Tech Trends | At Home with Tech

November 15, 2015

My Child Brought Home One of his School Teachers

I’ve just realized that student book bags don’t need to carry so much anymore thanks to learning websites out there that are assigned as homework.

There’s an early scene in 2009’s “Star Trek” movie that shows the boy Spock in school. While sitting in one of several dozen sub-floor pods, he’s rabidly bombarded with math and philosophy questions enveloped by a 360-degree virtual reality screen and cool computerized voice.
(A nifty homage to a similar scene from 1986’s “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home”)

It’s a complete teaching and testing system without a teacher in sight.
A fantastic, sci-fi view on the future of our educational process…

Or is it?

Hello, Cyber School Teacher
My son has been experiencing kindergarten for the last few months. One day a few weeks back, I came home and found my son and wife at the dining room table looking intently at my wife’s MacBook Pro.
(It was like he had suddenly learned to read, found my blog and realized he’s a topic of this ongoing conversation!)

I walked closer and heard a new voice coming from the laptop. It was talking to my boy:

“What significant contribution to bioengineering was made on the Loonkerian outpost of Klendth?“

“The Universal Atmospheric Element Compensator.”

“Correct!”

…Okay, those are lines from the “Star Trek IV” scene between the adult Spock and the Vulcan computer.

What was actually happening was a word recognition quiz for my human boy from a website called Reading Eggs. It’s a subscription-based tool that teaches kids to read for $59/year.

I thought it was simply a new resource my wife had found and was trying out. But it wasn’t. In fact, our boy had brought the entire idea of it home, because he uses the website at school.

Huh.

Computer-Based Learning
In fact, his teacher had recommended that the students spend time with Reading Eggs at home.
(Part of their early homework regiment)

I know there are plenty of learning apps out there for kids, and we’ve used a number of them on our iPad over the past couple of years with our five year old. So computer-based teaching is certainly not new to us.

And of course I’m generally aware that computers have been completely integrated into all grade levels for many years.

But this was the first moment where I witnessed it up close and personal.
And in my home.

Of course, why wouldn’t the school suggest we use a good learning website, along with books, flashcards and sound charts that still involve letters and words on paper?

But I still stood there, trying to integrate this experience as a baby-boomer parent whose tech contact in grade school was limited to first-generation calculators and analog mimeo copy machines that created exam sheets reeking of alcohol-like ink no kid could resist from sniffing.

How Do You Feel?
I wasn’t upset. And I certainly shouldn’t have been surprised.
Maybe I just needed to have my little ‘Aha’ moment.

And acknowledge how ‘fascinating’ it all was… the similarity this scene had to the Vulcan learning process expressed in both “Star Trek” flicks.

I just had to recognize the presence of computers already so close to the center of my son’s formal education process.

And how do I really feel about all of this?
(pause)

To quote another line from “Star Trek IV”…

I feel fine.

November 8, 2015

Star Trek is Returning to Television?

Incoming message from Starfleet: Cancel all of your plans for the beginning of 2017. There’s a new starship traveling at warp speed to a TV near you.

I’m not really sure how to react… I stumbled across the news last week that
a new “Star Trek” series is coming to television in January 2017.

Well, actually only the first episode is coming to conventional television. The rest of the series will only be available on CBS All Access, CBS’s digital video-on-demand streaming platform.

You’ll have to pay $5.99/month to be able to access to this new Trek.
(Unless you’re a personal friend of the “Q”)

The series will not be connected to the current movie universe, though the new show will be executive produced by Alex Kurtzman, who co-wrote and produced both of the current generation “Star Trek” films directed by J.J. Abrams.

Red Alert!
I am a life-long “Star Trek” fan.

I started watching the first reruns on WPIX TV in my parents’ bedroom when I was seven years old while my parents ate dinner. My father wasn’t too happy about that arrangement, but my mother allowed it, I think because she saw how connected I was to the series.

