Exploring the Apple Vision Pro: A Critical Look at its Features and Functionality

In the realm of tech innovations, Apple has unveiled its latest offering, the Apple Vision Pro. Positioned as an intelligent eyewear solution, it promises to address vision health concerns, offer lightweight comfort, and integrate seamlessly with Apple's ecosystem. Let's delve into the details with a critical perspective.

Vision Health Concerns

The Apple Vision Pro integrates advanced optics and intelligent technology to promote better vision health. Its high-resolution display delivers crisp and clear images, reducing eye strain even during extended use. The device also incorporates features like blue light filtering and adjustable brightness, safeguarding your eyes from digital eye strain and fatigue.

Weight and Comfort Considerations

The lightweight design and adjustable features of the Apple Vision Pro are designed for comfort. However, prolonged wear may still pose challenges, especially for users with specific ergonomic preferences or those sensitive to pressure points.

Cost vs. Value

Despite its premium price tag, the Apple Vision Pro offers a comprehensive package that integrates with Apple's ecosystem. While this may streamline digital experiences, it also raises questions about affordability since it is likely out of the price range for many consumers. It also leaves the market open for Apple to develop less expensive models, such as the Apple Vision Air.

App Selection and Functionality

The Apple Vision Pro boasts a range of apps tailored for productivity, entertainment, and wellness. However, the app selection and functionality may be limited compared to other platforms, impacting the device's versatility for different user needs.

Final Thoughts

While the Apple Vision Pro presents innovative solutions for vision health and digital integration, critical considerations remain regarding its effectiveness, comfort over extended use, affordability, and app ecosystem. As with any technology, weighing the pros and cons is crucial to making an informed decision that aligns with individual preferences and priorities. Especially when it may not offer the functionality desired considering the price tag.

In conclusion, the Apple Vision Pro offers a glimpse into the future of smart eyewear. Still, its success hinges on addressing the nuanced challenges of vision health, user comfort, cost, and app functionality in a competitive market landscape.

Why you should buy a premium vacuum?

The difference between a budget vacuum and a quality vacuum is massive. The biggest difference for me is they are completely sealed so there is no cloud of dust after vacuuming, which is not only a health hazard but also defeats some of the purpose of vacuuming. I'm not saying that you should go out and spend $700 or even $1000 on the latest vacuum either. 

I'm somewhat partial to Dyson stick vacuums. They are lightweight, cordless, and clean well. Being completely sealed you have no cloud of dust and can even use them to clean dust from hard surfaces. They are also great for cleaning furniture and being cordless you can easily vacuum out your car too. 

What is the sweet spot? Right now the latest Dyson stick vacuum is the V15 or the Outsize which cost at least $700. For around half that price or less, you can get a Dyson V8. It might not have quite as long of a battery or as big of a cleaning head as the V15 but is still an incredible machine. If you do have a particularly large home you might think about upgrading. For most people though the V8 is fine. 

What you really want is a vacuum you will use and since the V8 is super convenient it makes it easy to grab and use. You can even spot clean little sections or go through your whole house at once since it's easier to grab and emptying it is a breeze. 

New Apple Watch Series 5

The Apple Watch Series 5 is here with a couple of great new features. Most notably the always-on display. This allows you to avoid those awkward moments of raising your arm to check the time while talking to your boss or during meetings.  I can see why Apple kept the updates minimal here because the always-on display is a real game-changer.

Other notable additions are the ability to call emergency help around the world (for the cellular version) and a built-in compass so you can see which direction you're facing. Great additions for travelers and adventure seekers.

Shopping with Mobile Wallets

Everythings on My Phone

These days I rarely have to take my wallet out of my pocket. I no longer carry any store cards. They are all either in Apple Wallet or their store's app. Occasionally, I might have to give my phone number. For payments I can use Apple Pay at almost all locations I regularly shop. It is convenient to be able to quickly tap my phone. 

For restaurants, mobile ordering options are becoming extremely common and popular. I love being able to order on my phone so I can get exactly what I want and see all the customization options. It's also nice not having any surprises if something costs extra because you see it right in front of you. Plus sometimes they have extra coupons for mobile ordering. This is also a great way to use discount gift cards from sites like Swagbucks.

