Reviews

Mailbox: A Fresh Approach to Getting Things Done

At first the idea seemed crazy. Email felt like this massive thing that startups don’t mess with. “This path is paved with corpses,” one friend told us. To be really blunt, we were scared. But as we explored the idea and the capacity of our team to tackle it, we felt emboldened. We realized we could apply everything we had learned about building fast, friendly, mobile collaboration tools to the inbox. We can’t replace email, but we can change how we interact with it.

Mailbox is the latest attempt to try and fix email on the iPhone. It was released on Thursday after months of hyping from some tech journalists, notably M.G. Siegler. Unfortunately, it is not being released all at once, but instead being slowly rolled out to people. When I received the email saying the app was live, I entered in my reservation code and was in the top 15,000. Within 30 minutes, the number behind me in the queue had grown to over 400,000 and was well over 500,000 Friday morning. People have complained about the wait time to get access, but I didn’t have a major problem with it.[1]

Meet Mailbox from Mailbox on Vimeo.

My reservation went live for the app Friday evening. You can get a good overview of the app and its functions over at The Verge, but here are my initial thoughts:

  • beautifully designed, more appealing than Gmail app
  • love how it hides “Original Message” or “begin forwarded message” etc. A simple tap on the message will reveal everything if necessary.
  • ability to rearrange messages in the Lists
  • can take a picture from the compose window (Mail and Gmail can only attach a photo you have already taken.)
  • love being able to defer emails to specific times or generic (“Someday,” “This Evening,” “This Weekend”)

The negatives:

  • no labels
  • not able to send message under an alias address[2]
  • Gmail only, no IMAP support for other accounts
  • no “Important” or VIP mailbox

Overall, the app is well-designed and I am going to use it as my default mail app for Gmail. Will stick to using Mail for my IMAP accounts still and see how it goes.

Using Mailbox to Get Things Done (GTD)

The best approach to using Mailbox is to treat it differently than you would a normal email client. Our instinct with email (and other consumable digital interactions like Twitter) is to want to read a message immediately, and respond right away. Our systems tend to get bogged down when we try to decipher between messages that need to be read, need to be responded to, are for information purposes, or none at all.

The most popular way to resolve this issue is to filter the messages down into labels/folders. Messages sent into those folders tend to get forgotten about completely, unless you have worked out a routine to check the labels consistently.

The other way people resolve this issue is by forwarding the email to a GTD/productivity application of some sort (Basecamp, Orchestra, and so on). By sending it to another app, you are telling yourself, “Deal with this later.”

Snooze

Mailbox resolves this issue by including the GTD controls within the app through the Snooze function. A quick swipe on a message and you get the option to be reminded about the message at a later time or date. There is no need to send it to a GTD app and then set up a reminder afterwards. One step and you are done.

What this allows is the ability to work not in your Inbox, but in your “Snooze” Inbox.

Instead of leaving messages sitting in your Inbox and having that message list continually grow, you can instead focus on what needs to be Today or Tomorrow. With Mailbox, you can turn off the notifications for New Messages and instead be reminded of your Snoozed Messages, which is probably more valuable to people. You will still have to go through your Inbox to quickly categorize things, of course, but this may give some peace of mind to people bogged down a constant influx of email.

I will also have to do better at using Lists to get rid of the newsletters or other lengthy emails to read later at my leisure without having that nagging feeling that I should click on the email right away. I don’t subscribe to many newsletters now, so it is more of an issue with lengthy emails that I really do want to read and respond to at some point.

The catalyst for this post was reading Michael Galpert’s post which includes this great tip:

If you want to use an existing folder in the app you can by simply renaming it in gmail to [mailbox]-folder-name for it to show up in the app.

If you are interested in or currently using Mailbox, I highly suggest reading his full post: Mailbox + Sanebox is the best mobile email app to date

Mailbox seems like it will be a great tool for people who use Gmail regularly. Powerusers will likely still prefer the Gmail app or Sparrow. For everyone else, I would strongly suggest getting in line and experiencing the app for yourself.

It will definitely change how you handle your email.

Available_on_iTunes_Badge_US-UK_110x40_0824

  1. Here is Robert Scoble’s apology for all the hype surrounding the launch. In the comments of a VentureBeat article about Mailbox that Scoble linked to was a post by Jason Thibeault, Sometimes Marketing Genius Isn’t About Storytelling. His post is rather critical of Mailbox and how they planned for the waiting list from the beginning since the queuing system is baked into the app. In a world where everything is hyped, it is puzzling as to why people are still annoyed that companies would use these tactics to gain attention. It is pretty much the norm now and it is unlikely to change any time soon.  ↩
  2. The alias allows me to send a message from “[email protected]” in my Gmail account.  ↩

Tonx Coffee

But of course there are other resolutions on our company list, and on our personal lists, that are much more ambitious and challenging. For all of those, it is good that we have ample quantities of inspiringly tasty coffee to power our efforts. Launching a new version of our website? Drink more coffee. Eat right and exercise? Drink more coffee. Read more books in 2013? Drink more coffee. Be a better, more compassionate person for the people we hold dear in this life and not take anything for granted? Drink more coffee. You get the idea. Drink more coffee.

