Life in General!

Technology

The Indecisive Eejit56 Comments

Technology is one of those things you either love or hate. What is an absolute joy for some, can be a heartache for others.

Back in the days when I was foolish with money and thought it grew on trees, I loved all things gadgety and geeky. These days though, on finding out the hard way that money has to be earned and cannot be found at the end of rainbows, I am a little more considered with my purchases and carry out substantial research before I part with any cash. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. It was only after the purchase of my laptop that I realised that size does in fact matter.

Loving music as I do, I put a lot of thought into my purchase of an MP 3 player, if that’s what the cool kids still call them. Eventually I bit the bullet and purchased an IPod touch, not cheap at the £150 it cost me after discount. I thought it would be my friend for life, sadly after three years that is no longer the case.

Whilst I am not yet at the stage where I have to mourn its demise, I am finding more and more that it is no longer equipped to do all that I expect from it.

It would be at this point that you may advise me that perhaps I expect too much, but actually I don’t, I am a simple soul, I just expect it to function. My little friend still has the ability to amuse my eardrums as it pumps music from my pocket to my lugs, but sadly due to lack lustre software it can no longer help me surf, blog, game or lament the emptiness of my bank account.

I need a software upgrade. Almost every app tells me it can no longer function without the aid of IOS 7. No problem says I as I navigate my way to the store nestled within ITunes. I sit watching a loading symbol with glee, eager to eye the new changes only to be told that I cannot upgrade. WTF!! like seriously WT absolute F!

I move straight past sadness and despair to anger, stopping short at throwing my outdated (according to Apple) little friend against a wall, the though of not being able to listen to music the only thing that keeps me from a gadget gore fest extravaganza.

So where does that leave me then, well I’m kind of stuck up a tree without a ladder I guess. I can listen to the birdsong and pick apples, but I can’t look up a recipe to make a pie. Truth is, I am not upset with my little friend, but more at the company who introduced it to the world. I paid a sizeable chunk of money (thank you BNPL) only for my beloved gadget to  become 50% obsolete after 3 years. Surely this doesn’t have to happen, there must be something that can be done to make the crossover a possibility.  In effect, eventually I will be forced to move with the times and upgrade, either that or I will have to make peace with the fact that it will be all about the music and nothing else, basically because I won’t be able to do anything fecking else.

In the meantime however I need to just suck it up! As long as there is music…

56 thoughts on “Technology”

  1. God you are so right and it’s always my biggest gripe with Apple…quickly followed by their absolute need for proprietary accessories, etc. I felt really bad when the people who shelled out big bucks for the first iPads were “the old thing” after only 6 months when they released their 2nd iPad! Just not right!

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      • My thoughts exactly! Nice to see this post on here though……did enjoy your vernacular back in my reader! Holding up okay or are the ships rioting in the harbour again?

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      • Last night wasn’t great, but today is slightly more of an even keel. That said, she has to have cream applied to her loegs every night, which is right in the middle of when I actually get some me time for blogging etc, so umm yeah, yay for that lol

        You do realise I am going to have to look vernacular up though don’t you lol

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      • Hah! Sorry……I had to look it up as well, first time I heard it. Vernacular = dialect specific to a person or area. In this case, I like how you say things. Cream on legs, huh? Well, another gross story to cheer you and show you it could be worse…my mother when caring for her mother, was in charge of everything right down to clipping toenails that weren’t (how should I say it?) pleasant either in appearance or scent!

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      • Then you are definitely in there with a chance thinking like that! Hang in there, girl! It’s almost Friday!

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      • Indeed, let us hope for a pain free weekend lol I was daydreaming on the train the other day about winning the lottery and going on visits to other blogger. I almost considered and Okay, What is money was no object as my next challenge lol

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      • Fingers crossed on that painfree weekend. You know, I was thinking about that mess making the ship was doing the other day. It’s really bothered me how frustrating you must get. There is a thing you do when you have a child like that….distraction by plan…..you have a box or something ready to give them that they CAN mess up and it isn’t an issue for you. Not sure how that might work in your situation, but at least maybe gives you a path to consider thinking on……

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      • I tried that too, for a while she had this thing where she would continually look at photos/ So I bought a couple of cardboard boxes to put them in so she could take them out then put them away. That was probably about 50% of what was lying all over the good room on Saturday lol
        Music though is a distraction, but it makes her cry :(

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      • Ugh. What a thing you have to deal with in all this! The box I was talking about…..everything was tied into the box so it could go no further than the length of the cords (sounds like a terrible kid toy, I know, but whatever they were using was of some kind of curled plastice and wasn’t long enough to be unsafe) anyway, I’ll keep thinking for you!

