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2013 The Year Of Efficiency

December 28, 2012 By 4 Comments
happy-new-year-2013

happy-new-year-2013

I’m making 2013 the year of efficiency and in order to do that I need to make things work well together and ditch the things that don’t.

I have a feeling that this is going to become an running list so I’ll most likely will be coming back and adding more to this as the last of 2012 is coming to a close.

  • I need to get better with email
    • I’m ditching Sparrow on the Mac (after Google for the most part killed it off) in favor of PostBox.
    •  It also works well with OmniFocus and Things too.
  • I need to use Omnifocus for everything
  • I switched to BusyCal a few months ago, iCal is annoying when Google Calendar goes wonky.
  • I need to add TextExpander to my workflow.
  • I need to store everything in 1Password
    • 1Password is available for Mac and iOS.
    • I need to plug all my site licenses, app licenses and passwords into this thing
    • I need to use 1Password on iOS as my default browser for accessing password protected sites
    • I need to refresh all my passwords
  • I need to store more stuff on Evernote, I only use it for Skitch currently.
  • I need to research mindmapping for iOS and Mac. I need to do more mindmaps during meetings.

What are you changing in 2013? Are you using any of the above? What should I be looking at further?

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Things I like: Olloclip for iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S

February 28, 2012 By 1 Comment
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A year or so ago I was introduced to the Olloclip, a device that slips onto the corner of your iPhone gives you a choice of 3 lenses to take pictures with (macro, wide angle and fisheye). Recently at MacWorld Expo 2012 in San Francisco I was reintroduced to the device and given one to review. I used this thing each day taking some wonderful pictures of the festivities going on at MacWorld. I loved it so much I gave the Olloclip Best of Show for Beatweek Magazine. I turned my friend Jeff Turner from OC WordPress onto Olloclip and he’s been taking some amazing shots with it. Like I said earlier, the device is dead simple to use it has two sets of lenses on the front and back of it: the larger is a Fish Eye, the smaller a wide angle. When you remove the wide angle lens by twisting it off you will find the macro lens which works quite well with a steady hand.

This is a shot of a flower I took like at Disneyland recently:

I took a great shot of my sister-in-law’s wedding ring as well:

It’s amazing the quality you get from this great little $69.99 device. The fish eye lens is pretty impressive too:

A picture of my daughter Jessalyn very close up makes for a funny picture.

 

Photos I took at the classic car show.

Like I said for $69.99 you can’t beat the price, it’s simple, easy to fit in your pocket and just works. I love it and carry it with me wherever I go.

 

Where to buy?:  The Olloclip comes with a carrying bag and lens caps for both lenses. It retails for $69.99.
(affiliate link)

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Things I like: PowerSkin Battery Case for iPhone 4S

February 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment
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Battery power on my iPhone is important to me when I’m out and about. I go to Disneyland quite a bit (we live 12 miles away) and when I’m spending all day there I want to be able to entertain myself and my 6 year old, the iPhone fills that need. The problem with Disneyland is that so many people are doing the same thing: surfing the web on their phones and sending emails, txt and such. All this usage in one area brings the cell towers to their knees which means my phone is always looking for a cell tower to connect to and burning my battery. Also when I go to tech conferences (MacWorld, iWorld, CES) the same thing happens, too many people in one area beating up the towers.

So what is my solution to this problem? How about doubling up my battery life using a ruberized case? I asked a few of my friends in the tech community what their favorite case was, some said Mophie and my buddy Bill Palmer of Beatweek.com said that he loves his PowerSkin Case. I did gome googling and found the company website and was quite happy what I saw:

  • Power Capacity 200mAh (the iPhone 4S itself is 1430mAh)
  • 480 Mins Talk Time
  • 350 Hours Standby time
  • 0.18lbs
  • Tough rubberized case
  • On/Off Button
  • Charge/sync

Why I like it:

  • The device charges/syncs using a “Micro B” usb connector which is great since I have a ton of those cables.
  • Battery life is great on this, I keep it turned on all day and it charges my phone. If i want to conserve the battery pack I just turn it off using the button next to the status lights. When the device is plugged in it charges my iPhone first THEN the PowerSkin.
  • I like that is kinda gets stuck in my pocket. This may annoy the skinny jean crowd, but with my “dad jeans” it keeps it from falling out of my pockets.

 

 

What annoys me:
The only thing that annoys me about this device is that there is a series of blue LED lights used to indicate how much battery power is left. When the device is charging the blue lights are BRIGHT lighting up my room. I end up stuffing it under something to hide this light.

Where to buy it:

PowerSkin Protective Case with Built-in Battery for Apple iPhone 4, AT&T and Verizon – Black (affiliate link)
 
 
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Things I like: MacBook Pro 15 inch

February 17, 2012 By 1 Comment
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I’ve been a Mac user for a few years, my first one was the White iMac 17 inch which I recently retired. I started a new business and the old iMac just wasn’t cutting it any more. I started doing some research on MacBooks and found that the 15 inch gave me the most in screen real estate and wasn’t as bulky as the 17 inch that many of my friends and colleagues use. The MacBook Air (at least the current generation with the SSD) didn’t provide enough disk space to store movies, music and such that I wanted to take with me on the go. Also this MacBook would become my primary computer which ment that it needed to give me the most bang for the weight and money. At 5.6 lbs (6lbs when you include the AC Adapter) is isn’t a lightweight like the Air but is a decent balance. I’ve seen people carry Alienware laptops to meetings and those things are beasts. I don’t want to lug around my “desktop replacement laptop” with me to and from work.

MacBook Pro front from the top MacBook Pro front

Here are the specs I ended up with:

Apple MacBook Pro 15 inch
2.4GHz Intel i7
8GB of ram
750GB Harddrive
15.4-inch LED-backlit glossy  (1440 x 900-pixel resolution).

Buy the same one I have: Apple MacBook Pro MD318LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop (affiliate link)
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