Devir Kahan

CEO Swapper App From HP

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 20:49:00 -0400

Building on the expertise they’ve gained by firing two CEOs in less than a year, HP has launched CEO Swapper — a beautifully designed iPad app that makes it easier than ever to dispose of one CEO and pop in a new one.

CEO Swapper streamlines the CEO replacement process by putting all the basics at your fingertips. Using HP’s proprietary CEO Seeker™ technology, you can search the current pool of possible CEOs by category: your previous CEOs, competitors’ CEOs and washed-up CEOs that might be available at bargain rates.

EnlargeCEO Swapper takes all the work out of CEO replacement and actually makes it fun. Once you’ve chosen a replacement, simply choose a fate for your current CEO (demote to mail room, escort from building, etc.) and touch the Swap button.

Need a press release to announce your latest sacking? Not a problem. CEO Swapper automatically generates gorgeous press releases on your own company letterhead, artfully weaving a story from up to five reasons you choose from a pre-defined list. HP has really done its homework here, providing a wide range of reasons to fire (falsifying expenses, drug use, caught with stripper, and more), but the final release is fully customizable.

“This is fantastic,” said Charles H. Noski, member of the Board of Directors at Microsoft. “This is exactly the kind of app we’ve been looking for.”

While CEO Swapper has already made the App Store’s Most Popular list, one bug has been reported. Currently, when you press the Swap button, the outgoing CEO is issued a $25 million severance payment. HP says it’s working on a fix. In the meantime, they suggest a workaround: shred your CEO’s existing employment agreements before you use the app.

That’s right. I just quoted the entire thing. It was just too good to leave any of it out.

Known Networks?

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 17:20:00 -0400

Quite possibly one of the most annoying things I ever felt my iPhone did was ask me every time it detects a WiFi network if I wanted to join it. Now, I could understand why it would do this and how, for some people, it would actually be rather nice. But for me, it was just plain annoying.

Luckily, there’s a super easy way to turn it off. Just hop on into the Settings app, go to Wi-Fi, and then slide “Ask to Join Networks” to off.

I always knew that this switch was there, but I just never took the time to figure out exactly what it meant. I’m sure glad I did though. Having it off is great. Now when I want to join a network I just hop into settings - although all my known networks usually auto-join - but when I have no interest whatsoever in joining a network, my iPhone doesn’t ask me fifty times.

Anthropomorphizing The iPad

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 13:32:46 -0400

I’ve been meaning to make this point for a long while, but in light of this current post I figured now is a great time to finally get it out there.

So here is the deal. You know the iPad? Well that’s just the thing. It’s AN iPad. Not just iPad. Apple will not one day introduce iPad 3. No. They will introduce THE iPad 3. See what I’m getting at here? Apple, one of the largest offenders here, seems to think that their products are human. They’re not. I am not sure why Apple has been doing this as of late. They didn’t used to way back when.

But really, I don’t make a call on iPhone, I make a call on MY iPhone or AN iPhone. It’s not a person. I don’t have iMac, I have AN iMac or THE iMac.

Every time I hear an Apple ad in which they refer to their products as if it is a person and not a thing I cringe. Don’t get me wrong, Apple ads are great, but their whole anthropomorphizing their apps is just ludicrous.

I mean, even look at this post’s title. Apple would have written it without the word ‘the’. And it would have been ridiculous.

Of course, Apple is not the only company to do this, but if I am at all correct they were definitely one of the first and are now currently the largest offender. The other companies are just taking cue from Apple.

Perhaps I am the only one that feels this way, but something tells me this isn’t the case.

So please. Please. Stop with this nonsense. Products are not people. Stop referring to them like they are. It’s just plain weird

Coldplay On Mylo Xyloto

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 21:03:58 -0400

Coldplay On Mylo Xyloto:

A great exclusive with the band about their new album.

Architectural Photography Timelapse

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 19:45:12 -0400

Architectural Photography Timelapse:

[Via Ben Brooks]

Solarized Alfred Themes

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 19:37:16 -0400

Solarized Alfred Themes:

I always like a good Alfred theme. These are really great. And I agree with the creator - I like the light one far better.

To All Glasses Folk

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 22:09:34 -0400

Just something that I discovered.

If you wear glasses, as I do, when you do your daily lens clean with soap and water - you’re doing that, right? - use bar soap instead of the liquid/pump soap. I find that bar soap comes off far easier than liquid soap, thus expediting the washing process by a surprising amount. But more than that, I found that it cleans them so much better. I couldn’t explain it, although I’m sure someone out there could, but it does an incredible job. Worlds better than liquid soap. It’s like magic.

Just how good is it? Well let me ask you this: If cleaning your glasses with bar soap wasn’t that much better than cleaning them with liquid soap, do you think I would have written this post?

Integrating Byword and nvALT

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 20:58:40 -0400

Integrating Byword and nvALT:

A great tip that removes the need my Keyboard Maestro macro. Now still to choose between ByWord and iA Writer…

The Future According To Films

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 19:29:02 -0400

The Future According To Films:

I always wondered if there was something like this.

