Tag Archives: Apple

Time Capsule

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In early 2008 Apple introduced the Time Capsule, a wireless router that automatically backs up data for any computer connected to your wifi network. In approximately 2016, Apple disbanded the wireless router team that developed the AirPort Time Capsule and AirPort Extreme router. In 2018, Apple formally discontinued both products, exiting the router market.

Don’t recall when I got mine but it was a long time ago. Since Apple no longer supports the device, I retired mine and replaced it with an external hard drive, using Time Machine to back up my MacBook.

Was planning to take the old Time Capsule to the recycle place but remembered it still has my data on it. A lot of data. I could plug it back in and erase but I’m told it would take a long time so I decided to destroy the thing. But it’s impenetrable! No way (that I can see) to get it open and get to the hard drive. I could probably beat it with an axe or a sledgehammer but that sounds like a lot of work. So I’ve decided to take it down into the woods (we live on six acres) and bury it. I know, probably not good for ground water but I’ll do my best to seal it up.

I kind of like the idea some alien archeologist discovering the thing and being frustrated she can’t find a power cord or cable for it.

“AirPods!”

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During the early days of the pandemic, as more and more people began showing up on TV via Zoom et al, I would shout out to Barb, “AIRPODS!” That quickly became annoying so I would whisper, “AirPods.” Now I just mouth the words.

I have mine in so frequently I’ve stopped noticing them (they fit my ears perfectly). Arguments about audio quality aside, they have changed my perception of music. It seems to be coming from inside my head, rather than through my ears.

Apple Music playlists (piano solos and cello solos) have become the the background for my awareness, making me noticeably more relaxed and peaceful.

AirPods vs. “cans”

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Seems like only yesterday wearing a Blue Tooth earbud/mic made you the subject of derision. A techno-hipster intent on impressing everyone with his hands-free phone calls.

Fast-forward to the Apple AirPods, which also got you some snickers. A lot for snickers. But it turns out AirPods work pretty well and I started seeing them everywhere. The FedEx guy. The crew chief that oversaw our new roof. The guy that mows our yard (yeah, yeah).

The plague hits and Zoom becomes a generic term (“I was zooming all day”). And those TV “at home” interviews? Lots of AirPods. So many that when I see someone wear a big old set of cans I think, poor dweeb.

Like these two guys being interviewed by Bill Maher. I know, I know… superior audio quality!

iPhone 11

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The battery on my iPhone XS wasn’t holding a charge (I’ve had it a couple of years) so I popped for an iPhone 11 and it arrived yesterday. It feels strange to all them phones given all the other things we do with them. Mine is a camera first and somewhere near the bottom of the list is PHONE.

Barb has had one for a while and the photos she has taken are beautiful so I was eager to play with this feature. My friend George spoke glowingly of the photos he had gotten with the latest iPhone’s Night Mode. If I understand correctly, the phone takes three photos and magically combines them to come up with the best image. The photos below were just “point and shoot” on my part. I’ll probably never get around to researching and fulling understanding (or using) the many features of my new camera/phone.


First photo above using this new feature, the second photo not.
I was in San Francisco attending MacWorld (first and last time) when Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone. I didn’t understand or appreciate what a big deal it would be. I didn’t get one that first year but broke down a year later. And have had one ever since.
Here are a couple of more photos from yesterday.


I keep telling myself the iPhone I have is good enough. More than good enough, and I don’t need the latest and greatest. But look at those photos!

Ten years before the iPad

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Apple introduced the iPad in 2010. Does the following excerpt from Neal Stephenson’s novel, Cryptonomicon (punished in 1999) sound familiar?

“Here’s how it works. You are an Overseas Contract Worker. Before you leave home for Saudi or Singapore or Seattle or wherever, you buy or rent a little gizmo from us. It’s about the size of a paperback book and encases a thimble-sized video camera, a tiny screen, and a lot of memory chips. The components come from all over the place—they are shipped to the free port at Subic and assembled in a Nipponese plant there. So they cost next to nothing. Anyway, you take this gizmo overseas with you. Whenever you feel like communicating with the folks at home, you turn it on, aim the camera at yourself, and record a little video greeting card. It all goes onto the memory chips. It’s highly compressed. Then you plug the gizmo into a phone line and let it work its magic.”

Apple AirPods

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When Apple introduced AirPods (September 2016) they got the usual ration of shit. Look funny; over-priced; uncomfortable; etc. This year Apple will sell 50 million of these. About $8 billion in revenue. In the last couple of years I’ve seen more and more of these sprouting from ears. People who never tried Bluetooth “headphones” are taking to AirPods. I spotted this gentleman in the supermarket. He said he leaves one in all the time. Forgets it’s there.

True Detective (Season One) on iPhone with AirPods

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My Apple AirPods continue to open up new worlds of sound. I watched (and liked) the first season of the HBO series True Detective (Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson) on a TV. Last night I started watching the series again but this time on my iPhone with AirPods. As with Deadwood, it was a completely different experience. The music was far more powerful and evocative. The texture of the actors voices was richer. (You could almost hear the smoke when McConaughey exhaled) Not sure I can go back to listening to sound coming from across the room.

In praise of AirPods

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Everyone’s familiar with stories of someone regaining their sight after years of blindness… or getting their hearing back after a lifetime of silence. That’s what came to mind as I started watching movies and series on my iPhone with AirPods (ver 2).

It’s like I’ve been listening with cotton stuffed in my ears. Hard to overstate how getting all of the sound changes the viewing experience.

Halfway through season one of Deadwood and I’m right there in the muddy street, engulfed in the sounds of the camp. Horses breathing, a distant hammering, the full range of Ian McShane’s mellifluous voice.

I’m ruined. I can’t go back to listening to what passes for sound coming from the TV across the room.