The Random Post

Alaskan Cruise ‘09: Sketchnotes 13-14 (via Mike...

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 08:36:07 -0500

Alaskan Cruise ‘09: Sketchnotes 13-14 (via Mike Rohde)

Given the time and the talent, all travel journals should look this good. Page after page of some of the most amazing sketching I’ve ever seen. The entire set is a must see. I could spend hours examining every detail of this.

Task Cards vs Cognitive Load vs Balance - David Seah

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 07:40:23 -0500

Task Cards vs Cognitive Load vs Balance - David Seah:

“While we tend to think that tasks are about us, a good amount of the time tasks are really about other people. How well you do a task, how fast, whether you meet that deadline…all these attributes of task-doing communicate something about you to them. At the same time, we’re communicating something to ourselves at the same time; the subtext of perfectionism, of responsibility, and of social value within a community. “

There were far too many choice words and ideas here to really chose so I took this one at random.

50 Simple Marketing Ideas All Freelancers Can Use – FreelanceSwitch

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 07:19:36 -0500

50 Simple Marketing Ideas All Freelancers Can Use – FreelanceSwitch: Many good and simple ideas here for those of us that are a company of one.

New balloon plus our shadow/glory. (via zee)

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:03:52 -0500

New balloon plus our shadow/glory. (via zee)

point and counterpoint ... and counter-counterpoint

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:06:01 -0500

chrisbowler:

patrickrhone:

It started with Gruber describing the revolution he believes is happening in computing right now:

“This, to me, gets to the heart of the revolution at hand. A decade ago, my first PowerBook was a secondary machine to the desktop anchored at my desk. Now, my main machine is my MacBook Pro, but it feels a bit like an anchor now. My mobile secondary computer is my iPhone.”

This was responded to by in post from my good friend Chris Bowler:

“I couldn’t disagree more with the sentiment above. Yes, the iPhone is a game changer. Yes, it’s a revolutionary device. But a replacement for the desktop (and even if you use a laptop as your primary computer—and I do—it’s still receiving ‘desktop’ usage)? Not for this guy.”

I wanted to add my two cents. I believe that, in this case, Chris is outside of the norm. The iPhone has largely replaced my Macbook as my portable computer. I now only bring my Macbook along when I need it to assist in client troubleshooting or under some pretty extreme circumstances. Even in those cases I lament having to do so. I know I am not alone in this. I have had many conversations with other iPhone users and this is the case for them as well.

My buddy from Minnesota makes some good points on this topic. Unfortunately, I think my point was misunderstood and we actually share the same opinion. I will not argue that, for many people, the iPhone has taken the place of the laptop to perform certain tasks when away from home base.

But that’s not the point I was trying to make in my post referenced above. It’s my fault—I guess I diverted from Gruber’s point in that he was saying the iPhone is now a better option as a mobile computer. True.

I was simply referencing the fact that, for me, the iPhone will never replace the desktop, the ‘home base’ setup. There are certain tasks that I simply won’t do when I’m out and about. Yes, I can type a blog post on the iPhone, but I’d rather not. I’ll wait until I’m back at home base to do that.

The iPhone is a satellite device, just like laptops used to be. Now the laptop is the desktop. Sure, whatev. But my comfort, my greatest computing enjoyment comes from the desktop environment. And the iPhone is not going to change that.

For completeness sake.

Gizmodo - My Most Memorable Gadgets, By Steve Wozniak - Memorable gadgets

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:13:00 -0500

Gizmodo - My Most Memorable Gadgets, By Steve Wozniak - Memorable gadgets:

“The word ‘meaningful’ has the root ‘meaning’ which implies some emotion. In that sense, my first transistor radio, at about age 10, would fit the bill. It gave me portable music that I could listen to all night long as I slept, every night. 20 years later came the walkman, and 20 more years later came the iPod, but the real change in life, the one having the most ‘meaning’, was with the transistor radio.”

As much as I rag on Gizmodo for their page view obsessed and often broken self linking, I stay subscribed because they occasionally produce a gem like this.

Becoming Minimalist

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:46:35 -0500

Becoming Minimalist:

marco:

I had a thought last night that I wanted to wake up this morning and get rid of 75% of the ‘stuff’ that I own. […]

How do you start to get rid of these things?

Get some sort of external storage. The basement, a small rental storage unit, your parents’ place, or New Jersey. The less convenient it is to access, the better.

Put nearly everything you own there. Leave out only what you’d pack if you were going on a trip for 2 weeks.

From that point forward, remove only what you need, as you need it, from storage. You’ll almost never need to do this.

After a year, get rid of everything that’s still in storage.

This is very sound advice from Marco. I’m in the process of doing this with the bulk of my clothing right now.

The thing where my laptop has become my desktop and my phone has become my laptop...

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:11:00 -0500

It started with Gruber describing the revolution he believes is happening in computing right now:

“This, to me, gets to the heart of the revolution at hand. A decade ago, my first PowerBook was a secondary machine to the desktop anchored at my desk. Now, my main machine is my MacBook Pro, but it feels a bit like an anchor now. My mobile secondary computer is my iPhone.”

