Dad and His iMac and iPhone

Well, this weekend found me linking up with my dad to help him take a big step forward into the world of mac. Three years ago, he had started using an iPhone 3GS. The reason for his leap into the world of iPhones was simple. He had calculated the cost for his landline phone and long distance to be similar to the cost of an iphone with a data plan. He was able to move his phone number across to the iPhone, and, he was able to enjoy the benefits of nationwide calling, web browsing, mapping directions, watching videos, Facebooking, and so much more. He absolutely loved making the switch. Also, because everyone in our family is an AT&T customer, he has been able to keep his minutes of usage very low on his account, and often has minutes rollover to the next month.

He had been considering a new phone for most of the year and when the iPhone 5 came out, he decided to make his move. He and I visited an Apple Store near Pittsburgh, PA, and he was able to walk out the door with a new phone. Even better, he was able to move all of his files, photos, calendars, and apps on his phone to iCloud. So when he turned on his new iPhone, everything that was on his old iPhone was there--including his wallpaper.The people at the Apple Store were incredibly friendly and enthusiastic, and were also very patient with my dad as they walked him through some of the initial aspects of set-up that were continued and built upon when we arrived at home.

In addition to purchasing his iPhone, he took the plunge and grabbed up an iMac as well. The last computer he purchased was back in 2000, and it had died and gotten resurrected at least three times. I spent a good chunk of the weekend helping him get set up, and moving photos and music to his new computer, but I think he is pretty well set now.  Any calendar appointment, email, note, contact, or reminder that he sets up on his phone immediately syncs with his desktop, so he is able to easily see birthdays, dr. appointments, and more on his computer. Furthermore, we went out and bought him a back-up hard drive, so he can use time capsule to back-up his computer. That's a new and needed concept for my dad (and for anyone really). 

Last night, as a result of his new acquisitions, we were able to play around a bit and talk on FaceTime using both his phone and his computer. There is a lot for him to learn and explore on his new pieces of technology, but my dad is already learning some cool tricks, and really enjoying his purchases. I even found him a free app that allows a person to learn how to type, one step at a time.

I'm excited for my dad to be able to explore more on his tools, and I think my dad is pretty excited about exploring as well. It may seem a bit strange, but it was really enjoyable to be able to help my dad get set up on all of this new technology, and I'm glad I could serve him in this way. He has done so much for so many people throughout his life, including me, that it was just great to help him get set up. I really hope he can get as much use out of these tools as he did his previous phone and computer.

Apple Store South Hills Village and an iPhone4 Experience

Saturday night, I drove to Pittsburgh to connect with my best friend in the whole world, Willie, and some of his family. Sunday morning as I was departing, I realized-"Hey! I'm not that far from the Apple Store, and I've been having some sound issues with my iPhone4. Maybe I can have someone at the store take a look at my phone before my next round of travel." And so I drove to the Apple Store in the South Hills Village Mall in hopes I could get a timely genius bar appointment and discern what was causing the issues with my phone.

I was able to get an appointment with a genius within 10 minutes of arriving. As I described my problem, a clicking sound that sometimes occurs while using my Skullcandy Full Metal Jacket headphones, we attempted to troubleshoot it while in the store.  The first suggestion was a backup and restore of my phone. I backed up all of my apps, and when attempting the restore, my phone failed to be restored. The genius at Apple replaced my phone. But that wasn't the end of the story.

I had iOS 4.3 on my backed up phone, and the new phone was running iOS4.2.1 so the first dilemma was updating the phone's operating system.  After this, we restored the contents of my old phone to the new phone.  Then, this new phone kept restarting every 2-3 minutes. So we restored the phone again, and started the process from the beginning again, only this time, we launched all of the back ups as a sync to a new phone.  Everything seemed great, and I left the store to do a little shopping around the mall.

