Mind Like Monkey

Why the iOS ecosystem is the future

I am a fan of the iOs ecosystem and I think is the future, we can cry, all that we want about how close, or bad, or poor is the iOS/apple ecosystem, but let me tell you a story. I have been a technology advocate, geek and fan for longer that I can remember, I was installing apps in my devices in the mid 1990’s (yes, you could install apps then),for some people the concept of apps is as recent as 2008, even 2010. I began using a Palm Pilot in 1996, I was what you can qualify as a geek. I like to think that I use my Palm to the maximum potential. I move to iOS on 2008, when they announce that there would be apps available. Since then I had upgrade systems and iOS in the same way I use to do it with the palm, every time there was a significant upgrade I get a new one.

I hadn't notice how nice is the upgrade process in this iOS devices until last week. I leave a software called Splash ID that I have been using in my palm for years, I like to think that at least 2002, i move the database from Palm to the iPhone. I stop using it last week for a new one called 1Password. The reason, cloud sync, or more accurate DropBox sync.

While I did that, and since any of the companies make the migration easy, I decided to go one by one and purge. There was no problem until I got to the Software Category, there was over 200 entries, of pieces of software mostly for the old palm. It was nice to get rid of the baggage, but was equally nice to noticed how nice the licensing issues works in the iOS / apple ecosystem, you have one password and  an email that works as your apple id, and connects you to the apple servers.

That bring me to think into the apple mac store, that is basically the new concept apple has to bring software to the mac, and if I had any doubt that the model was going to be a success I don't have it any more, I will be able to install and delete software without anything else than a connection to the web and the apple servers to restore, no more trying to find the license, the DVD or the external DVD because now the machine doesn't have any, like the Mac Book Air.

Think about it for a moment. You walk into the apple store and get s new mac. Your choice. You get the box, and go to one of the open tables and connect you mac. Allow it to charge while configure your name, your apple id and install all the software you had brought that you wan to transfer to this machine. Next step, you connect to your DropBox account, in the perfect apple world you will to mobile me, but for documents is not optimal, and finally connect to Mobile Me. Depending on the amount of data you have, you will walk out of the apple store with your mac ready to work, with address book, calendar and files already synchronized. What else do you need.

The iOs store is the future, no more trying to save the passwords, of spending hours in support because you are trying to install the license you legally had into the new computer, just connect to the ecosystem, download, install and begin working. It’s like a dream come true, is like, the future is here.

Now think about how much this save you in time as wasted time...

 

** As a friend of mine point me the other scenario, do you imagine the same things in the new Microsoft store? I guess if you have enough time, and a big enough bag you will be able to avoid a blue screen or two.

 

Shut Them All Down, Artoo!

Yesterday I had to do a task I have been avoiding for a couple days. I didn't know where to start and wasn't sure what the outcome should look like - two factors that I struggle with in a new job all the time. My inner drive to have things perfect didn't help, either. It didn't take much to distract myself and delay it yet again.

How did I finally focus on the task? I just everything else down on my computer - Outlook, Instant Messaging, browsers, anything that wasn't related to the task. By removing all outside stimulus, I was finally able to keep myself focused long enough to get interested in the task. Once I was able to find a little thread I could tug on for awhile, I was was able to get the entire task done. It didn't take all that long, either.

One thing that had kept me from starting was all the guesswork involved. Not everything is absolute when planning the future. These things drive me nuts because I like it to be "right". By focusing, I was able to make educated guesses. I put the rationale in comments so I could remember how I cam to that conclusion later. When I bounced the ideas off the other project manager, she thought them all to be sound guesses. I hate guessing but I learned that I can do it with the best of them. I have a hard time admitting that since no one knows the answer, my guesses are good enough. By recording the reasoning, I will hopefully be able to defend the guesses later.

I don't think I could have finished this task without shutting down the outside stimulus. When I don't want to do something, any interruption will do. I will even look for them subconsciously. The trick for me is to rob myself of those distractions. What works for you?

originally published on my blog: www.daninfocus.com

 

The Work and Play Solution

Years ago, I discover that my computer needed two browsers, one for play, one for work. The reason was simple, I need to differentiate between working online, that at the time was significant and playing online, reading blogs and other stuff.That trick has work for years. I even have a friend, to witch I share this trick that begin using Internet Explorer as his play browser and when I question using it, he told me: “I hate Internet Explorer so much that I almost prefer not to play”

 This morning, Seth Godin talk on his blog among other things on a two-device solution, one device to accomplish real work, and one for the rest. 