This was responded to by in post from my good friend Chris Bowler:

“I couldn’t disagree more with the sentiment above. Yes, the iPhone is a game changer. Yes, it’s a revolutionary device. But a replacement for the desktop (and even if you use a laptop as your primary computer—and I do—it’s still receiving ‘desktop’ usage)? Not for this guy.”

I wanted to add my two cents. I believe that, in this case, Chris is outside of the norm. The iPhone has largely replaced my Macbook as my portable computer. I now only bring my Macbook along when I need it to assist in client troubleshooting or under some pretty extreme circumstances. Even in those cases I lament having to do so. I know I am not alone in this. I have had many conversations with other iPhone users and this is the case for them as well.

For me, the iPhone is enough to handle every computing task (web, email, social networking, notetaking, etc.) I generally need to do while on the go. I take it to the coffee shop to get work done, manage my task list and write blog posts (yep, using the on screen keyboard). I have taken it and the Macbook with me to conferences only to find that my Macbook stayed in my bag acting as dead weight. When I went to Macworld last year, my Macbook stayed on the desk in my hotel room after half way through day one. The iPhone was the better option to take to the conference itself.

I believe that a shift is taking place. For most users, the laptop will become their desktop machine that has the added option of being able to be portable when absolutely needed. In all other cases, the iPhone will not only suffice but will, due to it’s high portability, excel.

The best Web-based task managers. - By Chip Brantley - Slate Magazine

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:17:20 -0500

The best Web-based task managers. - By Chip Brantley - Slate Magazine : Chip reviews several online task managers. What is interesting here is that he uses minimalism as one of the benchmarks. Google Tasks comes out on top largely because of it’s ease of use and integration into GMail. (via Minima)

The 88 - The Making of Love Is The Thing (via Neven Mrgan) I...

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:58:48 -0500

The 88 - The Making of Love Is The Thing (via Neven Mrgan)

I continue to be consistently amazed at the power and possibility of this device.

Related: I stand in respectful disagreement with Mr. Bowler.

Meeting Ticker

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:38:57 -0500

Meeting Ticker: This web app will save your company millions of dollars a year. Guaranteed!

Oldie But Goodie: Sketching with a Sharpie - (37signals)

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:04:00 -0500

Oldie But Goodie: Sketching with a Sharpie - (37signals):

“Ballpoints and fine tips just don’t fill the page like a Sharpie does. Fine tips invite you to draw while Sharpies invite you to just to get your concepts out into big bold shapes and lines.”

This seems like a sound theory. I’ll have to give it a try.

Morgan Freeman on Race and Black History Month - Do I even need...

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:40:47 -0500

Morgan Freeman on Race and Black History Month - Do I even need to add to this?

@font-face: The Potential of Web Typography

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:44:29 -0500

@font-face: The Potential of Web Typography: The future is almost now. (via Rands)

Sunrise on the Bay by ericsenf: Besides being one of my best...

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:59:24 -0500

Sunrise on the Bay by ericsenf:

Besides being one of my best friends, Eric is also becoming one of my favorite photographers.

Working at 37signals - (37signals)

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:44:50 -0500

Working at 37signals - (37signals): Very interesting peek at how the 37 Signals crew uses their own tools to get things done.

Black Belt Productivity » What is in Your Book?

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:14:27 -0500

Black Belt Productivity » What is in Your Book?:

“Truth is, my family knows that if it is important to me, it goes down in my book. So if it is important to them, and they see me write it in my Circa, it makes them feel important, because they can see that it is important to me as well.”

Love this sentiment.

Logbook by Transmissions: 37signals companion apps for the Mac.

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:00:00 -0500

Logbook by Transmissions: 37signals companion apps for the Mac.:

Some of you who follow my musings elsewhere may know that the idea of a Daily Log has been on my mind a bit lately. If you have a Backpack account, the Journal feature is an easy way to keep a record of what you are working on. Logbook aims to make that even easier by putting a handy way to update the Journal in your Mac OS X menubar. Seems really elegantly designed.

The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs: And another thing about Palm running ads about us

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:04:10 -0500

The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs: And another thing about Palm running ads about us:

“Listen up, Palm marketing people. If you’ve just launched your big breakthrough product, and the only way you can explain that product to people is to run ads comparing it to another product — well, you’ve pretty much already lost, haven’t you”

I’m just not sure how Fake Steve can be this constantly spot on. Perhaps it is because Real Steve, and his foils, make it so darn easy.

So happy Fake Steve is back.

The Technium: Why Technology Can't Fulfill

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 09:00:00 -0500

The Technium: Why Technology Can't Fulfill:

“I don’t want a lot of devices that add maintenance chores to my life without adding real benefits. I do want to be slow to embrace technology that I can back out of. I don’t want stuff that closes off options to others (like weapons). And I do want the minimum because I’ve learned that I have limited time or attention.”

I have a long held fantasy of embracing extreme simplicity. For instance, I have always craved the simplicity of uniform clothing (think Steve jobs) but never quite had the guts to embrace it.

I think there are a lot of things to take away from this article. From adopting new technology slowly and carefully, to ruthlessly holding onto what you already have because it does the job at hand. It is a long read but worth it.