whatever has my attention at the moment
Like the fancy calligraphy addressing a wedding invitation, the hand-drawn type is now a luxury item, much like typed print used to be not so long ago.
Read all about it at SpeckyBoy: The Beauty of the Hand-Drawn Typography Trend in Design
(If you’re not reading this on my blog go there now or this post makes no sense.)
My ability to concentrate on the task at hand has been deteriorating for some time now (which should be obvious if you only read the title of this site.) I grew into a bad habit of idle web surfing, which can easily masquerade as productivity (especially if I’m surfing around web design sites, freelance sites, productivity sites, in the interest of research… ) but of course it’s really not.
Trying to reverse this trend, awhile back I moved my “office” out of my bedroom and into our den. Our family PC is in here as well, and the room is doorless, opening out to our dining room and the rest of the house. The counter-intuitive idea was that real life going on around me would pull me away from online distractions, and I’d be forced to focus more when I actually sit down to work. The lack of a door has been an issue at times, especially when I need to talk on the phone, but all things considered this has worked out pretty well. I’m also feeling less isolated.
I have a chunk of time when the rest of the family is at work/school to get the concentration heavy stuff done, and because I know this time is limited I’m less likely to wander off into “research” that doesn’t directly have anything to do with the task at hand.
So things are better, but could be better still. And as I’ve thought about this I’ve realized that I’m routinely pulling my brain off the rails by glancing over to my left. To my left is a second monitor. I’ve been using two monitors for over three years now, beginning when I replaced my PC with a MacBook and attached it to a full size monitor. The idea, of course, is that I can have more screen real estate for all the visual elements I’m working with. But when I really, really think about it, the second screen rarely serves a purpose other than “home for Tweetdeck.” When I glance to my left, it’s to read up on Twitter.
Now, some (you?) may say just don’t run Tweetdeck all day. Yes, that could be a solution, but I do get great value from Twitter so I’m simply not willing to take such a drastic step (you could say if not for Twitter I wouldn’t be in business.)
So instead I’m going to try going back to one monitor. My current computer is a 24″ iMac so it’s not like I’ll be suffering for screen space. That plus using the Spaces feature which in effect gives me as many monitors as I could possibly want means I won’t really be downgrading. I’ll run twitter on a hidden Space, get the benefits of having it run all day, but not be so easily distracted by it as I am when it’s always there, to my left.
It’s another little change that could hopefully have a big impact. And my second monitor already has a new purpose, to replace the just-died one that was attached to my old MacBook, which is being used as a second family machine. Happy solution all around, I hope!
My parents use Facebook, mostly to stay in touch with family. I think my dad (74 today!) was disappointed to find so few old friends there, but their demographic is growing!
[Infographic by Assisted Living Facilities].
Found via my friend Adele.
(a bit ironic that I was just asked to do a presentation on just this topic but can’t due to scheduling- this will have to suffice ;).)
With the latest upgrade the iPhone camera now captures the bright and the dark. Check out these shots, with & without HDR mode engaged. Nice.
I came across this well-written post from Jolie O’Dell: Why We Don’t Need More Women In Tech… Yet.
This dubiously accurate nomenclature of “women in tech” places the entry-level PR girl at a startup in the same monolithic group as 50-year-old engineer at IBM. This is unfair to the women who do real technology work; it’s doubly unfair to women as a gender, as it smashes the “tech” label onto anything related to the Internet. Does having 50 male engineers and 50 PR women at tech companies mean we’ve acheived gender equality? Hardly, but it does make it more difficult to correct the true imbalance: There are not enough women doing real technology work…
…We are misguided to demand more women in tech when there simply isn’t an adequate supply of competent technological professionals to support gender parity. Women in tech begins with little girls playing with science- and math-related toys, and it takes much longer than just a few months or a few years to undo the sociological mores of a few millenia.
(the bold is mine)
photo by Elizabeth/Table4Five on flickr
But then instead the pink aisle at Toys R Us grew into 3 aisles, the Legos became warring “Bionicles,” special video games were developed for girls (it was assumed all other games were for boys.)
