Fall is upon us! I’m loving this cooler climate, a nice relief after that heat wave last week! Thanks for stopping by for another edition of Tech Tails. I’ve got an exciting update today that will consume my entire introduction.

Last week, my personal Apple ecosystem received a major upgrade in the form of a hand-me-down Apple Watch Series 2. I am the very fortunate recipient of this stainless steel 42mm Watch, and while I was initially unsure that this product would impact my life, I turned out to be wrong. The immediate function I latched onto was text messaging. Responding to text messages on your wrist turned out to be a breeze. Yes, there is somewhat of a delay, but overall it works pretty seamlessly once you get used to the response methods. Scribbling in the small window for your watch to translate into text is effective, but time-consuming. I find speaking your message to be much more accurate and a lot easier, though you don’t always want to announce your message contents while in public. On that note, I’ve found the watch particularly useful during work hours, but less necessary when hanging out with friends or taking photos out in the field. Leaving your phone at your desk gives you the freedom to walk around and stay connected.

On the fitness side, I’ve really enjoyed tracking my running through the Activity app. When you initiate a “Run” exercise, it gives you a thrilling countdown, and begins monitoring your pace, heart rate, distances, and helps you achieve your goal for the day. I found this surprisingly motivating and encouraging to be able to compare stats with my partner as we ran with our watches attached. Yes, I feel a bit stupid at times talking into a watch or glancing at it during a jog, but the benefits are becoming increasingly clear as my first week unfolds. I plan to talk more about this in future articles, but for now, I wanted to confess my newly acquired status as a Watch nerd like the rest of my team here in South Burlington.

If you have questions about the Watch, come see the experts in any of our locations. If you’re in South Burlington, just know that about 75% of our staff is wearing the watch, and will proudly share their favorite features with you. I’ve always found the most exciting products are the ones you already own, so in that regard, I feel more excited than ever to have the Apple Watch available for sale in our stores.

Take care and enjoy this edition of Tech Tails!

Patrick McCormack
Patrickm@smalldog.com