 It was around the year 2000 when I drop the desktop out of my life, and begin having only one computer, I even went in make deals with IT people on my places of employment so I can use only one laptop, mine, for work and personal. I was convince that Productivity need it to be tied to the fact that you have one device with you all the time.

I have no desktop since 2000, but kind of got one when Apple launch the iPad. My ipad is powerful, and for my needs can accomplish most of what I need, and some of it even better than the laptop. It wasn’t until yesterday, while doing an interview and this morning while reading Seth Godin blog that I noticed that I had again the arrangement of a Desktop/Laptop, only is now Laptop/iPad/iPhone.

Don’t take me wrong I have been good, I don’t play in the iPad, or the MacBook. Games are to be played in the iPhone, but when you learn you have many devices, you also discover that you need better rules and guidelines.

This is the extract from Seth Godin blog this morning:

 "The two-device solution

Simple but bold: Only use your computer for work. Real work. The work of making something.

Have a second device, perhaps an iPad, and use it for games, web commenting, online shopping, networking... anything that doesn't directly create valued output (no need to have an argument here about which is which, which is work and which is not... draw a line, any line, and separate the two of them. If you don't like the results from that line, draw a new line).

Now, when you pick up the iPad, you can say to yourself, "break time." And if you find yourself taking a lot of that break time, you've just learned something important."

 

Are playing and working, and trying to be productive in the same place, do you have a work browser and a play one? Do you have a work computer and a play one?

 

Digital Workspace

Just over a year ago, I bought a netbook. It is small, light and very portable. I searched for a long time before settling on this particular netbook. There were two deciding factors in my decision: screen size and a touchpad switch. 

This may be a holdover from my programming days, but my #1 rule for a computer is real estate. I have to have as much screen as I can get. In fact, at work, I have two 21 inch monitors side by side. Even with 42 inches, I find myself running out of space. When I started looking at netbooks, I knew there was no way I was going to survive on one of those tiny seven inch screens. The ten inch models also felt very small. I was lucky Asus made a twelve inch model Anything greater than that becomes a laptop and the weight dramatically increases. After a year, I have learned to survive with the smaller monitor. Occaisionally I will hook up an external monitor when I am doing something requiring more space. 

The touchpad switch is a deal breaker for me. For some reason, I cannot keep from dragging my wrist or thumbs over a laptop touchpad. The cursor starts moving around and 'clicking' in all the wrong places. It is especially annoying when writing because suddenly I will be typing in the wrong spot. What I find surprising is how few laptop makers include a simple button to disable the touchpad. Asus doesn't even put it on all their models. I was so glad to have it on this one. 

Why all this talk about netbooks? Well, this is pretty much my work space now days. I don't have a desk to myself anymore. I share with the rest of the family. I have my inbox in the desk, but sitting at it is pretty hard to get time. For the most part, I work at the kitchen table. 

A lack of physical space has required a different approach to work. I keep more and more online. I use my Scansnap to capture everything that comes in the door. I do my processing from PDF files instead of paper. I have switched to online everything - Gmail, Google docs, mvelopes for finances, Toodledo for tasks, Google calendar, and the list goes on and on. My whole life is slowly, but surely moving online. LinkedIn is next on my list to see how it can be used more effectively. 

Yes, there are security concerns with having so much online and I am worried about it more every day. I don't have answers there, but I am learning and keeping in touch with our corporate security guys. They keep me clued in on what is dangerous. 

Take a look at your space. Is there anything that can be automated or digitized? Organized? Filed? Perhaps a small electronic organization is the key. Just don't forget to back up your files religiously. 

On Self Sabotage

When this editorial calendar was created, and this topic was chosen, I never though was going to be so hard to write. Accept that self-sabotage is part of our life, is one of those things that it is simply hard to accept.

Also this post, is an apology to my co-authors and our readers, I have been inconsistent with my writing here, but not because I don’t want to write, or I don’t want to post in here, there was a couple of important things creating disturbance and another couple that should have been resolved before I could write full time, all this things had take me more time than I originally expect, had took me a little more to discover that part of the reason has everything to do with self-sabotage.

I was fifteen years old, when I discover that I was a writer, even though life had had turn around in many directions, some really fun, some not so fun, and some that I would love to avoid, I am a writer. I had try to walk other roads, but all the roads bring me back here, the good news is that time has help me mature, and will allow me to enjoy this in a different way, I will be able to taste and enjoy this.

It was October 2000, when I begin a trip that was going to change my life, I came to a new country, to learn a new language and a new culture. That was how I unconsciously decide to self sabotage myself, my original goal was to learn english, so I stop using spanish in many things. Sadly with this, I put the writer in a hiding place, is not that I can’t write in English, I can, but in English I can only tell stories, in Spanish I can show them to you, I can make the story shine.

