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March 17, 2024

How Long Should an Apple Watch Last?

I didn’t plan on buying a new Apple Watch. But fate had a different directive. Here’s how you might want to better integrate the inevitable into your home-tech upgrade planning.

Last summer, my old iPhone drowned. It was the result of my little kayaking adventure mishap. (With a spectacular demonstration of clumsiness, I slipped on a submerged rock and fell into knee-deep water as I was getting out of my kayak.) My iPhone was only submerged for a moment, but it was enough.

I later rushed it to the Apple Store as my iPhone struggled to boot up, but it was too late. They called it as my iPhone lay on the cold table, surrounded by Apple Geniuses. One reviewed the diagnostic. It was hopeless. R.I.P. my dear iPhone.

Don’t Wait for the Tragic Last Day
I’ve thought a bit about that day since then. And I’ve come to realize that human error may not have been entirely to blame for this tech tragedy. My almost five-year-old iPhone XS Max had been acting a bit glitchy.

Earlier in the summer, it had exhibited charging anomalies. When I plugged it in, the screen complained about moisture in the charging port. (Yes, it had been raining earlier.) Of course, I was concerned that it wouldn’t charge for hours at a time. So, I took it to the Apple Store. My iPhone received a clean slate.

Fast forward a couple months. My iPhone was dead.

Coincidence? Not necessarily. But in hindsight, perhaps my five-year-old device was simply getting old and beginning to reach its natural end.

Tech doesn’t last forever.

Maybe waiting for the very end is always going to end in some tragic way.

The Logic Board in my Apple Watch Series 4
Let me tell you a different story. It’s about my old Apple Watch Series 4 that’s also five years old. Guess what? It had also been acting glitchy.

It was inexplicably crashing every so often and rebooting. And then its battery suddenly couldn’t power it through even one day. (I knew Apple Watch batteries don’t last forever, but this was a sudden change.)

So, I recently took it to the Apple Store. And the Apple Genius attempted to do a diagnostic. That process required my own iPhone (now a mighty iPhone 15 Pro Max) to do the health check with its linked companion.

My aging Apple Watch wouldn’t cooperate, and even though it was still successfully paired to my iPhone, it wouldn’t let my iPhone do the diagnostic.

Is that bad? Yeah, it’s bad.

The Apple Genius shook his head, looked at me and said my Apple Watch would have to be sent out for repair, and that cost could range from $99 for a new battery to over $200. And then he said the dreaded ‘L’ word.

“It’s probably a logic board problem.”

Logic board?! My Apple Watch was long past its Apple Care days. The likely cost to repair this old piece of tech would simply not be worth it.

So, I called it. Goodbye dear Apple Watch.

One piece of good news: I received $70 to trade in my failing Apple Watch for a new Apple Watch Series 9.

Five Years is Enough
No, this wasn’t as traumatic an experience as my iPhone story. Of course, I knew that I might need to buy a new Apple Watch. I was prepared for that likelihood.

I got five years out of my Apple Watch. That’s a good run… I think.

You have to remember that newer software will inevitably slow down old hardware. And eventually, you won’t be able to even update the software on an Apple Watch. And who really wants to go through that? Even if you’re a glutton for that kind of punishment, the hardware can/will also fail eventually.

Gone are the days when you can maintain your grandparent’s watch forever. Certainly not with an Apple Watch.

Plan for the Inevitable
Yes, wearing an Apple Watch is a relatively expensive way to know what time it is. (Of course, Apple Watches do much more than that. And obviously, I enjoyed my first Apple Watch enough to get another one.)

We all know what the Apple ecosystem costs. No surprises there. This is more about better understanding recommended replacement cycles.

Give Yourself Enough Time for a Smooth Transition
If there’s a lesson learned from my past year of Apple upgrades (I also recently bought a Mac Studio to replace my old iMac), it’s not to squeeze every last day out of your tech to get the most value from your original spend.

Three years? Four? Maybe five years? After that, I think you’re asking for trouble. And when the early signs of obsolescence show up, don’t dismiss them as minor inconvenience.

Sure, you can always choose to upgrade much faster to get the latest and greatest. And I think that’s fine if you feel a compelling reason to do that.

But if you’re happy with what you’ve got, just remember the status quo can’t last forever.

It’s always best to upgrade your tech while you still have the choice. Emergency technology purchases can really make anyone nauseous.

The Silver Lining
Happily, this time, upgrading to my new Apple Watch was a smooth experience that I was prepared for.

And of course, the silver lining when you’re forced to upgrade is that you get all the benefits of your newer tech.

Welcome home, Apple Watch Series 9!

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March 10, 2024

How AI can Fix your Low-Resolution Photos

If you’ve got an old digital photo that looks grainy when you crop in, it’s time to add in more pixels with a little AI assistance. This cropped photo of our cat from 2008 benefits from 4x more pixels on the left generated by Adobe Lightroom.

