That's So Last Year

January 5, 2012 | 4 Comments

Long before we had kids, my wife and I were on a trip to the mall. (After you have kids, time with just the two of you is far too precious to spend at such a soulless place.) We were visiting one of the many women’s clothing chains and she was looking to find a top to match a skirt she had bought in that store the year before. Or maybe another store just like it; I really couldn’t tell the difference. A saleswoman asked if she could help us, and my wife described the skirt she was looking to match. The helpful saleswoman didn’t try too hard to hide her condescension as she said, “Oh, from last year.”

Um, yeah. From last year.

We don’t like last year so much. A mobile provider commercial that has aired over and over during the football season makes it clear that we should even be disgusted with 30 seconds ago.

In the first week of a new year, certainly the thing to do is to look ahead. To talk about resolutions. Or to talk about how resolutions aren’t good, but goals are better. Or to talk about how goals aren’t good, but habits are the best. I think they all have some merit, but they are all about looking ahead. About moving on.

Quit reading if you like, but I want to talk about last year. The one that is so five days ago.

In the infancy of 2012, our best opportunities for growth don’t come in looking ahead to who we want to be in the year to come. Our best opportunities for growth come in reflecting on the year past and seeing who we actually were. And are.

Yes, we make our end of the year lists in December. Some of the more intentional among us set aside time amidst the hustle of the holidays to reflect on the year as it’s closing out. But even for those more intentional than me, the year is worthy of more reflection than we can offer it in the midst of boarding passes and eggnog.

There is a centuries old spiritual practice called the examen which serves as a reflection to close out each day. There are many variations, but the most common form of the examen is a set of questions about the day to be pondered and prayed through. It is an invitation to self awareness and an RSVP to a more meaningful tomorrow.

My best creative work, and I think I’m not alone in this, comes when I am most aware and present to myself. And if the examen is an invitation to self awareness, then surely it is a means to engage my creative nature. And yours too.

So far, in 2012, I’ve been more interested in 2011. You know, last year. In our spiritual community, we introduced some questions for year end reflection as 2011 was winding down, questions we will return to in the coming weeks. It is an annual examen of sorts. So below you will find some of the questions we are asking together. I know we are already over 100 hours into 2012, but 2011 is still worth at least a few more hours of your time.

  • What have been the high points of this year?
  • What have been the difficult times of this year?
  • How have you grown this year?
  • In what ways have you not grown this year? Or even gone backward?
  • Where have you seen God at work this year?
  • If you project this past year forward, who will you be in five years?
  • Who do you want to be in five years?
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Kindle Fire: The Curated Content Device

December 13, 2011 | 2 Comments

I had one primary goal when I ordered a Kindle Fire: it would free up the iPad to leave home during the day for my wife and kids to use. (Okay, okay, stop looking at me like that. I also love shiny new things. Like you don’t?)

While the iPad has held a steady place in my workflow, my primary use for it during the day was reading. Of course, I love managing projects with OmniFocus for iPad, or browsing feeds, or taking a quick look at email between meetings, but most of my other daytime tasks could be handled just as well on my laptop. So, with the arrival of the Fire, the iPad spends a lot of time in the family room for use by my kids during the day, and for checking stuff in the evening. Or decimating malicious pigs with catapulted birds.

Based on the amount of reading I’ve done in the last few weeks, the Fire has become a welcome addition to my life arsenal. Negative and positive reviews aside, it has turned out to be a perfect device for one purpose: a hub of curated content. I’ve been protective of what makes it on to the Fire, and some of the limitations of the fire are helpful for this. When there are words that I want to give extended attention to, they make it to the Fire. Stuff like:

  • Books — The books app on the Kindle is basic, but it does one thing better than any other Kindle or Kindle app I’ve used – it’s the most responsive and streamlined when it comes to highlighting text. (I also installed Mantano Reader for epubs, though Amazon has since decided it isn’t compatible with the Fire. Hmm.)
  • Instapaper queue — InstaFetch worked well enough that I invested in the Pro version. It’s not as great an experience as Instapaper, but it’s convenient. (It seems a little dirty to use a third-party client to access InstaPaper, but I feel a little better about it having paid for the monthly $1 subscription via the iOSapp.)
  • Music — It took a few days to upload my music library to Amazon’s cloud player, but it was worth the little bit of setup.
  • Dropbox Notes — Syncing with NVAlt via Epistle.
  • Bible Software — I’m still awed by how large of a reference library I can carry with me via Logos.
  • The New Yorker — With it’s emphasis on words, the New Yorker is the only magazine I’ve enjoyed reading on any digital device.

