Latest and greatest

Happy Saturday, friends!  Hope.you had a good week and are ready for some down time.

I don’t consider myself an early adopter of most anything, but I suppose that’s always a little subjective.  I resisted the iPhone when it first came out, not only because I really, REALLY liked my Blackberry at the time, but also because I didn’t want to have to switch to AT&T’s cellular service, which I believe was called Cingular Wireless at the time.  I have had Verizon Wireless for a long, long time, and like their service overall.  So that didn’t interest me right away.

When I finally did get my first iPhone, I was pretty well blown away, and have been an enthusiastic user of various versions of this device since.  I actually had an iPad before I had an iPhone, but learned enough with the workings of that tablet that I was able to troubleshoot for members of my work team who had iPhones.  The rest came rather naturally, of course.

I was also a little slow to adapt to HDTV, which is, of course, the basic standard for video now.  Then was a bit behind migrating to a flat-panel TV, and late getting into 4K.  Each time I sort of kicked myself for resisting.  The problem is compounded by the fact that broadcasters and cable operators are also slow to adapt to new technology, mostly because of the added costs, so finding content for your new super-duper TV is a little bit of a problem.

I didn’t realize how much cars had advanced until I regularly began renting cars for work five or so years ago.  Knew nothing about adaptive cruise control (where the car detects another vehicle ahead and automatically decelerates), lane keeping assistance and so forth.  I traded in a 14 year old car on my current one two years ago and so got accustomed to all of these new features in a hurry.  My wife’s car is 18 years old but in very good condition, so she’s in much the same situation.

Let’s go back to that reference to an iPad.  I’ve had several models of Apple’s tablet computer, including the first generation (bought months after it was introduced, a third generation purchased the first week it was out, an iPad Air 2 not long after it came out, and then I sort of regressed and had a couple of the entry level models that are simply called “iPad.”  Bought those for two of my grandkids who live close by and they still have them.

Not long ago I upgraded to the iPad Air 5th generation, and the biggest selling point for me was the M1 system-on-a-chip processor.  I have that chip in my current iMac (which was about the only thing that would wrest my second 2017 27-inch 5K iMac from my hands), so I knew what I was buying.  Got a good price on it, since it’s already been out for a year or more.

But one thing I haven’t had for a while is my own laptop computer.  My current joh requires me to use some proprietary systems, so it’s something I can’t replicate on my own machine.  The job provides me with a typical corporate laptop that’s nothing special, but it does what’s needed and I hadn’t given much thought to a laptop of my own in awhile.

But now, with this M1Air, I thought it might be well to find some items to help me get more use out of it.  First and foremost was a keyboard of some sort.  I bought a couple of them, different brands and models, for my old base iPad, and they wound up with the grandkids, who both use them even now.  So I knew I didn’t want quite what they have.

What I really wanted, I told myself, was an Apple Magic Keyboard for the iPad, made in different configurations depending on which model you have.  A mass retailer of electronics was having a sale on the one for my machine and I went to buy it recently but they were out of stock.  But they did have an “open box” model for an even better price.  So I bought it.

Do I love it?  Mostly.  Will I keep it?  Difficult to say, since I just got it and am already questioning whether this was a good investment, even at such a good price.

Let’s just say I’m still sitting on the fence as I write this using said keyboard.