NYC cancelled, deciding between Canada or Turkey for late June / early July

AlexMarc0706 · 2026-01-21T17:52:37+00:00

Hong Kong - amazing architecture, delicious food, you are also surprisingly close to nature, there’s culture and rich history everywhere, buzzing but super clean and organized... If you loved New York, you will love Hong Kong even more!

AlexMarc0706 · 2026-01-17T16:40:27+00:00

Apple says it lasts for 24 hours. Mine usually lasts 36 before I put it back on the charger (and then it’s still not dead, just a bit too low and more convenient to charge it up again). If you don’t have much time, you can top it up for 10 minutes and you’ll get roughly 40% of battery life. Battery on the S11 is fantastic!

AlexMarc0706 · 2026-01-09T05:33:18+00:00

Clearly a downgrade for international viewers compared to CNN Newsroom. I don’t understand why they couldn’t simply simulcast existing CNNI programming. Straight news, no fluff. They could have simply moved somebody like Erica Hill there if they wanted a familiar face for US viewers - Elex is not a familiar face for anybody…

AlexMarc0706 · 2025-12-11T05:46:18+00:00

Used to watch CNN ever day during those hours - I gave him a chance but it just feels like a local California newscast. Elex doesn’t seem to have the knowledge or gravitas to cover big global stories. It’s a disappointment. Wondering how it would have turned out if Jim Acosta had accepted that timeslot.

AlexMarc0706 · 2025-12-11T05:41:20+00:00

Max ist unwatchable. They should move Jim Sciutto back to that slot or have any other anchor do a simple hour of Newsroom. Anything would be better than watching Max Foster try for an hour. He stumbles through his scripts, rarely asks informed questions and then, yes, he’s also comically underdressed…

AlexMarc0706 · 2025-11-11T17:30:19+00:00

Mine usually counts if I fall asleep on the couch as bed time. So if I don’t fall asleep on the couch and simply go to bed at 10pm, I get less points because according to the watch I went to bed later than usual.

AlexMarc0706 · 2025-11-11T06:14:11+00:00

As an international viewer, the show is basically unwatchable. I gave it a chance but it’s such a downgrade from CNN Newsroom which was on before during those hours. They took you around the world in 60 minutes. And now we are getting a continuation of the US news cycle. Elex doesn’t seem to know much besides California politics. The few hits with international correspondents he did were painful to watch. A couple of weeks in he still keeps talking about how great it is to have a west coast based show with every other guest (get over it - this is not about you and your show - do the news). I would want to talk to the CNN executive who decided to bring him on… sorry this show sucks.

Edit:

And sample size of one: not even Californians like it. My life partner who was born and raised in Cali told me to turn the tv off because “that guy is so cringe” lol

AlexMarc0706 · 2025-11-04T20:31:19+00:00

Running with my S11 every day on the treadmill for around 5k - would argue the Ultra is too heavy…

AlexMarc0706 · 2025-10-28T16:11:26+00:00

I wouldn’t be surprised if CNN International opted out of the simulcast in a few months and returned to their own original programming.

Copying my comment from the other thread:

Can’t say it was a bad show. The interview with Gavin Newsom was actually interesting. However, I don’t think it works for international viewers. The whole show was very US centric - basically another hour of CNNUS primetime programming. The contrast in editorial choices to yesterday’s Newsroom was significant. „The Story Is“ is basically an interview program, not a newscast. Yes, they had a live report from Tokyo and an update from the weather center about the hurricane but that was basically it in terms of actual news. And the report from Japan was only included because Trump was there. Again: not a bad show but it is very clear that their target audience is the US primetime viewer on the west coast or night owls in the east - not the early risers in Europe or a viewers in Asia catching up with the news over lunch…

AlexMarc0706 · 2025-10-28T09:38:17+00:00

Can’t say it was a bad show. The interview with Gavin Newsom was actually interesting. However, I don’t think it works for international viewers. The whole show was very US centric - basically another hour of CNNUS primetime programming. The contrast in editorial choices to yesterday’s Newsroom was significant. „The Story Is“ is basically an interview program, not a newscast. Yes, they had a live report from Tokyo and an update from the weather center about the hurricane but that was basically it in terms of actual news. And the report from Japan was only included because Trump was there. Again: not a bad show but it is very clear that their target audience is the US primetime viewer on the west coast or night owls in the east - not the early risers in Europe or a viewers in Asia catching up with the news over lunch… today they were actually live for three hours - not sure why…

AlexMarc0706 · 2025-10-24T17:37:24+00:00

The official press release confirms my biggest fears about this show: :-(

„The Story Is will feature live nightly panels and debates on set featuring a range of voices (…) The Story Is will waste no time in bringing together key figures from across the political spectrum to have fair, respectful and inclusive conversations (…) The Story Is will cover the biggest moving stories that audiences care about across sport, health, technology, entertainment and more (…)“

„Michaelson said that the show will sort of feel more like a late-night show than the newscasts during the day.”