What’s more valuable about the Fire is what I haven’t allowed on it. I don’t have a twitter app installed. I haven’t added an RSS reader. (I did browse briefly, but I wasn’t impressed with what I saw anyway.) I’ve never signed in to Facebook. I haven’t set it up for email, other than a private address used only for sending things to and from the Fire.

As an added [airquote]bonus[/airquote], web browsing on the Fire is nothing like web browsing on the iPad. It’s available, but it’s not a smooth experience, so it’s not pulling me into long sessions of aimless digital wandering. It’s useful enough for short term access when necessary, and in that case, it’s quite useful for things like Lendle or checking out ebooks through our local library. (Or reading about Tebowmania.) But it’s unusable enough to not be very distracting. (Except when it comes to reading about Tebowmania.) My experience isn’t matching up to the sales pitch they put on the great browsing experience of the Fire, and in my case, that’s a plus.

What comes down to is this: I’m spending more time with the content that I have decided is worth more time.

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Six Days With the Kindle Fire

November 21, 2011 | 2 Comments

Since the first Kindle was released, Amazon has offered a device that’s the perfect storm for this tech-loving book lover. Or is it book-loving tech lover? Either way, I’m a lover, and tech gadgets and books sit high on my affinity list. Put all that together, and I took a serious look at the Kindle Fire when it was announced. That serious look was brief; I pre-ordered mine a few hours after it was announced.

Many reviews have already been written, so I won’t attempt a comprehensive review. But I will offer my own thoughts based on my experiences so far. The Fire fits in to a unique role for me, and I think it will for many others as well. I will write more about how I see it in my workflow in an upcoming post, but here are my impressions after some qulity time with the Kindle Fire since it was delivered last week.

What I Like

The Size – I mentioned this before, but a 7″ screen is a great size. It’s large enough for reading copy, but small enough to tuck away in lots of handy places. I don’t intend to watch much video on the Fire, but the smaller screen size seems adequate for a personal viewer, though maybe not so handy for a shared viewer. It’s not going to replace our iPad for entertaining the kids with a move on road trips.

The Feel – When I had a Nook Color, it didn’t feel flimsy, but it didn’t feel solid either. It felt, how do I say…a little creaky. The Fire doesn’t feel that way. It feels solid, but the rubbered back makes me feel like I have a nice grip on it.

The Screen – The screen looks great, and is a consistent brightness all across the screen. The Nook Color had a noticeable flicker when display darker images, but there is nothing like that on the Kindle. Text isn’t as sharp as on an e-ink screen, of course, but I’m used to reading on an LCD, at least in this stage of life. Maybe I’ll regret that in 20 years.

Responsiveness – Some of have said that the screen isn’t as responsive as an iPad. In and out of the operating system, that’s true. But for highlighting in a book, it’s perfect. The Fire responds to my touch to highlight some text as if I’m drawing on the page with my finger. At times, it might even feel too jumpy, but I prefer that over the lag I sometimes experience with the Kindle app on iPad. Or the directional pad on the Kindle’s I’ve had.

Music – The majority of my music comes from ripped CDS or unprotected MP3s/AACs from Amazon or iTunes. I set it all to upload to the Amazon Cloud Player months ago, so it’s all available from the Fire.

Some Handy Apps

Dropbox(!) – Dropbox isn’t available in the Amazon App Store. Thankfully, Amazon left in the Android setting to allow the install of other apps. A quick search for “dropbox apk” from the Silk browser led me to a link which installed Dropbox for me.

Mantano Reader – This is an app that is pretty ugly, but it gives access to reading epubs. Thankfully, once your are reading, the ugliness goes away, as long as you have a tolerance for Times Roman. The main benefit, though, is that allows me to export notes from epubs. My prior epub readers have been iBooks or the Nook app, neither of which can export notes, so this is a nice gain.