Tonx Coffee, December 30th letter

A year and a half ago, coffee and I had a love/hate relationship going on. I was pretty much addicted to the stuff. Half a pot in the morning (to myself), plus an afternoon pot or a white chocolate mocha from Starbucks/Blenz. On the days I didn’t have that much caffeine in my system, I felt lousy. I can’t recall exactly what happened, but I went a few days without any coffee and started to feel better. A few days turned into a week and before I knew it, I was up to a month without having any significant amount of coffee or other caffeine on a daily basis.

Since that time, I have been more restrictive with how much coffee I drink. The coffee maker I had originally started leaking constantly, so I quit using it. Instead, I purchased a cup now and then from the coffee shop on the main floor of my building. That helped me cut back a lot because paying $3.00 a day can really add up quickly.

Not having caffeine in my system from the moment I woke up really did improve how I felt. I was able to have more solid sleeps, was more energized in the morning when my daughter woke me up earlier than normal, and even woke up at decent hours without an alarm on the days I didn’t have her. Coffee was changing from a need to something I could enjoy on occasion.

Now that the taste of coffee started to matter more to me, I was struggling to find the perfect coffee for me. In southern British Columbia, there are a staggering amount of roasters available, from premium roasters like Cherry Hill to much cheaper Granville Island Coffee. I went through so many varieties and yet couldn’t find something I truly enjoyed. After a few months of this, I decided to take a chance on something else that I had heard about through the year: Tonx Coffee.

Thanks to podcasts like Marco Arment‘s recently ended podcast Build and Analyze and John Gruber‘s podcast, The Talk Show, I kept hearing the praises of Tonx and how much better the coffee tasted. I had wrongly assumed that it was a US-only venture, because shipping coffee to Canada would surely be a bit more expensive and not make it worthwhile. When I looked at the website, not only does Tonx deliver to Canada, but there isn’t any extra cost involved.

I was sold.

Placed my order, and within two weeks, I opened up my mail box to find this flat box waiting for me. When I opened up the box, packed inside was a small bag of coffee, but also a post card about the coffee and a short company letter. Reading through the letter brought a smile to my face. It is a nice personal touch that elicits the same reaction I get when opening a box branded with the Apple logo.

The post cards are a real neat idea. It tells the story of where the beans came from, who is farming them, and the tastes to be expected after brewing. Here is the story of the Musasa beans:

Musasa, in the north Rwandian district of Gakenke, has earned a global reputation for its coffee. Located near a mountain gorilla habitat, the area has excellent elevation and an abundance of the red bourbon cultivar, one we price above most. The Musasa coffee is from the Dukunde Kawa Cooperative, a progressive association with over 2000 members, mostly women, whom each own about 200 trees in small family plots.

Musasa coffees present a bouquet of florals atop some sweet red fruits – pomegranate and raspberry – balanced with bittersweet chocolate.

That is pretty cool story to me to think that I’m drinking coffee grown in Rwanda and I’m on the other side of the world in Canada. On top of that, it was grown by a small cooperative, not a large corporation. All of the beans Tonx sends to you have similar stories like this one. The latest batch of beans I received is from a small family farm in Columbia. I can’t wait to see where the next shipment is coming from.

The stories are good, but the coffee is even better. I don’t have the knowledge of the terms the coffee aficionados would have to fully express the quality of the taste. All I know is that the short descriptions that Tonx uses are dead on. It is even more telling to me that my three year old daughter likes the smell of the coffees and tries to eat the raw beans. She never showed the same kind of interest in the other beans I had been buying.

The main selling point for me on Tonx is that I receive a different coffee every two weeks. They are highly unlikely to repeat a shipment unless there is significant demand for it. This means I will never get in a rut of having to choose a different brand of coffee for a change. For someone like me who enjoys a variety of tastes in life, this is perfect.

In terms of pricing, it is slightly more expensive than a regular bag of coffee:

6 oz = $24.00

12 oz = $38.00

The prices are for two shipments of that size. So, for comparison sake, a regular bag of coffee beans in a store is usually sold in 16 oz (1 pound) bags. A pound of Starbucks beans is around $15.00. The equivalent cost for a pound of Tonx beans is $25.00.