Honestly, I hadn’t notice this self-sabotage until recently. In November 2009, I begin my most recent novel, it was on the occasion of NANOWRIMO 2009. I finish my 50,000 words, but the story, was awful.

My manuscript was simply awful, and I knew that I could do much better than that, so I toss all that in the trash and begin again. Sadly the second manuscript was also awful, better than the first one, but also awful, so I again toss it in the trash and begin again. The Third installment of the manuscript (the one I am working now) is not that bad, actually is a version that you can actually read, but after more than 150,000 words into this novel, wasn’t until recently that I discover what the actual problem was.

I am an avid reader, I read more than 52 books a year, (58 on 2010 at the time of this post), the best books I have read are those in witch the writer is able to show the story, where the writer gets the reader to put his/her emotion on the reading, were the reader is part of the story. Accomplish this, is hard, really hard, it is a complex task and require a good writer, in case of any doubt it is actually what all writers aspire; my problem, and were my big self-sabotage happened, was the fact that I decide not to write in Spanish; in English I can tell you the story, in Spanish, I can show the same story to you, and with a little bit of luck, I can get the writer to get involve, to pour the emotions on the pages, I can get the reader to dream with what I am showing them.

For that reason, I just got my manuscript and I had place it on the drawer again, I begin to write in spanish, and I hope that the people that read it (even it is only me) get their emotions involved in the reading, get an image of the story, and get to be part of the story, even if it is only for a brief moment.

 

Goal Check!

  October starts this week, as well as the final quarter of the year. It is time to take out the goals for the year and do a spot check. Hopefully, there isn't a layer of dust on those goals.

This is a rather embarrassing topic for me to discuss because I didn't make any formal goals this year. The last time we went over our goals on this blog, I admitted I still hadn't written down any goals. Here it is, six months later and I still haven't written down any goals. I am still working on my unwritten goals, but progress has not been stellar.

Life is about progress upon the journey. Sometimes I forget and only look at the end of the road. Other times, like now, I not only forget to enjoy the journey, but haven't figured out where I'm going! This year, without firm goals, I have wandered around in my universe, bumping into things, getting a few things done, but with no real direction.

Making a goal is kind of like putting a pin on one end of the string of life. It delineates where one wants to end up. Once that is determined, inching along the string toward the pin, regardless of where ever the other end of the string is pointing, moves one steadily toward to goal. If both ends of the string are free, well, it is like Alice In Wonderland.

`Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'
`That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.
`I don't much care where--' said Alice.
`Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.
`--so long as I get somewhere,' Alice added as an explanation.
`Oh, you're sure to do that,' said the Cat, `if you only walk long enough.'

                    -- Alice In Wonderland  by Lewis Carroll

That describes how I have felt all year. I have walked a long way, but don't know if I have reached anything. I have made progress on some of my unwritten goals - I am exercising more and I have kept up on writing better than I would have expected. However, I have made little progress on other desires.

So, what am I going to do about it? I have set aside time this week to lay out the goals for the rest of this year and next. After all, with only three months left in the year, I might as well get a head start on 2011.

I hope your goal experience this year has been better than mine. Now is a good time to take a look and see what is left. Don't wait until mid November, as holidays can get in the way. Evaluate your progress now while there is still time to adjust. Let us know how you're doing!

Technology Tune Up

This week we swing back around and take a look at the new technology tools. We are always on the look out for the latest and greatest to give it a try.

I was reading over my last entry on technology for a baseline on all the cool stuff I can talk about today. I realized I have very little to offer on new technology. I would love to say the industry has showered us with toys in hopes of a mention (Come on, Steve. I'm sure you read us every week. Toss me an iPad, please?), but sadly, they don't. In retrospect of the last six months, I have not added a single new tool to the Productivity Toolbox in the last six months. I still use my iPod Touch, Toodledo and my ScanSnap.

I would love to try an iPad. I have been salivating over them at every opportunity. There isn't one in the near future, either. My wife looks at me like I'm nuts when I say I would like one. After all, she says, it is just a big iPod. She is right but that doesn't make it any easier. Not much beats the convenience of an iPod Touch. The size is perfect for having with me everywhere. I don't know if I would tote an iPad along as willingly. An iPhone, however, is something I am seriously considering. My contract on my current phone is up in November and I just may make the jump. Time (and budget) will tell.