New Yorker – The New Yorker app feels like a smaller version of the iPad app, which has it’s own advantages and disadvantages. But, as a print subscriber, I could log right in and download the latest issues. (I assume the same benefit wouldn’t have carried over if I had subscribed via the iPad app.)

Epistle – I’ve mentioned Epistle before; it’s syncing with my Dropbox folder that is tied to NVAlt. It’s not drop dead gorgeous, but it’s handy knowing I access and add notes to my text file catalog from the Fire too.

I’m Neutral About…

The Silk Browser – It’s doesn’t compare to the iPad, and I wouldn’t choose to do an extended session of browsing on the Fire. It’s sometimes hard to hit targets, it’s not as fast as it’s touted to be and not as smooth as mobile Safari. But, it’s functinoal, especially for things like logging into my library website to check out a book to be delivered to the device.

Room for Improvement

The Home Screen – The home screen looks good in the screenshots on Amazon.com, and that the only positive I can say about it. I don’t like mixing all my content types. I’d much prefer to have an icon for each time, perhaps showing the most recently accessed item. And I won’t even go into how overdone the shadows are between the items. Or throughout the interface. Nope…won’t get into it. But I will hope for some customization options in a future software update.

Kindle App – The Kindle app is simple, lacking features like popular highlights. It’s gets the job done, but I’m surprised to see it lagging behind the apps for other platforms on the flagship Kindle device. Again, something I hope will be remedied with a future software udpate.

Android – Amazon has crafted and skinned their own version of Android, but it’s still Android, and there are things that aren’t as natural and intuitive, especially to someone coming from iOS. Particularly, I notice this with text entry and editing.

Audio Quality – I like having my music library available, but there is a subtle hiss with headphones, plus some pops and crackles when you first press play.

There are other areas I could nitpick about. They are matters of form over function, and they are usually related to comparing a Fire to an iPad; an unfair comparison for two devices with different primary purposes. The Fire is a $199 device with a lot of versatility, and I’m happy to tuck it in my bag each morning.

The links to the Fire above are affiliate links. If you do end up purchasing one, I’d be grateful if you’d click through those links to support my reading habit!

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Hands on With the Kindle

November 14, 2011 | Leave a comment

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, while we were all listening to Peter Gabriel, I ordered the new $79 Kindle model. The three readers in our house have been happily passing it around the last few weeks. We’re making the jump from the Kindle 2 to this model, having skipped the Kindle 3 (aka the Kindle Keyboard).

Some might wonder why anyone would go for the $79 Kindle when the Kindle Touch is only $20 more. There are some nice additional features on the touch that you can’t have on the Kindle, like audio, 3000 books (in case 1500 isn’t sufficient), and added search functions. And the touch screen, of course. But the touch screen is exactly why I didn’t wait for the Kindle Touch. I still prefer to have the next page a simple thumb press away rather than the added motion of reaching for the screen. Not to mention that with little ones around the house, touch screens tend to lose their glamor under the grime of small fingers.

This Kindle is a fourth of the the price we paid for the Kindle 2 it is replacing. (I think they were selling for $379 when they were introduced.) Yes, we gave up the keyboard and navigating the onscreen keyboard is clumsy. I look for ways to avoid it. We also had to give up the free lifetime 3G data, but I don’t we will miss it. Everything else about it is a movement forward. It’s smaller and lighter. The screen contrast is better and page turns are faster. Of course, there’s the main reason we upgraded…delivery from our local library is direct to the device and cable free.

The stand out feature, though, is one handed reading. Being able to hold the Kindle in one hand with your thumb resting on the Next Page button is pretty doggone great. Initially, I had a gripe about the grip; the trim form factor makes it hard to feel like you have a good grip on it. After an hour or so of reading, I found that I could cradle it in my palm with my ape like thumb stretching up the side to the buttons. If you don’t have ape like thumbs, you might need to find your own position. (I can testify that my wife does not have ape like thumbs, and seemed to have no trouble paging through The Help with one hand this weekend while eating the fantastic gluten-free maple bacon pancakes that I had whipped up. (Excuse me while I pat myself on the back.))

