Posts Tagged ‘iTouch’

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A Year in Reflection


10 Mar

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  • 11:16 PM CST, 2:16 PM JST At this point I had just gotten done cleaning up from painting and tweeted that I was done for the night.
  • 11:46 PM CST, 2:46 PM JST Earthquake struck
  • 11:52 PM CST, 2:52 PM JST Tweeted out to friends and family living in Japan to be safe
Screenshot

To horrible to believe

     So many emotions have gone through our minds and hearts that it is virtually impossible to classify and label them all. The purpose of this post is just a reflection of the moments that happened on my end of the world and how it affected me personally.
     The day started out like any other, trying to sleep in and getting a slow start. The day was overcast and my spring break was coming to an end. I had decided that I was going to work on the nursery during my break and I was just starting to see the end of the project. I began cleaning out the room on Sunday and was nearly done painting the murals and characters from My Neighbor Totoro. I sketched out Totoro on the wall and tweeted my progress as I went about cleaning up for bed.
     Sitting down to the computer, I checked on Facebook to see what everyone was up to before shutting everything down for the night. Not quite ready for bed yet, I grabbed my iPad and fell on the sofa to watch some TV. Firing up Twitter, I see that there’s an earthquake in Japan; nothing new. Then as I continue to read up the stream, I see some concern in the posts, bordering on fear. Apparently this was something different.
     Starting to worry, I start to tweet friends and family as to there whereabouts and safety. Thankfully everyone that I am able to get in touch with is ok, but there are still some unaccounted for. Thankfully by the next day all were found safe. Amazingly at this point there is no news coverage on CNN. Glued to my Twitter feed, I am adding and searching any news outlet and person of authority bringing me coverage and information and retweeting any useful information to friends that are not near any form of media. Oddly enough, here I was on the other side of the world informing people in their own country about what was occurring. The power of social media these days.
     Eventually CNN cut in with live coverage and the images are worse than I ever could have imagined. All I can think at this point is that there is not going to be a country to return to. Our future son (at the time) will never get to discover the country that his parents love so much. A worst case scenario is all that keeps playing through my mind. Family and friends are going to be lost and the ocean is going to reclaim the land that I have come to think of as a second home.
But there is hope. You just have to search it out.
     Somewhere online I came across an article that pointed me in the direction of a news app from NHK that would give me coverage of the disaster from Japan in English no less. Needless to say I was glued to my iPad for several days trying to wrap my mind around what had happened and trying to remind myself that it could have been much much worse. Seriously, it could have been. At the time I wish that I had the money to go there and do something, anything to help out, but all I could do was sit here and be an open ear for friends to talk to me about it and a conduit of news for my family to keep them posted. Perhaps that was what I NEEDED to do; to be an open ear for them to talk to and vent about their fear and frustrations. We all have our purposes I suppose.
     A year later and there are still issues arising from the disaster and still there are roughly 3,000 still unconfirmed missing. For many people this was a daunting time and suicide rates even increased afterwards. My family and I still love the country so much that we would move there if we could. People ask if we are afraid, and I reply that it is just as dangerous to live there than it is here. I for one, plan on visiting again and again as often as I am able so that we can tell our son about the great eastern earthquake of 3/11 and how the country persevered through it and came out stronger.
We love you Japan.

One Device to Rule Them All


16 Aug

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Burned Out Room

Something Lost, Something Gained

On July 6, 2000 my parents house caught on fire. It was during construction of an addition being made to the house and was blamed on faulty wiring. The fire destroyed the bonus room and half of the new construction that had been built on top of it and to its sides. Not only destroying the contents of the bonus room, it began to sweep through the attic before it was brought under control on the hottest day of the year (so far at the time). The event was so prolific, that it even made it to the front page of the local paper that day. Looking back on that moment in my life, I have never been the same; both the good and the bad.

Way back in 2000, there were no such things as iPods and iPhones. All I had was a Palm Pilot V and a ‘brick’ Motorola cell phone. On that hot July day, I was no longer living at home, but away at college a mere 40 minutes away. At that point in time I was speaking with my parents nearly on a daily basis. To make a long story short, the phone had been busy at their house for hours and I was starting to get worried. After getting in touch with my grandmother, I learned of the terrible incident. My father who is legally blind (but by no means disabled) was the only one home at the time it started seeing as all the construction workers had left for lunch. Somehow he managed to get out safely and get the cats to safety as well as have enough foresight to go outside and film the disaster. (Proud of him for that.) Once I made it back to my parents I was just at a loss for words. My mother was working and hadn’t found out about it yet when she arrived back at the house, so I was going to be the brave one to tell her what had happened, but only managed to break down into tears as I told her.

A part of me burned up with that room in July. What was it? Have I managed to regain it? I don’t quite know. My wife has always said I was never the ‘same’ after it happened, so I’m not quite sure what burned up in there. Innocence? Childhood? However, I did gain something from this disaster; the sense for a need to backup my life.