I know I should be jumping up and down for joy at this week’s revelation. My inner nerd entirely sated. What could be better than the return to a weekly “Star Trek” experience?

It’s been a decade since the last “Star Trek” series (“Enterprise”) limped off the air. And the last “Next Gen” movie “Nemesis” crashed and imploded back in 2002.

The entire franchise withered, because not enough humanoids on this planet simply cared to watch anymore.

“Star Trek” was in trouble.

Two Mr. Spocks Were Better than One
Then, J.J. Abrams revived the Federation in 2009 with his early-days version of “Star Trek.” And though his two movies were relatively faithful to the original… in so many ways, it’s totally an alternate universe.

Amazingly, he successfully created another “Star Trek” without alienating the old fan base. He made it his own and yet kept all the important foundational elements. In fact, he brazenly stole iconic moments and old plot points, smartly reengineered them and then placed them front and center.

Those are insane risks… and he pulled them off flawlessly.
He boldly made “Star Trek” his own.

Which is why the known universe is nervously wondering what he’s done with Luke Skywalker, who is noticeably absent from any of the new trailers for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”

But I digress…

Fresh Dilithium Crystals
Make no mistake; the “Star Trek” you grew up with is long gone.

That said, I’m quite satisfied with the current iteration of “Star Trek.”
The third movie installment, “Star Trek Beyond” comes out next summer.

It’s been something of a journey for Trekkies but that’s where we’ve happily landed.
(If I may speak for all of us…)

Now, there’s yet another disturbance in the Force.
(I know… mixing movie metaphors)

And I’m not sure I’m ready for it…

I am Expressing Multiple Attitudes Simultaneously
A new TV Star Trek is coming out six months after the hopeful positive glow of “Star Trek Beyond?”

I’ve got so many unanswered questions:

Which timeline does this series live in…?
(The original, the one Abrams reengineered or perhaps a new one?)
When in the future is this one set?
(Circa Kirk? Pre Archer? Post Picard?)
Why isn’t this one ‘related’ to the current movie series?

So this Trek lives on its own without the benefit of being a part of the overall whole? That could be a huge limitation. “Star Trek” has always benefited from its own mythology that’s developed through almost fifty years of storytelling.

But perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself.

I’m just a little nervous trying to process this sudden news with practically no details other than ‘January 2017’ and ‘Alex Kurtzman.’

And the idea of having to pay to watch the new series…. that’s also a little unsettling.
(Of course you wouldn’t think twice if HBO picked the show up.)

And CBS will point to the thousands of hours of other programming you can also watch with your monthly subscription, including all of the other “Star Trek” series.

Okay… so what’s my problem?

Live Long and Prosper
Successful science fiction television has proven hard to do. For every hit like the newer “Battlestar Galactica,” “Babylon 5” and “Farscape,” there were also plenty of big duds like “The Starlost,” and “seaQuest DSV.”

Both “Voyager” and “Enterprise” were weaker Trek efforts, though I must admit I stuck with both of them.

Creating yet another “Star Trek” reboot is not going to be a slam dunk…
And not to be attempted just to cash in on the success of the current Abrams’ movies.

I’m just saying…
This new series had better be good!
(I’m not going to rummage through my attic to unbox my toy phaser, tricorder and old model starship collection for nothing.)

Yes, I’m a little anxious, like doting parents watching their child perform in the school play. As a Trekkie (or Trekker), that’s the level of connection I irrationally feel.

Of course, I want this new “Star Trek” to be great!

So Mr. Kurtzman… Let’s get to it!

November 1, 2015

How to Annoy 100 Train Commuters with Your iPhone

If you think you’re always in your own private bubble while streaming TV shows on the morning train, you might be in for a rude awakening when you invoke a commuter uprising… against you.

Warning: Never stream “The Blacklist” on Netflix while riding the train during your morning commute… Not without first checking in with Apple.

