It's the Holidays for Them, Too

The holiday season is quickly approaching, and along with the festivities and family gatherings comes one tradition that affects certain people more than others. Christmas cookies? Nope. Caroling? Not quite. Putting up decorations? Getting colder. Watching It's A Wonderful Life? Not on your life.

Give up?

Every holiday, everywhere in the world, people come together. And (almost) every family has one person they turn to for questions about technology -- be it computers, DVD players, cell phones... the questions are there. It could be a thirteen year-old, or he or she could be in their thirties. They may be an IT manager, or they could just have an intuitive grasp of technology. Chances are good, though, that they've experienced a situation similar to the following.

Family comes to visit from out of town for the holidays, and moments after everyone sits down by the fire, cousin Jimmy pulls out a laptop and says to the sole technologically-savy family member "So, I've been having problems x, y, and z -- can you fix them for me?"

Whomever that unlucky individual handed the laptop is, the situation is unescapable. They can't say no, or THEY (not the family member with the technological problem) are the one who comes across as unreasonable. "It'll only take a few minutes -- it shouldn't be that hard -- I just don't understand it, and you're a whiz at this kind of stuff..." the list of responses is never-ending. And does anyone else in the family stick up for the tech-whiz kid? Nope -- it might be them with the next problem -- they may even be about to spring their own chore on the poor sod, or they may have a problem in the future, so they wouldn't dare be hypocritical and suggest that it's the holidays, and whiz-kid might not want to work on computers, but spend time with the family.

What had seconds earlier looked like an afternoon of spending time with family quickly turns into "my holiday as Mr. Gadget." While everyone else is eating, drinking and laughing, that one person is stuck fixing problems that have been stacking up since September (but haven't been pressing enough to necessitate a trip into the local tech shop, or a call to a technician). And why shouldn't the family member be anything less than thrilled to fix all of these problems during the holidays? And for a mere 'thanks,' and a pat on the back? Taking the computer in to get it worked on certainly would have been costly at Best Buy -- but the family 'technician' would be more than happy to spend hours working on it for free, right? Let's assume that your average whiz kid (or adult, as the situation may be) is presented with on average, 2-3 'cases' to look at per holiday... anything from updating software to setting up a new computer. Also assume that Best Buy's Geek Squad is the industry norm. At their current prices:

• System Tune-up: keeps computer running well, resolves speed issues 
• $99.99 (walk-in price) 
• Operating System & Software Repair: get most up-to-date software 
• $29.99 - $129.99 (walk-in price) 
• In-home Support: up to 90 minutes per visit 
• $49.99 per visit 

It'd be weird to ask for payment from family members for "just this one little problem..." but man, at those prices, if we did... we'd be able to slip those payments in an envelope and pay off our holiday shopping bills before the clock struck twelve on New Year's Eve!

If you're the whiz kid stuck in one of these situations, the last thing you want is to have to download a bunch of programs -- especially if you're on some painfully slow connection. My advice: bring a USB drive with you, packed with all of the up-to-date essentials you may need. However, if you can, make it so it's never even an issue. And if you're on the other side -- please, remember this one plea from whiz-kids everywhere:

Nerds need holidays too!

Social Media -- Out of Control?

It's been awhile since I've posted, partially due to being on vacation over the past week, but also in that mad rush of getting ready to leave (both home and work) prior to my trip. As I was driving earlier this morning, I began to think about how the social media I use (primarily Facebook and Twitter) have begun to complicate my life recently. While they enable me to remain in close contact with old friends, after being left alone too long, they have turned into time-wasters.It is times like this that a social media "purge" becomes necessary. As of this writing, I have 253 friends on Facebook. That in itself, compared to many of my friends whose lists are well over 500, seems good -- at first glance. However, I also 'like' 289 things. With the advent of Facebook's 'Subscribe' button, the posts from those 289 'likes' show up in my news feed -- making it resemble my Twitter feed. Thankfully, my Twitter feed moves somewhat slowly -- if you consider for a moment that I only follow 94 people or businesses. It's for these reasons that a purge is necessary -- and in a purge, ruthlessness is the name of the game.

Purging extraneous people from the list of people I follow on Twitter is a simple matter -- and provided I force myself to adhere to the unspoken rule of Twitter (It is not necessary to follow someone who follows you), my Twitter feed will be much easier to stay on top of. Facebook, on the other hand, is a completely different story. Not only is it much more time consuming to take someone out of your news feed (whether unfriending or unsubscribing), it is also far too easy to get sucked into the trap of friending everyone you know -- and then keeping them in your list.

As much as I would like to simply remove a large number of my 'friends', it is far easier to simply 'unsubscribe'. Not only does this prevent you from having to re-friend them in the future, it cleans up your news feed -- and you can always resubscribe, without them ever being aware they were taken off.

The cleanup of my news feeds is by no means a project I relish, but it is the only way my social media channels will ever become useful again. Are you in control of your social media feeds, or are they a nightmare you struggle to navigate?

