Friday, October 7, 2011

Lost iWay of Life

Many folks no doubt are mourning the passing of Steve Jobs, calling him a genius and wizard.  With his elegance and vision he may even have been the Da Vinci of our time.  Have you seen the Da Vinci exhibit with the clever folding bridges, sleek carts and amazing inventions?  He was more than an artist. Though for the artists in the crowd it may be a sacrilege to compare the iPhone to the Mona Lisa.  

Like millions of others, I have an iPhone and have had one for several years.  I bought mine for $200 with a two year contract with AT&T (full disclosure, AT&T is the company that gobbled up my previous employer, BellSouth, thus allowing me to take an early retirement and waste my time and yours with, among other ventures, my writing).  

Less than a month after I paid $200, a new iPhone was released.  One that did a lot more for the same price as the iPhone I had just bought.  And the iPhone I had just bought was then reduced to $100. Talk about losing value when you drive it off the lot.

Recently, I also bought the Air Mac computer.  It cost more than double what net books of its size cost (it weighs less than two pounds).  But it is elegant and accomplished and finally meshes perfectly with my iPhone, something my old PC would never do.

I have started keeping a list of writing ideas as well as a “To Do” list on my iPhone.  When I travel I use my iPhone as a GPS, an alarm, a camera, a flashlight, and for email and text messages.  I also now keep my calendar, my contact list and my photos on my iPhone.  And on occasion I actually use it to make phone calls. The last is the only thing it is not all that good at.  

Kind of scary: if I lost my iPhone I would be totally in the dark, literally and figuratively.

In a few days the new iPhone 4S, will be released.  although it does not look outwardly all that different than my old, old, iPhone, I understand from my brief research that it has many improved features, including accepting voice commands on a scale reminiscent of Hal, the murderous computer, in the sci-fi classic movie “2001, A Space Odyssey.”

Steve Jobs and Apple have helped to turn a certain segment of the population into all-consuming creatures with a need for the latest i-Invention.  The need to go out and buy the latest and greatest, even if what we have is still quite serviceable. 

With my ownership of two i-Devices I have to admit I have been hooked by the elegant design and utility Steve Jobs created.  As much as the astronauts in 2001 were dependent on Hal.  The iPhone has become a nearly indispensable tool, or should I say crutch, in my daily life. 

But despite that, or maybe because of the hassle of transferring data and learning the new twists, I am not ready to go upgrade my current iPhone (which has barely any memory remaining nor the new special features) for the latest improved iPhone 4-S.  Not to mention the $200 for something I already have that still works quite well.

I am left with a couple of questions:
1) Would Da Vinci still be as famous if he had not been satisfied with the Mona Lisa and in a few years was out peddling the mLisa4?
2) Is the next Steve Jobs at a university or perhaps still in diapers? 

I’m not worried; he or she is out there somewhere.

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