web * print * motion * code
Recently we’ve discovered how handy YouTube playlists are on our Apple TV. Whenever we find content that we want to watch in succession, I add it to a playlist on my YouTube account for later viewing. The reason why this is so handy is because Apple TV will play all items in a YouTube playlist without interruption. The utility of this becomes apparent once you consider a couple of examples: [Read more...]
Last week I wrote about the Sparrow Mail App and how it has increased my email efficiency. Just yesterday I learned that the app is going to be mothballed because the company that makes it has been acquired by Google. However, despite Sparrow’s short-lived status as my “go to” mail app, during my time with it, I gleaned two email efficiency techniques which are applicable to any email client. Both are quite simple, and when averaged out over a week’s worth of emails, they can save you much time. [Read more...]
UPDATE (07/24/2012):
Back in 2007 I switched over to using Google Apps for my email. Since that time I’ve used its online interface almost exclusively. The advantage of using the same interface to check my email anywhere far outweighed any negatives that came from not using a desktop mail app. What’s more, as the Gmail interface has matured, I’ve come to prefer it over any desktop clients I’ve used in the past. So, when I first heard about the Sparrow for Mac, I wasn’t too interested, but after picking the app up on sale this past weekend, it has become my goto email client because of one simple feature: Quick Reply [Read more...]
I’ve often said that my iPad is my favorite electronic device ever. I love its utility, portability, and ease of use. Its app-centric focus and sleek design lets you forget you’re using an iPad and focus on your task at hand. Given how much I enjoy using it, you might think my Kindle e-reader would fall by the wayside, and that was true at first. But lately I’ve gotten more enjoyment out of my Kindle, and this is due in part to one positive and one negative aspect of my iPad. [Read more...]
If you’re into design and architecture (even if you’re not and you just enjoy good story telling) and you’re not subscribed to the 99% Invisible podcast, you should be. If you are, why haven’t you told me about it?!
Click to Subscribe in iTunes
Having just listened to a handfull of episodes so far I’m already hooked. In a way that I would have never expected, the show’s host, Roman Mars, uses the medium of audio to vividly convey design-centered topics. So far I’ve been transported to Belgium to sample what is perhaps the world’s rarest and best tasting beer, I’ve learned about the short story which provided the genesis for the Geico caveman commercials, and I’ve considered how one might redesign our US currency and why that might not be a good idea. As Mars says, each episode is better than the last no matter which order you listen to them in. 
If you’ve never heard of Kickstarter, please allow me to make an introduction. Kickstarter.com is a website where inventors, artists, entrepreneurs, etc. can post their project ideas and solicit funds while offering various incentives for those who participate. What is revolutionary about Kickstarter is how well it combines the web’s ubiquity and easy payment options into a “viral funding” opportunity. It has allowed people with ideas to market their ideas directly to the people who are most interested in them. Some of the more successful projects have raised tens of thousands of dollars in just a few days. The term “Kickstart” is quickly becoming a verb used to describe crowd-sourced fundraising. [Read more...]
Amid a wave of publicity, online music service Spotify launched in the US nearly one year ago. Since that time, if you’re on Facebook, you’ve probably seen ads for the service and status updates from your friends which show what they’ve been listening to. The service is a fantastic concept: it combines user-uploaded music into an ad or fee supported service which makes the record companies happy and let’s you find and play virtually any song instantly. For many music lovers, this is the perfect Internet jukebox; however, as I’d merely consider myself a burgeoning audiophile, I hadn’t been so quick to adopt the service until I found my personal best “use case” and started making the service work for me. As there are probably others out there like me, I thought I’d share how I discovered the magic of Spotify. [Read more...]
I’ve been so busy with work lately that I’ve seriously neglected posting here. So I thought I’d share links to some of the tools that have been helping me get things done. [Read more...]
Early in our marriage, my wife and I realized our weekly and sometimes daily grocery shopping was a major source of frustration and tension between us. We were both busy with our jobs, and we didn’t have time at the end of the work day to figure out what to cook for dinner. Planning ahead and shopping for a whole week’s dinners on the weekend helped, but the time that took was frustrating as well. Eventually we solved this problem by developing a system where we plan out a month’s worth of meals and purchase all their ingredients on the same day. [Read more...]
