Apple Fan Boy and the AirTag

So, Apple has introduced some new products. They include a new purple iPhone, colored iMacs and the new AirTag (more about that in a minute) 

I will admit to being an Apple fanboy- to an extent. Yes. I did stand in line for the opening of the Apple Store at the Grove (what I won't do for a free t-shirt!) but no, I didn't camp overnight so I could be the first person in. I did not buy the first iPhone, or even the second. Up until very recently I still had an iPhone 4 and I still have and use a 14 year old MacBook. Yes, they tend to be somewhat style over substance and initially more expensive but if you are still able to navigate life with a 14 year old PC without issues or viruses, then I salute you. 

I did however recently break down and get a new (ish) iPhone. My old one held a charge for maybe 20 minutes and for some reason the reception was so poor that even with my tinfoil hat and sitting on the lip of my balcony I dropped calls. Apple decided that I had been a good enough person to warrant a small amount of credit, so I splurged on a newer model “refreshed” iPhone. I figure I will be living with this one for a good 10 years.. 

Which brings me back to the AirTag. They released this little doohickey for people to track lost or misplaced things like keys or bags. Now, I only very rarely misplace my keys outside of my apartment (one memorable occasion recently dropping them on the street and once having a neighbor returning them from the door of my car) but for $29 and no monthly fee I thought “why not?” 

Well, it certainly does what it says it will. I paired it with my new iPhone then walked away and used the “find my...” app to track it down. It gave more or less turn-by-turn directions until I could find it. If I had left it in, say, a pair of pants, I could even make it chirp to assist in the chase. It was a little more like playing that “getting warmer, getting colder” game than the demo suggests, but it worked. Handy for those of us who don't always put their keys in the dish. 

As far as losing it (and trying to find it) outside, I haven't tested that yet. But I did find out something interesting. Apple built in something for the security conscious (or paranoid) among us who fear that vengeful exes or government agents will be gluing AirTags to the inside of our front bumpers to find out if you are really going out to the 7-11 for smokes and a Big Gulp or to Live Nude Girls Girls Girls for an assignation. (I assume that would be the interest of the former; the latter would just track your cell phone.) But clever Apple thwarts this by telling you via your “find my..” app whether an unrecognized AirTag is following you around. This I found out by running some errands while carrying my work iPhone, with which the AirTag on my car keys is not paired. It saw that a rogue tag was in the car and reported the incident and even gave me a map route, showing that the tag was with me. Cool. 

Downsides? Well, he tags come in only one format: a rounded disk that requires an accessory to attach it to anything. This can be as simple as the 2 for $6 silicone thingy I got on Amazon up to the (not ready for delivery yet) $600 Hermes combination AirTag holder and luggage tag, in leather, with Hermes branded AirTag. Naff? You betcha. I want the $349 key ring. In Orange. 

That and the fact that the form factor is only the disk. It's main competitor, Tile, has different ones that can slip into a wallet or stick onto, say, a TV remote- easily the most searched for thing in my house. But then again, I assume that they do not have an easily replaceable battery than can be picked up at any drug store. The fact that Apple included that feature is not only laudable, but, for them, an even unto itself. 

So the days where I waited with bated breath to see if the new iMacs would be in purple or puce are passé. But at least I can find my car keys.. 

Photo: Apple

Pansy and the Pandemic: One Year Later

Well, it's one year later, more or less, and things are starting to get back to "normal." Well, as "normal" as we can get: schools are starting to re-open. you can dine in (in limited numbers), go to the movies (in limited numbers, both because of restrictions and because a couple of movie chains gave up the ghost), and the traffic and the air quality is almost back to the dismal pre-covid days. Just yesterday there was the ultimate sign that Los Angeles was over the hump: Channel Two preempted hours of coverage of anything for another one of those LA Institutions, a freeway chase. They only went to split screen to inform us that the Staple Center had been disinfected and would be open for the big game tonight.

Glad there's nothing happening in the world.

As we move more toward "normalcy" there are a few things that I, selfish creature that I am, will miss. Certainly the air in the first couple of months after the lockdown. It was amazing what can happen to the sky after a decent rain in Los Angeles if nobody is driving their cars. I will miss at the lack of rush hour, which started pre-lockdown at 6AM and went on until about 9PM on weekdays, and that was just the surface streets. I will miss Zoom meetings (If they ever truly go away) and the notion that a decent shirt, clean face, and appearance of concentration is all you need to get through that hour. I won't miss waiting in line to get in the store, hoarders, and crazy people who insist that masks are a commie satanist democrat plot Hillary, Dr. Fauci and George Soros came up with over a few brewskis.

Which brings me to..

I will, in a week, be receiving my second vaccination jab, in no small part because of a local anti-vaxxer and anti mask "advocate" who I will refrain from calling a local loony (oops! Too late!) She apparently had a meltdown (this time not on camera, how novel!) at a local market and decided to call for a boycott. Of course I decided to call on said market and shop. When there I was chatting with the owner, with whom I have been friends for thirty years or so, he told me the whole story and how a mutual friend informed him of the boycott. Mutual friend and I got to chatting and I lamented that I was unsuccessful in getting an appointment for the vax. Being she, she had me one in ten minutes. So while Ms. "Stop the Steal" would appreciate neither the irony nor the humor, the fact that I will be "Thoroughly Moderna Pansy" by the end of the month has a lot to fo with her.

Photo: Me in my Satanware (actually Lilly Pulitzer, but some would say it's the same thing. Taken by me.