Sunday, January 24, 2010

Wanting To Touch My Touch

Well, it began as a good day. I received an email of such immense kindness, from a wonderfully unexpected source, that my morning was brightened. I'd slept poorly and had sat down at the computer groggily considering the day. Then a little ray of sunshine enters my life. How wonderful. How quickly the fog of the evening left me. I was ready to face the day.

Then Joe and I headed down to get my new electronic calender, an 'Itouch', at a store that is completely accessible. We stopped to catch a flick along the way, The Last Station. Now that's how to make a movie. Have, plot, performances, pacing and powerful scripting. The only special effect was the writing. Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer were given the opportunity to actually ... act. Wow.

On our way home, after lunch and grocery shopping, Joe went into the LCBO to pick up a couple of beer and I waited for him at the corner. I managed to get off a great line, something that always pleases me no end. A young couple came out of the store, he carrying two bottles of wine, she carrying a plastic container with a huge chocolate cake. As I sat watching for Joe to come out of the store with his beer, they caught my eye and we all smiled. As they neared I glance from wine to cake and said, 'For the first time in years I could be talked into a threesome.' We all laughed. Them harder than me. It was nice.

The day deteriorated upon arrival home. We excitedly got the Itouch out of my wheelchair bag and tried opening it. Well, not exactly true ... we tried to figure out how the plastic box opened. We had no idea. We tried the obvious, pulling at the top, it didn't work. After almost giving up I got Joe to search on YouTube for 'how to open an Itouch' and they showed clip after clip of people taking the thing apart. Shit, we wanted to just get it out of the box!!

We looked at each other, realized we'd have to go back down to the store and say, like Ruby does when she hands us an orange, 'open'.

We are so old that we can't open packages. We've got the strength we just don't have a clue.

I think we should just give up, admit we grew up when kids talked to each other through two cans attached by a string.

It may have been low tech, but at least we knew how to open the freaking cans.

11 comments:

Joanna said...

Oh Dave. I love reading your blog and having my eyes opened to things in life I often have never thought about. I haven't commented before but now I have to.

I got an iTouch for Christmas. It is amazing and fun. I use it mostly for reading e-books and playing solitaire but the other stuff comes in handy too *grin*.

I couldn't open the packaging either. I persevered and finally got it, but I found this for you on a Mac forum.

1. remove the plastic section that the ipod is mounted on from the rest of the box (it's snug, so pull firmly).
2. take off the large sticker covering the screen.
3. bend back the plastic section away from the back of the ipod. there is a picture of how to do #3 on the back of the plastic that the ipod is mounted on.

Hope it helps.

FridaWrites said...

Can openers--use a can opener on clamshell packaging if that's what it is..

I remember my daughter saying "open it!"

Gone Fishing said...

Having discovered the value of a gps data logger fro Brain injured old me I now wonder how useful an Ipod touch (were not around when the coping strategy's lady suggested a hand held computer thingee) may be as well, I wait your experiences of its usefulness with baited breath

Sue said...

Here's one that looks like it might be the packaging you're having trouble with. The video is awful, but does do a good job of showing the package being opened.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMJ3yK4wfAA

Manuela said...

This is the very reason for having children, to open packages and set up electronics and computers. The clock would still be flashing on the VCR without them. I know. I know, its a DVD or blueray or something now..... But for me I'm still at the stage of not knowing how to hook up the movie player thing to the TV without him. The ipod package is way beyond me. I would finish all the beer and then try a screwdriver.

Renelle said...

Dave,

My Husband surprised me with an iPod Touch for Christmas....I love it!
As I recall there is a very fine film of tape on the seams of the packaging...you may need a magnifying glass to help find the end of the film to begin the process of picking it off! Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Love the great line!
Saying on my fridge: I've given up sex for food. Now I can't even get into my own pants.
Packaging....toss it off into a corner for 30 minutes and go back to it with a renewed sense of purpose.

mare said...

Maybe this helps. Googling "unboxing iPod touch" will turn up others.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksBKiZmlpdc

But unboxing is only half of it. Wait until you have to replace the battery. Even with nimble hands and young eyes that is problematic. But that will be only in a few years, if you charge your iPod regularly (and don't leave the batteries empty for a few weeks!) the battery lasts quite long.

I write software for these things (plug: cleanmyscreen.ca) but sometimes I too think that Apple's tendency to make everything simple and beautiful sometimes actually makes things harder.

Good luck and enjoy your new gadget!

Laurel said...

If I recall correctly, you really need fingernails.

I love my Touch, but I agree, Apple's packaging is over-heavy on looks, under-endowed on, well, accessibility (of a different stripe than the kind you usually write about, but nonetheless). The packaging for their new Magic Mouse is even worse!

ivanova said...

My boss gave me one of those for Channukah. I can't remember exactly how I opened the box, but I remember it was difficult and there was an element of brute force.

Andrea S. said...

I usually take a pair of scissors to many of these clamshell packages. Still a little brute force involved.

Yes, these packages could be designed better. I understand they need to protect these delicate items during shipment, and may also want them to be visible while in the package for marketing reasons. I'm sure it's tricky to meet those two goals simultaneously. But surely it's worth investing a little more time in the development process to design a package that also is not so devilishly difficult to open? Asides from being difficult to manage even for your average consumer, I imagine that they are also a disability access issue for people with hand-related conditions such as arthritis