Personally, I find the price difference worthwhile, because I know I am paying for a higher quality of bean, plus supporting the local farmers in far off places of the world.

If you are in the United States, there is a free trial (2 oz bag) to give you a taste of what is to come with no commitment. No free trial for Canada, but if you come to Kelowna, I’ll brew you a cup for free to give you a taste.

Tonx Coffee: Truly Great Coffee, In Your Kitchen, Without Much Fuss.

For more information about the company and the blends I have received, visit my ongoing catalogue of the shipments: Tonx Coffee Review

Best WordPress Editor: Poster

Today, one of my favourite apps was updated to 2.0, Poster.

I have mentioned it a few times in posts when writing about the iPhone on this site. In short, it’s by far the best way to publish and edit posts to a WordPress site.

The reason why it is so good to work with is because it just works. It really is that simple. There were a few minor problems when it was first published, but the developer, Tom Witkin, was prompt with a response and released an update right away.

Besides the obvious of being able to write/edit posts in plain text, Poster is designed to support the Markdown language out of the box. Being able to write out HTML links and format the posts without having to deal with a lot of clicking in the WordPress editor is wonderful. You can also pull in text from Dropbox files or send files to Poster (e.g. from my preferred editor Byword or Scratch.)

Those functions alone make this app worth downloading. There is a lot more goodness to be found within the Inspector (the settings for an individual post.) Change the basics:

  • Title
  • Categories
  • Tags
  • Post Format (if your theme supports it)
  • Publish Date and status (scheduled, draft, publish)
  • Custom Fields

With the release of version 2, there are some added benefits:

  • Manage up to 9 blogs at once
  • Reorder your blogs
  • insert images at any location within a post
  • Edit a post’s excerpt or set it as sticky
  • Share a publish post

And more.

Check out the screenshots on iTunes or on the website. Poster is available for iPad or iPhone, with both apps having the same feature-set.

It has already changed how and when I blog. I am willing to bet it changes how you do, too.

Best iPhone 5 Case: Moshi iGlaze

When I was sitting down for a meeting over coffee, my friend asked to see my iPhone. She was curious to compare the status of our batteries, but also exclaimed, “You don’t have a case for your phone?!”

It was true. I had been using my phone without one since I received it[1] mostly because I wasn’t too thrilled with the cases I saw available at Telus or Best Buy. I also wanted to see how it fared in terms of scratches through regular use since I had heard complaints about how much the black phones scratched. I went with a white model, partly for a different aesthetic in my black computing world, and also for resale value. I figured the black model would be ordered more than the white one making it more difficult in 2–4 years when I upgrade.

I had, however, done other research for iPhone cases and came across a brand that seemed appealing to me. I had seen them on earlier models of the iPhone and decided to go for it. I checked online for local retailers and on a whim checked eBay. They were being sold cheaply, but were being shipped from China.

I ordered one in late November; it arrived on Monday.[2]

The main reason why I went with this case is because of how slim it was. The second reason is because of its texture when handing it. The iPhone 5 is a bit slick in your hands and can easily be dropped if you weren’t careful. I only seem to have dropped it when in the bedroom, so I consider myself lucky. The slimness of the case is perfect. I don’t notice a weight difference with the case on or off.

On top of all that, the case does not interfere with any of the functions of the phone. All the buttons are open to touch, and the mute button even has enough space to be fully functional. The front face and bottom is open, so there are no problems with the front facing camera or the speakers at the bottom, plus the ports. The back has plenty of surrounding the camera and I have had zero problems with reflections with the flash bouncing off of it. It may even help with the purple flare problem that is widely reported.

Moshi has several styles available for their cases, including one with a kickstand. There is a metallic one, or a silicone one. I’m using the silicone version, the Moshi iGlaze.

You can find them for sale on Amazon and eBay.

  1. Which reminds me, when I first wanted to order the iPhone 5, I went to a Telus Store. I was put on a waiting list since this was the first week they were on sale. I ordered one online the same day instead and received it a month later. I still have yet to receive a call from Telus saying the phone has arrived. Unreal.  ↩
  2. Ironically, the same day I took that big spill on the roadway.  ↩

Skyfall: A Play in Shadows

Let the sky fall, when it crumbles

We will stand tall

And face it all together

At Skyfall

When Adele’s smokey voice starts singing the title song for Skyfall, I felt chills run down my spine. It is such a perfect song to introduce the Bond story we were all about to witness, both in terms of its lyrics and its melody. The way her voice rises and then falls to disappear echoes the mood of the movie: a play with shadows.

