Strangely not on board - yet.

After a prolonged wait for the new iPhone 5, I see it, I get the new features, but I'm not bowled over. Maybe it will take an in-person demo or experience for me to leap in? It's great that the screen is larger, the LTE service will make the data as fast as cable or DSL, plus this new one has faster camera processing and better low light performance. Wonderful. The body is slimmer and lighter. That means iPhone 5 would fit (slide!) better in my back pocket. The larger screen conforms more to the 16:9 widescreen standard for videos, which are more commonly being taken on smartphones than ever before. The A6 onboard processor is the fastest one yet. And it sips battery power, iPhone 5 is slated to last for 8 hours of talk time and 10 hours of video playback time.  The ear buds have been redesigned, and iPhone 5 has 3 microphones - front, rear and bottom. Very nifty tech upgrades I admit.

So all this and I'm not excited? I think I'm more excited about iOS6. New features, most of which my iPhone 4s can do, will be the benefit. Siri will improve, but most of all, tell me autocorrect will snap out of it's mentally warped state. I am anxious to see the new Apple maps, USA specific, they say it now includes buildings and structures in the options for viewing! These features are good and I'd use them.

Maybe the real reason why I'm less likely to queue up at the Apple store September 21st is because regardless of what this phone or any other phone were to evolve to include, I have changed. I am not as "phone centric" as I was back in say, April or May. Example - I don't have a Facebook app on my phone. I seldom tweet and upload the pictures like I once did. Evidence is no more glaring than my Klout scores, once very high, now settle in to the "normal user" range since I don't publish social content as often. I am more engaged in real life with real people. I have made more forward strides since May than I did the first five months of the year. I found my smartphone to be a tremendous distraction every day. A great tool, but unchecked, a big distraction for me.

Will I get an iPhone 5? Maybe. I won't rush over and buy one instantly even though I don't have any AT&T restrictions hanging over me with regards to contracts, etc. I have found some balance from the craziness of the "smartphone euphoria" I was experiencing. I take advantage of the brilliance that is an iPhone and the apps I own. I sometimes leave my phone in my car, at my desk, every once in awhile even at my home! And everything is ok if I don't parse my text messages or social media every 10 minutes. Really, I'm good with less iPhone in my life. So to the good folks in Cupertino - nice job on iPhone 5. I like what you've done and I may join you in your latest venture, but only when I am sure it won't lead me to the recursive land of unproductivity.

Farewell, Great Lion

I am sad because someone I've never met passed away. I am not a full-on Apple fanboy, but I know the contribution Steve Jobs made to this world is special, I am sad to see it cut short so soon. 

For someone to redefine as many things as he did with his ideas and actions is incredible. The accolades that I've read online from so many people, both the famous and the masses, are warming and poignant. Add it up, no traditional company has made the global impact that Apple, Inc. has, especially since Steve's "comeback" in 1997. Wow.

I am inspired and driven into brief pauses and pockets of deep thought as I recall my involvement with Apple and Steve Job's products. As a computer science major in the early '80s, the "Apple Lab" in college was a special place to program. It was filled with Apple IIc and IIe computers that each had their own processors, unlike the clunky old IBM 360/370 we also got to dance with on campus. The iPod? An immediate hit with me. Seeing myself and many other folks gravitate to the MacBook series of laptops, especially after the Motorola chipsets were traded for Intel? Very fulfilling. Retail stores where customers could see, try and learn about the newest products? Groundbreaking. Now iPad and the many things we are still discovering it can serve as? Brilliant - and a product concieved out of nowhere! What an array of winners.

To watch in today's age the way in which Steve Jobs led his company was amazing. I am sure Apple will continue to innovate and produce goods of mass appeal even after the Jobs era. His methods have bred many others that churn ideas just like he did. Entrepreneurs and engineers, designers and artists that will use his tools to spring us further into the future. I know there are probably many other products on the drawing board that won't go public for years that were spawned in the mind of Steve Jobs. I can't wait to see how that unfolds.

I am sorry we loose a leader that made decisions that were iconically bold, forward-thinking and many times against the grain. Look at the man who did not call himself a visionary mind, his peers and competitors did. With his own path clear in his mind's eye, he steered his garage startup to be the most valuable tech company on Earth. That's because true visionaries see further down the path than most. Then they act on what they see. 

The final release of Apple's latest operating system is now prepackaged with all new Mac computers. Appropriately named OS X Lion, as in "King of the Jungle," it represents the best effort yet in Apple's OS X lineup. Steve Jobs was the "Lion" in Apple's lineup. He saw the future, engineered simple-to-use devices to his meticulous standards, and reinvented consumer electronics worldwide. His life's work was great for technology buffs, great for America and great for his millions of worldwide customers. Watch now as his greatest contribution spills even more innovation into our lives. He inspired many like myself to chase what they believe in rather than say, "That's good enough." His mark is unmistakeable, his contributions many, his roar heard throughout the land.

Farewell, Great Lion.

The power of a secret.

"Yes Virginia... There is a Santa Claus."

Be honest, since learning the truth about childhood "heros" that bring gifts in December, furry critters that deliver eggs and sweets each spring and still more that delve beneath your pillow for ejected deciduous teeth, we haven't had many surprises as adults. Too many people (in my opinion) find out the sex of their babies before birth, the last true mystery we as grown-ups can experience. Unless you're a techie. Unless we visit the mall often and shop in those stores decorated in predominately white. If we look west, to the Northern California suburb of Cupertino, there's still a magical place where secrets are kept. Adult-grade secrets. They are kept so well not even our best guesses turn up the truth. So well that rumors swirl through the Internet as published by our most trusted sources alleging to know what will happen, when it will happen, and what it might entail. Really?

This churn, usually twice a year, eminates from Apple. It comes through their labs, their leader(s) and their product offerings. The level at which Apple goes to in keeping secrets about its product line and features is amazing.  It captivates not just techies, but millions of worldwide users - all waiting and watching to see what their future will be like a year or two from now. We clamor to see what's coming, but inside, we yearn for the surprise. The secrets make for good press, good standup comedy, good speculation and criticism from competitors, it is a wonderful thing we are experiencing. And it's happening now, when we think we know everything, when "google" is a noun and a verb, ten years into the new millenium. How can they seemingly do what so few other entities anywhere else can accomplish? Foreign governments are pressed to keep good secrets from our intelligence agencies. Our government can't readily keep good secrets from the public, but Apple can clamp down in so many ways to keep their gems hidden until they're ready to show them off. It's fantastic, I LOVE THE HYPE!

Here's where we stand... If the media needs to find a prototype in a bar or have a former Vice President blurt out a launch date in a speech to get its info, Apple is masterfully dominating the secret-keeping. I can wait until the next release, I'm anxious to upgrade my iPhone 3Gs to the iPhone 5. I am an adult, and they have me excited like a child. I'm thankful that someone has put together all the pieces necessary to cloak research, muffle the facts about production, disguise delivery and specifics until the launch day arrives. Heck, even the store employees are in the dark until the products are in the back room ready to be displayed. In this age of Twitter, blogs, text messaging and everyone having a camera nearby, kudos to Apple for being smarter that the experts. Thanks to the folks in Cupertino for giving us ideas to follow, products to long for, and a cottage industry of people that can't unlock the secrets, which makes this adult laugh.