14 January 2015

Today's topic: The Righteous Clique of Apple: Chapter 4

The story so far...

This particular series of blog entries has embodied a number of side trips away from the central subject and the central subject (or at least how I titled it) was a bit of a fib. I don't know if it had the desired effect which was to encourage you to read it. The concept was simple enough, an exposé on right clicks with an Apple mouse or trackpad and believe me there's no shortage of amazing things you can do with a right click... but those side trips away from the central subject, those detours, while intentional, were included as a means of looking at Apple through advancements, not advertisements.

There are plenty of ads to surf away from on TV, radio and the web so I know how ineffective advertising can be, especially when you have no interest in whatever the ad is promoting. And no, this isn't some sneaky little subliminal way of pitching Apple. Like I said, my detours were included to give you a look at Apple from different vantage points, a 'method' I learned while a student of photography at The Maryland Institute, College of Art. Specifically, Professor Jaquish encouraged us to look at (photograph) a given subject from multiple vantage points rather than a singular (if not predictable) perspective.

By viewing a subject from multiple angles you see it more completely. The photo above is a single picture from an animation which can be viewed by clicking on the photo or this link: Yellow Punch Buggy. The animation is at the bottom of this page, so if you like you can just scroll down to have a look and skip the click. I put the animation at the bottom of the page as it can be distracting when reading.

The animation is actually a series of still photos that have been linked together just like the frames of a motion picture. Each frame is a different view of the subject taken from a fixed vantage point. By turning the subject full circle and photographing it at set intervals it all but becomes 3 dimensional.

USB, Intel chips and Time Machine are aspects of Apple's public persona I've highlighted here in previous chapters of 'The Righteous Clique of Apple' to give you a look at the company from different vantage points. Now it's time to go further... 'inside' the machine...

It's Black Friday 2014 and my 3 year old 27" iMac is being tested by a Genius at Apple's Towson location. Confirming what I had already feared / learned via Disk Utility, the drive was failing. Oh joy. At speeds which rivaled speech, Brendan, aka Genius, tapped away at his store issue iPad, entering vital stats about the patient's condition. All the while I conveyed to him my disbelief about why I was there in the first place.

This wasn't my first iMac, it was my second... this wasn't my first Apple computer, it was my sixth... add to that a pair of iPods, a pair of iPads, lest I forget to mention I had more than a little to do with my mother 'crossing over' from Windows to Mac and that my niece chose a Mac for her first ever computer... which is to say I was more than acquainted with Apple products, had every reason to count on each to perform to its full potential and to do so well past the 'average life expectancy' for a similar product.

Using his iPad Brendan completed the required data input about my ailing iMac in far less time than I completed the previous sentence, trust me, then he placed the iPad on the counter, turned it around so I could read it and showed me that it was going to cost nearly $300 to replace the drive. My response, 'I can't believe I am expected to pay $300 to replace the drive in a computer I paid $2,000 for less than 3 years ago.'

I did a little research after Disk Utility first alerted me that my drive was failing and learned about an Apple Exchange + Repair Extension Program for iMacs produced in mid 2011 with Seagate drives. I confirmed the drive in my sick iMac was in fact a Seagate drive by way of google. Never underestimate the power of a search engine, especially when its fueled with relevant data.

My cyber-sleuthing gave me reason to believe that replacement of my iMac's drive should have been covered by the Repair Extension Program. I conveyed this to Brendan and while he acknowledged the Program he indicated that he was not able to offer or extend the Program benefits to me because it had ended several months ago.

Stalemate met with a blank stare.

Brendan then offered to let me speak with his Manager about the situation. I accepted his offer. Moments later we were joined by a young man named James who got the skinny from Brendan. As Brendan completed his report to James, James looked at me, looked at my iMac, looked at Brendan and then said, 'Cover it.'

Less than 2 days later I received a voice mail and an email from Apple indicating my iMac was ready. In addition to installing a new drive at no expense to me, at my request the most recent Mac OS was installed as well, again at no cost to me. One month later (at the time of this writing) and I am happy to report my 3 year old iMac is like a new machine.

A happy ending and a new beginning... onward into 2015!

Yellow Punch Buggy

And before I forget... 'Punch Buggy Yellow!' 'No punch-backs and no recalls!'
Read more about the Punch Buggy Game here: beetlemania.org.uk/pnchbugy.html

Until next time...

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