Writing about a film less than six hours after seeing it is usually not advised. Critics generally want the film to settle into their minds, contemplating it, swirling it around in their mouth to savour everything they had just witnessed. I could not resist, however, as my mind was racing even while sitting in the theater. When I exited the theater, I tapped out a quick note to myself to remind myself of what I wanted to write about:

Skyfall. Shadows, silhouettes. Play with light. Tennyson.

A short, simple note, much like the 23rd installment of the Bond saga. Some of the criticisms of the most recent Bond film, Quantam Solace, was how visually incoherent it was. It’s a criticism of most modern action films, either the visuals are difficult to follow, or the story line has several failures. Thankfully, Skyfall provides a solid storyline with well-paced action sequences that I could follow. I would almost go as far as saying I could close my eyes for 30 seconds, open them and could understand how they got to the new point of action. That’s something I couldn’t really say with some of the Bourne movies, for example.

The use of light was brilliant in this film. Perhaps it is my background as a lighting designer that paid more attention to it, but it really is difficult to miss. Fight scenes in shadows, silhouettes in the right times, rising and setting sun or moon. Sometimes, I find the usage of light to be more of a gimic in some films, but not in Skyfall. The director, Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Jarhead), and cinematographer, Roger Deakins (No Country for Old Men, Shawshank Redemption, A Beautiful Mind, and other great films), really out did themselves with composing the mise-en-scène of the film.

Mise-en-scène refers to the composition of the image on screen, the set, lighting, costumes, and camera shot in film. Every time the scene shifted to a new location, the establishing shots took my breath away with their composition. There was always a variety in the usage of light, as well (i.e. sometimes the source was off to a side, others behind, in front, etc.)

Apart from the use of light (which would be far easier to explain with a wider selection of screen shots to use), the storyline also follows along with contrasting tones in humour and seriousness. M (Dame Judi Dench) refers often to shadows throughout the movie. Talking about how strong of a metaphor this really is will have to wait until a later time once more people have seen the movie. It is definitely something to watch for if you have the chance to see it.

The Tennyson quote I referred to balances the lyrics Adele sings of, bookending the film and this post. Its meaning will be much more apparent while watching the film, which I do suggest you go see. It is one of the better Bond films made, but also a very enjoyable film that mostlly everyone will like. If you have seen the film, reading the words of Tennyson again may help strengthen your opinoin about the movie.

Though much is taken, much abides; and though

We are not now that strength which in old days

Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;

One equal temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Ulysses, Lord Alfred Tennyson. October 20th, 1833.

If you are a Bond fan, be sure to take advantage of this deal on Amazon in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Bond:

Bond 50: The Complete 22 Film Collection [Blu-ray]


Skyfall – ADELE

Urban Fare – #Kelowna, British Columbia

At Urban Fare, freshness is pinnacle, closely followed by our desire to bring you world-class gourmet foods and provide you with an exceptional shopping experience. After all, everyone needs a little gourmet everyday.

I love that last line.

It is the line that really compelled me to go visit the new Urban Fare store that opened in Kelowna, BC.[1] I saw the flyers in our paper and had driven past the signage for the store before it had opened, both of which caused me to be curious about it. When I looked around their website to get a better idea of what to expect, I found that quote on their job site and decided to take some time to explore the store.

Quick background: Urban Fare is operated by Overwaitea Food Group, who also own the Save-On Foods and Cooper Foods brands, amongst others. Urban Fare is a more specialized grocery store, offering a wider selection of items but still offers the items you are expecting to see (i.e. they still sell Coke and Pepsi, and still have all the Westen Family foods). Right now, there are limited locations in British Columbia, but I would expect there would be more of them opening up across the province and maybe into Alberta. The Urban Fare store is actually right arond the corner from the Save-On Foods, so if it doesn’t have something you need, you won’t have to go far in order to find it. And, yes, your More Rewards card is still valid at Urban Fare.

With that out of the way, I can tell you that Urban Fare is quite a different shopping experience than one is accustomed to. I went into the store expecting to have an experience similar to that of when I walked into a Whole Foods when living in the States. I was wrong about that. Whole Foods is more of a healthy grocery store; Urban Fare is a healthy shopping experience.

This is fairly apparent as soon as you walk into the store. There are no shopping carts to be seen. People used wireframe baskets to put items into. The walkways are quite wide for the most part, allowing you to easily navigate the store without bumping into people or having to wait for a line of carts to pass through, and so forth. The other noticeable change? You can actually see end-to-end. I stepped into the store and with a quick scan of my eyes, I knew where things were generally going to be located.