But the stand out stand out feature is $79. I’m happy to see the price point dropping on e-readers and broadening the e-book audience. I know there are still some ebook skeptics out there, but $79 goes a long way toward soothing the skeptic souls, and wallets, of most who might not have taken the e-reader dive. And at $79, I’m far more willing to have a Kindle availably around the house for those smaller, and grimier, hands.

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A Quick Look at Ulysses 2.1

October 31, 2011 | 16 Comments

I reviewed Ulysses 2 a few years ago in anticipation of NaNoWriMo. I thought it was an impressive writing tool that’s merits consideration for any longer writing project. (I’ve used it some myself, though most of my writing projects have been shorter the last few years.) It’s one of those apps that might leave you scratching your head when you first open it, but once you’ve taken the time to learn a little about it, you see the possibilities blossom.

Ulysses 2 1

The developer contacted me a few weeks ago to let me know about some of the updates that have come about with Ulysses 2.1, and with NaNoWriMo starting off this week, it’s worth a mention. For a .1 upgrade, there are some significant additions that I could find useful:

  • OS X Lion features like swipe gestures and full screen. (I don’t know about you, but I’m finding fullscreen apps far more useful than I expected I would.)
  • ePub exporter. If you want to read and review your document or share it with others in iBooks or ebook reader, you’re all set.
  • WordPress exporter. I prefer to write shorter items like blog posts in Byword, but if you want to have a single tool for all writing, Ulysses can do the job. A document can be exported as HTML without the extra header and body tags, so it’s ready to be pasted into your favorite blog editor.

The most important new feature is the price. Ulysses now sells for only $19.99 in the app store. I don’t know of another power writing app that can compare with this price. But if you’re interested enough, it might be free, because I have a promo code to give away. Leave a comment below or send me a tweet. I’ll pull a name from all the replies later this week.

(In the interest of disclosure, I did not receive a review copy. I was offered a promo code for review, but I’d already purchased Ulysses from the app store without hesitation.)

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iPad at Work

October 24, 2011 | 2 Comments

That David Sparks guy. Wow.

It was only last February I wrote up a review of Mac at Work, which David had been kind enough to send to me. Here we are less than a year later, and I’ve stepped out my front door to find another padded envelope waiting for me. This time it’s a copy of David’s latest manifesto, iPad at Work.

It might seem ambitious to call a practical technology book a manifesto, but you might not feel the same after reading it. David’s thorough writing (as usual) will quiet any skeptics who might say that an iPad is not a useful tool for someone in almost any line of work. As he did with Mac at Work, David breaks his thoughts up into the general tasks one might need to engage with in their career. Chapters cover a breadth of topics like email, travel, task management, enterprise, presentations, and of course, writing. Within each chapter, David shows how the iPad is able to slice through each task using either core iOS tools or some of the best apps from the app store. In a new twist in this book, which I’m sure many will find helpful, he goes into a little more detail about his particular setup, and what he finds works best for him.

I still use the original iPad I bought in April 2010 everyday. At least once a month, it becomes new to me all over again when I find a new app to work with and introduce to my workflows…and also my relaxflows. Reading through iPad at Work compressed several such discoveries into a few days, an experience I expect will be common for most readers.

What is best about this book is that is a labor of love. It is some kind of cyborg love child spawned by David and his iPad. David isn’t writing to be published, and he’s not writing for a check. He’s a lawyer, and he uses his iPad at work everyday. He’s passionate about this stuff, and its contagious.

That David Sparks guy. Wow.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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Three Things

October 18, 2011 | 3 Comments

In the last few weeks, I’ve been using a few tools that are new to me, and they may be new to you too. All of them are worth a look.