In previous posts on this blog, here and here, I have discussed about living in one suitcase. The idea is that you can fit your life into one piece of luggage. After one loses something, they tend to have a greater appreciation for that which they have. We all have ‘stuff’, and lots of it. Things that we ‘need’ that wind up being thrown in a closet or room only to gather dust. That’s part of what this room was not only for myself but my parents as well. Trying to go through the debris and remember every little item that was in there is nearly impossible. What made matters worse was that the construction workers started shoveling stuff into the dumpsters before we even had a chance to go through it. Which brings us back to the point of this post. What good came from this disaster? I started making inventory lists of all my belongings, more importantly, I started converting my life over to a digital lifestyle. Remember, we’re talking about 2000, not 2011. I had account numbers, Quicken files, inventory lists, etc. all accessible on my Palm Pilot. I took pictures of my apartment and all its belongings so that if the unthinkable or something else were to happen…again, I would be ready, or at least better prepared. Pictures were scanned and saved to Zip disks. (Remember those?) It was a small feeling as if I was in control. Fast forward to 2011.

To be quite honest, I don’t know how I survived without my iPhone all this time. I’m sure that sounds pathetic, but it’s the way that I am and a lot of others are these days. My entire life in my pocket. No matter where I am, I can access crucial information on my device. As I mentioned, the fire brought the need to backup everything in my life and that’s just what I’ve done….maybe to an extreme. Let’s break this up into aspects of my life; how I’ve backed them up and how I can access them with an iDevice. (more…)

WWDC Thoughts


07 Jun

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The Holy Trinity

My Holy Trinity, minus the Bastard Child

WWDC had just gotten underway yesterday and I felt that I should point out a few things that I am looking forward to in these software revamps. *Disclaimer- I am an Apple fanatic, but just shy of fanboy.

I guess the main thing I am excited for is the iCloud. You’re probably thinking that I am excited for the music streaming ability of the service, which is a plus, but you’d be mistaken. It’s the fact that all of my devices will be in sync. My main devices, or the Holy Trinity, are an iPad, and iPhone 4 and a MacBook Pro. I do also have a Mac Pro (the workhorse) and an iPod Touch that I use mainly for games and randomness. Being able to make sure all of my data is synced AND correct with all of them is what I have been needing for quite awhile. I have been a MobileMe user for several years now and it has been less than stellar. The main reason I started to use it was the ability to use iWeb and to keep contacts and email synced across all of my devices. As of late, I had been using it as backup for archived documents, but it’s been giving me trouble…lots of trouble.

As we delve deeper into the iOS update, we see that Apple has taken notice of a lot of complaints and workarounds that App developers have been using these past few years. The updating of the camera app along with notifications are two big improvements that will surely run well with users. Having an actual ‘shutter’ button makes me extremely happy as well as the option to edit and tweet from within the app. Another plus is that the camera app is available even from the lock screen making for quicker shots. That is an issue I always had with my old iPhone 3G; you couldn’t take a picture if it was spur of the moment. You had to wait at least 30-60 seconds to take a photo and another 30-60 for it to save. FAIL. Notifications that don’t interrupt me and at a glance is something that Android users have enjoyed, but I believe it will be taken to the next step with this update. Being able to see your notifications at a glance should be a pleasant change to the monotonous windows popping up constantly.

So with all these new enhancements and apps built in, where do my previously purchased apps fit in? Apps such as Camera+, Things and SplashShopper; are they now doomed to obscurity? Part of me could swing either direction on this. I love the customization of Splash Shopper and Things along with the desktop integration of both. If the interface is as accommodating as they claim it to be, then I might be ditching those apps…..but I highly doubt it.

As far as Lion goes, I don’t feel as excited about it as everything else. Perhaps since I haven’t seen the entire keynote yet I’m not getting the gist of it. About the greatest thing I can say of it is that it only costs $30, but is that per device or like other apps that you can download for each of your machines? Time will tell I suppose.

A lot of great enhancements that are moving in the right direction for our digital lifestyles. Not to brag, but I predicted this at least 4 years ago. Just saying.

The Minimalist Geek


20 Mar

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Coffee Cup with shadow

A New Day Dawns

As some of you may know, I have a little boy on the way; which has put my perspective on possessions in a new light. Trying to make room in the nursery and the house for the little guy, the wife and I have gone through and started giving away things to family, friends and Goodwill. One of the biggest things I am starting to find in the “Box of No Return” is a bunch of tech. Books, laptop bags (man purses), keyboards, cords, etc. As I start to prioritize the things I actually ‘need’ versus the stuff that I actually use, I find that I have made a lot of impulse purchases over the years.

Living the life of a minimalist, after years of living life as a materialist, has proved to be daunting. I have started to get rid of books I never read and download others for use on my Kindle. That old kitchen laptop that rarely gets used-going away. Parents old CRT iMac in the garage that the display doesn’t work on-getting recycled (after being wiped clean first). Clothes we never wear anymore- donated to Goodwill. It’s just amazing how much we accumulate over short periods of time. Being a bit of a tech-hoarder who tries to repurpose old tech has been proved to be an enlightening experience. Granted, you would never see me on one of those shows like that, but there doesn’t seem to be that same attachment to the devices that there was before. Growing up? Maturing? Nah. Who’d want to do something foolish like that. Priority shift would probably be a better description. I suppose it had to happen sometime. (more…)

Revisiting the Past


13 Jan

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More luggage than we need

Can you fit your life into one piece of luggage?