That doesn’t sound like anything major, but it makes a big difference. Not only do you know where things are, you can see where the people are, too. I knew to avoid the produce area first, because there were more people milling around there, and instead headed to the deli area to start exploring. For people who have a certain order they like to shop in everytime, this probably won’t matter much. But for people like me, who know what they want and don’t mind poking around a bit, it’s perfect.

There are other things that separate Urban Fare from the other grocery stores apart from ease to access. The selection in the store is quite broad. What I mean by that is their cheese section is huge; they had over 50 coffee bean roasts to choose from; they had a chocolate kiosk the size of a store in a mall. Each area was quite impressive to wander through and look at all the items I had never seen before. The number of delicate chocolates they had on display was a bit overwhelming, but it will make it easier when picking out chocolate on those special occasions.

The other large area that will easily stand out is the Restaurant/Lounge. The sitting area is quite spacious, with combination of booth chairs and table and chairs. There is free WiFi, several televisions around the area, and a coffee bar to the side. The area for food is setup more like a cafeteria buffet – but the options are much, much better. A wide selection of cold drinks, salad bar, hot food selections, gourmet items pre-made, a carving station with different meats through the week, and more. If you have a craving for something, you are likely to find it here. The prices were reasonable, as well. I am much more likely to spend a morning/afternoon working at the Urban Fare than sitting in a Starbucks.

The final item I wanted to mention is how expansive Urban Fare’s selection is with local products. I had been noticing the aisle that focused on BC products at the Save-On Foods growing over time with its offerings. At Urban Fare, the types of products available from BC are not only much broader, but the selection is better, too. With the coffee, for example, they had around seven different brands, with each brand having several types of roasts available. It was a fun area to poke around, and I look forward to browsing through it again in the future.

Now, here we are, nearly a thousand words on a grocery store. While others get excited over having a new lululemon or H&M store open up, I am equally excited over Urban Fare. The prices are slightly higher than Save-On, but the experience is something that can’t be compared.

Urban Fare will definitely be my go-to store for my weekly grocery shops.

  1. This is probably the first and only time I will review a grocery store, and I understand it is only available in British Columbia right now, but hopefully it will be of interest to others.  ↩

Paul Carr’s ‘We’ll Always Have the Flamingo’

The biggest draw of hotels, though, is the people you meet in them. In the past three years, by virtue of having no fixed abode (and very little shame), I’ve partied with Hollywood actresses and Icelandic reality show stars; I’ve talked my way into toga parties with eight hundred bedsheet-clad female hairdressing students (and then been invited to lecture at their college on “the business of hair”); I’ve been thrown in jail; narrowly escaped being stabbed by Spanish drug dealers and I’ve learned first hand the difficulties of having sex with a girl while there’s a dead woman in my wardrobe. Actually, that all happened in the first six months, before things got really crazy.

– Paul Carr, We’ll Always Have the Flamingo: 33 Dry Nights Along the Las Vegas Strip

Paul Carr is one of the more entertaining writers out there. He used to do a weekly article published on Sunday for TechCrunch, which is how I first discovered him. He is British, a bit crass with his language, but always dead on with his observations.

Here is a snippet of his bio on Amazon:

Paul Carr is a writer, columnist and professional failure. He lives permanently in hotels. His new book – The Upgrade: The Cautionary Tale of a Life Without Reservations – is the story of how he came to have that slightly curious lifestyle, and how it nearly killed him. His previous book, Bringing Nothing To The Party: True Confessions Of A New Media tells the painful true story of how he tried, and failed, to become the next Internet billionaire.

He is also the man behind the NSFW Corp, which is an editorial site with over a dozen writers on it currently. I finally gained access to it (which costs $3 a month) and will write more once I have been able to read more content. Judging from Twitter though, people are really enjoying it. Here’s the search for @NSFWCorp, and here’s one example tweet:

 

After hitting the publish button on my post, A Canadian in Las Vegas: Where Culture Comes to Die and Be Reborn as a Bastard, I came across his book that I quoted above (referred to as 33 Dry Nights from here).

Hitting the Buy Now with 1-Click was a no brainer decision for me, considering my fascination with Las Vegas and my love for hotels. At less than 150 pages, the book is about Paul’s adventures through Las Vegas staying in a different hotel each night along The Strip. Thankfully, this is not a hotel review book at all[1].

No, this is a book full of behind-the-scene looks at everything Las Vegas written in the most sober way possible. There are no drunken escapades through the strip joints, nor stories of high rollers losing $2,000 a hand in Blackjack. There are stories with the performers from the Absinthe show, conversations with the people behind themed weddings[2], and an interview with The Las Vegas Courtesan (link to Twitter profile, not the NSFW website) who has the mission to photograph every brothel in the state of Nevada.

