If you’ve been anticipating getting your hands on the new Apple Watch, your long wait is nearly over. You can pre-order it starting April 10, and it will be available April 24.
If you’re still on the fence as to whether this new device is right for you—like me—check out Apple’s latest video overview for a look at what the watch can do.
In a nutshell, the watch connects with your iPhone 5 (and up) so you can send and receive texts, emails, and even phone calls. It’s also a fitness tracker, plays music, and can do a number of other nifty things you’d expect from such a gadget. Ultimately, what it can do will depend on the imaginations of app developers and Apple’s engineers. One downfall, I can see, is it’s 18-hour (or less) battery life. One would hope a watch would stay “wound” for at least 24 hours.
Regardless, in just a few short weeks, you too can adorn your wrist with this latest, shiny gadget from Apple. And while it seems we’ve had something new and exciting to talk about concerning Apple virtually every spring and fall for years, the smartwatch is actually Apple’s first new product since the iPad hit shelves in 2010.
Has it really been that long?
In this age of technology, five years feels like a lifetime. Entire tech companies—entire product lines—have come and gone in that span. Go back just a few more years, and you realize the iPhone has only been around since 2007.
On one hand, eight years isn’t that long, especially not for adults. But consider this: there are kids going into third grade who have never lived in a world without the iPhone; there are kids in high school who have never lived in a world without the iPod. It’s amazing, really, when you think about it. My newest addition will never know a world in which the Apple Watch didn’t exist (assuming, that is, it succeeds like most other recent Apple devices).
Like it or not, technology has changed and continues to change the world around us.
This week I made a donation through “GoFundMe” (www.gofundme.com) to Poseiden Foundation (www.poseidenfoundation.org), a youth outreach program dedicated to helping children and adolescents develop their potential regardless of socio-economic background. Poseiden Foundation’s fundraising campaign, “Changing the World, Dreams 2 Reality,” seeks funds to promote skate and surf clinics, contests, outreach tours, and art programs to encourage youths to discover and pursue their passions, dreams, and goals within their own communities. To date, they have worked with thousands of youngsters throughout South America, Mexico, and Southern California.
Launched in May 2010, GoFundMe is a San Diego-based fundraising site for personal causes and life-events. Through them, hundreds of thousands of people have raised more than $900M from 10M donors, making them the world’s #1 fundraising website.
Technology is what makes such efforts possible. Without it, there would be no GoFundMe, nor would there be a Poseiden Foundation to help young citizens achieve. As few as 10 or 15 years ago, such undertakings would not be possible. If it were not for the Internet, the world wide web, and our being so connected with this, that, and every type of device imaginable from smartphones to tablets to laptops to smartwatches and even to game consoles, crowdfunding would not be a reality, organizations like GoFundMe would be inconceivable, and the good work that the people and causes they help, undoable.
So while it’s sometimes popular to bash what seems to be society’s headfirst mad dash to embrace the unknown of technology and the latest, greatest, shiniest new device, maybe we should step back and be grateful for what it can do for us. Fundraising is just one example. Countless others exist—from improved communications, healthier living, and the overall convenience of (quite literally) having the world at your fingertips.
Will the Apple Watch join the pantheon of must-have technology that breathes new life and new opportunities into our lives, yet to be imagined? Maybe, maybe not. While I’ll probably hold off springing for the new deluxe model at $17,000, I find it’s starting price point of just $349 intriguing . . . and tempting.
What about you? Are you all-in on the Apple Watch? Will it be a boom or bust for Apple? How has technology touched your life? How has it improved your situation, your business, or your community?
Share your thoughts and experiences here.
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