My Electronic "Comfort Zone"

Today is literally the "last day of summer" for me. Tomorrow, I go back to work (not that today's teacher really has the summer off like they used to). So, it's appropriate that I'm "going home"..... in an electronic sense anyway...... 

Some of you might remember several years ago when I moved to the first of ThinkPad's real designer machines, the X300. They were super-thin (almost as thin as the MacBook Air of that era), but unlike the "MBA" had all the normal features plus the philosophy of the traditional ThinkPads: everything from screen latches, to every port under the sun and even squeezed in an optical drive that others were abandoning. This of course led to the X301, and then.....

..... the X1 (1st Generation), which is really a black MacBook Air that runs Windows. They went so far as to even put a rubber cover over the headphone jack and one of the USB ports. There were no access panels on the bottom, and the battery wasn't interchangeable. An "Ultra-Book" right in line with Intel's spec for that design philosophy. I used it for close to 2 years and just never became comfortable with it. Sure, most people who saw it, love it. But, in the end; it wasn't me!

So, today.... on the last day of summer (appropriately), I switch back to a traditional ThinkPad. It's a T430s. Yes, I'm aware that it's almost as thin as the X1 and that it's only the Ivy Bridge update to the Sandy Bridge generation processor (not even a full "tick-tock" of Intel's clock), and yes it has a "Chiclet" keyboard as well. But it's attitude is all "old school" ThinkPad! There's not a cover to be seen anywhere, it's thin, but it's about as squared-off as the the 765 above! AND..... there are LATCHES for the screen. The last ones of the line. None of the successors of the "Xx40", or "Xx50" line have them. Under the skin, it's very much like the X1. So much so, that it's OS is sitting on the 512Gb mSATA SSD that came out of the X1. It'll even get the 600Gb Intel 320 SSD as it's storage drive as well. The optical drive is back in an honest-to-goodness UltraBay. I'll probably pick up a 3-Cell battery to go in there in case I need more runtime, and an HDD adapter as well..... just in case 1.1Tb of SSD storage isn't enough!

And because it's a full-fledged working ThinkPad, there are Docks for it! I have the middle one; the Mini Dock Plus Series 3. 

Appropriately enough, I traded my Apple Watch for the T430s. Why "appropriately"? The same reason that the T430s is me and the X1 isn't. I'm not a coolest gadget guy. I use things as a tool, first and foremost. I just need them to make me more efficient. It's not that I'm too "old school" to use a smartwatch..... 

...... but this (the original Pebble) is my smartwatch. The simplest, might be the cheapest on the market. Why? Because it does everything I want it to do and nothing more and because of that, it has the longest run-time between charge of them all. 

I also appreciate the company. They keep improving their product instead of trying to make you buy a new one! Although they've come out with several since the original, when I charged it up last night when I made the deal for the T430s, that they had completely new software for it.... which improved it..... free of charge! Hopefully, you didn't miss that I was able to trade the Apple Watch for the ThinkPad! That's straight up 1 for 1. I had previously traded an old Core 2 Duo generation MacBook that I had trouble selling for that watch. So I tried out the watch throughout the summer and was ready to move on.....

The main reason I was ready to give up the Apple Watch? (other than the fact that I did't use 10% of the features). I'm about to give up my iPhone. Long story, but the short version is that it's going to my wife to replace her's. Does this mean that I'm about to buy myself a really cool new phone? One of those Samsungs that have the wrap-around screen? Ah.....No.

I went into my office closet and dusted off my wife's old Motorola Atrix HD from before we got the iPhones 2 years ago. That mean that this phone is something like 3-4 years old!?! Yup! I looked at it and it does pretty much everything that I need it a phone to do. It's that simple. 

If you've gotten the impression that this whole post has been about me getting back into the electronic version of my comfort zone, you'd be right. Although, I'm not exactly Mark Zuckerberg, this picture is completely appropriate for me. My favorite season is Fall, when I can wear my favorite closes.... jeans and sweats! The "last day of summer" is very symbolic of that for us teachers when we go back and get ready for the "fall semester". This year, it's going to be even more comfortable than most!

Smart-Watch This!

So......yeah...... I got an Apple Watch last night..... OK; I didn't buy one. I didn't need it. However, when something falls into your lap..... Here's what happened. I've been trying to sell off my "reconstructed" MacBook. I took a liquid killed MacBook, married the screen to a good base with missing parts and there you go. It still had a dead battery, and I had some bad luck with it, like when I met a buyer about a week ago, and it wouldn't fire up. Turns out that the Starbuck's plugs were out, but he got scared off and I was stuck with this thing that I neither wanted nor needed. Then, this weekend, a guy contacted me to see if I wanted to trade the MacBook for his Apple Watch. I neither wanted nor needed one, but here it was....

You see, I have this. Actually, have had for around a year now and love it! It does pretty much everything I want and last for something like 4 days on a charge, which is very close to what my iPhone 5S does (I'm not a heavy user). And if I switch back to Android (which I'm contemplating), it will work just fine with that as well. 

Then, what's all this nonsense with the Apple Watch? Caught up in the hoopla? Want the latest "cool gadget"? Ah.....no, none of those things. Sure, I'd like to see what a more "complete" iteration of the smartwatch can do for me. And I'm thinking that the tight integration with my iPhone will make both more useful. But the bottom line is this: It's worth around $200 and I was having trouble selling the MacBook (it was a Mid-2009 Core 2 Duo CPU) at $165. So, if it turns out that I don't think it's worth keeping, I'll bet that I can sell it for something close to the market price. So, that's it? a simple business calculation?

No, not completely. Today, is the day of the wearable. These things have hit the sweetspot in terms of function, desirability and price. I usually know this when my wife tells me she wants some sort of gadget. Earlier this month, for Mother's Day, she asked for a Fitbit. This tells me everything I need to know. Just like 12 years ago when she asked for an iPod. I knew it was time.

I will say that in her case, it was more about monitoring health, than communications (like me). She's had trouble sleeping and wanted to keep an eye on that as well as her pulse-oxygen, so it's "a thing". I must say, that it's a pretty cool concept. We'll see how it plays out. Whether it's just a fad or a lifestyle change.

For me; as of today, I'm wearing a Space Grey, Sport model. We'll see whether it'll be a nicer looking Pebble or I'll actually end up learning to use the additional capabilities. Actually, my biggest concern isn't whether I'm going to use the capabilities, but it's more whether I'm going to be OK with a need to recharge in less than half the wear-time? Stay tuned..... Only time will tell.....