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  2. It irritates me to no end that Apple does that sort of shit. I actually refuse to buy any of their stuff because of that. (my iPad was purchased by the university, not me) I do most of what I need as far as portable access to the internet via my smartphone, a Motorola Droid Ultra. I love it. I can’t tell you a price as it was a free upgrade for me with my cell provider when I got it, so I didn’t pay anything for it at all. Good luck sweetie, being without your tools is a dreadful thing.

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    • Funny, my phone is a Motorola too, but I have the Moto G, best little phone ever and it’s a cheapie. I think next time I’d perhaps just focus on the play and less of the gadgetry, that said, while it continues to play music I am happy :)

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  4. Technology is going at such a rate I can’t keep up. Recently my ipad stopped working so I did the only sensible thing I found a younger person to help me and with a a few deft moves reset the thing and away I went…..no one told me how to do that……my gripe with ipods is that if you engage icloud it takes over the music selection even the songs you have deleted from your collection still turn up on the player, even after I told my computer to only use the songs on my computer……it could be that I am not very tech savvy but that’s my gripe.
    Sadly I think as technology leaps ahead of us we are all going to forced to buy something compatible or fall behind, it sucks I know but think of the changes in the past five years, then consider the possible advances in the next five years, maybe we should be just renting our devices as they are becoming obsolete so quickly.

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    • The renting is a good idea. When it comes time, hand it back and upgrade. I like that lol
      You know I used to be one of those young people that got asked the questions, then life got busy and now I’m the one asking. Myself and Mr Google are the best of friends lol

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  6. Your experience takes me back to the 80s/90s when video game consoles went through the same tragedy. Every time I acquired a new system (on sale), it was no longer popular and phased out of stores. So, I either had to pitch mine after 3 or less years or save everything I had for it and enjoy it. I was not one who turned the old one in as fast as the new one came out. I cried when I sold my Atari lot as I had everything in better shape than anyone I met. No one takes care of their games–as far as I know–the way I do.

    So, in this modern age of I-this and WIndows-that, I am inclined to not get involved with any of it and wait for the fallout of wireless overload. For all we know, this will all be a dying fad replaced by the new Swatch watch craze or jelly bracelets. Then again, if Star Trek doesn’t lie, it’s only the beginning of having doctors repair us with a glowing screwdriver. We all are just paying the price forward for that technology. We suffer for future progress…if you can call it that. We’ll all be rotten C-infected corpses applauding the advancement of humanity from our graves. You go, space explorers. I would love to join yo– Quiet, decayed scum! We run the planet now. You are fertilizer.

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    • Also, my old teachers were not wrong when they said not to put all your eggs in one basket. Modern tech pushing us to use one device for everything is a prime example of human error waiting to happen. It’s better to do big tasks on separate devices. I read even the author of the Harry Potter books used a PC separate from everything else to write the books (to fend off potential hackers of her material?). Whether it’s for that or just to avoid losing two functions with one other, just don’t rely on one anything to do everything. I don’t care if the world says it’s the only way to go to the future. It’s doomed to fail or bankrupt the world.

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    • Damn you really did take the loss of your Atari quite hard, I can see it still haunts you lol I was the same with my PS1, and I still miss it to this day. I wasted more weekends than I care to count in Bubble Bobble and the modern day versions are just not the same!

      Hope you are well on the road to recovery :)

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      • Yes, my Atari was a good friend tossed aside to keep up with the Jones-es. I once felt rejected like that by a friend.

        I am considering hunting for old systems at the annual summer fairs. I am itching to play some Sims NOT on the PC where it consumes so much space. I have a memory card from a PS2 I borrowed. I could always download the EMUs and ROMs online, but…

        I always wanted Bubble Bobble til I finally got to play it about a year ago. :P I still have the ROM saved at the final screen/99 where you have to free the two princess creatures from the bubble wizard.

        I am on the road…just not sure how far or if I am going backwards.

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      • Ahhh do not diss the Bubble Bobble, it was the best of the best, but better played with friends.
        I hope you are on the road forwards, keep looking ahead.
        I fell out the door on Friday night, no idea how, but I jarred the bad leg and skinned my elbow. It’s made me a little unsure of myself again, but I’ll be right.

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      • I actually like some of those weird bubble shooting games they’ve come out with over the decades. I like one my brother had on his PC with masks you reduced.

