Recent Articles

Tim Bajarin on iPhones/smartphones:

It now has become my GPS system, my digital camera, my flashlight, my voice recorder, etc. With the plethora of software and services available on my smartphone, its hub like nature makes it the most important digital screen in my life.

Smart post. Especially given I have been seeing more and more apps promote that the content collected by the app never leaves the app (a response to the NSA spying).

[Fascinating report from Shane Harris on how the FBI and NSA work together to spy on Americans][1]:

> When the media and members of Congress say the NSA spies on Americans, what they really mean is that the FBI helps the NSA do it, providing a technical and legal infrastructure that permits the NSA, which by law collects foreign intelligence, to operate on U.S. soil. It’s the FBI, a domestic U.S. law enforcement agency, that collects digital information from at least nine American technology companies as part of the NSA’s Prism system. It was the FBI that petitioned the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to order Verizon Business Network Services, one of the United States’ biggest telecom carriers for corporations, to hand over the call records of millions of its customers to the NSA.

And later on in three-pager (DITU is the name of the internal FBI division):

> The NSA is the most frequent requester of the DITU’s services, sources said. There is a direct fiber-optic connection between Quantico and the agency’s headquarters at Fort Meade, Maryland; data can be moved there instantly. From the companies’ perspective, it doesn’t much matter where the information ends up, so long as the government shows up with a lawful order to get it.

This is the first time I recall hearing about the FBI involvement — but I have been reading and *not* reading a lot of articles lately.

[1]: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/11/21/the_obscure_fbi_team_that_does_the_nsa_dirty_work?page=0,0

[Federico Viticci][1]:

> You could argue that other companies whose apps and services I use might have the same data about me: that’s true, but Google has gotten very good at eerily using that data from solid apps and web services against me in ads. Apple has my email, my calendar, my Siri queries, and my browsing history. And yet it’s Google that directly benefits from guiding users through a progressive removal of their online privacy. Twitter and Facebook are based on ads, too, but they don’t make the world’s leading browser, search platform, maps app, video sharing site, and free email service at the same time.

I go back and forth between Instapaper and Reading List just about every month. Safari though, I have been consistently using for years and years. I’ve done stints with Chrome, or FireFox, but they always get in my way.

With Mavericks Safari is finally *good*.

[1]: http://www.macstories.net/stories/leaving-google-chrome-why-ive-returned-to-safari/

I’ve long had a need to keep a small toolkit with me, mostly stored in my trunk, ever since I became a property manager. The tools I keep in it have nothing to do with repairing my car, and instead have everything to do with fixing odds and ends around shopping centers, offices, houses, and apartments. I’ve been working on perfecting this toolkit since 2006.

No, really, it has taken that long.

I recently noticed that it has been about a year now since I changed my toolkit — a first — so I feel comfortable talking about the tools that I keep in the kit and why.

The Why

I want to start with the why because that is what should guide you in your makeup of a proper toolkit. In order to make an excellent and useable toolkit you have to understand what you are likely to use the toolkit for — or even if you are likely to need a toolkit at all. I mentioned that mine is around because I need it for different properties that I manage.

There’s stuff that I see broken all the time, and I keep a small toolkit so that I can make a quick repair to stuff if the time/circumstance allots, so that maintenance can stay on other tasks.

Repairs like:

• Crooked signs.
• Out of date directory signs.
• Leaking faucets / hose bids
• Time clocks needing adjustments
• Door closer adjustments
• Lock problems

There’s a ton of other little things, but that’s what I have off the top of my head. Nothing very technical, just little things that annoy you.

The Kit

My kit is extremely basic, and has been honed over the years, currently residing in it:

• Klein 10-n-1 Screwdriver: This is a great screwdriver that I have mentioned before. I currently have six of these bouncing around and rarely need a different screwdriver. I chose this one in particular because the Torx heads on this driver fit a few of the allen head bolts that I constantly seem to be dicking with. Great tool and as the name implies takes the place of 10 ‘other’ tools, but mostly for me serves as a philips/flat tip and make shift allen wrench.
• SOG EOD Multi-tool: I’ve tried about a half dozen multi-tools but landed on the SOG because the pliers feel the toughest to me. I would say 90% of the time this is the only tool in my kit that I really need. I mostly keep it in there for the pliers, but the file also comes in handy.
• CRKT Drifter G10: I of course have to keep a knife. I chose this knife because the price makes it rather disposable. So if I need to do something unsavory with my knife, I try to use this one.
• 6″ Zip Ties: Seemingly infinite amount of uses and repairs that can be made with these guys. I keep the clear ones on hand.
• Pry Bar: I bought this little pry bar thing from a crazy site. There’s tons of uses for it, but I truly just have it in my kit to pry on shit. I wrapped mine with some paracord for comfort — not really for survival or anything.
• Crescent Wrench 8″: The worst thing you can do in the long term is to attempt to loosen or tighten a bolt head with pliers as that will wear the head in a way that a real wrench may not be useable in the future. I keep a crescent wrench for that very purpose. They come in handy as a make shift hammer too if you need one.
• 4″ Scraper: Our shopping centers constantly have random stickers applied to windows, and this scraper is the best at quickly getting them off. Fair warning: I’ve seen tons of people cut their hands wide open using these — be careful, especially in cold weather (trust me, more dangerous than they look and you often use them with a lot of force).
• Pair of Raven Nitrile Gloves: I go with black because they look more bad-ass. But these are great disposable gloves to keep on hand. I only stock one pair, so I need to constantly add them back in, smarter people should stock more pairs.
• Compact Roll of Duct Tape: I stock the 1-inch wide Gorilla brand Duct Tape. It’s strong and durable and I find that the one-inch variety has more uses than the 2″. I also keep this in a small envelope so it doesn’t get duct tape goop all over everything else.
• Water Key: I keep a four-way water key for turning on commercial hose bids in my car. These are at most of the buildings that I a manage.
• Bosch Laser Tape Measure: This is invaluable for me to measure up spaces and distances quickly and accurately. I love this thing.
• Cheap Bic Lighter: I keep this on hand for melting the ends of strings/ropes/straps if I have to cut one for some reason. (Usually to remove a banner.)
• SureFire Fury: This is my favorite flashlight at the moment. Many are put off by Surefire, but I have tried other brands and they just don’t feel as rock solid as Surefire. This is a beast of a small flashlight and just what I need for 3am meetings with firemen in 40,000SF vacant buildings, while we look for the cause of a fire alarm.
• I may, or may not, have a set of these too. If I did, they would be at home and never leave my safe there.