Twenty minutes later, I pulled out the phone (which was fully charged) to make a call, and it had turned itself off.  Thankfully I hadn't left Pittsburgh yet, and I could make one more trip into the Apple Store.  The folks at the genius bar were really understanding, and they said that they had never encountered such an array of set-backs with the phone before. I responded that I hadn't either. ;) They then proceeded to bring out another phone, and began the process from the beginning for the third time that day.

All in all, the whole process took about five hours, and I watched dozens of customers get their problems with computers, phones, ipods, and ipads answered during my time at the genius bar. I'm glad I had extra time to take care of any potential issues before leaving, and the staff in the store were incredibly helpful as we worked toward a solution to the problem of my phone.

I wanted to share this because it was an incredible day of quality customer service. I deeply appreciated the time the Apple geniuses (Tom and Haley) took to help me out. I know that when a problem doesn't make its resolution quickly, it can be tiresome for all parties, but the team at the apple store did an incredible job.

If you have a problem with a piece of Apple Technology and you are close to an Apple Store, I highly recommend scheduling a visit to the genius bar.  The staff are friendly, patient, and incredibly helpful. They do all that they can to help customers make the most of their technology.

Lately, I've been finding myself really appreciative of great customer service. Too often we hear horror stories and complaints, but I think we should make it a point to highlight and applaud companies when they do an exemplary job.

Have you had an incredible experience in customer service? I'd love to hear about it, and I encourage you to share it with others too!

Five years of Twitter

On March 21, 2006, Twitter was born when Jack Dorsey sent the first tweet.  Now, literally billions of tweets are emitted from mobile phones, computers, and other technology as people share news, updates from life, links, and sundry other 140 character pieces of information.

I joined the world of twitter on May 26th, 2008 while attending a leadership conferences for churches called Drive. I wasn't quite sure what to do with the technology at that point in time, but I thought it might be worth checking out. Over the last three years of my own use, I've been able to see it used a number of ways, including staying connected with friends I've met during my life's journey. I've watched people use it to share information with others on an amazing scale, and I've seen Nuru International use it to share the release of media, updates from the field, and more.

Twitter is defined as a micro-blogging technology. Since you are reading this post, you probably know what a blog is. A Tweet is 140 characters long and can share anything from links to life reflections. There has even emerged a form of philanthropy called Twestival which in years past has been used to raise $250,000 for great organizations like charity: water.

With the emergence of smart phones and dozens of apps and platforms for managing twitter accounts, I'm curious to see where this technology is going.  Do you have a twitter account? If so, what do you use it for? If not, what do you think about all of this tweeting going on?

Regardless, I think the emergence of twitter speaks to a great desire we have as human beings to share both information and experiences with others. Whether you tweet or not, may you find a community of people with whom you can share your experiences and may you together help make the world a better place.

Social Media Revolution?

So I just received a link to this video on twitter, and thought I'd share it with you. Here's the gist of it. This video explains a MAJOR shift in the way people communicate. The cool thing for all of you who aren't up on social media is that people still communicate by talking face to face, writing letters, and even using their phones. But, I imagine if you are reading this blog you have used at least one of these other communication methods. Email, skype, facebook, myspace, twitter.

And if you haven't used any of these, well, it appears that this may be the direction the world is taking. Ironically, while people are using these sites more and more, and reconnecting with many friends old and new, the number of relationships we can successfully maintain has not fluctuated much. According to social theorists, the magic number is around 150. And according to a recent article written in 'The Economist', that number hasn't fluctuated with the advent of social media.

It's pretty wild to think about the rapid shifts that are taking place with new technologies emerging. It's hard to imagine that it was less than 100 years ago (1933) that FM radio came into existence. We make the assumption sometimes that these technologies have always been around.

Even though social media has helped facilitate connecting with others, I get an eerie feeling that we are living in an age with greater feelings of loneliness than any other. So, while these technologies can be very handy, and they do help us reconnect in a fairly splintered society, maybe we need to experience a deeper and more substantial connection than tweets, homepages, and even skype calls can manage. Maybe what we really need is to somehow learn to share a real experience with others, and to know presence.

