If you haven’t entered, or you have entered but didn’t get an email response from me, you need to enter today. At midnight I am rolling the dice to find out who wins.
(Truthfully I will be asleep at midnight, but I won’t accept any emails that come in after midnight.)
Dan Provost on how he and Tom Gerhardt took the Glif idea and shipped a product in 5 months:
One thing that has greatly pleased Tom and I about the the success of this project is its inherent simplicity: we are just two guys who made something people want to buy, and then we sell it to them. No middle men, no big corporations, no venture capital, no investments. I think beyond the interest in the Glif itself, people like to know where things are coming from, and the story behind it. So thanks for letting us tell our story.
They have no manufacturing experience, but using the Internet and common sense they made it happen — amazing. Inspiring story for everyone (myself included) that has an idea, but doesn’t know how to get it going.
I mentioned this the other day in passing, but Facebook is now allowing app developers to grab your phone number and address.
Facebook:
We are now making a user’s address and mobile phone number accessible as part of the User Graph object. Because this is sensitive information, we have created the new user_address and user_mobile_phone permissions. These permissions must be explicitly granted to your application by the user via our standard permissions dialogs.
You still must grant them access, but I would guess that most users don’t take the time to read what they are granting apps access to. There is very limited need for apps to get this data — other than for marketing purposes. Time to “not allow” these apps to grab this data.
[Updated: 1.18.11 at 1:11 PM]
The Atlantic is now reporting that Facebook has temporarily suspended this — who knows when it will start back up.
Randy Murray writing about why he doesn’t like to use technology in meetings:
It’s tempting to recreate your desktop productivity system there on the conference table, but it just gets in the way. With a set of simple tools I can listen to, capture ideas from, and make a personal connection with my customers. And they respond to that. They see that I’m interested in their stories. The effect of seeing someone physically write a note is warm and personal, not cool and clinical like typing on a keyboard. This reinforces the connection. I get people to open up and tell stories that they typically wouldn’t in a business session.
This is interesting, but I have to respectfully disagree with Murray here and I think it comes down to the environment that you work in. In my life pulling out my iPad at meetings conveys who I am and what my company is all about. My company is always on for edge of new technologies and we market ourselves as such. I want my clients to know that with my company they are getting a company that is not stuck with paper and pens, but a company that will email you a copy of the meeting notes before you leave the room.
I can see how technology might make someone pause, but I usually only see that when you are using a screen as a screen. That is: if you have something propped up in front of you, then you are stifling conversation. I get that people type better and faster with bluetooth keyboards or laptops or keyboard docks for their devices, but I urge you: get an iPad and use the onscreen keyboard, it opens up the space and keeps the conversation on the conversation and not on your tools.
(One last note: I am not anti-pen and paper in meetings. I am anti-having to transcribe notes from paper to digital. Scanning is not a solution to that problem — all notes should be searchable and archivable and backed-up-able.)
Frank Chimero details out his computer setup after just switching to the top of the line 13″ MacBook Air. Overall it sounds like he loves it. I certainly can’t blame him.
Overall it is great to see that I am not the only one making a 13″ MacBook Air work as their primary Mac.
I am honestly disappointed that they missed that title opportunity. Anyways…Joshua Riddle offers some good types to help keep office works in shape, this tip is my favorite of the bunch:
Practicing good posture will usually alleviate lower back and neck pain. It will help you feel more confident and in control of yourself. Sitting and standing up straight will continually build strength in your abdominal and lower back muscles.
I don’t know about the confidence and control bit, but I do work from a standing station during parts of the day and I can say that it does in fact wear you out a bit more.
An interesting report that of current iPhone users on AT&T, 26% say they will move to Verizon. Out of all total AT&T subscribers just 16% say they will move to Verizon this year.
Now this was only a poll of 4,000 users and you can question how diverse the group was, but I am guessing these are fair numbers.
Regardless I am very interested to see what actually happens, also keep in mind Verizon still has not announced what the monthly charges for data will be for iPhone users.
Sometimes you just want to play a game, so do I. Here are some of my favorite iOS games.
I game far more often on my iPad than I do my iPhone and I have no reason why. I can tell you that Angry Birds and Flight Control are my two favorites though.
Please let me know if you have any problems with the RSS feed over the next few days, specifically if you click to view an item and get a 404 error. I installed a new plugin that enhances a few things, but I have had trouble with it in the past (though I seem to have it working this time around).
Thanks
This bit was posted on the Consumer Reports electronics blog:
The less iPhone-addicted consumer, on the other hand, may want to hold off for a newer version of the iPhone before even considering whether to buy one.
The best part about this is that there will soon be tangible proof of the irrelevance of Consumer Reports. By that I mean a ton of people are going to ignore this “warning” from CR and instead buy the Verizon iPhone 4.
That said, I do agree with this statement:
With Apple likely to ship a new iPhone generation in June or July, as it always has for the iPhone, this is a transitional phone to tide Verizon through until the summer.
