It's been a while since I wrote my blog and it's good to be back. 2013 is going to be a great year. I can feel it. It's a mom thing -- I just know. It's tough to select just five things to highlight this week but here's what I have: baconnaise, blogging kids, an iPhone contract, Google glasses and smiles.
The new iPad mini is the perfect size for my junior kindergartener. However, does a JK really warrant owning a computer? I tend to think not. Already it seems there is this mad scramble going on to ensure that our kids are equally if not more tech-savvy than their peers. There is plenty of time to hone his keypad skills but the window for developing his imagination seems to close a little every day.
While technology like smartphones, tablets and such seem at first glance to be aimed at the young and hip, it's those in need of replacement hips who will be the biggest winners as technology continues to transform our daily lives bit by byte. When you can Skype with your grandchildren, email your children or keep in touch with old and new friends via Facebook, you don't feel as isolated. For chronic diseases that afflict the elderly, like diabetes and heart disease, there are now so many easy-to-use apps and gadgets to monitor blood-sugar levels, blood pressure and more. Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks.
When a travel photographer ventured to other countries only a couple of decades ago, they had to carefully pack their camera bags with all of these supplies and ensure their film was stored appropriately afterward. Today, with the touch of a screen, a moment can be captured and shared with your social network within seconds. I believe these phone photography tools can be beneficial, especially while travelling. The way I look at it now, I see Instagram as a challenge.
A friend of mine introduced me to the term "topless meetings." Before you forward this to your HR manager, the expression refers to a tabletop staying free of devices during meetings. No laptops. No iPhones. No iPads. No Blackberries. Nothing that requires a charge. The idea underpinning device-free meetings is that such gadgets can prove more distracting than helpful.
Anonymous sub-group Anti-Sec supposedly holds in its hands 12-million Apple user IDs it acquired from hacking. The hacktivist group refuses to release the IDs until -- wait for it -- Adrien Chen of Gawker poses on the front page of the site in a ballet tutu with a shoe on top of his head. It remains to be seen whether Anonymous does have anything to give the public it strives to supposedly protect, or whether this was just another one of their pranks done "for the lulz," that is to say, for the stroking of their own vanity.
When my friend suggested I get an iPhone, I said that I didn't need one. Now that I've got one (and I love it) I can see he was right about it being a facilitator of convenience and creator of efficiency; boy, is it ever! What I didn't anticipate is that all of those other gadgets in my life would lose their purpose once I got an iPhone.