Tuesday, April 6, 2021

Technology and the non-Technophile

   The airpods charging case arrived yesterday. It didn't come with a lightning cable so I had to use the cable that came with my Fuel Rod. I'm happy to say that the airpods I found as I was leaving work function properly. I placed the airpods inside the case and charged everything up. I had to put the Air Battery app on my phone in order to monitor the charge levels in both the case and the airpods. I've paired the airpods with both my phone and tablet and I might try to pair them with my laptop. The app needed in order to do that costs $4.99 and the only review states that the app doesn't work. I'm going to wait and see regarding the PC app. I've ordered a pair of lightning cables. One will be used to charge up my airpods and case and the other will be used to sync my Mom's new iPad to her computer. That way it'll be backed up should she need it. I should also back up her smartphone to her computer as well.

  My parents aren't very technophilic. My Dad doesn't have a smartphone and has never used any of the computers or tablets in the house. He has some understanding of the smart TVs but he still sometimes messes up the settings. He does have an electronic keyboard and a CD recorder that he uses when he creates music CDs so he's not entirely technophobic. While my Mom has a computer, smartphone and iPad, her ability to use them is limited. She never closes web pages on her iPad. Every time I open her web browser, dozens of pages have to be closed in order to free up memory. She's not familiar with the ways to back up her iPad and smartphone and I don't know if she wants to learn. The computer that was purchased for her use sits largely unused. I'm the one that keeps it updated. She does nearly all of her online business on the new iPad. Her iPad 2 is screwed up. I can't swipe passed the home screen and bring up the numerical keypad in order to enter in the passcode. Not that it matters much anymore. iTunes no longer will sync with iPad 2s anymore.

  This is one of the things I hate about Apple and its products. It seems like they go out of their way to screw the customer over. First off, there are no SD card slots on any of the iPads or iPhones. If you want a lot of memory you have to pay through the nose by purchasing the higher end iPads and iPhones from Apple. Then there's the dongle issue. In order to connect your new Apple products with older Apple products, you have to cough up money for a dongle. So you end up paying a shitload of money for these dongles plus you have to carry them around somehow so you have them when you need them. And genuine Apple dongles don't come cheap and third party dongles may not function as well. Then you have the issue with Apple shortening the lifespan of the batteries of older iPhones via software updates. It seems like they're deliberately trying to force Apple users to upgrade constantly in order to siphon as much cash from them as possible. Apple doesn't need to do this because there's already plenty of people so addicted to having the latest and best tech that they're upgrading their smartphones, computers, laptops and tablets on a fairly regular basis.

  I, on the other hand, don't feel the need to constantly upgrade all the damn time. The flip phone I had many years ago served me well for quite some time. I only upgraded because the Android operating system on it would no longer update and the latest version of some of the apps on it couldn't function anymore. The same is becoming true of my iPad 2. I've had the thing since I turned 50. That's over 8 years. It won't upgrade past iOS 9.3.5 and I've had to remove some apps that won't work with that iOS anymore. However, it still functions. The apps that are on it are ones that likely will never be upgraded beyond their present version. That being said, the device still has its uses and I'm not just going to dump it on a whim.

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