Category: Geeky Stuff

I want to see and hold one before I plunk down my cash. I’ll probably only get $50 for trading in my Series 5 anyway so there’s no rush.

I’ve been watching the delivery dates stretch out. Two weeks ago, if you ordered an Ultra you’d get it somewhere near the end of Sept or beginning of October. Now it’s all the way out to the first week of November.

Maybe I’ll wait to actually buy one until December. I’ll make it a Christmas Gift to myself. 

I would like to try one on, I can do that easily in a store without having to purchase one. Then I’ll make a decision and either get one or not.

I’m still ambivalent about getting another Apple Watch. The extended battery life of the Ultra seems to be the main driving point of every single article I’ve read. I suspect that is part of what’s pushing the delivery dates further out. The other parts are probably the supply chain and China continuing to lock huge swaths of their population down due to COVID.

Hey Apple, learned anything yet???

I have a sneaking suspicion that there are going to be a lot of returns/exchanges from early adopters. I’m betting that at least some of them will get their shiny new watch and decide it’s too big for their wrists. I wonder if that will work to folks who waited advantage.

Apple sells refurbished A.K.A. returned products at a discount and still provides the full warranty.

I’m ambivalent because there’s a part of me that really likes not having to think about a watch. I like knowing that as long as I’m wearing it, it’s going to automatically be wound and tell me the right time.

From a conspiracy theory perspective, having an Apple Watch is a liability. It’s connecting to the cellular network and the GPS location can easily be broadcast. With the FBI showing up at people’s homes, businesses, airports, and Hardees drive throughs to serve warrants, perhaps broadcasting our location at all times isn’t the best idea. Just a thought…

The same is true of a cell phone or even modern automobiles. My car routinely sends service data to it’s manufacturer, and GPS coordinates in the event of a crash.

There is a part of me that wonders about disabling the cellular modem built into the car. I sometimes wonder what that would entail.

I could still revert to a Thomas Guide.

Yes, they still make maps.

With a reasonable compass and a map you can navigate as the ancients did 50 years ago. 40 years ago even an outdated Thomas Guide could get you into the general vicinity of a new housing development or urban area and you could bird dog it from there. I say that from experience!

For giggles on one of my old Thomas Guides I marked where I worked, which was in an area the map showed as farmland with the phrase, “Here there be monsters”.

I forgot about it until I loaned the guide to a friend who asked WTF??? He was coming to an interview one morning at the same company. We had a good laugh over lunch, he also got the job. I later found out that he’d shown the map to our boss during the interview. Our boss gifted me a new Thomas Guide for Christmas that year.

This was back in the dawn of time, when Bosses could be human, have a sense of humor, and appreciated hard work with merit raises, even if some of their employees were clowns.

I guess I long for the ancient world. 

Back then, we could do the math. We knew how far we had to go, how long we’d been driving and at what average speed. It was oddly accurate. Even on long trips, you’d pull over at a rest stop, take a leak, inspect your tires, and do a map check. The rest areas were clearly marked on the map so a little bit of math would allow you to find your location and you’d chart the next leg of your travels.

I personally found that on long trips, I’d drive from one fold of the map to the next, then flip the page, or refold the map to better show me the next leg of the journey. It was a simple system, and after all that’s how map lights got their name. When was the last time you actually turned on the map lights in your overhead console?

I find myself wondering if reverting to the “old ways” is such a bad idea.

Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate the convenience of smart devices. I just wonder if I’ve become too dependent on the bright shiny digital readouts.

I have an appreciation for some of the “Old School” ways because there is beauty in simplicity and minimalism.

If I’m looking at a couple of months before I can simply walk into an Apple Store and try on one of their Ultras. This is probably a good thing.

I’ll be able to see how many bugs Apple let go by on the product and make a more informed choice.

FYI, in addition to the bugs being reported on the iPhone 14 hardware. There have also been a number of bugs reported in the new IOS. I stumbled upon one just yesterday.

This one is in the medications reminder portion of the Health app. It turns out that if, for example, you go wandering through the app and specifically tell it you’ve taken a medication a few minutes prior to the appointed time, and then respond to the notification, you’ll have entries in the medication log that look like you took the medication twice. I haven’t found a method to delete the erroneous log entry yet. I’ve also not been able to find a method to delete a medication entirely. 

After I stumbled upon the bug, I decided to go back to my tried and true method of using the reminder application with a daily reminder at a specific time. Sometimes I take my medications 15 to 20 minutes early. I’ll open Reminders and check the box and I’m done. Easy!

It looks like once you’ve used Medications in the health app, there isn’t a way to clear it. 

I’m certain that the Medications function was throughly tested using automated testing, but it appears that Apple didn’t bother to actually do real world user testing. If the user has already taken the medication, then don’t present the notification and for God’s sake don’t double log the medication entry.

I could see this creating an issue for people who are distracted while going about their morning routine then later trying to check if they’ve taken their meds. I’d bet that with some medications, there will be panicked calls to doctors asking about over doses and what to do.

The Medications app is not ready for prime time. I’d say avoid it for the time being