A Little Learning
It never ceases to amaze me how little I know, especially when it comes to digital technology, a field in which I assiduously have tried to keep up because I felt it was key to surviving in a changing business climate. I learned HTML, Basic, a large number of software packages, the Pick operating system, and anything else that would help further my education or my career. But this week I hit another void in my learning.
I bought a new IPhone. I could hook it up via Bluetooth to my car, but there was no plug and play when I plugged in to play Carplay. I read all the menus, watched videos, nothing worked. Then I found that one guy who talked about cables where I learned that some are only good for charging but not data transmission. I needed to use the cable that came with my phone. So, I bought a tiny adapter with USB-A for my car and USB-C for my cable. I plugged and I played.
Of course, being reminded of how little you know has the ancillary benefit of making you feel good when you do learn something. For instance, now I know that I can look for a cable that has USB-A on one end and USB-C on the other and simply check to see if it’s good for syncing and charging. Syncing being the operative word, because it’s about data transmission. It makes me an educated consumer, for what that’s worth, and fits neatly in the brain alcove where I keep what I know about geology, quantum mechanics, and chaos theory.