In this article, Matt talks about how his entire life was hijacked by malcontents. All of his devices were wiped, every account hacked, and he lost every single photo of his daughter. Reading this was scary enough for me to take my password game seriously for the first time.
The rest of this post is the result of my research.
I have been interested in the Apple Watch since they were announced, but I was not compelled to purchase one until the Series 2 came out. This past weekend I purchased a 42 mm Aluminum Space Grey Series 2 Apple Watch. While that is a mouthful to say, my experience so far as been as smooth as I would expect from an Apple product. With two full days under my belt here are my first observations:
My Apple Watch Face
The ability to have multiple watch faces is pretty pointless for me. I made the one watch face I needed and removed the rest from my watch.
The bulk of the apps that installed automatically were worthless, but the process of deleting them was helpful for me to learn how to interface with the watch.
The watch app is helpful, but splitting control between the phone and the watch to change settings on the watch takes some getting used to. I think of the phone now as the “System Preferences” of my watch and haven’t had to use it much since I set up and customized the watch.
This is a device for health and consuming notifications. I have not been very successful with “heavier lifting.” Messages is fine, but Slack crashes more often than not for anything other than reading notifications.
I know it was likely due to the shiny new toy effect, but I did have one of my most active days in a while yesterday with the watch on.
This is the first watch I have worn regularly since I had to wear a watch for student teaching. It is comfortable and only pinches some hairs off my wrist when I first put it on in the morning.
So far I have the greatest benefit from the Breathe app, which has been much easier to use (in that I have a lower motivation requirement) than the Calm app I have been paying for since last year.
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I am a huge fan of podcasts. I listen to them all the time, in the car (unless my son objects), doing chores around the house or classroom, and any other time I can.
I used the built-in iOS podcast app for a while, but it was not amazing by any means. I found Overcast, and I never looked back!
https://www.themikeburke.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/009-Overcast-My-Podcast-App-of-Choice-TMB-Blog-Post-Featured-Image-Compressed.jpg6681000Mikehttps://www.themikeburke.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/The-Mike-Burke-Square-Header.pngMike2016-08-27 02:44:002025-08-21 10:22:14Overcast- My Podcast App of Choice
You might ask why a label maker is one of the first things I am reviewing. I know it might sound silly but a label maker (this one in particular) is one of those things that you never knew you needed.
These days, most of us walk around with a fantastic camera in our pocket. Your smartphone has capabilities that tower over many cameras that cost thousands of dollars just a few years ago! While they may not have the ability to keep up with today’s high-end DSLRs, a smartphone is how most people document their lives these days. No matter what, the best camera on the planet is the one you have with you, so snap away with your smartphone.
https://www.themikeburke.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/004-Get-Photos-and-Videos-off-of-Your-Smartphone-TMB-Blog-Post-Featured-Image-Compressed.jpg6661000Mikehttps://www.themikeburke.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/The-Mike-Burke-Square-Header.pngMike2015-06-17 00:54:472025-08-21 10:17:04Get Photos and Videos off of Your Smartphone