If you had to pack your entire life in to one suitcase, could you do it? That’s the question I pose to you. Every so often I like to revisit topics that I have written about. One such topic is that of the “One Suitcase.” You might wonder what it is that I am referring to. The idea is that all we ‘need’ in our life can fit into one suitcase. Everything else can be done away with or replaced (if need be). The reason I like to revisit this topic is that I am interested to see how my perspective changes; for better or worse. So let’s begin.

Definitely Packing

  • Drobo- This is where all of our media files are contained. Rather than carrying around hundreds of DVD’s, all of our movies and TV shows are contained on 4 drives. All of it can be accessed via my laptop or another computer.
  • iPad- My newest ‘toy.’ Games, books, news, periodicals, media, internet, etc. Everything in a small package. I could almost do without my laptop after acquiring this; almost.
  • Kindle- This one has been a question mark. I now own a Kindle and an iPad. Do I really need to pack it? I can access all my kindle books on the iPad, so why would I need it? After thinking it over a while, I’ve decided to keep it. My Kindle, for all intents and purposes, is a textbook. I can lug this around in a bag and not feel like the world has ended if it got broken or stolen. They are cheap enough these days that I could replace it if need be and sometimes it’s nice to have a device with a single use.
  • Laptop- One cannot survive on virtual keyboard alone. True, I could purchase a Bluetooth keyboard, but that’s not something I need. Being a videographer/editor, I can’t work my craft on an iPad. It’s just not made for that.
  • Hard drives/flash drives- These don’t really take up all that much space but they can weigh you down. If I had to leave the house and knew I wasn’t coming back, I’d pull all of them out of my MacPro. If I had enough warning of an impending disaster, then I could transfer much of my data to the cloud.
  • Clothes- You can’t go for long without a change of clothes. We really don’t need that much anyways. Certainly not a walk in closet full.
  • Nikon D90- Not only can I take great photographs, I can shoot in HD video as well. I’m not a major photographer, so I don’t have any extra lenses to go with this. Sad.
  • CPAP- I can’t go anywhere without this. Having sleep apnea means I HAVE to have this with me. If not, no one else around me is getting any sleep.
  • Knives- One has to feed themselves don’t they? I have a knife bag, and would probably only put a few kitchen necessities in it.
  • Pan- One large sauté pan should do the trick.
  • iPhone/iTouch- Mobile phone and games in the size of a deck of cards roughly.
  • Elgato’s EyeTV- All I need is a coax cable and I have TV. Don’t need to lug around a TV. Not that I watch that much TV to begin with.
  • Moleskine- Sometimes we just need to go off the grid and do some analog work. I always have one of these on me to jot down any ideas that might strike me on the fly.
  • Leatherman- Always have to be prepared for something. Obviously we are talking about checked luggage here.
  • Photos- The majority of my photos are digital so this originally wasn’t a major concern to me. Then my wife read the article and scolded me for not thinking of our wedding photos. Bad husband.

Maybe if there is room

  • Canon HV20- This HD camcorder is small enough to fit in a bag, but do I really need it with the D90?
  • AppleTV or Mac Mini- If I have my laptop with me, do I really need either of these to stream my content? If there is room then, ehhh. I’m not completely sold on this one.
  • Edirol R09- I have a perfectly good recorder on my phone and iPad. If I really need high quality recording value, then I guess I’m up the creek.
  • Airport Express’- I have several of these spread out around the house. Could always use at least one wherever I end up.

Not Even Going to Consider It

  • Gaming Consoles- As much as I love video games, they just aren’t that big a part of my life. I’m sure I just lost some credibility with that statement. I can do without my Wii and PS2, even my Nintendo DS. It’s rare that I find a game that I become incredibly immersed in any more, and if I’m thinking of packing the essentials then this is definitely not one of them. Sorry gamers.
  • Mac Pro- This thing is a beast. This is my workhorse, but he’s just way too big. Sorry buddy but I’m just going to rip your hard drives out and run.
  • Electronics- TV, DVD, Blu-Ray, Surround Sound, extra monitors, etc. Frivolous.
  • Canon XLH1- This videocamera is way too big to lug around with me. If I could take one more bag, then this would be it. (It has it’s own backpack) Otherwise there is no sense in trying to pack it.
  • Miscellaneous computer peripherals- Way too many to list.

So after looking back at the previous post, I think I have given this a little more thought than I did the first time. I was a little vague the first time around while this time I feel I’ve given it some more thought. Maybe priorities do change. I’d like to think in the past few months that I have become less materialistic. With a baby arriving in several months, it’s not just about myself anymore. Besides that, we have to make room. Thank you internet for making it easy to sell things we don’t ‘need’ anymore and for helping me to see what’s important to me.

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