i5

Evan and Vivian - this post is about something called a phone. We use it to call each other and also communicate with each other in various even more primitive ways. We carry these things around in our pockets everywhere we go. When I was a child a whole family shared one. It was attached with a wire to the wall and was about the size of your head.   

Mommy gave me my birthday gift early. At 10:30 am this morning she walked into the house and handed me a new iPhone5. And announced that my old phone wasn't working anymore. I was thrilled. The 3GS was beginning to feel a bit dated. I have not been able to turn it off for the last several months. The power-off switch just doesn't work. So I stow it away on all those thousands of miles of flying I have done since this problem developed. And hoped that my not-turned-off iPhone doesn't cause an airplane to explode or crash or wander off-course or do whatever they make them do.

The new phone looks good. It's light and skinny in width and depth - so skinny it's almost difficult to hold. Some gratuitous design details indicate that someone with Steve Job's aesthetics didn't painfully ponder each tiny design decision. I was ready to turn it on and start my new life.

Hey - not so fast.

After diddling around on my computer with two iPhones and their two different connectors for a while Jo concluded that my Macbook's OS (Leopard) was too primitive to load the version of iTunes (10.7) that the new iPhone (5) was willing to speak to. And there was no reasonable way to upgrade my computer's OS because the current OS (Mountain Lion) couldn't talk to Leopard and Apple had stopped selling the next upgrade (Snow Leopard) some time back. No new OS. No iTunes upgrade. No working phone.

So Jo made an appointment for me to visit the geniuses at the bar who have a secret archived copy of Snow Leopard on a drive that they used to upgrade my computer. Then I upgraded iTunes to 10.7. Then Jo spent a fruitless two hours trying to make my new iPhone talk to my new iTunes. And finally almost 12 hours after the new iPhone arrived home I could make a call. Yea!

Along the way the poor genius who was my guy at the store had to put up with my crap.

"Hey Vivian - this is Jerry. He's a genius. You can ask him anything. In his free time he upgrades software."

"Jerry - what genius thought up of this? Oh - you are all geniuses."

If you wear a shirt to work that says "genius" you have to be willing to put up with the shit. Which Jerry took in his stride.

The iPhone 5 may be the most advanced phone out there. iOS 6 is probably the best mobile OS on the planet. The display is breathtakingly sharp. I'm pretty sure that I'll use this phone happily for years to come. Thanks for the thoughtful and wonderful birthday gift, Jo.

But Steve is dead and the mojo is gone. It's not like you have to run out and buy a clone from Samsung or anything. But be warned.