At Home with Tech

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May 19, 2019

At Home with Nature

If you’re wondering what’s happened to my weekly musings about the challenges of technology, you should first consider my weekend experience in ‘the wild’… as a father.

I’ve just returned from an overnight Cub Scout camping trip in Redding, Connecticut with my nine-year-old son. Well, let me tell you, it was almost a perfect experience, including a three-mile hike in the woods and great weather.
(Though it was slightly marred by a chorus of snorers interrupting my sleep at 4am. My son power-slept through.)

Overall, he had a blast… learned some life skills and enjoyed camping with his daddy.

For me, it was a top ten weekend as a father…
Mostly because it was uninterrupted quality time spent with my son.

But I think there was something else going on… inside of me.

Barrett as a Boy
I’m a born and bred New Yorker who grew up in Manhattan in the 1970’s. I was a city boy who as a kid never learned to pitch a tent… let alone sleep in one (except for one time in high school).

Sure, I went to sleepaway camp…so I did spend some time in the great outdoors.
But I never had to learn self-reliance out there.

And as I grew up, I gravitated to the lure of technology rather than the life of a Boy Scout.

Barrett as a Man
And though I eventually moved to the suburbs as an adult and figured out how to mow a lawn and push a snow blower, I wouldn’t exactly say I learned to be at home with nature… beyond going on a full-day hike.

Yes, in fact, my family and I have done a few 4,000 footers in New Hampshire over the past couple of years, though I would attribute the spirit that led to those accomplishments to my better half…

Barrett as a Father
My wife loves to camp and really introduced me to the camping experience. Over the past few years, we’ve brought our son along, and he’s really enjoyed it. So, I think it would be fair to say we’re a camping family.

But this time, it was just my son and me camping with the Cub Scouts…

Barrett Pitches His Tent
I must admit, I was worried that I wouldn’t remember how to put up our REI Kingdom 4 tent.

No, I didn’t want to take the time to do a test run in our back yard. Yes, I did Google it and found a few videos that helped me to remember the order of constructing the exoskeleton.

The trick is to put the middle pole in first through the material, and then you attach the two poles with ‘arms’ that connect together on top of the middle pole. And then you pitch the tent.

The fact that I just wrote this down without cheating is a good indicator of how I performed in the field…

I successfully pitched my Kingdom 4 tent… all by myself. I looked like I knew what I was doing, and I even had the brain space to invite my son into the construction process.

To be honest… for this city kid, it was a big moment. And perhaps more importantly, I enjoyed doing it… much like I enjoy figuring out a tech problem like how to install a new WiFi system in our house.

I know I’ve talked about my camping adventures before, but only as it relates to bringing along technology to maintain a tether to the rest of my tech-infused life.

This time was different. This joy connected to something at my core that I don’t usually pay attention to…

Barrett Becomes Slightly More Self Aware
I would say only a small percentage of us are truly at home with nature. Sure, many may enjoy long walks in the woods or weekend camping in a beautiful location. But that’s still somewhat of a ‘protected’ experience. Yes, it could hail out there or a big bear could walk along, but you normally expect to make it out of your ‘wilderness’ experience in one piece.

That’s not quite the same as being teleported into the wild with no civilization in reach for days. Yes, some could handle that just fine. And I think the rest of us probably covet that lost skill deep down, even though we don’t acknowledge it.

Today, much of the world relies on technology to keep a roof over our heads and food on our tables. And in so many ways, technology ‘enhances’ our experience as we go about our lives. It can feel like a natural extension that supports our individual happiness.

But I realized during my camping weekend that my focus has been somewhat askew.

Previously, I was always the guy with the solar panels to charge up your portable battery. Or the one with an extra battery to spare. I made sure I could maintain an extension of civilization through technology.

But I could never quite enjoy just letting it all go…

Barrett Continues on His Journey
Yes, this time I still brought along my tech to our Cub Scout camping trip.
(What? You thought this was all about me living for a weekend off of the grid? Hardly…)

But the fact that I stuck the landing on building our tent and enjoyed doing it is what really tickled me this time around. That’s what I remember…
(Not how many bars of power I was able to maintain)

And that’s a new behavior.

No, I’m not at home with nature.
Not really.
Not yet.

