On this New Year’s Day, one more important lesson I learned during 2012:
K82wJz7Vn3L2G – We received a recall notice for the hard drive on the iMac I use to write these newsletters. As requested, I made an appointment and carried this computer into the local Apple store. There I learned the backlog of repair orders meant they ‘might have it completed’ in four days. Clearly, that wasn’t going to work, so I packed up and took it back to the office.
The next day Apple sent an email asking about my customer experience. I shared disappointment they couldn’t do the repair in a way that would keep our business operating efficiently. Within 24 hours, a rep called to thank me and to say they would work with us on the timing. A few days later the store manager called and said if I had it there at 8:45 p.m., they would put in a new hard drive and we could pick it up the next morning. I did. They did.
When I returned home and plugged it in, Kathy asked, ‘Where’s the old hard drive?’ I had no idea – then she said, what about all of our passwords? I’m not a techie, but there did seem to be a security risk, and while I trust Apple employees, who knows where that hard drive ended up. So I went to work changing every password… and you can imagine how long that took.
Fortunately, researchers have discovered how you move your phone to your ear is as distinct as a fingerprint: the speed and angle impossible to replicate. Soon you may not need all those random sets of numbers and letters for passwords. Your hand movement or how you sit will replace them. That will make a wonderful Christmas present someday!