I almost don't need a wallet anymore. If my driver's license and health insurance cards were digital I wouldn't need to carry it. I still do keep a few cards with me in case there is a place that doesn't accept mobile payments. Currently, most of the gas stations around and Red Boxes still don't offer Apple Pay. Although, Exxon Mobile does accept Mobile Payments through my phone.

One of my favorite places to use mobile payments is vending machines. I am quite surprised by how common this is on vending machines. If I am at work I can simply tap to pay and grab a drink or snack. Even better when I am out for a jog I don't even need to bring my wallet and can grab a Gatorade at the local park vending machines. 

How much money can you make just from walking?

I've noticed a number of apps that will pay you to take steps or let you bet on weekly goals. My aim here is to analyze how much you can really make on a weekly basis from these apps.

Here is the list of apps I'm using

1. StepBet
2. FitPotato
3. Achievement
4. Sweatcoin
5. Million Steps

StepBet is a great app. StepBet lets you wager a bet that you will complete weekly goals over a set period of time usually 6 weeks. If you purchase a membership you can play 3 games at once. I typically average just over $8.00 a StepBet and can earn that on average every two weeks. Subtracting $1.90 for the membership fees I get $6.10 every two weeks or about $3.05 a week. Pretty good, but this does require the upfront money for membership and bets.

FitPotato is another good app. Here you wager $5 a week to meet step goals of 6000 steps on three days in a week. Pretty easy goals and you can earn about $0.80 a week.

Achievement will pay you for all sorts of healthy activities. I really like this app and its pretty passive, but it only pays about $0.12 a week for steps if you take just over 6000 steps a day.

Sweatcoin is a fun app that converts steps taken outdoors into Sweatcoins. This app pays pretty well, but the rewards are very high. To get cash you need $1000 worth. For about 5250 outdoor steps a day you will get about $0.25 week, but to be practical you will need to do much more than that.

Finally, Million Steps gives you about $0.35 a week for taking 5000 steps a day. Pretty straightforward, but I believe it requires daily check in.

In total, you can earn about $4.57 a week using these paid step apps all with moderate goals. You may want to leave out Sweatcoin unless you take lots of outdoor steps. Overall, $4.57 is not bad and these goals can help improve your health.

How you can beat the Chase Freedom 5% on Streaming Services

The next quarterly category for the Chase Freedom Card includes 5% cash back on streaming services. The Chase Freedom points can be very valuable because they can be transferred to the Sapphire cards where The Points Guy values them at 2 cents a point. I personally value them at about 1.5 cents a point. But what I like to do for streaming services is to buy discount gift cards on Raise.com. Currently, Hulu gift cards are 6.7% off, Netflix 3.2% off and iTunes 5.9% off. Plus you can get another 1% back from sites like Swagbucks and 1.5% back by paying with the Chase Freedom Unlimited. Raise also often offers promo codes like the one today that gives 4% off everything although I don't believe it can be combined with Swagbucks shop and earn. Either way, you can do better than 5% back and even better than 10% off if you wait for a promo code.

The Credit Shifu Wallet

I was looking for a new wallet because the travel wallet I've been carrying for a few years now is just too thick to be comfortable. Also, I don't keep much cash on me and have transferred most of my store cards to my phone. I found The Credit Shifu RFID blocking minimalist wallet. This wallet is very compact even fully loaded its about half the thickness of my old wallet. It has a nice feel and holds cards securely, something I was worried about with this style wallet. If you're interested in a new compact wallet check out The Credit Shifu Store. The Credit Shifu is not a sponsor, but offers lots of great info on credit cards and I am a big fan of his Youtube channel. Check out his YouTube channel to learn about getting free travel and perks through credit cards.

Finding Myself in the Alternative Income World

I haven't posted in a while because I've changed a lot over the past few months. I talk a lot about making money on this blog and how I earn money. Lately, I've taken a break from most of my online income activities, including taking surveys and watching paid videos at least for the most part. Honestly, burnout is a large part of it as well the dissatisfaction with sites not crediting for surveys and offers. Many reward sites have a terrible practice of allowing their users to be abused by the surveys and offers while blaming the partners for not paying. An honest reward site should hold their partners accountable to prevent abuse to their loyal users. Many of these surveys string users along for a while before disqualifying them or even let users successfully complete them and still give payment.