Let me explain my cautionary tale…

A few weeks back, I was doing exactly that on my Metro North train ride to New York City. Remember, I’m a Road Warrior, at least I pretend to be while riding the train.

So I had my trusty iPhone 6 Plus tuned into season 2 of “The Blacklist.”
My Apple EarPods were firmly in place…

If you’re a fan of the James Spader TV spy series, you know it’s a pretty noisy show. Lots of loud explosions as our heroes try to capture the bad guy…

Major Audio Malfunction
In the middle of watching a tussle with the evil Luther Braxton, played by the great Ron Perlman, my seatmate tapped me on my shoulder. I paused the stream, extracted my left Apple EarPod, and turned to face this stranger.

“I can hear your show.”

“What?”

“Your TV show is playing too loud.”

I looked down at my iPhone.

“How is that possible? I’m wearing earphones.”

“I can still hear it.” It’s really loud.”

I paused in ongoing disbelief.

Then, the commuter on the other side of my offended seatmate leaned forward and joined the conversation.

“Yes, I think the entire car can hear it. It’s blaring! Everyone can hear it. Really!!”

She nodded.

He nodded.

I began to nod… in disbelief.
I had become ‘that guy.’ How embarrassing…

So of course I apologized and promised to lower the audio level, which I did. But several times during the rest of my commute, I pulled out one or both of the EarPods to listen for any escaping audio.

I heard nothing. My earphones weren’t projecting anything, contrary to crowd consensus.

Confused as to where the leak was coming from, I cranked the level back to ‘eleven.’

Nada.

Hmmm… Then I realized for the sound level to be that offensive, the EarPods couldn’t possibly have been the culprit. Somehow, the iPhone’s onboard speaker must have been activated.

Then, it hit me… ‘Lint-gate!’

Pocket Lint is Evil
A few weeks back, I realized the exposed holes in the bottom my iPhone were slowly being filled up by pocket lint through normal wear and tear.

The tell was I couldn’t get a secure lightning connection to charge my iPhone anymore. That’s when I realized I had the lint problem. So I took matters into my own hands, grabbed a pin and started scooping out pocket lint from both the lightning port and the earphone jack.

Problem solved…. Or so I thought.

I assume you know the phrase, “Don’t try this at home.”

Clearly, I hadn’t extracted enough of the lint from the audio jack and the 3.5mm plug was being blocked from making a secure fit. And as a result, the iPhone’s speaker took over… even though my earphones were still operating.

While that scenario suggested the possibility of a technical glitch I couldn’t confirm, I figured where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire.

Then I remembered a friend had mentioned after reading my original pocket lint post that the same problem had happened to him. His solution was to take his iPhone to the Apple Store. The Genius he spoke with used a tiny ‘vacuum-cleaner-like’ tool to do the fix.

Huh.

iPhone to Surgery… Stat!
So when my train arrived at Grand Central Terminal, I hoofed it to the Apple Store, which was conveniently located only a few steps away from Track 18.

I checked in… told my sad tale of how “The Blacklist” had disrupted an entire train car filled with annoyed commuters… and I was quickly scheduled to see an Apple Genius.

When my Genius arrived, I repeated my story, handed over my iPhone, and then she rushed it away to the back room.

Five minutes later, she reappeared and confirmed that my iPhone had still been clogged with plenty of pocket lint.

But no more.

She handed back my iPhone with a big smile.
(No charge)

I asked if there was a better way to take care of this nuisance at home. She suggested using a paper clip instead of a pin, because the larger circumference of the point could grab more lint.

But really… I knew my solution moving forward.

Cleared for Duty
Can you think of any personal tech you regularly rely on more than your smartphone?

Exactly.

I say everyone should schedule an annual ‘De-linting’ iPhone Check Up with the Apple Store.

Your fellow train commuters will thank you, and you won’t end up on anyone’s Blacklist!

Category: Tech Trends

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