot of users post only in the local boards because of a variety of reasons either language or cultural barriers, lack of interest or whatever other reason.
I personally know a lot of very good users (from the italian sections mainly, for obvious reason) who doesn't post in the international sections.
I think all those users they are missing a lot of good contents posted on the international (english) section or on other boards.
If you think you can help here, just visit the thread!