I picked up the book yesterday afternoon, and have been flying through it. It’s comforting to me, as a writer, to read that Paul’s impressions of Las Vegas are similar to my own. He has far more experience being there than I ever will, and has access to people I can only dream of meeting. He never rubs this in your face, however.

The stories are short, long enough to enjoy and wishing there was more to it. Between the stories about Las Vegas are snippets about his life living out of hotels. This is definitely becoming more of a trend for young people looking to break free from the normal 9–5 job. Being able to work from anywhere is the first step. Working from anywhere is the more difficult second step.

I’m looking forward to reading his latest book about living in hotels, The Upgrade: A Cautionary Tale of a Life Without Reservations and will provide a review of it when completed.

I should also mention that 33 Dry Nights was first published on Huffington Post as a series. It is still there to read, as well, so if you would prefer to check it online: Las Vegas Diary

If you read it, let me know what you think.

  1. There are hotel reviews to be found, written in haiku  ↩
  2. Zombie weddings anyone?  ↩

Grazing – My Favourite App for iPad and iPhone

I received my iPad 2 just over a month ago, and have been enjoying using it and exploring the world of iOS apps. I had an older iPod Touch, but it could not be updated to iOS 5 so was stuck in the world of 4.x. I was also finding it extremely slow compared to my Motorola Milestone/Droid, and extremely slow to my Samsung Nexus S. It’s been relegated as a learning tool for my daughter now (who has mastered the thing at the age of 2).

In this time of exploring apps for iPad, I have been come across quite a few useful apps, but most are well known – Flipboard, Evernote, Soundcloud, Kingdom Rush (a game), and MLB At Bat. I’ve been using a lot of the magazine apps for reading, too (Atlantic and Slate, for example), and the previously mentioned Byword for writing. Perhaps a lesser known app is actually a replacement for Safari: Grazing.

MacRumours posted a story about tab syncing between the desktop and iCloud last week, and everyone was going crazy in the comments about how great a feature this is. Grazing offers this as a solution right now, and it works wonderfully. Within the iOS browser, you push things to your Mac or iPhone through the “Share” button at the top of the browser. Once you select the Mac, your Mac gets a little notification up in the menu bar saying there’s a new link to open. If your browser is open, the tab will open up automatically.

The process is the same going in the opposite direction, but the pushing of a link is handled through a Javascript button on the menu bar since there’s no dedicated “Share” button in Safari like in the iOS apps. Once completed, the tab opens up in Grazing on the iPad/iPhone in a new tab.

The best part is that it stores the links for you in a folder that is accessible at anytime. If you want to load up a reading list while on the go, you can easily push 10+ links to the device for future reading, and the links will be available in the menu bar, as well. The first 11 are displayed, and then the remainder show up in a “Older Items” folder in the drop-down menu.

The pushing of links back and forth is great, but it’s not the only feature available for the browser. The sharing function in Grazing is nearly as powerful as the sharing function of an Android browser/application. For those unfamiliar with Android, the applications can access the sharing function across the operating system, so if you’re viewing a photo in your gallery, you can send it to Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Path, etc. You can do the same when looking at a webpage, as well. I could share an article I read within an app, as well, it’s quite powerful.

With Grazing, you can share in a number of ways: push it to Safari (iOS), email, Twitter (and TweetBot), Evernote, Facebook, Instapaper, Tumblr, and so forth. The only real difference between the Android sharing and Grazing is that Android sharing involves the apps you have installed on the device, while Grazing comes with all these preloaded. When you select one service, it will ask for your credentials or use the app (Twitter, Facebook) to authorize you so you can post to the account.

Another feature that Chrome users will be familiar with is Private Browsing. When you switch into the Private Browsing mode, history and cookies are no longer stored until you exit out of it. Useful if you want to let a friend surf for a while without them having to worry about their information being stored on the device.

The final feature I want to quickly mention is the touch gestures within the app. You can swipe left-right to switch tabs, swipe up from the bottom left to go to the address bar, swipe from the bottom right to do a search (and you can switch the services to Google Images, News, Yahoo, Bing, even Twitter and Duck Duck Go), you can hold down a finger and tap to go to the next tab or previous tab, and you can customize other gestures, as well. In addition, there’s a thumb navigation screen. You swipe in from the side of the screen, and you get a popup screen that allows you to close the tab, move back in history, bookmark, the action menu, etc. It’s incredibly useful if you’re like me and hate having to lift a hand up to tap the top of the screen while you’re holding it comfortably in your lap.