But I’m getting more comfortable…

#progress

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May 12, 2019

Green Bubble Texting Fix if You Use the Messages App on a Mac

The color of your texting bubbles may not matter so much when using your iPhone, but it can be a big problem if you’re using the Messages app on your Mac. Here’s how to erase this pesky issue…

Lately, I’ve been trying to fix a little flaw in my ongoing role as the family photographer. It has to do with what happens after I take my photos…

I bring them back to my iMac, import them into Adobe Lightroom, choose the best ones, tweak and color balance, and then finally I share the few gems with family and friends. Of course, the big problem with my process is it takes time… sometimes lots of time to get to the finish line. It can be a week… sometimes two.

These days, everyone expects almost instantaneous sharing of pics.
Clearly, I need to keep up.

And I’m happy to report that I’m doing better, and here’s why…

Emailing Vs. Texting Photos
Now, I force myself to quickly find the best few pics in a batch and singularly focus on them to get them ready to share. And if I never get to the rest… well, maybe that’s okay, because perhaps all that really matters are those few best photos anyway.
(Are you feeling a disturbance in the Force?)

One other important detail to my evolving photo-management process is how I’m sharing my pics… Usually, I email them about. If I have more than a few to share, I create a Dropbox folder to house them. And then I forward along the Dropbox link in my email.

How easy is that?!

Well, not easy enough…
Because it still requires folks to click on the link and then download the photos.
And that’s takes time.

I’ve noticed that some of my friends prefer to text their photos, and I’ve experienced the simplicity of saving a photo that’s been texted to me directly to my iPhone.

Hmmm…

And while I didn’t want to move my photo sharing process to my iPhone (like the rest of the world), I realized I could take advantage of a texting workflow while still using my iMac…

…by using the ‘Messages’ app.

A Problem with Using the Messages App on Your Mac
You may recall, I’ve recently focused on my son’s 9th birthday and what to get him…
(My gift was a build-your-own computer kit!)

Immediately after his birthday party, I wanted to send out some party pics to our friends, and I figured this was the perfect opportunity to try out my iMac’s Messages app as my distribution method…

But I immediately ran into a roadblock with one of the phone numbers I used…
The photo just didn’t go through!

Huh.

After a moment, I realized my friend wasn’t part of the Apple ecosystem (no iPhone or Mac). So he didn’t have iMessage functionality…
(The blue bubble type)

And my Mac isn’t as clever as my iPhone which can simply convert an iMessage with a photo to a MMS text with a photo.
(The green bubble type)

So now what???

Text Message Forwarding
Well, the fix was to change a buried iPhone setting to better use Messages on my iMac. You simply turn on the ‘Text Message Forwarding’ feature…

Here’s how you do that on an iPhone:

  • Go to ‘Settings’
  • Tap on ‘Messages’
  • Tap on ‘Text Message Forwarding’
  • Then select the device you want to connect (iMac)

And as soon as I made this adjustment, I resent the photo, and it immediately went through.

Problem solved!

Green-Bubble Fix
With my iMac and iPhone now teamed up in this particular way, the path had been cleared for me to freely share my photos without worry using the Messages app on my iMac.

And the result…?

I received almost instant feedback that my pics had been received and were appreciated.
Now that’s satisfaction!

Text Message Forwarding is an easy fix for your green-bubble moments.

I highly recommend activating it…

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May 5, 2019

Piper Vs. Kano Computer Kit as a STEAM Toy Birthday Gift

If you’re not sure what to give your third grader for a birthday present, consider a build-your-own computer kit. There are two choices on the market right now. Here’s my own journey to pick the best one for my son…

I’m sure it’s no surprise to hear that my third grader loves to play in the digital world. Minecraft is his reality of choice during ‘screen time.’ And I’ve got to say it’s pretty impressive what he’s built throughout that amazing universe. He enjoys it so much that he spends his allowance to buy new ‘worlds’ in the Minecraft store. And while I originally bristled at the idea of spending real money on virtual items, I recognize it’s very much the way our tech-infused reality.

What a Nine Year Old Wants for his Birthday
My son’s 9th birthday is coming up, and I’ve got to admit that I’ve struggled a bit with deciding what to get him as ‘the birthday present.’ He’s asked for a whole bunch of Pokémon cards, as that phenomenon is surging throughout his peer circle.