We all know the famous scene in the 1982 sci-fi movie “Blade Runner” where Harrison Ford’s futuristic detective inserts a photo into a computer and tells it to zoom in and enhance the clarity of the background until he finds a person hidden in a reflection from a tiny mirror.

No, we can’t tell today’s computers to scan a photo, “track 45 left” and then “enhance 15 to 23” to find what’s there. But we’re getting closer.

That’s thanks to today’s software that can increase resolution in lower-res photos while maintaining the quality (and without adding digital artifacts). This trick can also clean up jaggy edges that become more apparent when you zoom into a low-res pic.

Often, when you crop in too tight on a photo, grainy problems show up, because you’ve deleted too many of the pixels. You’ve suddenly created a low-res photo that clearly needs pixel infusion.

Enhance Tool is Not Science Fiction
Adobe Lightroom can help. It has an AI-powered upsampling ‘Enhance’ feature called ‘Super Resolution.’ This nifty tool creates a duplicate photo with four times the pixels. And that can make a significant difference.

Here’s how to ‘enhance’ a digital photo in Lightroom:

  • Click on the Photo dropdown on the top menu
  • Click on Enhance
  • Click on Super Resolution
  • Then click Enhance
    (You can preview the effect before you proceed.)
  • Voilà! An ‘enhanced’ file is generated in a DNG format.

There are other companies that offer similar solutions, but as Adobe Lightroom Classic is my main photo-editing and organization tool, I’m very happy to keep my workflow in one place.

A Useful Tool for the Right Circumstances
I’ve used this enhance trick mostly when I work with digital photos that I took twenty years ago. That’s, of course, during the early age of digital photography when original file sizes were relatively tiny.

It’s a helpful solution, but this tool is not magic. It can’t create what’s not there or fix a blurry photo. But it does add in a bit more visual crispness, even if you’re not having a pixelization problem.

It’s also quite helpful if you want to print out the photo. A physical print is usually more unforgiving than a computer screen.

Adding Pixels into My Old Photos
Here’s a photo I took of an actor playing a Klingon at the Star Trek Experience in Las Vegas back in 2001.
The original photo file was only 1024 x 768 pixels. I’ve cropped it in tight to just 198 x 264 pixels. The enhanced version on the left gets our friendly Klingon up to 396 x 598, which does make a difference.

Here’s a street shot I took in Hong Kong in 2005.
The enhanced shot on the left helps to bring out the background. You can also make out some of the car’s license plate letters.

Smile for AI
If you’ve found yourself having to squint to pick out the above differences, that’s okay. They’re minor, but they’re there. I think it’s fair to say that Adobe Lightroom’s “Super Resolution” mostly gives you minor sharpening.

It’s not a magic wand, but it does give you 4x more pixels to work with out of thin air.

With AI’s text-to-image capabilities already in common use today, I’m sure this is not the last time we’ll be discussing how AI can rebuild old photos in just a few clicks.

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March 3, 2024

Stream these Funny PG-13 Action Movies with your Family

If you’re looking to expand your movie choices beyond the MCU, here are some fun options with punch to consider streaming.

For years, I’ve been curating a list of movies for my family to stream. And let me tell you, it’s not been easy to find consensus on what we all want to watch. Most every weekend, I scrub through the movie options available on our various streaming services and look for a new title or two that might appeal to everyone.

I enjoy mind-bending science fiction, but my wife and I are both mindful to serve up appropriate content for our thirteen-year-old son, who gravitates today towards the fun/action recipe of MCU-style filmmaking.

Four-Letter Words
Of course, we need to follow obvious guardrails when choosing appropriate content for our eighth grader. Even though he’s close to graduating to more mature content, PG-13 has been an uncrossable line for years. (The only exception so far has been the first “Matrix” movie.)

I’m sure you know there’s no way to avoid bad language in the PG-13 universe. It spans across the multiverse. I’ve stopped worrying. Plus, he hears it every day in school. That’s life.

It’s been at least a year since I stopped counting four-letter words in movies.

Slim Pickings
Everyone talks about the avalanche of streaming content available today. But I’ve still found it especially difficult to find fresh movie options. (Last year’s writers’ strike didn’t help.)

I also think my challenge is partially due to the reality that not many films are perfect for the early teen audience.

Sure, there are plenty of movies for kids… and loads of adult movies. But this in-between segment is relatively narrow.

What did They Say?!
Another limiting factor is many classic flicks haven’t aged well. Either the pacing is too slow (in comparison to today’s fast-cutting storytelling norms) or the characters feel like caricatures from a by-gone era of inappropriateness.

I like to think of myself as a movie buff, and there are still plenty of older movies out there that hold up just fine. But just the idea of a classic movie that may look a bit dated can often be a non-starter in my household.

Still, I am undeterred by these challenges. I want our son to have an appreciation for rich cinematic storytelling. So, I will continue looking for great movies for Cinema Lester on the weekends.

The MCU is the Gold Standard
All this said, I also need to meet the need today. And like it or not, Marvel movies hit that sweet spot.