No wonder girls don’t pursue tech careers, and it’s such a loss to us. Women approach and solve problems differently than men (gross generalization, but I believe it to be the case) and with greater access to and interest in tech at a young age who knows what could be unleashed? I hope more young voices like O’Dell speak up.
Go read the rest of Jolie’s post.
Unfortunately I’m dealing with a tiny netbook & low bandwidth at the moment but even the bits I was able to see were very cool. You need to view using the Google Chrome browser.
I’m trying to figure out the smoothest workflow to get my content where I want it to be in the least number of steps.
I’ve been using Posterous to post photos from my iPhone, because it sends the pictures here and to Facebook, and a link to Twitter.
But even though the photos post here fine, I still have to manually add the thumbnails that appear on the front page of the site. Extra step. Plus the pageviews go there, not here. I want your eyeballs here damnit!
What I really want is for the photos to appear here, thumbnails already attached, and in Facebook, and linked out to Twitter with the link preferably coming back here instead of to Posterous.
Doesn’t sound that difficult, but for now, it sort of is.
I think the best workflow for photos looks like iPhone -> WordPress app -> here -> Twitter (via Twitter Tools plugin) then send the feed to Facebook. Sorry, Posterous :(. (edit: something’s wonky with the FB feed importer, so it looks like I’ll also have to upload with the Facebook app. Bother.)
Videos are even more annoying- no easy way to post them so the video will actually appear here (rather than just as a link to Posterous) from my phone. I can upload them to Flickr or YouTube and grab the embed code I guess? Not a big deal but not exactly the “in the moment” solution I want.
And then there’s Audioboo, my preferred app for posting with audio (you know, when I eventually start doing that again…) I can send that to Posterous then it will come here- as a link? Embedded?
Feh, so complicated!
Any suggestions? Am I missing something?
The other night we took my son out to celebrate his birthday, and as we were finishing up I took out my phone and checked in on Foursquare. I was promptly mocked by my husband & kids (I’m used to this, I think it’s with love…)
Most people don’t want to tell the world where they are at any given moment. I use Foursquare sparingly myself. It’s fun and it’s actually useful at times. I imagine if I had a busier social life it would be handy to know who was where on a Friday night. I used it in Austin during the SXSW conference and it helped me track down my friends as they roamed from party to bar.
But what’s this all about really? It’s about marketing, baby. Foursquare lets businesses offer discounts through the app, and that’s why Facebook has just jumped into the location-based game with Places. It’s not just about helping you figure out where your friends are, its about having data available for advertisers. In just the last day since Places was enabled I’ve seen friends check in to Dunkin Donuts, a car repair shop, the orthodontist, the gym… Hello Opportunity to Sell Stuff! You’ll use your $1 off coupon and buy lots of other stuff just because you’re so grateful for the little gift. Right? You know it’s true! Well, it’s true for me, anyway. I admit it.
But here’s the thing: Places is enabled by default. You may not check in anywhere, but your friends can check you in (by tagging you), without prior consent, unless you disable that function. So go read this and adjust your settings accordingly. I know a lot of people who don’t like having their image tagged in photos on Facebook, I’m sure they’d be less than thrilled if friends start tagging them in Places.
I’ve set mine to disallow tagging by others, and my check ins will only appear to a specific subset (list) of my Facebook friends. Facebook hasn’t made clear how advertisers will take advantage of this yet, but it’s coming. I’ll probably use Places now and then, and I’m not saying it’s a bad thing- I just like to go in with my eyes open.
Other people don't want you to succeed. They're worrying about themselves. Yes, people can feel proud of you. Yes, they can wish you success. But very few people out there are coming up with new ways to help you win. (Those who do, by the way, should be praised and cultivated). We humans tend to view the world from the comfort of our own autobiography. Make sense? Seek internal measures for all that you do. Make YOURSELF proud of you. Find your own REAL numbers to prove that you're a winner. And let others sort their view of you out themselves.
VHS VCR, 8mm camera, dv camera, MacBook, 1tb external drive, iMovie HD to grab .dv files, asst. cables & cords. 167gb captured so far…
Moving on—all the latest is at my new home.
