HEALTH
RICHARD BERCUSON
OH SAY,
can you see? This is not a story about being in the Apple
company cult, though it is sort of sad. When I bought my first iPhone, I went app
crazy, much like everyone else. Fact is, most apps aren’t terribly useful. But every now and then I come across one that’s a big help. Help is based on need, and my needs have changed in recent years. They’ve been pushed along by a world of microscopic-sized lettering and icons. The app is called Mag Light. I found it
through extensive research. In other words, I tapped on the app store and searched for a magnifying glass. Up came Mag Light which does exactly what I wanted: it uses the phone’s camera to magnify as well as light up an object. Better yet, it’s free. Here’s the sad part. I am suffering. I
doubt I’m alone. The advent of computers, designed and built by 14-year-olds who can accurately read eye charts at home plate from deep centre field, has led to a sea change in frustration. The problem isn’t on the screen. You can change the display, font size or colour pretty easily. But I want to meet the geek who concluded that teeny raised icons on computer hardware should be in the same colour - black - as the background. And why black?
8 BOUNDER MAGAZINE Then there are serial numbers. When
needing assistance with one of my gadgets, I had to find the serial number. It’s abbreviated to S/N because it must have been too time- consuming for the designer to type the extra 10 letters. The “/” is there to confuse it with SIN which is a number we never share. Why anyone would think the SIN would appear in 1 pt. font on the bottom of a printer is one of those questions best left as rhetorical. (And where would we be without rhetorical questions?) Once, I had to find the S/N. It was tiny. Even
smaller than that sentence. It became an actual workout because I needed to lift and tilt my all-in-one printer, hold it in place with one hand and shine a flashlight on the underside with the other. Squinting helped. Swearing didn’t. I had to memorize the sequence, put down the machine, write the first few digits, raise it again, remember more digits...S/Ns need lots and lots of digits so your gadget isn’t confused with Horace’s in Edmonton, since his is identical. That’s when I got the app. Now I fully recognize eyes deteriorate with the vagaries
continued on page 19
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