So why haven't I been playing with new toys in the last few months? Three reasons: 1. too busy. 2. no money and 3. no need. The third reason is perhaps the most important. In the past, I have played with new prodcutivity technology every chance I got. Right now, however, I am pretty satisfied with the tools I have. I have used them enough to get 80% of what I want out of them. There is more functionality I could get from the tools if I spent the time to learn them. I just haven't made the effort.

I guess that is the good news of the day. There is a place where the technology can be good enough to not get in the way of getting things done. Now that I have reached that point, it is nice to be working on the things I want to accomplish, rather than tweaking a tool all the time. It feels right. That is what technology is supposed to do for us.

My wife quit using some of her tools this summer and went back to simple lists (notes on the iPod). After a few weeks of remembering what she had forgotten about the tools, she went back. I found that exercise interesting. It was a reminder of why she began using the tool in the first place. That helped her get back on track and ready for the school year to start. Sometimes a little vacation from things is good.

So, I'll leave the new toys to the other monkeys to write about and leave you with that little bit of monkey shines. Technology is great when it is no longer at the forefront. That takes time and dedication to get there. And a little maintenance once you arrive. Enjoy!

Fighting the Problem Hydra

 

If you remember anything from your studies of Greek Mythology, you may remember the Hydra. The Hydra was a dangerous beast that had multiple heads, and every time you cut one of those heads, two more will appear.

Sadly more often than not, we found ourselves fighting with the Problem Hydra, you know, when you begin thinking about a problem, and something small now has so many heads, dangers and implications that the best thing we can do is quit, or simply don't do anything.

I had been fighting with this Problem Hydra the recent weeks, all begin one day that I was extremely busy and things somehow got behind, just a little but behind. Since that day, it feels like I am dealing with the Hydra, for every head I cut two more comes, for every problem I deal with two more are coming, for every task two more are showing up, you know and understand the routine.

Yesterday, on a corner, hurt, tired and exhausted, I honestly could not fight this Hydra anymore, so I abandoned myself to be dead by this Hydra. 

This morning, I grab my shield again, my sword and begin fighting again against the Hydra, this time, I am trying to aim with my sword to other part of the Hydra, no more attacking the heads, now let's concentrate on kill this Hydra once and for all... At least for now...

I use Pandora for my working mood

 When I discover Pandora my music management for work change radically, I use like many others music to work, it is an easy way for me to get into the mood, fast.

In order for me to concentrate I need classic or instrumental music, this is my favorite channels.

- Joaquin Rodrigo. Spanish Guitar and Orchestra.

- Beethoven. Pure passion and energy for me.

Those two are my favorites, the other ones are Beatles, Elvis Costello and a Christmas Station.

The reason this works so well for me, is that putting the right kind of music while I worked is that quiet the mind and allow me to work, Beethoven is usually my thinking music, Joaquin Rodrigo is my production one.

Also when I am tired, and I am not working, nothing like a live song, many times in the morning or the night driving from and to work I put concert and live music and sign, nothing that will give me more energy than that.

 

Summer Vacations

 We had never had a summer vacation per se, our baby is too young and before that we just have vacations. But I had learn a great deal about vacations from my wife, and I had been able to teach her a trick or two. We where the two opposite extremes of vacationing growing up. 

In my parents house traveling for vacation was a stress, my dad make us all in a bad mood around a week before the trip, the bags, the money, the passports, the identification, the place. We learn to have our bag done at least one week before, and make sure that everything fit in one bag. After everything began, and we reach the destination everything was fine, and my dad relax, but the getting there and returning was always a nightmare. 

My wife instead was on the opposite side, their plans were super relaxed to get and come back, if they forgot toothpaste (that will have been a crisis in our family) they just buy on the vacation place, but them when they finally arrives, every second was planned and full of activities, there was no time to rest, we did not travel to sleep was one of those things my in-laws use to say.

Our first travel together, we were dating, we were going to meet her family. She came to my apartment a week before our trip and my bag was done next to the door, and I had open it, many times already to make sure everything was there. I think she laugh to this day. She make the bag the night before, I would had have a heart attack, my dad would had kill us. Trust me it did not improve on destination, she had a bunch of plans, and I was planning to rest, she want to do this, and show me that and I want it to grab a book and read.

Today, she like trips plans, and I don't do my bag a week before, we do things on a more leveled way, and we had learn to enjoy the combination of both. When traveling for summer vacations, or vacations in general is really important that everyone is on the same page, and it is a practice we had keep to this day, before the trip, we agree on the objective, I always had time for book reading and she add time to do stuff. We don't stress much about the bag or the little things, and work hard to have a great time.

So far, we had been really successful doing this, and travel together is a blast every time.