The Brooks Review

Author: Ben Brooks

  • Some Quick Interleaved Reply Tips for iOS and Mail.app Users

    Now that I have been using interleaved responses for a bit longer I thought I would share some general tips and tricks that I have learned to help speed along your replies.

    iOS

    • Don’t set an email signature. In fact go into your Settings.app in iOS and open up the signature for editing — hit that clear button and call it good. If you don’t do this you will always be deleting a top posted email signature (assuming you want to interleave or bottom post — which is why you are reading this to begin with right?)
    • Select the text that you want to quote before you hit reply. iOS will only quote the selection instead of the entire message. This is great for cutting out email signatures, you can break apart the message later. I mostly just use this to get rid of extra crap so that I don’t need to delete as much in the reply.
    • Doing things right takes time and in iOS’ case it takes a good bit of time. I was getting frustrated as I replied to 90% of your contest emails on my iPhone or iPad — but I took the time to get used to composing good reply emails. I encourage you to do the same, that whole “do unto others…” line comes to mind.

    Mail.app

    • I got a few emails about getting bottom-posting up and running in Mail.app and it is clear there is one thing hanging people up: signatures. In the signature preference pane uncheck the box that says ‘Place signature above quoted text’ — if you have the plugin installed this should solve most of your problems.
    • As with iOS highlight what you want to quote in your reply and that is the only bit that will be quoted. You really should make a habit out of doing this as it is a huge time saver.
    • Learn the keyboard shortcuts for making a section of text a quoted section (CMD+’ increases the quote level for instance). This will keep you from getting tripped up formatting.
    • If you want to mix and match top and bottom posting it may be best not to auto-insert your email signatures.

    One Last Reason to Interleave Replies

    I also find that when you reply to someone and add a new person in on the email — interleaved replies works magic with bringing them up to speed. Instead of forcing them to read all the irrelevant crap in the original email (the ‘hey how are you’ stuff) they just get the questions and answers that they need to see — all in a logical order.

    Lastly if you have made it this far heed the words of Jocelyn K. Glei, writing for The 99 Percent:

    If you don’t have anything substantive and/or actionable to say, don’t send the email. Refraining from sending the one-word “Thanks!” email is tough, because it can feel ungrateful. But at this juncture, we’re all probably more grateful for one less email.

    Be sure to check out that entire post for some more good tips.

    [This part of an ongoing series on dealing with email, to see more posts look here.]

  • Quote of the Day: Merlin Mann

    “In fact, it’d be great if we could each skip needing outside permission to be awesome by not waiting until the universe starts tapping its watch.”

    The one thing I have learned about life is that: all you get when you wait for permission is a whole lot of regret. I don’t know about you, but I am not cool with that.

  • Last Day to Enter the OmniFocus for Mac Giveaway

    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.)

  • Idea to Market in 5 Months: Making the Glif

    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.

  • Facebook Now Giving Your Phone Number and Address to App Developers [UPDATED]

    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.

  • Client Meetings Without Technology Getting In The Way

    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’s Setup

    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.

  • Deskercise

    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.

  • 26% of AT&T iPhone Owners Going to Verizon

    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.

  • My Favorite iOS Games

    Sometimes you just want to play a game, so do I. Here are some of my favorite iOS games.

    iPad

    • The Incident: Imagine playing Tetris, but not being able to control the falling blocks. Now imagine that you are a little guy trapped on the screen climbing the blocks to the top, except those blocks are random items. That is what playing the incident is all about — a fun little game.
    • Angry Birds: Imagine you are a bird and some bastard pigs stole your eggs. You would be pissed right?
    • Madden NFL 2011 HD: Imagine you are in excellent physical shape and given an oblong pigskin ball. Now you are told to move that ball 100 yards, but some other pissed off guys stand in your way.
    • Flight Control HD: Imagine you are John Cusack and everyone has abandoned you because of a bomb threat and you need to land some damned planes.
    • Angry Birds Seasons: Imagine you are those same birds above, but it is Christmas or Halloween.
    • Fifa 2011 HD: Imagine you want to be in Madden NFL above, but you don’t have arms to carry the ball — instead you kick it about the same distance (roughly).

    iPhone

    • Angry Birds: Imagine you are an even smaller bird and some smaller bastard pigs stole your eggs.
    • Big Buck Hunter: Imagine wearing camouflage and shooting your gun at bucks.
    • Ramp Champ: Imagine you are walking down the street and see a badass bigger than life stuffed animal and you want it. The only way to get it is to beat this game to get some tickets.
    • The Incident: Imagine you are in the same Tetris described world above, but you are even smaller.

    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.

  • Quick Blog Note

    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

  • Quote of the Day: Martin Luther King

    “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

  • “The Verizon iPhone 4: Promising, but Likely to Be Short-Lived”

    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.

  • The Privacy Illusion

    Bruce Schneier on privacy:

    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.

  • How Did the Duck Hunt Gun Work?

    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.

  • TBR Giveaway: OmniFocus for Mac

    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.

    Some Details

    • This is a license for their Mac version of OmniFocus that you can check out here.
    • This is not for the Mac App Store version.
    • I only have one copy.

    How to Enter

    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.

    Drawing

    I will pick one winner at random on Wednesday 19th of January 2011. Be sure to enter before then.

    Lastly

    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.

  • Verizon iPhone Will Cut Into Android Growth

    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.

    John Gruber:

    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.

    [via DF]

  • One Space, Not Two Between Sentences

    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.

  • Quote of the Day: Bill Samuels Jr.

    “OK, but there are two rules:  1. You can’t change the recipe.   2.  You can’t do anything that anyone else has done before.”
    — Bill Samuels Jr. responding to his master Whiskey maker when asked if they could try to have more than one product.

  • Spray-on Liquid Glass Is About to Revolutionize Almost Everything

    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.