This Year's Techno Harvest Moon Comes Early

For those of you that follow this blog (shout out Mom and Dad) you may have noticed I've been slack and haven't posted in a while. I hope to get back into a rhythm now that summer is drawing to an end (It's not over yet, dammit!).

The harvest moon I reference in the title hardens back to an old post where I talked about my semi-annual ritual of renewing my tech and replacing my phone. Alas, while my all too short time with the Nexus 6 was mostly good, the gremlins started to creep out with random freeze ups, poor battery life and not playing nice with the Bluetooth system in the car, so it had to go.

So began the search for its replacement. At the same time I started looking, leaked images of the new Samsung Galaxy Note 7 began to appear, in all its curved screen sexiness. While it looked very tempting, I knew I couldn't swing the price tag it would command when it was finally released. So, I settled for last year's model, the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus (for less than half the price). With its 5.7" curved screen it was just a tad smaller than the Nexus while being faster, more compact, lighter and giving better battery life.

So far, just over a month in, I really like it. The rich interface has lots more features that I like, the screen is super bright and crisp, and I dig the curved edges with the special people edge and edge apps drawer. The only downside so far is that people complain that I don't always sound so good while talking over the speakerphone, and it seems more prone to dropping calls than the Nexus (I'll have to keep an eye on that).

Judging by the recent headlines about exploding Galaxy Note 7s, I think I made the right choice, at least until the next Harvest Moon begins to wax.

Summer is not over!

It happened not once, twice, but three times over the last weekend, I encountered somebody who said, "Summer's almost over". It should be noted, that at the time I was given this breaking news, it was still JULY, so I am unsure why these folks want to burst the bubble that is summertime. Isn't summer short enough that we don't need to mentally fast forward to the end when we are only at the half way point? Especially in the Northeast, where I reside, and summer is the precious pair of months that we are freed of the constraints of outerwear to bear our pasty skin to the elements. We all know that our near future will be filled with fleece and Gore-Tex, you don't need to remind us.

Part of the issue could be the fact that kids, mine included, seem to return back to school earlier than I did as a child. "Back in my day" :-) Labor Day was the last day of summer, the next day, the first day of school. Now, kids go back to school, a week before Labor Day, even earlier in some locales. This effect gets even more pronounced as the stores begin rolling out back to school ads and promotions in store starting in late July. It's a relentless reminder that summer days are fleeting.

So please, let's all resolve not to dwell on the end of summer, but to enjoy the remainder of the season while the days are still long and warm.

Get ready to sit back and enjoy the ride

Ever wish you had a personal chauffeur? Maybe you've been sitting in traffic and wished that someone else were at the wheel and you could relax and watch YouTube videos? Well, the dream may be closer than ever before.

At this time, most auto manufacturers offer sophisticated driver aids, whether it be intelligent cruise control, lane keep assist, or the like. We got our early taste of this a few years back when Lexus ran an ad on TV where their car parked itself without any input from the driver. This technology has only advanced from there. In fact, many experts believe that the levels of autonomy in current cars could get to the point where they literally drive themselves. This is already available in some models from Mercedes Benz, BMW, and Tesla, to name a few where the car takes charge and the driver can take their hands off the wheel. It's truly amazing.

The other aspect of this trend of development that certain experts have focused on are the inevitable impacts that self driving cars will have on our society and economy. The feeling is that the trend in cars will shift away from individual ownership and towards more of an on demand model, ala Uber (sans the driver). If we have a bunch of cars out there driving themsleves, networked together, then theoretically there should be few to no accidents, no moving violations, and consequently, no casualties.This would definitely change the whole auto insurance industry. And if all cars are on demand with no drivers, that pretty much eliminates taxis (or at least the taxi drivers). Of course in this scheme, since people would not end up owning their own cars, the auto industry would end up selling fewer cars, and mostly to these ride on demand services.

All this makes me curious. While I find all these developments to be interesting, I can't help but wonder why all these car companies are jumping over each other to develop these technologies, essentially engineering the demise of their industry?

And what is to be for those select few of us who actually enjoy driving? Will there be a place on the road for human operated vehicles? How will all these autonomous vehicles react to cars that are operated on instinct rather than algorithms?

Only time will tell if these technologies will truly have these profound impacts on our world, at least in the short term. In the meantime, we should all try to enjoy the ride, from behind the wheel, while we still can.

One of many curses of the mobile phone

"What? No you go ahead..."

I find myself saying that a lot when talking on my cell phone. I seem to constantly find myself talking over the other person. Does that make me a rude person? I've always figured it was a flaw of my own, poor cell phone cadence exacerbated by the lack of face to face contact. But maybe not.

I did a little research and there is a possibly a technological explanation for my rudeness. Turns out there is a slight delay on cell phones, not present in landlines. This is referred to as latency. While the continued improvement of communication technology has decreased the effect quite a bit, it's still there. Evidently it's also slightly worse on CDMA networks (like Verizon, my carrier) than GSM networks (at&t and the like). Now mind you, this delay is measured in milliseconds, but somehow it's still enough to set off conversational rhythm so as to have people talk over each other. And if you have two people talking, both on cell phones, is the delay doubled?

I didn't go into it that deeply. I just wanted to relieve some of the guilt of talking over friends, family, and associates. From now on, I'll just blame the latency for my bad manners.