May you experience the presence of the One by which and for which you were created. And may you find community in this world that is only supplemented by social media, and not substituted.

Technology, Creativity, and Information

Friday afternoon, I attended a talk by a guy named Charles Lee at sozo. Charles comes from the South Bay area of Los Angeles (Torrance) where he not only pastors a church, but he is heavily involved in social justice and in teaching creativity.

He and many others (including our friends at Google) realize that we are in a rapidly changing world. Information is traveling faster than it ever has in history. People in our world today have more information at their fingertips than at any point in history. As you can see from the video above, our world is moving very quickly.

It's kind of funny. You can feel the movement at times. Like I notice that there never seems to be enough time to do all that you want to do anymore--there's so much going on with every decision we make. As I reflect a bit more on my time in the desert this was one of the aspects of that time that is coming into focus for me.

Literally the morning I left, my email inbox was bombarded with requests and information. I had someone call me 10 minutes before I departed into the desert who needed information shared with him immediately. There was really no 'down-time' in the days leading up to the desert. And when I came back, everything felt like a whirlwind rush. I jumped in a car, drove for an hour and fifteen minutes, ate dinner, packed my bags, checked-in for my flight, and went to bed. The next morning, I got up, went to the airport with my dad, hopped on a plane, rushed to make a connecting flight, and arrived in Pittsburgh. From pittsburgh, me, dad, and Jamie ate dinner and drove to morgantown. Upon arrival, I talked for a bit with folks, caught up, went to sleep, and then spent the entirety of the next day answering emails, voicemails, and txts that came to me during the desert time, and then began preparing for a week of another world is possible. Our world is definitely fast paced. And when you come back from the desert, you also realize how heavily distracted our world can be from the things that are most important.

In the middle of that difficulty, we have a huge challenge. As Charles Lee shared on Friday, and as the Senior Vice President of Google shared in this blog which you should take the time to read, we are in a place where great good can come from attempting to stay ahead of the technology curve. We need to plan for a future in which we don't know what the technologies will be. As Charles pointed out, we need to creatively come up with ways for people to connect, share, and improve ideas. We have tons of information at our fingertips, but many of us have lost our knack at creativity.

You might remember my posts about the environment last Spring and the ideas I shared from Matthew Sleeth's book and lecture in Morgantown, but one thing I may not have shared was his insight that a lack of creativity is connected to our connectedness to the created world. It might be worth while to slow down a bit and create some space to let ideas run wild in our minds.

We have tons of information and amazing technology at our fingertips. We have amazing potential (unlike any other point in history) to make sweeping changes that will either be hugely detrimental or hugely helpful for future generations of people made in the image of God.

In my mind, in light of all of this the question before us is challenging yet simple. What will we do with all that we have been given to bless others and care for those in the world around us? To whom much is given, much is expected. Take some time today to think about long term solutions and real change that YOU might be part of bringing about.

Out for Repairs

So I finished my English paper, and started working on a budget for h2o for 2005. Even though the year is winding down, I feel like I am winding up for the new year. I just met with my English professor today to talk about my paper, and he had some really cool things to say.

Ironically, in the middle of this end of the year stuff, I am currently without a computer. It's amazing how dependent this little Indian has become on technology. Really, so much of what we do is geared around the lcd screen and keyboard. What would you have done with the time you spent reading this blog and surfing the internet if you didn't have a computer?

It's been difficult keeping up with "life" without technology. Although, I have been finding myself able to engage with God and others in some fresh ways. If we don't have the technology to get things done really quickly, then we have to slow down.

So in a sense I've felt unproductive, but its caused me to be able to tune into the work God is doing in me. I am looking forward to getting my mac back, but in the meantime, it has been good to have a (sort of) technology fast. My roommate nic and others have helped me out by letting me use their computers, but my time of being unintentionally unplugged has been very enlightening.