Terry Prone: Help! I can see where my lost iPad is located — but that's not going to get it back
Hello, United Airlines: Yes I see my iPad's location. But without it, I am locked out of my passwords and the manuscripts for two books. Please...
Originally published in the Irish Examiner.
The worst thing is being able to see it, courtesy of technology that promises to find your device. The technology is like one of those microchips inserted in your cat so that if it is faithless and someone finds it somewhere it shouldn’t be, they can have the chip read by a vet and get you contacted to come fetch your feline. Simple. Emotionally rewarding.
The equivalent technology for iPads and other wandering devices may be simple, but it isn’t, in my experience, emotionally rewarding.
My devoted readers — all three of them — will be aware that 10 days ago, I left my iPad on a United Airlines flight from Florida to Newark, in preparation for flying home to Ireland.
Having copped on to my idiocy three hours before my next flight, I got ticked off by a United lost property person for not checking that I had all my personal belongings before exiting the flight, according to the instructions, and went through all the formal retrieval processes before embarking on the flight to Dublin.
A lifelong battle...
This ushered in the latest instalment of my lifelong battle with Lost and Found.
Lost Property departments know me well. I have always lost things. It’s not a function of advancing age. Or perhaps I should say it’s not JUST a function of advanced age.
In fact, it may be convincing evidence of how deeply-ingrained habits can withstand advancing years. Put it this way: When it comes to losing things, I am the same, as an old fart as I was as a kid. Only worse.
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