All of these tools are not kept in a toolbox, or bag. I have one tool bag that I use, and it only holds seven of the items. The rest are stashed in one of two areas in my car: the flashlight is in the glovebox, the rest are under the mat in this nice tray that my car has in the trunk.

The rest of the tools are kept in a Winter Session tool roll that I really like the look of, but is a bit small in practice.

Your Kit

Your kit can and should be different from mine. There are likely tools I omit that you think crazy to omit. You are probably right for your application, but for me — in the past year — these are all the tools I have needed out of this kit.

(All links are affiliate where I could make them so.)

[Nick Hopkins and Matthew Taylor reporting on how to build your own NSA](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/18/private-firms-mass-surveillance-technologies):

> AMES describes Cerebro as a “core technology designed to monitor and analyse in real time communications … including SMS (texting), GSM (mobile calls), billing data, emails, conversations, webmail, chat sessions and social networks.”

> The company brochure makes clear this is done by attaching probes to internet cables. “No co-operation with the providers is required,” it adds.

> “Cerebro is designed to store several billions of records – metadata and/or communication contents. At any time the investigators can follow the live activity of their target with advanced targeting criteria (email addresses, phone numbers, key words),” says the brochure.

A lot of people have contacted me asking why I am so concerned with what government spies are doing, I think this article sums up my concern. What the government can do, so too can the private sector. Read the article, and then start down the encryption process.

Daniel Jalkut, responding to Michael Lopp (today's quote of the day), about moving from Things to something else (Asana for right now):

But what really frustrates me in this case is the software has served him perfectly, and he thanks it with a slap to the face. It’s one thing to denigrate a product for failing to meet your expectations, or for exhibiting a clear lack of craftsmanship, but Lopp admits that those problems do not apply: […]

I would argue that Lopp thanked Cultured Code with his money, but I see the larger point here too. There's a fine line between moving for the sake of moving, and getting fed up that there hasn't been major updates. Anyone that follows this site knows I am quick to make fun of Cultured Code for their slower-than-snails-pace that they develop at.

There's no doubt their software is solid, but it is hard to argue for it being the best. OmniFocus isn't much better as 2.0 looks not great, the new iPhone app is just ok, and the once stellar iPad apps are lagging behind. Things and OmniFocus are in need of attention, but while the attention is coming, it is coming too slow for most users. They are still great tools, but you can't blame a user for getting annoyed that their tools (while good) look and operate old.

Lopp's post drove me to think a bit more about my setup — which currently is Begin and OmniFocus. ((Remember, I am financially tied to Begin.)) Looking at OF it looked like a dog, so I looked around and tried Asana for the day. It's not for me, but I can see the appeal. I'll be trying some more web-based solutions over the next week or two.

My goal isn't to try and leave OmniFocus, but to make sure OF still is the best solution for me. OF has gotten so ugly on the Mac and iPad I almost refuse to use it in those places. Which means I am essentially using the iPhone app, and even the new iPhone app isn't the best looking app. ((Totally subjective.))

I understand where Jalkut is coming from, but it is easy to forget that users have other options, options that they can and should always be looking at. Leaving for the sake of leaving isn't smart, but leaving because you have little faith in the future development is smart — to do otherwise is often just delaying the inevitable.

Yes, the software served him perfectly, but what about the future. I'd be hard pressed to recommend OmniFocus to a new user right now, let alone Things. Both were made in a pre-mobile, pre-teams-everywhere, world and that shows every time I use them. I don't see this as ditching great software as much as I see this move as a forward thinking move to embrace something that fits the current workplace needs now, instead of waiting for those needs to maybe be implemented in your current tools.

It's moving not because expectations have failed to have been met, but because of doubt over expectations being met — at least in a reasonable (for the individual user) amount of time. And that I find perfectly logical.