1) PogoSketch Pro Stylus from Ten One Design. I carried the original PogoSketch stylus for most of the last year, but don’t use it so often. But, when given a chance to try the new Pro stylus, I said yes. It’s a nice upgrade, both in how it feels in my hand, and in how the tip feels on the screen. (It’s also been a nice size for my daughter who’s been learning how to write.) And, I’m finding that it works well with…

2) Noteshelf (iTunes) is a simple little iPad app for taking notes. I’ve been discontent with taking notes on the iPad, as typing apps are too restrictive for non text, and handwriting apps lead to large handwriting. The first few times I tried apps with an enlarged window for handwriting it didn’t feel write, er, right. Noteshelf gets it right, and I am now occasionally using my iPad to capture handwritten notes in meetings, etc. Once captured, I can toss them into a designated Dropbox folder for an automatic import into DevonThink.

3) Mijingo has started a series of screencasts called LunchWith. The idea is a brief tutorial on a particular software product, short enough to watch during lunch. I have both of the OmniFocus screencasts — Customizing OmniFocus and Creating Project Templates — and they are great. There is also a Markdown episode which is currently free.

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Standing Outside the Library Blasting Peter Gabriel on my Boom Box

October 10, 2011 | Leave a comment

John cusackI’ve not been the most faithful library patron over the years, though I have made sure my kids have maintained regular visits. I find a lot of value in having my own books arrive at my doorstep or on a device that I can mark up like a coloring book. But my love for the library is being rekindled, and after paying a few overdue fees, it looks like I’m being welcomed back. The library has come to my Kindle.

I had read that Kindle books were now available to libraries via a third party service named Overdrive. I jumped on to the Austin public library website last week to see if the Kindle support was available here yet, and there it was. I browsed the list of titles, and it’s much like the online catalog of physical books. It shows what books the library has, how many are available, and how many people already are waiting for a copy. The selection isn’t huge yet. Some of the recent popular fiction that you would expect was there, as well as a broad selection of non-fiction. Once I logged in to my library account, and, um, paid my fines, I was able to place a hold on books or add up to three available books to my cart.

After a little browsing, I found a book by Thomas Merton to try it out with. The checkout process was smooth, and once the book was “checked-out”, I was taken to a screen with links for delivery. Following those links led me to an Amazon page where I could select what device I wanted the book delivered to. I selected the Kindle app on my iPad. I launched the app and the book didn’t show up. But, I was able to go into my Archived books and find it there, where it immediately downloaded. There is no indication on the screen that it is a library book or what the due date is. It looked like every other book.

My reading crazed daughter was excited to hear about library books on the Kindle, but delivering books to our second generation Kindle isn’t quite as easy. It was greyed out as an option for delivery. The book showed up in my archived books, but wouldn’t download. The only way to get it on the older Kindle was to download the book and transfer it via USB. Not exactly streamlined I would hope that Amazon would update the software to allow for delivery, but they seem to be freezing the feature set on discontinued Kindles. Library books are reason enough for a new Kindle, so the new basic Kindle is on the way.

The most important thing to me is being able to underline and take notes in my book and access them later — something which a good citizen can’t do with a physical library book but can do with the Kindle. All of my notes and highlights from checked out books are available at Kindle.Amazon.com just like my owned books. This means I can go crazy “marking” and “writing” in library books as if they are my own, and keep the notes for later reference. My limited book budget and future research needs are as pleased as John Cusack fans are by my title.

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Thanks Steve

October 6, 2011 | Leave a comment

In 1984, my dad took me to a computer store to see the brand new Macintosh. The salesman opened MacPaint and helped me paint a tree. (I marveled at how the spray paint brush could be used to paint clumps of leaves.) The salesman printed it out for me to take home, and I held on to that picture for some time. I was 13 and unable to appreciate how significant those 15 minutes would be for my life. I think I’m only now recognizing it.

I was fortunate enough to have lots of exposure to computers in those years. Being one of the smart kids in my junior high meant an independent study class that gave me extra access to the few computers in our library. An Apple ][e when I got there first, or an Apple ][+ on the days I was a little slower. But that visit to the computer store was a peek at possibilities. It was the first time I had touched a mouse.

Most of the next 20 years were spent in the world of Windows and Intel both at home and later in my professional life. These computers were tools to be used. The shift started with my first iPod in 2002. I began eyeing a switch to Mac in 2004 which led to my first iMac in 2005 for our home computer. In 2006, I went full-time to the Mac, replacing a work supplied Dell Inspirion with my own MacBoook.

