What isn’t Apple, audiobooks, or alcohol is probably cats.
Personally tested, compared to other options, and now recommended products and services.
I don’t think you can fully appreciate the genius of the latest “iPod shuffle ad”:http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/ads/ until you’ve been watching the NCAA Tournament in a sports bar with a zillion TVs, and the spot is suddenly on 20+ screens all around you, especially if they have the sound turned up.
I don’t think you can fully appreciate the genius of the latest iPod shuffle ad until you’ve been watching the NCAA Tournament in a sports bar with a zillion TVs, and the spot is suddenly on 20+ screens all around you, especially if they have the sound turned up.
I dunno if anyone thought of that scenario when they decided to run the spots during the Tournament, but if they did, all I can say is wow.
After the first round, it looks like I had some great picks. One of my ESPN Tournament Challenge entries (labelled “Whimsical” in the graphic) is in the 100th percentile, just outside the top 10,000, of nearly 3 million entries. It looks more impressive than it really is.
After the first round, it looks like I had some great picks. One of my ESPN Tournament Challenge entries (labelled “Whimsical”) is in the 100th percentile, just outside the top 10,000, of nearly 3 million entries.
Just a few tournament predictions…
Just so I post these before any results are in:
Speaking of coaches that have let me down, I don’t have Kansas going very far.
On the other hand, I think this is Roy Williams’s year, and predict UNC to win it all.
If it isn’t North Carolina, it’ll be Connecticut.
I am a huge fan of Amazon.com, having started using it to buy books shortly after they launched, and expanding my purchases through them ever since. They’ve never failed to impress me with a very high level of customer service. So Wednesday I signed up for Amazon Prime, which provides free 2nd day delivery on all orders (no minimum order amount), and overnight delivery for $3.99, for one year.
I am a huge fan of Amazon.com, having started using it to buy books shortly after they launched, and expanding my purchases through them ever since. They’ve never failed to impress me with a very high level of customer service. So Wednesday I signed up for Amazon Prime, which provides free 2nd day delivery on all orders (no minimum order amount), and overnight delivery for $3.99, for one year.
I wrote before that I’ve been reading David Allen’s _Getting Things Done,_ and it’s already clear that I like his system. I’ve also been reading a few different web sites where different people write about their experiences using the GTD system. One post in particular talked about the necessity, and the joy, of having lots of file folders on hand, for immediate use as soon as you need to group things together. I was, to say the least, a little skeptical.
I wrote before that I’ve been reading David Allen’s Getting Things Done, and that even though my reading isn’t close or complete, it’s already clear that I like his system. I’ve also been reading a few different web sites where different people write about their experiences using the GTD system, including Merlin Mann’s 43 Folders and Mark Taw’s site, among others. One post in particular talked about the necessity, and the joy, of having lots of file folders on hand, for immediate use as soon as you need to group things together.
I was, to say the least, a little skeptical. I mean, I understood that file folders are an important component of GTD, and even picked up a box of them at Costco the other day so I could get started GTDing, but really, the joy of file folders? Come on!
So I cracked the box this evening, with the intent of getting one folder out to hold all the magazine clippings I save to remind myself to check out something interesting. I even got out my P-Touch labeler and made a label for it.
Then I found another group of stuff on my desk that I could put in a folder. Labeled that one too. 15 folders later, I’ve emptied the labeling cartridge, but my desk and the top of the filing cabinet have no more lose papers.
Consider me a convert. Fresh file folders are cool. And I’m heading to the office supplies store early tomorrow to get a new cartridge for the labeler.
Like a lot of other Mac aficionados, I followed yesterday’s announcements by Apple quite closely. A lot of people are writing about them, so I’m just going to jot down a couple of thoughts I’ve had that I haven’t seen elsewhere.
Like a lot of other Mac aficionados, I followed yesterday’s announcements by Apple quite closely. A lot of people are writing about them, so I’m just going to jot down a couple of thoughts I’ve had that I haven’t seen elsewhere.
But first: I think the Mac mini is a grand-slam; I expect Apple to sell a million units a quarter through the rest of this year (assuming they can make that many), with only a modest impact (cannibalization) of sales of existing products. Most of these will be to first-time Mac owners. The price point and the packaging are both trying to suggest that the Mac mini is an impulse buy (even if the idea of switching platforms on an impulse is ridiculous).
Mentioned in the lead paragraph of that NYTimes article is the spreadsheet which Rochelle put together prior to our trip to France in 2002. Since publication we’ve actually had people inquire about getting access to it, so I thought I’d put it online. Some background will help you make the most of it.
Mentioned in the lead paragraph of that NYTimes article is the spreadsheet which Rochelle put together prior to our trip to France in 2002. Since publication we’ve actually had people inquire about getting access to it, so I thought I’d put it online. If you’re impatient, you can find a download link toward the end of this story. But some background will help you make the most of it.