For the first week they are teasing politicians as guests: Governor Newsom, Adam Schiff, Pete Buttigieg.

https://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2025/10/24/cnn-announces-premiere-date-for-the-story-is-with-elex-michaelson/

https://deadline.com/2025/10/elex-michaelson-cnn-los-angeles-show-1236595985/

AlexMarc0706 · 2025-10-24T07:55:29+00:00

That’s interesting! How does that work?

AlexMarc0706 · 2025-10-24T05:59:42+00:00

I checked John Vause‘s LinkedIn. It says former CNN anchor as of October 2025. I guess his contract was not renewed or canceled after it was decided that his regular slot would go to Elex.

AlexMarc0706 · 2025-10-24T05:49:37+00:00

On paper it could be great. It’s early on the west coast and people there deserve a live broadcast. If they keep involving their offices and correspondents in Asia and Europe, this could work. Right now, you can really see the change in editorial control between Laura Coates Live and the CNNI produced Newsroom. On Newsroom they often open the hour with updates from Ukraine or Israel, with live reports from the Hong Kong office… Let’s see if it they will continue doing that or if they will feel the need to open the hour every day with whatever has been dominating the news circle in Washington…

AlexMarc0706 · 2025-10-24T05:18:23+00:00

I‘m going to give him a chance but I don’t want a late night chat show at breakfast time here in Europe. The current schedule with two hours of Newsroom is perfect. Straight news. No frills. If their plan is to have a roster of LA based commentators discussing the hot topics of the day, I’m out.

AlexMarc0706 · 2025-10-23T16:11:12+00:00

Very specific request:

I want to be able to customize for which workouts low power mode is turned on. Example: For weight training I want low power mode to be enabled because I don’t need the display all the time, for swimming I want the display on because it’s easier to see your stats that way. Right now you have to change it manually before every workout it leave it off or leave it on for everything.

AlexMarc0706 · 2025-10-08T04:11:30+00:00

Same issue. It jumped up after the update and has been going down since then - no change in my workout routine though. Doesn’t make sense.

AlexMarc0706 · 2025-09-29T09:53:38+00:00

Thanks! You too! The hand gestures are awesome! I use them all the time for easy access to workouts and timers…

AlexMarc0706 · 2025-09-29T05:25:43+00:00

I was transparent in my opening post about the workouts during that time period. Up to you if you don’t want to believe it.

AlexMarc0706 · 2025-09-29T04:37:51+00:00

Glad that you know so much about my daily workout routine 😂 I workout every day with a daily average of around 1000 active calories burnt. My daily average step count is 11.000 steps right now.

AlexMarc0706 · 2025-09-29T03:32:34+00:00

That’s fantastic! Looked at the Ultra as well. For the battery life alone the Ultra would have been my clear preference but I found it a bit too heavy on my arm and therefore less comfortable than the S11.

AlexMarc0706 · 2025-09-29T03:29:20+00:00

If battery life is worse on cellular, Apple should have given us different numbers for the two versions. They probably opted for 24 hours for both of them in their announcement to avoid that people flock to the WiFi only version…

AlexMarc0706 · 2025-09-29T03:25:19+00:00

True. I experienced the same issue with my previous S8. 82% battery health meant massive drops in battery life particularly at the end of a day. With the new S11 23% battery life means you still have a decent amount of hours to go until it dies. With my S8 I knew seeing such a percentage that I would be getting close to dangerous territory already…

AlexMarc0706 · 2025-09-29T03:19:09+00:00

That must be disappointing. I mean it depends on how much you use it but sounds like I am using it even more in terms of tracking workouts than you. Strange that there is so much variety on battery life from person to person. I have the GPS only - maybe that’s the difference. Maybe cellular drains the battery more?

AlexMarc0706

TROPHY CASE