Life Is Such A Sweet Insanity.

For the past 24 hours or so my iPhone and iPad have been going crazy with app updates. I probably have around 50 apps on my iPhone and 100 apps on my iPad and I would say that half of them have been updated in preparation for the big release of iOS 7. For those not familiar with iJargon, iOS 7 is the latest iteration of the operating system used on the iPhone, iPad, iPod and Apple TV. iOS 7 brings a paradigm shift in look and feel of the OS and also brings along a whole bunch of new, nifty features.

Android fanboys will tell you that Apple is catching up with Android. Apple fanboys will tell you that Android is just a copy of iOS. People will snarl, people will yell and I will close the window that contains the conversation because as the outdated saying goes, “Ain’t nobody got time for that.”

One of the features of iOS 7 is AirDrop, which allows you to select something on your iPhone or iPad and magically, breathlessly beam it to another person with an iDevice. You can confine AirDrop to folks on your contact list or you can make AirDrop be wide open so anyone can beam a file (a picture or a document or whatever) over to your phone.

The possibilities are endless!

I kind of like the idea of AirDrop, in fact, I used it to beam the photo of my iPad that you see above. Long, long ago I used a similar feature on one of my Palm devices to send my phone number over to another passenger on the T in Boston. I was single at the time but he never called. At least I hope I was single at the time. Hmm.

Oh the way I kid. Earl and I shall laugh about this little bit of kidding this evening over supper. We’ll have a nice laugh together.

I mentioned on my Facebook stream yesterday that folks should go ahead and update to iOS 7 when given the opportunity. Though I have an iPhone 5 and an iPad 4, I’ve heard good things about the new operating system on older devices, though if you have an iPhone 3GS or an original iPad, you’re out of luck.

Now, I’m going to confess right here and now that I have been toying with the idea of switching to an Android device, more specifically, a Moto X. I’ve read great things about it. I’ve heard great things about it. But I’ve touched it and while it is quite nice, it’s still not as solid feeling as the iPhone 5 that I currently have. I’ve become accustomed to technological perfection through Apple’s attention to detail and while Apple does stumble from time to time, you can’t deny the polish that their iDevices have. I like solid. I must have solid. I hear the new iPhone 5c, in its polycarbonate shell, has a metal frame which will help maintain that solid feeling that so many of us Macboys enjoy.

So I’m still on the fence about moving to the Moto X and if I continue to feel the way I feel today, I probably won’t do anything of the sort because my iPhone and iPad are behaving wonderfully with the new iOS that comes out shortly for the masses.

Awwwwwwww geek out! Le geek, c’est chic!

So I just got back from a ride in the Jeep. When I was a baby, my Mom and Dad would drive me around in their Volkswagen Beetle in an effort to make me fall asleep. I guess I wasn’t the best of sleepers when I was a wee lad. I wonder if I crawled in my sleep. Hmmm.

It’s a beautifully clear night here in Central New York. Like earlier today, the air is crisp. As I turned on the radio and realized that Sirius/XM is playing the exact same songs in the order that they played them in six hours ago, I started punching buttons on my stereo and landed on the AM band.

Remember the AM band?

As I slowly spun the dial, carefully landing on each available frequency to see if there was anything other than static available to the listener, I instantly noticed that there’s not a lot of music available on the AM dial. This is OK, because music on the radio these days is mostly crap, in my opinion, unless it’s something nostalgic.

Making my way down the dial brought back memories of sitting in my bedroom at age 14 looking for Dr. Ruth on a Sunday night. Even back then I was a huge geek and I would opt to listen to Dr. Ruth on Rock 102 out of Buffalo instead of listening to her on the much closer Y94. I have always found it so cool that at night (and during thunderstorms) you can tune in some distant stations on a good radio. This works on both the FM and the AM band.

During my ride a few moments ago I listened to WBAL out of Baltimore. I also tuned in a station that never mentioned its call letters but it talked about Sudbury and North Bay. Since I know a radio engineer in that part of the woods, I’m not surprised that his transmitters might be cranking out the amount of power required to reach my ears. It’s a cool way to connect.

The AM radio band is pretty much forgotten in today’s digital age. Spinning the dial around the three and four digit frequencies relaxed me enough to know that I’m going to get a good night’s sleep.

Sometimes it’s good to be nostalgic.

This clock has shown the time as 8:27 for many years. I’m thinking of letting a local school know about my clock geek skills and offering to get this outside clock working again. It seems like it would be a fun little project as long as I don’t have to play with any mice or anything. I’m curious if this stopped clock is something that only I notice or if anyone else in the school district would be interested in seeing the clock work again.

I think I’ll reach out to the district this week.