I just don’t understand why you buy a Verizon iPhone 4 now, instead of waiting until June/July to see if Apple releases an iPhone 5 at that time.
To the older generation, privacy is about secrecy. And, as the Supreme Court said, once something is no longer secret, it’s no longer private.
That statement sums up very nicely the precise reason the ‘older generation’ doesn’t understand why today’s youth likes social networking (be it Twitter, Facebook or others).
Schneier continues:
But that’s not how privacy works, and it’s not how the younger generation thinks about it. Privacy is about control. When your health records are sold to a pharmaceutical company without your permission; when a social-networking site changes your privacy settings to make what used to be visible only to your friends visible to everyone; when the NSA eavesdrops on everyone’s e-mail conversations–your loss of control over that information is the issue. We may not mind sharing our personal lives and thoughts, but we want to control how, where and with whom. A privacy failure is a control failure.
Schneier summarizes one of the larger reasons I don’t use Facebook and in fact despise the service. It is also the reason that I don’t trust Google with my email. With both companies I don’t get the sense that I am truly in control of anything.
I like Twitter, but there is little to no privacy — unless I lock my account or I send a direct message. I have no problem with that because I have no expectation that I can control the privacy levels of the service. With Facebook they ‘give’ users control over what they share, but at the same time allow app developers to capture sensitive data like your phone number and home address.
Perhaps MG Siegler sums up why I don’t mind the lack of privacy on Twitter best:
It’s like having a conversation in a crowded room where anyone at anytime can stop and listen to you if they want. Why would they want to? I don’t know. Why does anyone want to follow anyone else on Twitter?
If I think about it in that sense then, yeah, I have no problem with Twitter. If you assume everything you say on Twitter (outside of DMs) is being said in a crowded room then you have your privacy standard. Don’t say anything you don’t want others to over hear you saying.
The privacy expectation is different on Facebook — it’s more like you are in a room with just your ‘friends’ and occasionally, without you knowing, Zuckerberg swings by and opens the doors and windows to that room so others can stop in.
Matt Soniak:
When you point at a duck and pull the trigger, the computer in the NES blacks out the screen and the Zapper diode begins reception. Then, the computer flashes a solid white block around the targets you’re supposed to be shooting at. The photodiode in the Zapper detects the change in light intensity and tells the computer that it’s pointed at a lit target block — in others words, you should get a point because you hit a target.
I must say: that Nintendo gun was one of the coolest things you could have when I was a kid — the only thing that would be cooler was the Nintendo Power Glove (you know what I’m talking about). ((But in case you don’t.))
It is a pretty impressive solution they came up with for the gun.
Perhaps you thought that the last giveaway would really be the last one, fortunately for you I care. Last month I contacted The Omni Group and asked if they would be willing to help me give one of my great readers a copy of OmniFocus — well it is official I have one OmniFocus license to giveaway.
If you are a regular reader then you should know that I love OmniFocus and think it is hands down the best task management program you can get on any platform. You can read some stuff I have written about OmniFocus here, here, here and here. Here’s some stuff others have written.
Entry is different this time around (it was a bit tedious for me last time).
All you need to do is email me and tell me what you want to see more of on this site (e.g. Reviews, Perspectives, Rants, Raves, etc.):
comments@brooksreview.net
All I ask is that you be honest and keep it short.
I will pick one winner at random on Wednesday 19th of January 2011. Be sure to enter before then.
One last thing, the drawing is random no matter how many entrants there are. Please don’t enter if you already have a copy, this way others can enjoy what we already do.
As always: spread the word, but never SPAM others.
John Paczkowski:
Verizon’s original motivation for embracing Android was to offer its subscribers an iPhone-equivalent. Now that it’s able to offer them the real thing, [Charlie] Wolf feels they’ll likely opt for it over competing Android devices.
I can see this happening.
And check out this screenshot from Verizon Wireless’s home page — they list three categories of phones: iPhone, Smartphones, Feature Phones. That says it all.
Verizon is done pushing Android and they couldn’t be happier about it.
An interesting look at why one space between sentences is the correct method and why so many people believe two spaces is proper. I always thought two spaces was the proper way to do, but that one just looks better.
Lin Edwards:
Liquid glass spray is perhaps the most important nanotechnology product to emerge to date. It will be available in DIY stores in Britain soon, with prices starting at around £5 ($8 US). Other outlets, such as many supermarkets, may be unwilling to stock the products because they make enormous profits from cleaning products that need to be replaced regularly, and liquid glass would make virtually all of them obsolete.
You can spray it on a food prep countertop and only need a hot water wipe to sterilize the countertop. Cool stuff.
Ryan Singel on why corporations put 400 words of legal BS at the end of every email:
But the ominous warnings that you must obliterate, incinerate, and forget any email not intended for you don’t actually mean anything, according to legal experts.
and:
In a trade secrets case, for instance, the absence of a notice could be used to argue that the sender didn’t care about keeping the content under wraps.
There are edge cases where notices matters in court, but most of the time those legal notices only serve to waste bandwidth.