It's not a coincidence that 2005 was also the year I labeled myself as a "Content creator". I realized that what I liked to do best was make stuff, to form ideas into sharable artifacts, whether through writing, speaking, or making websites. Apple products felt less like tools and more like extensions of my self. They served as molds to capture and form my ideas.

Steve Jobs merged arts and technology, and his vision helped me to do the same. This post began as an idea of how I would like to tell him that. I was drafting a list of things I would have said to him if I had the chance. But as I was composing the list, the items all started with the same two words...

Thank you.

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Kindle Fire Pre-Order? Check.

October 3, 2011 | 4 Comments

I pre-ordered a Kindle Fire. The first day. No hesitation.

Going in to last week’s announcement about the new Kindles, I had high hopes for an Amazon Kindle tablet. I hoped that Amazon would create a device that was a hybrid between an iPad and a Kindle e-ink reader, filling an unexplored middle ground. I think they did just that.

For the past few months, I’ve been using a hacked Nook Color. (Allegedly.) I’ve seen the possibilities of what it could be, but hassling with the rooting, modded Android builds, or apps that weren’t designed for this device left me wanting a better user experience. I think the Kindle will deliver. So, here’s why I’m looking forward to the FedEx or UPS truck showing up at my house on November 16.

  1. Content
    You can incite the ire of an iPad enthusiast (me included) by saying that an iPad is a device only for consumption. But a device that is primarily for consumption isn’t all bad, and the Kindle Fire seems focused on a good content experience for both acquiring and consuming content. Even as other book stores have come along, the Kindle format has been my book reader of choice, mostly because of the access it provides to my notes and highlights. It also helps that they have an app available for reading on every device except my dishwasher. I buy more music from the Amazon MP3 store than anywhere else. The Amazon content catalog and delivery convenience means that they are the first hardware vendor to have a content tie-in that rivals Apple.
  2. Form Factor
    Based on my experience with the Nook, the 7″ form factor is pretty doggone handy. It’s fine for reading, and while I haven’t watched any videos on the Nook (and only occasionally on the iPad), the 7″ screen should be fine for an individual viewing of a movie or a show. A 7″ inch tablet tucks away in a lot of places a 10″ tablet won’t. It has a better overall take it with you vibe, and while I’m not the purse carrying type, I can see a 7″ tablet being a big plus for those who are.
  3. Aesthetics
    From the videos I’ve seen and my brief experience with a version that didn’t work quite right on my Nook, the Kindle app for Android tablets is the best looking version of their app. I’m running the phone version on the Nook and it’s a sneak peek of the Fire’s UI. They’ve been investing more time in the Android apps than the iOS apps, for obvious reasons, and it shows. (It looks like the Kindle cloud reader offers a similar take on the direction they are going.)
  4. A Reader with Benefits
    I don’t want or need the Fire to replace an iPad, but knowing it can handle some other tasks makes it useful. InstaFetch can access my Instapaper queue, Epistle can access my Dropbox notes, and RepliGo Reader handles PDF reading and annotation. I hope and expect that the Logos (Bible software) Android app will be made available in the Amazon apps store. These tasks cover about 80% of what I use my iPad for during the workday. It can do enough that I don’t break into a cold sweat when I think about my wife taking the iPad with her on an out of town trip this fall. (I doubt I’ll setup Twitter or email on the Fire, though it’s good to know I can if I need to.) And if one child can play games on the Fire while another plays on the iPad, that brings a little peace to our house too.
  5. $199
    Don’t need to say any more about that.

A Nice and Handy In Between

There are a few things that appear to missing at this point that would be useful on occasion. The Dropbox app isn’t yet available in the Amazon app store, and it would be useful for keeping PDFs in sync across all devices. And I don’t know if it will be possible to load some non-DRM movies files on the Fire, but it could be useful on occasion.

Ultimately, the Fire looks like it will do just enough at a smaller size to settle into the space between a phone and an iPad. Since I mostly carry the iPad with my MacBook Air for reading during the day, I’m looking forward to streamlining a little more, and being able to leave the iPad home more for the kids to use the educational apps during the day.

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