Seduced by Apple
 |
| Reflections (Central Park) |
It started with the iPad, a slim little bit of nothing that
is far and away the best piece of technology that I’ve bought in years. In a nutshell, it takes care of all my
reading (except for on the beach) and on the fly networking needs and I can
edit photos on it – a great boon for this photography buff. I could also retire my iPod (so last decade)
if only I would go through the steps necessary to load it with my music
library. There are plenty of little
game applications for when I just want to while away some time. Some day, I will be a three star player on
all levels of Angry Birds but in the meantime I’ve mastered all levels of
Plants vs. Zombies and am about even on beating the machine in Scrabble. And, it’s small enough to fit into a purse
for those one-day trips for business and a great companion for longer
vacations.
Next to follow was the iPhone 4S – replacing the trustee
Blackberry that had served me well these last few years. I must confess that it’s been a bit of
learning curve getting used to one finger instead of two thumb typing but that
pales in comparison to the positive benefits. Biggest of these is SIRI! Who can’t fall in
love with Siri? She’s like I Dream of Jeannie without the
bottle. Out and about on a cold winter
day and want to find an address? No need
to shed gloves or even to stop walking.
Just hold your iPhone up to your ear and Siri will ask you how she can
help you. Address for Union Square Café
– no problem! Show me the best places to
see the Northern Lights in 2012 – you got it.
I was a little crushed when I asked her to marry me and she responded
that that wasn’t allowed under her end user license agreement. I soon rebounded when I realized that
regardless of our marital status, Siri can’t divorce me.
 |
| Petrified Wood (Central Park) |
And then there is this MacAir. Oh my word, slim and elegant and a bit
challenging to operate given my deep roots in the PC world. But the things it can do! Perhaps my favorite is that I can open it and
be online within two minutes. And I can
snap it shut like a clam when I’m done for the day or the plane is landing without
worrying about losing a document or not being able to pick up exactly where I
left off. How cool is that? The
dashboard is amazingly intuitive and the ability to use the touch pad to
enlarge (or shrink) what I’m working on or to scroll is just amazing to this
mouse driven writer. And, the mail
function allows me to work on emails offline and “q” them up to send off when
next I connect. Now, that is very
helpful (albeit it the fact that it does mean there is one more option when
flying that might keep me from hunkering down to focus on a bigger
project).
As for the downsides, it’s going to be a bit of challenge
going back and forth between the Mac versions of Microsoft office and
Windows-PC until I figure out the bells and whistles. I’m not 100% certain about iPhoto – I’m a
long-time Picasa user and have many photos stored there – the Apple credo does
seem to be to make it not so easy to use programs that compete with Apple
software. But these are relatively minor
concerns in the grand scheme of things and certainly not insurmountable!
 |
| Upside Down Rose (Central Park) |
Comments
Post a Comment