There are a lot more features that I am not even touching on here:

  • Full Screen browsing
  • Tab Strip
  • Context menu when pressing on a link.
  • Thumbnails (like Expose)
  • Ad Blocking
  • and more…

Grazing is available in the iTunes App Store and in the Mac App Store for the functionality of pushing links back and forth, plus storing links. It’s only a few dollars for each app, and considering how much we spend browsing on the web these days, I think it’s a worthwhile purchase. It runs smoothly, has never crashed for me, and the syncing is instanteous when on the local wifi network.

A worthy addition to your iPad if you ask me.

The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau : Leaving a Legacy

The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau : Leaving a Legacy

Let me start by saying that this is not a formal book review, but more of a discussion of the book.

Another Harajuku Moment

I believe that the world tells you a message by having certain people or ideas pop up in groups of three. If I come across a certain concept on several different websites or books, that’s a clear message to me that I should probably write about it and share it with others who may not have come across it yet. Over the weekend, several things aligned that could not have been more coincidental for me.

It has been a bit of a whirlwind for me this weekend. I bought AoNC (the acronym Chris uses in the book and on his website) on Saturday, and finished it Tuesday night. Considering that my daughter had a bad fever and cold during that time, it’s rather incredible that I was able to finish it so quickly. The ideas found within it resonated so much. I kept thinking about my grandparents’ adventures overseas as missionaries with the YMCA, how my uncle and his wife went to Nigeria to work in schools, of my brother heading over to London to work for non-profits, and so on. My family has a history of traveling the world and working, while helping people in some capacity.

And here I am, in Western Canada, sitting at a Starbucks typing all of this.

I read Murray’s vision post and had two streams of thought happening at the same time:

I really liked how he laid everything out and is extremely focused on achieving results. It made me think more about the lack of structure with my own sites and ventures. I am organized in terms of tasks and drafts of ideas for the blog, but I have not been thinking longterm for either venture nearly enough. I had Murray’s ideas of a vision sitting in the back of my head as I worked my way through AoNC when I came across this quote in the book:

It is not the decision you make that is most important; it is the degree of commitment with which you make the decision.

- Bo Bartlett, Artist

That message hit me hard.

I realize that some of my frustrations in life right now could all be centred around commitment.

  • I look at other writers online and realize that they have a lot more time to commit to their blog or business ventures, but they are still more deeply committed to it than I am currently.
  • I have been receiving a bit of a lack of commitment on the part of my first client for my business, waiting to hear a response about revamping the website and images, some feedback on some of the ideas I provide, etc. That lack of commitment on their part makes me question what level of commitment I should give them (of course, I am still committed to them at this point considering that they are my only client).
  • I start and leave alone too many books, articles, blog posts, or even other ideas about how to market the blog or earn a bit of money.

The only part of my life that I am fully committed to right now is my daughter. That is in itself great, but I need to be committed to more in a deeper fashion.

A commitment towards my business and the blog will help me build up a legacy for myself as I grow older.

Leaving a Legacy

A part of the reason why I write online is so that I can archive my writings to share with my daughter (and maybe other children) when I grow older. I imagine myself bundling everything up into a book, and passing it down to her on her 18th birthday (or maybe on her 30th when she can appreciate it more and I hit the magical 60 – I have a feeling that there will be lots of tears about “getting old” for both parties).

The idea of leaving a legacy is hinted at in the book, but not explicitly mentioned. I think about how often Dr. Gary Parker is mentioned in the book (a surgeon working on a medical cruise ship sailing around Africa for the past 15+ years). The legacy of Dr. Gary Parker is going to involve how many people he has been helping throughout his lifetime.

My grandfather has left a legacy throughout southeast Asia with the number of YMCA’s he helped develop and the life-long friendships with other ex-patriots in China, Indonesia, and elsewhere. My own father helped develop and teach a University degree program at a college from a total of one student to a program that graduates at least ten students a year (it’s a small college in a small city). One of his former graduates went on to complete her Master’s with his encouragement and came back as a colleague.

I could list other examples from my family about this, but in the end, it comes back down to what I am doing. If I were to die tomorrow, my legacy would be about helping a couple of hotels earn a lot more money, or a community theatre going to the next level with the organization, safety, and technology of the physical theatre. Both are alright, but they certainly don’t have nearly as much of an impact that I believe I could have.

A lot of questions were opened up to me while reading AoNC, and I am busy seeking some answers to the more important questions he asks towards the end of the book. I would rather not outline everything that he asks or my answers, at this point (really, go read the book if you haven’t already), but here are the two questions I would like to highlight:

  1. What do you really want to get out of life?
  2. What can you offer the world that no one else can?

Go Out and Get Busy

It would be easy for me at this point to set this book aside, forget about what Murray wrote about, and scrap my blog. It is easy to conform to finding a full-time job working for someone else and forget about Why I am here in the first place. The main lesson I took away from reading The Art of Non-Conformity is that I need to conform less and get busy.