Apple: It Just Works

Figured it was time to explain--without a rant--one of the reasons I choose Apple. It all has to do with a concept that made more sense to me after reading Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs. I'll review the book in a later post (I've been reading it over a period of several months on my Kindle (something else I need to review), and I haven't finished it yet. This concept, which Steve Jobs brought together with absolute finesse, is that of the Apple ecosystem. I'll explain this further, as understanding this concept is the foundation of my passion for Apple.When Jobs returned to Apple (after being kicked out of the company he brought to life years earlier), the company was still Apple Computers. This was before the iPod came on the scene. Their name stayed the same until January 9th, 2007 -- on that same day, both the iPhone and the Apple TV were announced -- and Job's dropped "Computers" from the company's name--they had shifted to electronics.


As his company developed more electronics, many of which shared the same data--especially music--Jobs had a revelation. The computer was not the final destination for data--it was the hub. Everything needed to be able to sync to a central location, and the vehicle for that synchronization (at the time) was iTunes. Developed as a music player that didn't suck, it could be used on both Windows and Macs, and anyone who had an Apple product used it. Through iTunes, you could sync music, movies, pictures, calendars, contacts -- on your iPhone and iPod with your computer -- you could even stream movies from iTunes to your TV. And while it was ok with Windows, with Macs "it just works". Even Apple's routers were easier with Mac -- all Macs shipped with 'Airport Utility', and when setting up an Airport Express, you simply plugged it in, launched the app, and within 5 - 10 minutes had a wireless network up and running. The beauty of the Apple routers? Plug in a printer, print wirelessly. Plug in a cord to the line-in port on your stereo, and stream music from iTunes to your stereo. The system "just worked." People would buy an iPod, or iPhone, and be hooked. They'd buy a Mac. Then an Apple TV. Soon, they'd buy an Airport. Then the iPad. And they were in the ecosystem (or "Applesystem").


Those of us who subscribe to the theory of "It just works" are often faced with criticism for 'drinking the kool-aid'. People don't understand why, when we can go to Best Buy and get a laptop that's "faster" for $499, we'll go and spend hundreds more. Why we buy a phone which has features that 'insert phone here' has had for months. And when we answer with "It just works," they'll debate us to the nth degree that their computer is just as fast (if not faster). We smile, trying to remember the last time we restarted our Mac... or ran a disk cleanup process. Or scanned for Malware, or viruses. "What's that? I haven't restarted for a month? Maybe I should do that." My personal favorite--my six-year old iBook that I use to write articles in bed. Still running strong with a Power PC processor. Do you have a six year old Dell? Maybe it's sitting unused in your closet, and you've been meaning to take it in to the electronics recycling center for the last 3-4 years? Sounds about right. Myself? I might strip down the iBook and use it as a server. And it might keep on running another four or five years -- until my two-year-old MacBook Pro needs to retire to take it's place.


This brings me to my own "Applesystem." I got my first iPod in December of 2004, when I still had my (at the time) trusty Compaq laptop. In February of 2006 I got my iBook (about four months before the PowerPC iBooks were replaced with the speedy Intel MacBooks). This was around the same time that the play button stopped working on my old iPod, and through the replacement program, I got a first-gen iPod Nano (still working). In December of that year, I got an Airport Express, and then in 2007 picked up a first-gen iPod Touch (which is still going strong). I could go on, but... you get the picture. Fast forward to the present, and my house is very much an Apple network. My internet connection (I miss Insight terribly) runs into an Airport Extreme (latest model with wireless-n). From there, I have the network extended to the opposite end of my house, picked up by my old model Airport Express, which is plugged into my receiver. From my MacBook, I can opt to stream my music to my receiver, and then use my iPad as a remote to navigate my iTunes library and choose whatever song I want to hear, even when my computer is sitting in the opposite end of the house. Sounds like a complicated system--but it's not. Everything just works together. No complex wiring, no messing with cables behind the receiver. It just works.

Why I Chose Apple

Everyone who has pronounced their passion for Apple products has felt it: that cynical attitude from others who will never understand why we are so committed to a company whose products often approach twice the sticker-price of rivals. Last night, whilst reading about Google's announcements made at their development conference, I had my moment of zen regarding why I choose Apple.Software versions. This may seem trivial, but anyone who is left using a device no longer supported by their company knows how frustrating it is. This is my experience with Sprint, Android, and HTC -- and the reason I will never be buying another Android. I bought my Evo Shift (a 4G phone) in February of 2011. My OS was Froyo (otherwise known as 2.2.2). Meanwhile, Gingerbread (2.3), the absolute cutting-edge OS, released in December of 2010 and available on one phone, was rumored to be released for more phones. However, Android's dirty little secret is that once a handset is released, whatever OS is running on it when bought is the only OS you will ever use. Because there are so many different Android handsets, developers are not concerned with backwards compatibility on their phones -- customers be damned.

This is a foreign concept to Apple users -- one of my friends (Caroline Sumner) is using an iPhone 3GS (released on June 19, 2009) -- while she won't have access to ALL of the features in iOS 6 (to be released this fall), she will still be able to upgrade to the NEWEST operating system -- with a handset that was released THREE YEARS AGO. Apple users expect this... Android users can't fathom it.

You may ask why, if I proclaim such a love of Apple products, that I bought an Android. Then answer is simple... but sad. I wanted a smartphone, and I wanted to be on Sprint's network. At that time, Sprint did not have an iPhone, so I bought in. I learned two things. Androids aren't worth it... and Sprint's unlimited data might be worth it... if I wasn't constantly roaming. I will be abandoning both Sprint and Android as soon as is humanly possible. Until then, well -- I'll work to live as best I can with the P.O.S. that I'm using.