Anyone else experience this phenomenon?

On the use of 'Spoiler Alert'

TV is better than ever right now, so many quality shows there's never enough time to watch them all. Not only that, but there are now more ways to watch TV than ever before. Used to be you'd have to camp out in front of the TV on the right channel and the right time to see the program you wanted. Now you have options...Sure you can watch shows as they air, or you can record them on a DVR and watch them later (even forward through the commercials). Maybe you prefer to stream them from your carrier or the network. Or you can wait and watch whole seasons on a service like Netflix or Amazon Prime. Yes, plenty of options.

However, with all of these delayed options for watching shows, inevitably, info on your favorite shows can be seen or heard, commonly known as spoilers. Spoilers can take many forms, all of which can be a real bummer. Maybe it's the person who is dying to discuss this week's episode and spills the beans not knowing that you haven't caught up yet. Could be the casual glance at Yahoo! news only to see who won last night's game that you had stored in your Tivo. Or perhaps the morning radio crew couldn't wait to talk about who won the Oscar for Best Picture. Whatever form it takes, it can be a downer.

Then there's malicious spoiling. Those folks who just love to let the cat out of the bag and revel in your misery. These people are a scourge on the TV viewing public and should be strung up and forced to watch Laverne and Shirley re-runs as penance for their collective bubble bursting.

Which brings me to my point. The phrase 'Spoiler Alert' was conceived to protect those of us who like to watch shows a bit past the airing date from those who seek to expose potentially exciting plot lines. This can work well, when used properly:

• Know your audience. If you work in an office full of people with common favorites, maybe don't let it all fly first thing Monday morning.
• When describing potentially sensitive material, announce 'Spoiler Alert'
• Upon announcing "Spoiler Alert" allow enough time for those of us who want to excuse ourselves (or stick our fingers in our ears) before your recount of the show's events. Don't just dive right in after the Spoiler Alert declaration.
• I know it should seem obvious, but saying "Spoiler Alert" after you say who got killed on Game of Thrones, is not effective. 
• While I don't believe there is a universally accepted amount of time lapsed before talking about shows is acceptable, 2 or 3 days seems reasonable to me. But a courtesy Spoiler Alert is always appreciated.

I think if we can all abide by these simple tenets, we can put an end to spoiling. Happy watching.

"Do one thing, do it well"

That tagline was a slogan recently used by GMC Trucks extolling their skill in truck building. The underlying lesson was that by focusing on one type of product, they garnered an expertise and superiority that could only come from specialization. "Jack of all trades, master of none" as the old saying goes, but does that really hold true? Could anyone say that Ford makes a worse truck because they also have a full line of automotive products?

In some cases, it could be said that product diversification didn't work. Did anyone know that Smith and Wesson made a mountain bike? Or that Frito Lay made lemonade? Exactly.

The flip side includes companies that took a risk and stepped outside their comfort zones to create real success stories. Can you imagine if Apple never looked beyond computers?

Then there's the extreme cases of over- specialization. It seems like there's a dedicated position for ever little job out there. Hire a heating company to fix an issue with your furnace and they're just as likely to tell you you need a plumber, or an electrician. No Jacks here.

Seems like there must be happy middle ground between trucks and contractors. Apple found it, maybe we can all find just enough things to do right.

Back in my day, a Hershey bar cost a nickel!

We've all heard our parents say this or something like it (depending on the 'vintage' of your parents) before. Well, I guess I've officially turned that corner, because I was at the supermarket with my daughter and upon seeing candy bar prices of 99 cents, I remarked, "When I was a kid, candy bars cost a quarter!". Another favorite candy of mine, Jujyfruits (aka dental dynamite) in the big yellow box was selling for $1.49 when I remember that it cost a hefty $.49 in my youth. Not only that, but the box was only 5oz, where it used to be closer to 8oz. Yes, the times they are a-changing, but what's interesting is the things that haven't gone up in price, or have even gone down.

We could obviously discuss gas prices, as they dipped to ridiculous lows as recently as a few months ago. I was paying less at the pump than I did 10 years ago, but as the market has stabilized, that's reversed.

I recently read an article about the new Honda Civic Coupe, with a starting base price of $19,050. Having shopped this same car back in 1996, I know it had a starting price of $13,980. A modest increase of 36% when you consider all the updated performance, safety, and technology you get in new cars these days and well below the 'Candy Factor' of price increase.

Recently I bought a new pair of sneakers and noticed that a good pair of running shoes will cost around $60-80, same as what I recall paying back in high school. How can a candy bar quadruple but a pair of Nikes stays the same?

Computers are an area that is truly perplexing. My first laptop cost me over $1200 and it was refurbished to keep the price that low. I have replaced or upgraded my computer every 2-3 years since that first one and the prices have only gone down while the capabilities and features have only improved. My latest computer with a much larger screen, more hard drive/RAM, and faster processor cost around $800. I'm not complaining, mind you, and I realize that with technology as materials and techniques get more streamlined the price goes down, but I would also think that the constant improvement of the components/tech would offset the decreases.

All we can do is roll along with progress and groan as the price of a Baby Ruth rises to more than an cell phone charger, and rejoice when a gallon of gasoline costs less than a gallon of milk. Just try not to sound too much like Grandpa Simpson when you say, "Back in my day...".