        Most video games are better shared with friends. With the exception of RPGs, perhaps, which would be somewhat annoying to sit through as the only one playing fights battle after battle just to build up gold or experience for some lame power-up. I feel guilty getting sucked into those games. A great buddy game would be one of the fighting stage games like Double Dragon or Final Fight. I had a great time with a buddy and Heavy Barrel one summer. That was a wild ride. If you wanna talk old school, Atari’s pinball tanks was the best for afternoons with friends or siblings.

        Ouch. Ya know? I am so paranoid about bumping my left arm now. I had a weird baby moment last week, hitting my elbow on the bathroom door frame. I caught myself and said…gee, I feel so infantile. But, all kinds of weird things are happening due to this injury. I feel like I’ve been sent to some Greek underworld and am pushing a boulder up a hill with red rock and fire everywhere around me.

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      • You’ll be a little cautious for a while to come, although you’ll adapt you’ll still be protective. Almost three years on I still am as my leg has a tendency to give out on me.
        I used to love this game I had for the Megadrive called Crue Ball, it was awesome. I likes my pinball, so another one would have been Fantastic Journey for the PS2, which you’re making me want to hook back up again lol

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      • Video pinball has lost its charm. If it’s not the real thing…heck, even that bores me more than it entertains. I used to love it as a kid, though.

        Or, look into EMUs/ROMs online.

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  7. I am cross with apple too, It was my daughter’s birthday a couple of weeks ago and as one of her present, we bought her a 2nd hand ipad. She was really thrilled with it until it came to do anything! It was a 1st generation one and would not allow her to download anything on it nor could it be updated!
    To cut a long story short she now has one where she can do everything, but it cost dearly in more ways than one! :-)

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  8. And another bad thing is that the newer iOS slow down older devices sooooo much. I love that stuff though, would rather have a new game system or ipad than a piece of jewelry any day of the week :D

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  9. “Built to last” is no longer to be found in any company’s business model. That no longer works in this hyper competitive world where constant sales increases are the only way to drive up stock prices. I’m just happy my 6 year old desktop and laptop still work fine… that’s about as technologically advanced as I allow myself to get…

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  10. I absolutely love Apple, but what also annoys me about them is the little changes they make, such as the change of the socket on their equipment to a “flash” socket, thus making equipment purchased for said equipment useless unless, of course, you buy an adaptor off Apple that costs £25. They will even scrape the last of your money off you.

    But I just can not resist going into their store in town and occasional buying something (usually with vouchers I’ve asked for as Christmas and Birthday presents). I don’t know how they do it, but they do.

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  11. I figured there might be a hacky way to get iOS 7 on there. If that doesn’t work or you run out of options, the way I would go is I would purchase an inexpensive, unlocked Android smartphone from Amazon. They tend to start at around 40 USD, but since you’re looking to use it as a smart MP3 player you can just turn off the cell radio in the settings and that alone will extend the battery life of the device. Price isn’t always an indicator in this realm, since the parts used to make the most expensive cell phones and such devices are mass-produced and super cheap to procure. The price you tend to pay is really mostly wrapped up in advertising, packaging, research and development, and the lawyers that both dream up, and defend against, patent lawsuits. The cheap companies don’t do much of that stuff, they just build and sell smartphones, so I could go on Amazon, search “unlocked android smartphone” in cell phones and accessories, filter it by avg customer review (4+ stars) and find something like this:

    BLU Dash JR K Smartphone – Unlocked – White by BLU http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O3DF9OW/ref=cm_sw_r_udp_awd_dnnvvb113BZX1
    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O3DF9OW/ref=cm_sw_r_udp_awd_dnnvvb113BZX1

    The bonus is, if you choose the right one and like it better than your phone, you could just activate it on your account and replace your old phone.

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  14. I feel your pain – even more than the sympathy knee pain. I am clutching my ipod classic for dear life – also obsolete. I love its 80gb capacity for all my podcasts – some of which have of course disappeared from Itunes – because they’re like that >^< (angry face) But I really love my 1940s cartoon of Betty Boop, especially Cab Calloway doing Minnie the Moocher. I also love my Orson Welles War of the Worlds. Of course, all my Stuff quickly took over my computer. So He indoors helpfully sourced me a computer on Gumtree with terabyte memory. Amazing, you say. Woah, I say. Because I have had to create a new library on this computer. I can see my old stuff backed up – including the silly games, but these silly games won't appear in my library, because you only get flipping apps now. I am soooo scared of syncing ipod and losing stuff. Tech friend says there's a way round this by making partitions on my computer…… Apple do make good stuff, but I really resent how they make things obsolete to make us upgrade.

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Entertain the Eejit!