I have a lot happening in my mind right now, and I want to continue to zero in on the items I outlined in my first post of the year: Improve, Don’t Move:

  1. My young family – daughter and girlfriend
  2. My health – mind, body, and spirit
  3. Four Sides blog

One other item needs to be added to that list, my business.

I want to start thinking more about my legacy with this blog, my business, and myself. They are all related to me, but I want to treat each one separately and then bring them together in the future (the Power of Convergence at work). I hope to outline more of the legacy for this blog by the end of the month, and I hope to include the legacy of my business with my next guest post at The Big Red Tomato Company (it should be published around April 1st, hopefully).

It is time to jump in and commit to my life the way I committed last year to losing weight. Here are my goals for the next month, and hope someone can keep me accountable for them:

  • Discover and outline my legacy for my work (blog and business)
  • Finish the consulting website and start marketing my services.
  • Begin work on recruiting my Army (another concept from AoNC)
  • Purchase at least one, if not two, products to really push me with my business (leaning towards one of the Unconventional Guides by Chris Guillebeau, or The Smart Business’ Guide For Winning New Work by Pawel Grabowski)
  • Develop a newsletter for Four Sides and get it going, and explore the possibility of more exclusive content.

I also want to go through my previous blog posts and write out every idea or task that I have thought about doing, but haven’t done it yet. Also, want to finish off all of the drafts currently sitting in WordPress uncompleted.

It is time to get busy.

Buy the book, The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau

Visit his website

Find him on Twitter

Inaction breeds doubt and feat. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit at home and think about it. Go out and get busy.

Dale Carnegie

[image is of Terry Fox statue in Ottawa]

500 Words or Less: Cloudflare – Make Your Site Faster, Safer, Smarter

500 Words or Less: Cloudflare – Make Your Site Faster, Safer, Smarter

CloudFlare is a service that does one thing: make websites better.

CrunchBase

I first started to pay attention to CloudFlare when I saw the post on TechCrunch from its CEO, Matthew Prince: What Losing TechCrunch Disrupt Meant to CloudFlare: OMFG.

I was not sure what I was getting into, especially when Michael Arrington is quoted as describing the company as “Muffler Repair for the Internet,” but I bravely read on. And I’m glad I did, because I really was missing out on something.

Here are the vital stats that he mentions:

  • Tens of thousands of websites have signed up with CloudFlare.
  • By making sites faster we’ve helped Internet surfers collectively save nearly 1,000 years worth of time
  • And we’ve stopped nearly 600 million attacks launched against our users’ websites

Of everything he mentioned, two things stood out for me: the amount of time saved, and the amount of attacks they diverted. That convinced me. So, I popped over to their website to learn more about how it works.

Muffler Repair for the Internet

Cloudflare - Overview

Cloudflare – Overview

The overview illustration makes it quite simple to understand. Cloudflare receives the request to view your webpage, filters the traffic, and then sends it onto your web host. Installation of it is simple and painless. It is just a matter of changing the nameserver your domain is pointed at, and giving Cloudflare all of the current addresses at your webhost.

That’s really all there is to it. After that, your site loads normally – well, not normal; faster than normal. I did not track the actual metrics, but I have been noticing a difference since I installed the service nearly a month ago. There are lots of testimonials on the website saying the same thing about the service: it’s faster.

That is only one of the benefits of Cloudflare, though.

My site is not prone to attacks from hackers or spammers, but it has blocked out 150 attacks (out of 16,000 page views).

It also clearly differentiates the search engine crawlers from the regular traffic in their analytics portion of the dashboard. They claim their analytics are more accurate than the traditional javascript located on the website. My numbers were certainly much higher than Google Analytic’s:

Unique Visitors: 1,437 (CF: 1,534)

Page Views: 2,272 (CF: 11,984)

I’m not sure if Google Analytics filters out my visits and views, since I assume I am the one that looks at the site the most. Maybe someone reading this can tell me why they think the numbers are so different.

One of the real bonuses of their analytics software is the ability to zero in on one day – from 12am to 12am, with hourly traffic numbers. I am sure someone running various marketing campaigns will find this information useful. Here is a screen shot of those analytics at work:

Cloudflare Screenshot

Three final things:

  1. It’s free.
  2. It keeps your site up even if your main host is down.
  3. They have Cloudflare ninjas on their blog

Take a look at their site and try it today. You won’t regret it.

 

 

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