Tech With A Purpose

I’ve been on this kick for sometime now to get some kind of fitness tracker that’s independent, a bit, from my mobile. Not that services like Sports Tracker, etc aren’t good. It’s just that I don’t want to always have my mobile on me on order for them to make their value apparent. Instead, I want the tech to work with my mobile, be independent from a specific platform focus, and blend into the background when I don’t care to know it’s using my activities. That’s not too much to ask given the pace of tech now right?

The N9: 1 Month In

Over at Everything N9, my continued impressions the N9 have published. Here’s a snippet:

My NCAA Men’s BBall Bracket

I’m a bit late in gettting this done (almost didn’t do one). But here’s my bracket for the NCAA Men’s BBall tourney. Since I’m putting this out there, I guess I’m asking to be held to these choices. Just don’t tell the UNC/NC State folks that I’ve bet against them :p

Optimizing the Wrong Thing

I’m coming to the conclusion that the speed and generality of a laptop or desktop system is optimizing the wrong thing – it’s increasing the rate at which my brain receives distractions from the true bottleneck in my work: measured thought, repeatable inspiration.

Yet I have one more test left to try, and one that I think might interest you: what if I try to get the best out of both worlds and use the iPad to remotely connect to my work laptop? This is something you could try, too – after a little bit of setup you could take your tablet down to the building cafeteria, or library, or outside, or home, and get a taste for what working on it is like without having to sign up and set up and entire remote server.

See, It’s not just me. Other people have also come to the conclusion that there are better methods of computing than the desktop/laptop paradigm that developers have put themselves into, and users have seen as normal.

What happens when more of us challenge that view and stay living and working better?

Ruminations on Google Reader

When I was back writing for Brighthand, keeping on top of the news cycle wasn’t just something to do, it was essential to keeping that gig. So, like many who follow news, propose to be some kind of fan of journalism, or just are insane in the membrane concerning reading, RSS became one of my best tech features. And as I learned about RSS, I also became a fan of those services, browsers, and apps that made RSS work according to my needs. Google Reader easily became the best option for me, and news of its soon-to-come demise should have been met with shock. But, it isn’t shocking to me. I’m more than ready to move on.

The Truth in Digital Journalism

There’s journalism that gets repeated over and over. And then there is uncovering of the Wizard of Oz such as what was in this piece at The Atlantic. Just simple and true. It’s kind of piece that makes me reflect as to why i keep going. And the same synapse, I’m convinced that there is something great that comes from all this reading and writing.

Why My Resume Isn’t In MS Word

A friend of mine poked me the other day about a position doing some mobile app consulting that I thought it at least a good idea towards that I’d consider seeing where it would lead. Not that I’m not happy where I am, but, it never hurts to look, especially when the opportunity is one that comes to you. So, my friend contacted the recruiter who then asked me for a version of my resume that’s is in the Microsoft (MS) Word document format (.doc or .docx depending on which version of the software you have). I replied very simply that I don’t have an MS Word version of my resume and that I have no intentions to change its format to MS Word. Of course, that gets into a neat discussion with some recruiters towards what their systems and processes allow versus intentions of the job pursuant (me). I think its just better to add this to the rest of the series of articles I’ve already written that describe this “how I work” posture.

Impressions of the Nokia N9

Truthfully, this is the kind of review that doesn’t exist on major tech sites. See, they get devices when they come out, have a few weeks to make an impression, and then keep it moving. Me on the other hand, has to purchase devices when the budget allows, and therefore interesting comes later, lasts a bit longer, and is filled with just as much disappointment as there is joy.

A Repurposed iPad

Some months ago, I gave my iPad to my lady-friend as a means of letting her in on the tablet action. I had purchased a Kindle Fire HD for myself, and so it made sense that I didn’t just have good tech just sitting around. She liked that 1st gen iPad so much that for her birthday, she received an iPad Mini. That left the 1st gen iPad sitting on the side without much of a use. But, after watching her do something really neat with both iPads while cooking, I got a neat idea and am expanding on it a bit.