Keeping Time with Apple

Apple watch - Pic courtesy of Wikipedia

by Trebor Snillor
TODAY

After 6 weeks of rain, snow and darkness the weather gods have graced us with beautiful weather. Not a cloud in the sky and the temp is up near 80. Praise be! My kitchen is about 85% complete – it lacks counter top and appliances. No one has worked on it in 5 business days – am having to exhibit the patience of Job waiting for workmen to come back. I think it will be beautiful – really too nice for a little East Dallas house.

CAFFEINE

I am probably the world’s biggest caffeine addict. I’ve been drinking coffee since I was 15, and mass quantities of it in adulthood. I like Starbucks Pike Place brand, and I also have a large selection of Keurig brews. In the last couple of weeks I’ve developed nearly a distaste for any of it – it tastes bitter after a few sips and gives me an upset stomach. I have no other known issues or illness, just a body that seems to be staging a caffeine rebellion. Seems very odd to me – maybe I’ll save money on lattes and I’ll visit the restroom less. For now I’m phasing off caffeine with root beer and mild tea.

APPLE’S LATEST GIZMO’S

Tim Cook recently announced Apple’s latest slate of new watches, skinny MacBooks and HBO Now. I’m enough of an Apple lemming that I am drawn like a moth to an over-priced flame. I will say that over the years I’ve said “No” to various things:

• G4 Cube – looked like a Kleenex Box, overpriced for what it was
• Apple Cinema Display – A high quality monitor roughly twice what ViewSonic would charge
• MacBook Pro – Cannot see spending $3K when HP gives same function for $1200.
• iPad Mini – Cute occupant of no man’s land between iPhone 6 and iPad
• Airport – Cool looking device with 1000 worthy, less pricey competitors

As you can see there are limits to my lemming-ness. I look for value in my purchases and I also still like some Windows products. I tend to use Windows laptops and Apple handheld gizmos, a very comfortable split. Each company has sweetened things with crossover offerings (iTunes for Windows, Office for iPhone).

Take off the blinders and you can enjoy the best of both worlds. I probably won’t be enjoying the Apple watch right away because I really only need time and date. The cheapest Apple watch is $350, too much for a gee-whiz technology thrill. The $10K version of the watch would go against everything I stand for (although I’d wear one if you gave it to me.) The new paper-thin, gold-colored MacBook is a beauty but annoys me on a couple levels. It’s too expensive, and it obsoletes all existing connectors with USB-C – a new USB standard. An existing Mac owner probably doesn’t relish buying all new adaptors and switching everything out.

HBO Now is very intriguing. It’s a stand-alone streaming service offered exclusively on Apple TV (starting this April). There are only a couple of HBO shows that interest me (maybe Game of Thrones) so I don’t know if I can justify my love. But – this is a step in the right direction for cable cutters everywhere.

So there you have it – my house is without a kitchen, my diet is with way less caffeine, and my wrist will only be sporting a Fossil watch for the time being. I may or may not get HBO Now – guess we’ll see.

© 2015 Snillor Productions