Rochelle created the spreadsheet in an attempt to duplicate the really amazing experience she had using Vindigo on her Palm handheld when visiting New York City in May 2002. She did a lot of pre-trip research, and entered addresses and venues of interest into Vindigo. Then, while in NYC, she was able to tell Vindigo where she was, and get a list of places within walking distance, along with step-by-step directions for getting there. It made her touring the city (while I was locked in business meetings) efficient and fun, while still allowing for serendipity to influence where she went.
However, there is no Vindigo for Paris, or for any city in France. So we set out to try to duplicate the most essential features, by tying every location of interest to the nearest Metro stop and its arrondissement. We thought that this would let us figure out where we were, and then find interesting places nearby. In the end, it was only partially successful for us.
We had the most fun when we used it at the beginning and middle of the day, during breakfast and lunch, to plan where we would spend the rest of the morning or afternoon. When we tried to use it to follow whim after whim, which Vindigo had done successfully, we ended up pretty frustrated.
The other thing that didn’t work out the way we envisioned was the Palm version of the spreadsheet. We managed to download the data into Rochelle’s Palm, and use a micro database called JFile to be able to search and sort it, etc. But without a lot of additional development, having just the table of data was simply too hard to use on a Palm screen, it’s just not wide enough. With a search engine, hand-crafted results and detail pages, cross references, etc., the electronic version could have been pretty good…but even if I had put 20 hours into it, it would still have been nowhere near as good as Vindigo.
In the end, the printout of the spreadsheet was a tremendously valuable tool for us, and we’d never have seen as many cool places without it. And even if Vindigo had covered Paris, we’d still have wanted to pore through all the guidebooks and websites that Rochelle found. We would never have depended on Vindigo’s content. But having Vindigo to organize our own content by precise location, instead of rough chunks, would have been pretty darn cool.
Anyway, the spreadsheet was put together prior to our trip to France in October 2002; some things are now surely out of date. We’ve made no attempt to clean up Rochelle’s unique annotations and categorizations (Rochelle is an information organization specialist), which will likely be meaningless to you. And you don’t get our copies of the guidebooks, where were marked up and bookmarked with color-coded flags, and cross-referenced in the spreadsheet; we used those constantly, too. But if you still think it might be useful to you, here’s the spreadsheet.
Last note: this only covers half our trip, the time we spent in Paris. We also spent a lot of time in the Champagne region. We didn’t make a spreadsheet for that part of the trip, which (except for our first hotel and one meal) was entirely unscripted. Instead some photos and some weblog entries may give you some useful information about that.
Enjoy France!
I was introduced a couple months ago to the work of productivity guru David Allen, finding a glowing review and an overview of his organization system on the 43 Folders weblog. But buying the book has had unintended consequences.
I was introduced a couple months ago to the work of productivity guru David Allen, finding a glowing review of his latest book and an overview of his organization system on a weblog, 43 Folders, which has also been doing a nice job explaining how to implement Allen’s system using software available for Mac OS X. I investigated further, and was impressed by what I learned. The system seemed both sophisticated and simple — an extremely rare combination.
More importantly, aspects resonated with me; it both explained what was missing from my current approach to being “organized”, and made me believe the system could work for me. I immediately bought the book from Amazon.com, and when it arrived placed it in pole position on my night-stand for immediate reading.
Can you see where this is going?
So far the only thing Getting Things Done has helped me do is fall asleep. I pick it up diligently each time I get into bed, begin reading…and pass out after a couple of pages. I cannot read the book for more than 20 minutes at a stretch — at least, not while sitting in bed.
I’m still a believer in GTD. Indeed, the first third of the book has convinced me that it can work for me, improving my efficiency and stress levels. I plan to give the book a better go in the New Year. Setting up our reading chair with a good light and a warming blanket is the current action on that particular project.
On second thought, maybe the blanket isn’t such a good idea…
Over Xmas, in conversation with my brother about various movies that have come out in the last year, I found myself wondering why I haven’t been to the movies more often in 2004. Today I was reminded why: it’s expensive.
Over Xmas, in conversation with my brother about various movies that have come out in the last year, I found myself wondering why I haven’t been to the movies more often in 2004. Today I was reminded why. In spite of going to the “bargain” matinee, my movie experience was nearly $20 ($7.50 for the ticket, $9 for popcorn and a Coke, and $2.75 for parking).
In spite of the expense, I enjoyed House of Flying Daggers. While it’s not at the level of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, it tries for it and succeeds on many, if not all, levels. Gorgeously photographed and choreographed, and Ziyi Zhang is definitely one of the most beautiful actresses on the planet. It’s a movie worth seeing on a large screen, for the action, costumes, and settings.
Even if it costs you $20.
Some of the most useful utilities I’ve found for my system are available as tiny “menu extras.” These little widgets, almost always compact icons, sit on the right side of the menu bar. Here’s my current Mac OS X right-side menu bar, and details on why I like each utility.
