Slow Down and Enjoy your Tech!

Tech comes out every day. The early adopters among us will grab new products only to dismiss them when the next hot thing comes out. My advice? SLOW DOWN a bit and enjoy what you have!.

I'm a victim of this when it comes to the iPhone and the iPad. I always sell the old version and get the new version, even if the feature set isn't quite justifiable. I've seen this most recently with my incremental upgrade from the iPhone 4 to the 4S. In retrospect, the 4 was perfectly fine for me - why didn't I stay with it? I'm missing out on forming the same relationship that haberdasher with my Double Dragon Tiger electronic game from the late 80s? My TI-83 calculator from 95? My minidisc player from 2000?

Podcasts that cover tech tend to suffer the most. They tend to be practically disposable, even ones that are incredibly funny and / or interesting. One of the most fascinating sites I've run into on the net is Previous Pod, a site that reviews old episodes of the Engadget podcast. I follow any of the former Engadget editors at The Verge, and it's interesting to go back in time to see their views on products that have since become obsolete, such as the Palm Pre.

Is it that current tech is made with this disposal culture in mind, so that they only last a few years (I'm looking at you, Dell Computer)? Or is it that we are throwing out perfectly good products for little reason? Whatever the reason is, SLOW DOWN!

What's In a Name?

1. 

   I've maintained several website personas over the years, but eventually as I got older, I decided to start using my real name online. Now why would I do this? To control my message.

   More and more interactions occurr online, and tying those interactions to my real life persona is crucial for networking. I like to be able to say that my website, Twitter account, and other social networks are united under my name. It adds a sense of legitimacy and it also makes me accountable to what I'm putting out their online.

   By publishing my content under my name, I'm also owning my search results. If you do a Google search on my name, you'll get content that I've created. Because it's not limited to just my professional work, it makes me a well-rounded person and shows that I am more than my resume. Of course there's that one MySpace model who also shares my name, but hey, that's just one result :)

   Jeff Jarvis has recently written a book, Public Parts, that talks about this concept. He believes that embracing publicness is a strong asset in this Internet connected world. It helps us maintain what we really want to be private because the public information will dominate any search results, leaving the private information as secured as it can be. It's never 100% secure - if someone wants your information, they'll get it - but by embracing a public persona, this means that you can control it to the best of your ability.

   It might be weird, and it's definitely not for everyone, but try using your name a little more on the Internet. You might be surprised at the results. I mean, y'all love me right?

iPhone 4S Quick Review - Camera, Notifications, iCloud, Siri

Taken with iPhone 4S in Clark Park, West Philly

After waiting at UPS on a long enough line that it may as well have been an Apple store, I finally have my iPhone 4S.  The picture above shows that the camera is a very impressive point-and-shoot.

NOTIFICATIONS, ICLOUD, SIRI

Below, I give a quick review of the new notification screen, iCloud backup, and Siri voice recognition. If you can't see the video, click here.

VIDEO

I also tried out the video camera at the park. The iPhone 4S camera does a much better job at eliminating the jerkiness of filming a scene with your hand.  With the iPhone 4 and previous phones, videos come out pretty shaky unless your phone is mounted on a tripod.  Because I uploaded the video on my 3G connection, it's only in standard definition.  Check out the video below:

THE VERDICT

As cool as the 4S is, I still don't recommend iPhone 4 owners pay for the upgrade.  Now, if you can get it for free as I described in a previous post, I say go for it!

How I Got Over

There's always the hope that if you sit and watch for long enough, the beachball will vanish and the thing it interrupted will return."

Steve Jobs passed away yesterday. He's had an undeniable impact not only on technology, but on the culture.  An entire generation (after mine) has been reared thinking that Apple has always been a highly successful, innovative company.

I'm a PC guy.  Ever since I got my first computer in college, I've enjoyed tinkering around with components and dealing with Windows BSODs.  I was never drawn to the Mac because it was VERY expensive.  Also, it was relatively closed off and difficult to upgrade.  This holds true today - you pay a premium for good quality. I didn't think I'd ever get over this anti-Apple bias.

True to form, when the iPod first came out during my senior year of college in 2011,  I completely clowned it.  Here was another amazingly expensive ($400) product that you could only use with a similarly expensive Apple computer.  Also, the idea of carrying a spinning hard drive in my pocket seemed disastrous (I had a number of hard drive crashes in the previous year). My roommate, who was and is a huge Apple fan, thought it was funny to put a page of the first iPod ad on my door, with my name written on it.  I wish I had kept it.

However, I got over this once the 3rd gen iPod came out in 2003. That was when iTunes finally dropped for Windows, and there was a harmonious mix between the iPod's price and my new fancy job.  I dropped in and haven't looked back.  Hell, I have completely digitized and sold my extensive CD collection partly due to the convenience that the iPod has provided. This convenience has extended to the iPhone and iPad, both of which I own and love.

I bought into Apple has a consumer electronics company, not as a computer company.  I've still never owned an Apple desktop or laptop (except for an ancient iBook that I was attempting to fix for a local nonprofit).

That's how I got over.

Don't Buy the iPhone 4S. Unless ..

So, Apple announced the iPhone 4S today.  The gory details are up on Apple's website. It's the same physical size, but its faster and has a few more features.  Most notably, it has an improved voice notification system called Siri that promises to interpret voice commands into emails, texts, reminders, etc.  If it works well, it could very well be the future of computing input. Pre orders start on October 7th, with the release on October 14th.

Ok, now that all that is out of the way, I wouldn't recommend the upgrade if you already own an iPhone 4.  However, if you're willing to part with your iPhone 4, there's a great option available: Gazelle.com.

Gazelle is an online retailer that accepts trade-ins for devices.  It has a strong emphasis on electronics and gadgets, and the prices are decent.  They offer PayPal, Amazon Gift card, or a physical check.  For my Black 16GB iPhone 4 in mint condition (not flawless), I received an offer of $191 - basically enough to cover the $200 price of the 16GB iPhone 4S.  Best of all, my offer is locked in for 30 days, so I don't have to trade it in until after I receive the iPhone 4S on October 14th.

Because I'm getting it basically for free, I'm looking forward to the iPhone 4S. I'll definitely do a video review on the site.