Une Believable!

Lately I have been keeping an eye on Kick Starter. If you are unfamiliar with it, it's a site where inventors post their projects hoping to find the funding to produce them. There is some pretty cool stuff on there and a lot of it is getting the funding it needs to become reality. 

One of the projects that I got really excited about is the Une Bobine. It is a flexible phone stand/charger. It allows you to position the phone pretty much anywhere you want it. For someone who loves their phone almost as much as the people in my life (I mean, I do sleep with it every night), this is something I have been seeking for a very long time. 

I donated $50 to their Kick Starter campaign and a few months after they had reached their funding goal I received 2 Une Bobine of my very own.

Twisty Turny

Within perfect reach

As you can see, it is now perfectly within reach of my fingers when I am sitting at my iMac. The stand is even stable enough for me to use the touch screen in this position.

The second one, I bought for use in my car. I'm still playing with it's positioning to get it in the perfect spot so I can use the phone while driving without crashing. Of course now that Apple has changed the plug for their new iPhone 5, I'll have to wait to upgrade until such time as there is an Une Bobine for that plug. Oh well, it's the best reason I've found for not spending the money on a phone upgrade right now.

My New Baby

An update on my cracked phone saga.

So, I got to Vegas and fully planned on waiting until the Consumer Electronic Show opened in order to seek a repair for the busted screen on my iPhone 4. Well, I couldn't wait. Off my work wife Ashlun and I went to The Apple Store.

I got up to The Genius Bar, (gotta love how Apple names things) and was told that they could replace my screen for $149 and that it would take a couple of days. Well, I can't be without a phone, especially while onsite, for a couple of days. So I mentioned that I was due for an upgrade through AT&T and the guys said, "Dude, for $50 bucks more, you can have a brand new iPhone 4S". 

Well, that was all it took for me. In less than a half hour I was walking out of the store with my new baby.

Ok, yes it looks exactly like my old phone. I'm ok with that. I loved my old phone. This one has a much better camera, a faster processor, longer battery life, AND Siri. Siri is the new digital personal assistant built into the iPhone 4S. It's kind of amazing. It lets me use voice command like never before. I can say, "Call Mom" and it knows, based on the configuration of my address book and frequent calls just who Mom is. I asked Siri if she was married and she said, "We're here to talk about you Jim, not me". Too Fun! I can also ask things like, "Do I need to take a coat with me tonight?", and Siri accesses local weather and it's trends and said, "It's going to get chilly, you might want to take a jacket."

So, "Welcome" to the newest addition to my technological family...I'll be holding a shower later this month.

 Update: So now I have 2 older iPhones sitting around collecting dust. My iPhone 3G was the victim of "Sweat Damage", it's Home Button stopped working, but has now miraculously began working again. So if there is anyone out there looking for an iPhone, even if it isn't the latest model, let me know. We can work out a deal. I think I may bite the bullet and repair the screen on my iPhone 4 myself and then try to sell it as well. That way, getting the iPhone 4S will be like getting a free phone!

DISASTER!

OK, maybe I'm being a little overly dramatic, but not everyone thinks so. Without going into a huge drawn-out story, just see for yourself.

My BABY!

Amazingly enough, it still works perfectly…but then it is an Apple product. I would expect nothing less. Folks I know who own an iPhone have been as horrified as I am, it's the folks who don't that just don't get it. They're like, "Gee, cracked your screen". Um YEAH!

So now I am at a crossroads. Do I repair the screen? Do I replace the phone? Do I upgrade the phone? I haven't decided yet. Since it still works, I am in no rush. I am off to work The Consumer Electronics Show next week and chances are there is a vendor there that handles just this sort of repair. So I may just go by their booth and say, "Hi, how bout a demo?"

If that doesn't work there is also an Apple Store in Las Vegas that I am fond of visiting. So I will just make an appointment at their Genius Bar and see what they tell me. I am due for an upgrade from AT&T, so the cost of replacing the screen works out to be the same as the cost of an upgrade to a new iPhone 4S. I was really hoping to wait to upgrade until the iPhone 5 came out…but all kinds of things could happen between now and then.

Heck, there could be a Zombie Apocalypse between now and then!