Some of the most useful utilities I’ve found for my system are available as tiny “menu extras.” These little widgets, almost always compact icons, sit on the right side of the menu bar. Sometimes the icon itself is useful, sometimes it’s just a symbol. Sometimes the item’s menu is where all the action is, sometimes you use it in other ways.
After buying it at Macworld Expo last year, I used You Control for about 6 months as my only right-side menu bar utility, using it to put everything I wanted in the menu bar. My theory was that with only one utility providing all the items, it would take less memory and processor time, and be a little more stable. But in the end I found that the You Control versions of various menu widgets simply were not as good as the independent options I’d found, and I switched to the stand-alone versions I’m using today.
Here’s my current Mac OS X right-side menu bar. From left to right, I have QuickSilver, WeatherPop Advance, Timbuktu, Desktop Manager, Shh, MenuCalendarClock, the Mac OS X menu bar clock, Script Menu, iSync menu extra, Internet Connect VPN menu extra, AirPort menu extra, and the battery menu extra.
Some of these have been written about by others, among them QuickSilver and MenuCalendarClock, so I thought I’d just explain why I like a couple of my choices.
Although I didn’t intend for this post to bash You Software, whose products I like, they just released a public beta version of a virtual desktops utility which competes with one of my favorite items. I tried You Control: Desktops, and will be sticking with Desktop Manager, primarily because YC:D doesn’t allow you to assign keyboard shortcuts to individual desktops, so there’s no way from the keyboard to go directly to your desired desktop. You can choose a desktop from a list, but that’s potentially 4 keystrokes, not just one. Desktop Manager is also free, while YC:D will cost money.
Another unusual item in my menu bar is Shh. I like this tool a lot, because it’s incredibly flexible. Basically, it runs shell commands (the commands you can type at the command line) and puts the results in a menu bar. A great example is finding out what your IP address is (if yours changes); there are a bunch of utilities dedicated to doing just that, but why not use a more general tool that can do that, and a hundred other things — limited only by your expertise at the command line? (I’ll explain my own Shh commands in a future post.)
A last thing I love about these cool little tools is that they are not expensive. QuickSilver (possibly the most useful utility on my system) is free, as is Desktop Manager, and all of the items built into Mac OS X 10.3 (“Panther”). Shh is $5 and WeatherPop Advance is $8. MenuCalendarClock is free for the basic features, and $18.95 to unlock all features (which are totally worth it). Of all the widgets here, only Timbuktu cost more than $20, and I only have that for my consulting, for which it’s necessary — and so tax-deductible.
Mark Hurst is a recognized technology and user experience expert, who writes a (now) annual guide to good technology and other gifts, called Uncle Mark’s Gift Guide and Almanac. There are good recommendations on things to buy for others, or for yourself, at a wide variety of price points.
Mark Hurst is a recognized technology and user experience expert, who writes a (now) annual guide to good technology and other gifts, called Uncle Mark’s Gift Guide and Almanac. There are good recommendations on things to buy for others, or for yourself, at a wide variety of price points.
It’s a great guide for a lot of reasons, but one of the best is that he doesn’t weigh you down with unnecessary choices. For example, there is only one digital camera on the list, he’s used it for two years, and has very specific reasons why it’s the only one he recommends.
Note to others: this is not a hint for what to buy me for Xmas. I already have all the things in this guide that I want. Maybe that’s why I like it so much.
Rochelle found a new soul food place in San Francisco through the Chowhound.com message boards, Miya, out in the Sunset. They’re terrific.
Rochelle found a new soul food place in San Francisco through the Chowhound.com message boards, Miya’s Place, out in the Sunset. It’s terrific. Our first visit I ordered something I almost never order out: fried chicken. The fellow at the counter said “it takes about 20 minutes” and that was all right with us. Rochelle ordered the smothered pork chop, and off he went to cook.
When our food arrived, I took one bite of the chicken, and I was in love. Rochelle got a bite or two, but that’s mostly because the chef brought out an extra piece he’d cooked for her. I devoured my serving of four pieces, methodically eating every bit of meat off the bones. Rochelle remarked that she’d never seen me eat like that. Amazing fried chicken, the best I’ve ever eaten. (Rochelle’s dish was excellent, too.)
A return trip for brunch was equally satisfying, with my fried pork chop disappearing under a similar attack, and really good hash browns (a rarity in SF). Rochelle loved her biscuits and gravy. Now if they have a great chicken fried steak, Miya will be the only place we’ve found the trifecta which makes for a perfect breakfast for us: chicken fried steak, biscuits and gravy, and hash browns.
Miya’s Place is on the corner of Holloway and Ashton, two blocks from Ocean, where the Muni line runs. Parking has been easy, and the place is always less crowded than it deserves to be. Highly recommended.