The Future

When  Apple finally released the iPhone 4s, I wasn't planning on getting it.  I mean, it was barely an upgrade right?  A little better camera, full HD, a faster processor and that whole "Siri" thing.  Well, I happened to glance at my AT&T account and saw that I had two upgrades coming.  Hmmm.  Then it occurred to me that I could sell my old phones for about what I could get for the new phones.


Welp, that settled that.  The Saturday morning after the phones were released, I was standing in line at the Simi Valley Apple Store to get my wife and I new phones - just the $199 16GB versions of course.  But... minor problem, they only had one16GB phone left.  O darn.  I had to get myself the 32GB version (ya, ya, I should have given that one to my wife - except that she wouldn't know what to do with that much space.)


So, whats the verdict?  It is a tad faster, tho not hugely.  I haven't noticed a big difference with the camera, but I haven't done side by side comparisons or anything.  But is there anything that I, a professed Apple Fan Boy, who's owned an iPhone since the day it was released just LOVES?


Yes.


Siri.  She rocks.  OK, she can't understand what I'm saying some of the time, and couldn't connect to the network at times that first week.  But dude, do you have any idea how cool it is to be able to send LOOOONG texts to my brothers, just to be obnoxious, WHILE DRIVING?  I do it ALL the time.  Sure, it looks like someone from Tajikistan listened to me talking into my phone at 80 MPH and tried to guess what I was saying, and typed it, but hey, the gist is generally right.  I don't just use it for silly stuff either, I actually communicate with friends and family, without having to actually - heaven forbid - call them.


The day after I got my 4s, I even dictated a letter to my son (who is in Mexico on a mission), one paragraph at a time, using Evernote.


What about my voiceover business?  Baby.  I use it nearly daily to set reminders for myself:  "Remind me at 8 a.m. to revise that narration for Coca Cola" or "When I get home, remind me to record the voice over for Kodak".   It is a simple to do list, but for me, it works. With IOS5, its a simple matter to swipe your finger down and see what's on your plate for the day.


The beauty is that Siri is an AI: she'll get smarter, better, faster and be able to do more.  It may be a bit of a novelty now, and that will wear off.  But it IS practical and useable for me and my voiceover business, and I anticipate I'll be using it more and more in the future.


Siri IS the future. Embrace her.  I have.



I took my 4s with me Mnt Biking in St. George - She helped me keep tabs on my VO biz, while documenting our fun:




www.trevorjonesvo.com
www.youtube.com/trevorjonesvo
www.twitter.com/trevorjonesvo

Balance.

My wife Leila and I just celebrated 15 years of marriage, and escaped to Ventura for the weekend.  Right now I'm looking out a huge bay window at a sea of sailboats in the harbor.  It's been beautiful, peaceful and relaxing.

However, we have a couple hours of down time this morning, just hanging out in the hotel, and I'm having a hard time not thinking about my voice over business.  I'm thinking "wow, I have a couple hours where nothing is competing for my attention, what's the best use of my time?"

During the week, I'm going pretty much non-stop.  I almost never watch TV.  In fact, the TiVo broke, and it made me giddy.  I have zero desire to replace it.   I'll break out the X-Box for a brief stint once in awhile, but I find that horribly unfulfilling.  It's almost always gym, work, family or church. Oh, ya, and my dog Jonesie.  I feel one of those pulling at me all the time - and I do enjoy all of them - but I have a hard time stopping completely.

The question is, should I?  I think so.  I think I should take a break, relax, chill out - but I just don't seem to be able to.  I wouldn't even know what to do.  Even as I type this, I have a business book sitting next to me - the only book I brought with me.  Some of the other tabs I have open are for voice over work, invoicing and VO marketing ideas.

I don't know.  Maybe it's OK to always be on the go.  I can rest when I'm dead.