Tag Archives: tech

iPad. Can I have one even if I had an ihysterectomy?

I am sorry, did that title make you feel uncomfortable? No worries, I had that surgery quite a few years ago and left my ovaries which would explain my raging insane menopausal behavior. My title is not as funny as my friend Jessica Gottlieb‘s but then again, she is a rock star and I am not. (and in all fairness, to my knowledge she still has a uterus).

But this post will NOT be about my girlie parts. This will be about the abnormal obsession that I, and hundreds of thousands of other Apple geeks have for all things Mac.

I have been a MacUser since before many of my readers were out of iDiapers, I am sure. I used to be in the minority but now I am just a semi-cool mom who gets all hot and bothered when that technostud in the black turtleneck, Steve Jobs, comes out on stage to unveil a new Apple product.

Today was no different. With 4 windows open on my extra large cinema display I watched a lousy ustream attempt at live streaming and followed the tech specs for the new tablet today as they were unveiled on engaget.com and twitter. After much speculation about the name it was announced to be the iPad. The photo at the top came across my twitterstream during the presentation. (thanks to Katmanalac). Photoshop users are not only funny, they are fast. You can see what the real one looks like here, and watch the dazzling video about all its features.

So here is the story in a nutshell. This is an iPhone on steriods. For those of us who like realtime email and blackberry messenger and hate AT&T we will not have to keep longing for the iPhone anymore. We can keep the blackberry and add this to the arsenol. Personally, I don’t care if I have one device that does it all and these 50-year-old eyes would way prefer to read off a 9.7″ screen than an iPhone any day. The typing looks easier and the ability to read books, listen to music, read newspapers and magazines, view pictures and videos, and surf the web all on one device that I don’t have to squint at is rather appealing. The Keyboard dock got a lot of wows from the audience as it was foreshadowing into what this baby will grow up to be. The fact that is missing a camera is a big negative.

If you are not excited by this, you will be by the third generation of this product. You can go bury your Kindle out back with your VCR because this baby blows that dinosaur away! The Apple cool factor is intoxicating as always.

I have a strict policy of never buying the first generation of anything tech item because there is always a level of disappointment by the next holiday season when they release the bigger, better, less buggy version of whatever it is. But at the $499 entry level it is hard to not want this toy. Do I think that there is anything revolutionary about this product? Not really as is, but I think that it will be very soon. Although the iBook store, Apples book version of iTunes, will surely blow Barnes and Noble/Amazon and the Kindle right out of the water. And the potential for developers is endless.

For those geeks hungry for tech specs, you have probably heard them already but here they are:

1/2″ thin, 1.5 lbs, 9.7 ips display, full multi-touch, 1Ghz apple A4 chip 16, 22 or 64GB flash storage, wifi 801.11n, 10 hr battery, iphone apps work out of the box, keyboard doc and a price point ranging from 16GB with no 3G at $499 to 64GB with 3G for $829 with the big news that although it is still on the dreaded AT&T network  there is NO contract. $14.99/month for 250mg data and $29.99 for unlimited.

To my parents and inlaws, sorry for this post, I am sure I lost you on ihysterectomy!

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog.For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

add to del.icio.usAdd to Blinkslistadd to furlDigg itadd to ma.gnoliaStumble It!add to simpyseed the vineTailRankpost to facebook

4 Comments

Filed under humor, products, technology

Verizon Rocks

Seriously, you don’t hear that often, right? Always complaining about not getting what you need from giant Telecom? Well I would like to personally thank Veronica at Verizon customer service (no joke, I wonder if all the CS peops are alliterations), who felt my mom pain and allowed us an early upgrade on my daughter’s blackberry to an international Tour so she can BBM us from her semester abroad.

When does this happen? Um, hardly ever. For me anyway. It’s usually all sorts of fighting and carrying on to not get what you need. Thankfully Verizon recognized my family’s superior status as a quality customer and showed us some mercy. Either that or poor Veronica simply felt bad for me. Big Telecom with a personal touch, how lovely.

For those unfamiliar, BBM is Blackberry Messenger. This is like texting but it is internet-based and you do not pay per message. To translate that into dollars and cents, international texts, are 99 cents each, national are 54 cents. Let’s be conservative and assume she would only text the boyfriend three times a day (unlikely), her other assorted friends that she is traveling with 5 times a day, and us, well probably once a week or when there was a problem. That would be around $818 for the five months she is away. Yeh, crazy right? And those were conservative estimates.

These few little comments could have helped me get what we needed:

  1. Veronica, are you a mom? Ok, well imagine your daughter being in a foriegn country and not being able to stay in touch.
  2. You know Veronica, I am a rabid Apple user. I want an iphone more than anything but I won’t ever leave Verizon.
  3. What? You need to ask your supervisor? Oh, is she a mom? Tell her as a mom I would really appreciate her consideration on an early upgrade to help my family out.
  4. And my favorite of all times which really made her happy: Veronica, YOU ROCK MY WORLD!

The moral of this story? If you are persistent, personable and play on the mommy heartstrings you can usually move mountains. But you all new that already!

    Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

    add to del.icio.usAdd to Blinkslistadd to furlDigg itadd to ma.gnoliaStumble It!add to simpyseed the vineTailRankpost to facebook

    3 Comments

    Filed under college, Jana, moms, technology, travel