3 Ways I Still Make Extra Money

First I found a new app I love StepBet. Here you place a bet committing to meet your step goals and if you don't you lose your bet. If you do complete your goals you get to split the pot with the other winners. It's great motivation to get your steps in and be more active. Most StepBets are about $40 and last 6 weeks. I normally make about $8 from a StepBet like that. Pretty good earnings just for doing what you should.

Next, I still do paid search through Bing and Swagbucks. This makes a little bit of money and is worth it because I search the internet anyway. Bing tends to be my go to search engine especially when I am on mobile.

I still think about maximizing cash back when shopping. I like to use Ebates or Swagbucks as well as Raise.com to save money on gift cards. I have also added into the mix credit cards cash back and sign up bonuses. My current two favorite cards are the Discover It and the Chase Freedom. Both of these have rotating categories that give 5% cash back. I recently got the Chase Freedom which gave me a bonus worth $150. Not bad for a free card with good cash back categories. The Discover It will give a $50 sign up bonus if you use this link, plus you get cash back match at the end of the first year.


I've changed a lot and am not sure if I will ever go back to surveys. I do plan to continue looking for ways to earn money for things I do anyway like exercise and searching the web. I have also become interested in learning about credit cards and how to get the most benefit out of them.


None of these companies are sponsors, but some of the links are referral links and I will get paid if you sign up through them.

Attaining Credit Card Reward Bonuses

I see a lot of people wondering how they can achieve the spend requirements on credit cards to receive the sign-up bonuses. Many cards these days offer bonuses of 50,000 points or more. In my example, I am going to use the Venture card by Capital One. This card gives 50,000 points worth $500 as a statement credit toward travel when you spend $3000. If you would like to see a good review of the card check out this full review by The Points Guy 

Let's get down to how we are going to spend the $3000. In order to makes this work for most people, you will have to have some extra money to pay some bills ahead of time. It's time to get out your budget. If you don't already have a budget its a good time to make one. What I like to do is check off whether an item can be paid with a credit card or not. Currently, I can pay my Car Insurance, EZ Pass, Electricity, Phone, Groceries and Entertainment Costs by credit card. For me, this amounts to about $600 a month. I can also pay my Auto Registration by credit card, but this requires careful timing. As you will see $600 a month over 3 months is only $1800 so we will need to be a little clever. How are we going to get the remaining $1200?

First I can pay car insurance in blocks of 6 months for about $645 if I time opening the card correctly. This brings us up to $2122.5 since the $1800 included 3 months of auto insurance.

The second thing I can do is time my payments so that I have 4 electric bills during this period. My bills are due on the 4th of the months and I receive them on the 10th. This adds about $200 dollars. We are now up to $2322.5.

Now its time to get a bit creative. If you are already planning a trip you may be able to spend the remaining $678 on that. If not let's start by talking about things you can prepay. First I can prepay for tolls on EZ Pass lets say $100. Next, you can prepay for anything that offers gift cards. This means gas and groceries, but also even things like Netflix and Apple Music. I prefer to buy my gift cards at a discount on Raise. In the following example, you could spend $300 on grocery cards, $200 on gas and $80 on normal entertainment expenses. You can get very creative here and often save a lot of money on discount cards. Plus you can even get an addition 1% cash back through Swagbucks.

So here is how it all adds up.
$1800 in normal monthly expenses.
$322.5 in prepaid car insurance
$200 by timing your electric bills
$100 in prepaid EZ Pass
$300 in Grocery Gift Cars
$200 in Gas Gift Cards
$80 in entertainment cards
Total $3002.50

The great thing about this plan is that it is all things I would buy anyway and the fees for this are very low. The only charges for using credit are from the electric company which charges $1.5 a transaction for a total of $6. See how you can get creative with this. Make sure you only spend money you have and you pay the credit in full each month. Otherwise, the interest will quickly eat up your savings.

Why I Love to Fly

I have always loved flying. There is nothing quite like sitting in the airport waiting to board a plane. The excitement of knowing you will step off into a new place. The enjoyment of being able to take your mind away from the world for a while. When you are flying it's like you are in a bubble away from everything. Even with the cramped seats and little leg room, it's all worth it.

The technology on planes improved greatly over the years, but I also appreciate the freedom from the usual technology. Poor WiFi is a blessing because it encourages me to disconnect and either watch a movie or read a book. Something that's difficult to do these days without distraction.

Finding Cheap Airfare

A lot of people these days don't realize how easy it is to find the cheapest airfare. The biggest advantage when searching for cheap flights is to have flexible vacation dates and planning somewhat early.