Okay… sure. We’ll get him some cards.

And maybe as a parent, I should just go with what’s top of mind for him. Why would I want to overengineer my decision? Well, I’d prefer to give him a gift that might have a more meaningful impact on his development and future….

My son enjoys reading, and so I’ve already bought him several books that I expect he’ll love. And maybe with them… I’m done. There’s probably no better gift, right?

A few books… some Pokémon cards… He’ll be happy.

Well…

What a Father Wants to Get for his Son’s Birthday
Why am I stressing that somehow this is not enough? So, there’s this idea stuck in my head that I’ve got to get him a ‘bigger/better’ gift.
(My wife has gently pointed this out.)

I recognize that this particular issue for me as a father is likely that it’s just a reflection back on me… when I was a child. (Maybe I didn’t get a ‘great gift’ when I turned nine.)

And perhaps that’s the challenge I’m trying to meet…
I want this gift to be memorable enough so that he will simply remember it.

So, maybe this more about me and ‘legacy.’
Okay… let’s just say guilty as charged… and leave it at that.

I need to keep shopping for gift ideas.

Holding the Line
Screen time on the family iPad is the center of how our son currently interfaces with the digital world. There are some obvious ways that we could take him to the next level with more tech hardware…

  • Is it time for a gaming platform?
  • Perhaps his own ‘tablet?’
  • Maybe we repurpose one of our old iPhones that’s gathering dust.

Not yet.

My wife and I are aligned on holding the line against this inevitable next step and not rushing our boy towards more tech reliance. All in good time…

In Search for the Perfect STEAM Toy
Beyond the joy of building (and coding) in Minecraft, our boy has always enjoyed building in the real world. Whether it’s been with LEGOs, cardboard boxes or rolls of scotch tape and paper… he’s always loved to construct.

So, I began Googling for STEAM toys that he could build. I figured that might be the sweet spot for my search…

And then I came upon a startling concept (for me)…
The idea of children building their own computers and learning about design, circuitry and coding by using them.
(And it’s all based on the wildly successful and inexpensive
Raspberry Pi platform.)

Which Build-Your-Own Computer Kit for a Nine Year Old?
I came upon two choices:

Piper Computer Kit 2
$249.00 on Amazon Prime

Kano Computer Kit Touch
$195.00 on Amazon Prime

Both of these kits have received strong reviews. The major difference between the two is the Piper focuses more on the construction and component-interface experience, and the Kano operates more like an actual computer (tablet) once it’s up and running.

The Kano comes with its own keyboard… while you would need to attach your own to the Piper if you wanted one (though its design doesn’t require it).

Both are programmed to teach kids about coding and use Minecraft as a learning interface. And both are targeted for kids around his age.

Time to Make a Decision
I don’t think you can go wrong with either choice.

That said, I like the idea of the more robust construction phase of the Piper kit. I think our son will really enjoy that. And the learning experience is more ‘hands-on’”

The fact that the Kano may have more long-term value as an actual computer connected to the Internet doesn’t interest me right now. Though you can connect the Piper to WiFi, I’m happy not focusing on that and just having our son tinker with the standalone experience.

Another plus for the Piper is the version 2 can be powered directly with an AC cable as well as its rechargeable battery.
(The Kano Touch relies entirely on the battery pack.)

The Piper is the Better Fit for my Son
The gift of building and coding with your very own computer…
And the journey that goes with that…
Doesn’t that sound cool?
Sure does!

Yep… that’s the gift for my son.

I’ve decided on the Piper Computer Kit 2.
Click.

I know. I know…
Both the Piper and Kano are pricey.
(There are Kano configuration choices that are less expensive, but you need to provide your own screen.)

You’re paying a premium for an experience tailor-made for kids.
That’s the deal… and I’ve bought in.

Time Capsule Birthday Message to be Read in 2059
Hey Bud,
You probably don’t remember what I got you for your 9th birthday.
(Yes, in addition to those Pokémon cards)
It was a make-your-own computer kit.
I know that was an extravagant choice. (Well, it was back then.)
And it may or may not be relevant to the life you’ve grown into as a man.
But as a kid, you loved to build. And I expect you will always be a builder of some sort.
So, I was just trying to tap into that spark and nurture it.
You rock. Always have. Always will!
Happy Birthday.
Love, Dad

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