I’ve enjoyed most of the MCU movies. And there certainly are a lot of them. But we’ve seen them all… some many times. So, I’ve had to look elsewhere to build up my list.

And it’s been hard to find other choices that follow the successful MCU formula of humor, decent character development and pounding action with great special effects.

I know Marvel has had trouble lately with their movies, but that doesn’t take away from the reality that their MCU-storytelling formula entirely cracked the code.

Fortunately, we’ve found other films that follow a similar storytelling style.

Two Tough Guys who are Fun
Action with jokes. Tough, but not too serious. Fast paced but grounded in a good story. PG-13.

Two actors today have successfully integrated that formula into some of their movies- Ryan Reynolds and Dwayne Johnson.

Movies with Ryan Reynolds

  • “The Adam Project” (2022)
    This time-travel flick has surprising heart. Also stars Mark Ruffalo and Zoe Saldana.
  • “Free Guy” (2021)
    Between all the action, it still takes the time to focus on the power of friendship.
  • “Spirited” (2022)
    It’s a musical, but the Reynolds’ factor still carried it for my son. Also stars the great Will Ferrell.
  • “R.I.P.D.” (2013)
    This one’s a failed “Men in Black” copycat. But’s it’s fun to stream. Also stars Jeff Bridges.

Reynolds’ edgy Deadpool is a real question for me, as I feel “Deadpool and Wolverine” will land a little early for our son. But who knows how Disney and Reynolds will handle the obvious challenge of introducing the highly inappropriate Deadpool to a broader audience. We’ll see later this summer.

Movies with Dwyane Johnson

  • “Jungle Cruise” (2021)
    Also stars Emily Blunt.
  • “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” (2017)
    Also stars Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Karen Gillan.
  • “Jumanji: The Next Level” (2019)
    This sequel is even better.
  • “Central Intelligence” (2016)
    Also stars Kevin Hart.

Movies with both Reynolds and Johnson

  • “Red Notice” (2021)
    Two for the price of one. Also stars Gal Gadot.
  • “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw” (2019)
    This over-the-top flick wasn’t a successful spinoff from the long running “Fast and the Furious” franchise, but we liked it anyway. Also stars Jason Statham and Idris Elba.

Movies with Mark Wahlberg
A few Mark Wahlberg movies are well suited for the early teen segment.

  • “The Family Plan” (2023)
    Silly but satisfying.
  • “Uncharted” (2022)
    Also stars Tom Holland.
  • “The Other Guys” (2010)
    Also stars Dwyane Johnson and Will Ferrell.

Yesterday’s Winners
Here are some older movies that fit into this action/fun niche (and still hold up to today’s current movie-making standards).

  • “Men in Black” movies (1997, 2002, 2012, 2019)
  • “The Fifth Element” (1997)
  • “The Pirates of the Caribbean” movies (2003, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2017)
  • “Ready Player One” (2018)

Movies that Should Make the List
The films below don’t make my official list. But that’s not because I don’t like them. They simply didn’t pass muster in my focus group of one. (They didn’t appeal to our son after he watched the trailer or part of the movie.)

  • “Ghosted” (2023)
    Sure, it’s got Chris Evans, but the trailer didn’t do it for our son.
  • “Green Lantern” with Ryan Reynolds (2011)
    Even Reynolds makes fun of this failure. Still, I liked it.
  • “Hellboy” (2004)
    I loved this movie. Directed by the great Guillermo del Toro.
  • “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” (2008)
    The sequel is visually stunning.
  • “Shazam!” (2019)
    Our son lost interest halfway through.

This Movie is Not on Anyone Else’s List

  • “The Flash” (2023)
    Starring Ezra Miller, this DC multiverse film entirely bombed at the box office. Plus, it tried to marry humor with the debilitating darkness that most every DC movie has been saddled with. (One can begin to understand why an entire DCU reboot is underway.) “The Flash” doesn’t work on many levels. But it is funny. And it has a lot of heart too. Plus, it uses the multiverse to bring back the great Michael Keaton as Batman. My son and I really enjoyed it.

The Force, Impossible Missions and Bad Feelings
Of course, we also enjoy pure action/sci-fi movies without the comedy. Obvious examples are the “Star Wars,” “Mission Impossible” and “Indiana Jones” ecosystems. (Sure, there are some light moments, but comedy is not central.)

So, I won’t include these movies, as they don’t fit into the narrow focus of today’s exercise to find more easy-breezy content that still has enough rough and tumble.

Limited List
As you can see, my list is not terribly long. And that’s why I’m always hunting for new choices for Lester Movie Night.

I’m sure I’ve missed some good options. Do you have any movies to recommend?

Danger
Thank goodness that in a pinch, we can always default to an episode or two of Netflix’s “Lost in Space” series (2018-2021.) That cinematic show remains absolutely perfect for our whole family to rewatch.

Fun. Exhilarating. Danger. Sometimes scary (but not too scary). Heartwarming. Clever. Family-focused. It’s everything you could possibly want.

Dear Hollywood: More of this please.

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