In searching for airfare the first place I like to visit is Google Flights. Here you can select the airports you want to fly between and see all the possible prices. This is incredibly useful if your trip isn't set yet because you can select how long your trip will be and see what is the cheapest duration. There are also a ton of customizable options such as whether you're flying with checked bags and if you're willing to take layovers. You can even select to monitor specific flights if you aren't sure you want to book yet.

Another feature I like is that you can select airlines if you are loyal to a specific airline or want to earn another premier level you can see the cheapest flights just from them. This is great for people trying to earn miles and looking for the best rates or who might get an upgrade from a certain airline.

One thing that I haven't observed personally, but have heard is that it is best to search in incognito mode because if they see you repeatedly search for flights they will raise the price.

Why I use Bing for Web Searches and News?

I have been a big fan of Bing. I started using them mostly because of Bing Rewards which has now become Microsoft Rewards. Obviously, I appreciate the fact that they pay me to use them, but other reasons include their beautiful background images and easy access to top news.

Let's start with Microsoft Rewards. They will pay you a small amount for each web search which amounts to about half a penny a search with limits of up to about 15 cents a day on desktop and another 10 cents a day on mobile. They also have little quizzes and activities that pay a bit more. This may not sound like a lot, but it gives me at least an extra $5 a month for reading the news and searching the web. Things I do anyway.

As far as the search engine goes it's not bad. When compared side by side, Google may be slightly better, but I really love the interface. I normally don't have an issue finding what I am looking for. The Mobile app has great features. It allows you to see nearby gas prices. You can see local restaurants and browse movies. It even has a built-in barcode reader if you want to compare prices when shopping or scan QR codes.

I also like the interface for browsing the news. Which happens to also count as web searches for rewards. You can browse through top news based on headline images and clicking each brings you to a web search on that topic. It also has an option to search news based on categories, so if you want to see just tech news you can look just under that category.

Looking for other ways to make money check out this post 10 Apps that Pay you or Save you Money

The Smart Kitchen: Wi-Fi Connected Cook Tops

I've always imagined smart homes moving toward talking appliances. While you can't yet talk to these cooktops they do have some interesting features. Including inductions heating, Wi-Fi, flex zones, and Bluetooth.

First, they offer induction cooktops which have the advantage of not only heating food and water faster they don't get hot without a pan on them in case you turn on the wrong burner. If you are interested in an induction cooktop I would recommend checking out this article by Consumer Reports.

The interface is beautiful and looks very futuristic. It allows you to control it with the touchscreen or using removable knobs, which also makes cleaning easier. It even has a virtual flame feature so you can visually confirm what is heating. 

This Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabled cooktop also allows you to monitor and control it from anywhere. While it doesn't seem like an earth-shattering feature it does allow you control things without being right next to it. Personally, I think it should be Alexia enabled and allow voice controls, but we will probably be there soon. Learn more about this Samsung model here. 

Check out how technology is affecting the environment here.

What saving an extra $1 a day really means

Many people don't realize what it can mean to save a $1 a day. I have been talking a lot lately about what it takes to earn or save just that much. Now let's see what it's really worth. Much of how it will affect your life depends on what you choose to do with it. I will be running the numbers using the  www.investor.gov/ compound interest calculator. This is a great tool if you want to see what your investments will amount to. It even has an option that shows you how much to save if you have a particular goal in mind.

Lets first look at if you simply put it in a bank saving account what can it amount to. My banks saving account gives a whopping 0.1% currently. Although, over the years this does have the possibility of fluctuating. Either way, its got little chance of keeping up with inflation.

As you can see over 35 years you will have $12,996.01. At first, this doesn't sound terrible but if you assume a 3% rate of inflation it would have decreased in value by about $4,902.24 or $8,093.77. Not terrible for a $1 a day, but we are losing out on a lot of money. This may be good for short-term storage but is clearly a bad deal in the long run.

Let's look at if you take a little bit of risk. If you invest in an S&P 500 index fund based on historical performance the return is about 10%. Subtract, 3% for inflation and that amounts to a 7% return.

This is really incredible. Due to the power of compound interest, a 7% return can yield an incredible $50,462. It's really amazing what a $1 a day can do when combined with the power of compound interest.

If you want to learn how to get that extra $1 check out my post How to easily make an extra $1 a day