TechKnowledgey: Great Mac Apps We give you a run-through of...

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 16:01:00 -0400

TechKnowledgey: Great Mac Apps

We give you a run-through of some of the greatest Mac Apps currently available.

FinalTouch

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 21:06:15 -0400

FinalTouch:

The idea:

FinalTouch allows you to create a hot key to slow down the speed of your mouse when you need extra precision. This is especially handy if you have large monitors and have your mouse speed set high.

Really clever, no? I can see this being a great tool for designers and the like. I do a tad bit of design work and would have considered getting this. Why didn’t I?

It’s 15 bucks. For that simple tool. And I only do a little bit of design work from time to time. For the pro, pricey for what you get, but if you’d use it all the time, go for it. Me though? I think not.

Some People Get Search. Some Don’t.

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 20:46:24 -0400

Some People Get Search. Some Don’t.:

Not only is this so unfortunately true, it’s a seriously under appreciated genius feature of the Mac.

Mental Tagging

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 18:45:26 -0400

These days I have lots on my mind and tons of things to remember. Tools like Things, NvAlt, and others help me keep track of everything. But sometimes, for whatever reason, I can’t get to my iPhone or Mac to jot down some info into a note, or a task into Things. Maybe I’m stuck in class, or in a position where taking out my phone would be rude, am just away from it all, or just want to try remembering something with my actual mind for a change. Assuming that I have no access to any means to write something down, remembering said item can be rather difficult.

I hate forgetting things. It drives me mad. So I devised a system of sorts to help me remember things when I have no means to write it down. And I have to say, it works. It’s not perfect, no, but it sure helps.

The system is a way of mentally tagging things. Doing so helps you associate items with something that is easier to remember, thus recalling the items later is made easier.

Now, there is a general memory improvement theory that dictates that associating, or tagging, things with other things you know will help you to remember the item. For instance, you can associate the names of the Presidents with objects in your room at home. When you get to that test in school, you should be able to just think of the object and your mind will make the jump and associate said object with the allotted President. Of course, it’s not quite that simple, but is worlds better than just blindly recalling facts.

While that theory is great, and indeed is the basis for my system, when trying to recall tasks or quick ideas - which is what this system is for - I actually only mentally tag items with one of two things: Numbers or Importance. For recalling things like tasks and quick ideas I find this more specific method of tagging to work better.

First, you have to boil down the task or idea into a word or two at most. Anything more than this will prove more difficult to remember. Just come up with a trigger word that, upon replaying in your head, you are sure that it will lead you to remember the full task or idea.

Second, tag that word or two with a level of importance. Determine just how important the item is to remember, and then mentally tag it with one of two categories: Important or Not Important. ‘Important’ items are ones that you really want to remember, while ‘Not Important’ ones are not so much useless items, but rather, ones that, if forgotten, would not be all that devastating at all.

Why do you do this? You see, this step is the crux of the system. It is so crucial. Because, the truth is that you are going to forget some things. But what we want is to not only keep the amount of forgotten items to a minimal, but also to make sure that those forgotten items are not the important ones. And so that if and when you do forget something, you can put your mind at ease by knowing that it wasn’t really all that important, instead of racking your brain and getting stressed out trying to figure out what it was.

The third step is to tag the item with a number. Not only is this yet another thing for your mind to associate the item with, but it makes remembering lists of items so much easier. By turning the items you need to remember into a list it becomes far easier to recall just how many items there were. So come time to finally dump your brain into your computer or notepad, you can know without a doubt that you remembered everything.

The final step, of course, is to get all of the information out of your head and into written word as soon as possible. The next opportunity you have, get all those tasks and ideas in your computer or notebook.

There are some tips I can offer before I can truly say I am done.

Tag even only one item with ‘1’. It’s another thing that makes it easier to remember.
When it comes to tagging items as ‘Important’ or ‘Not Important’, an easy delimiter is whether or not the item will come up naturally in your day to day life. For instance, “Get new pens” is something that you will, at one point or another, remember regardless of whether or not you remember it right now. The time will come when you realize that all your pens are out of ink and the end result will be you getting some new pens. Something like that should be tagged with ‘Not Important’ because you know that even if you don’t recall that item when you get to your computer later that day, you know in the moment that you will definitively remember it at some point. Don’t worry about these as much.
Remember that list you made? Well, go over it as often as possible. Not obsessively, but when you get the chance run the items through in your head. Every time you go over it makes the list that much fresher when you try to recall it later in your day.
Get it out. The sooner you get the items out of your hand and into written word the higher chance you’ll get everything.

What if you do forget something? Get over it. I hate to be blunt, and trust me, I know exactly how difficult that can be some times, but that is what you have to do. The fact of the matter is that getting all bent out of shape trying to remember something just isn’t worth it. And I know that is a lot easier said than done - I struggle with it myself - but you got to do it. And, if you’ve used the system outlined here correctly, chances are that the item you’ve missed is something that’s lower on the importance totem pole, or better yet, something that will come up sooner or later anyway. Don’t drive yourself crazy over something non-crucial. That’s what ‘Important’ vs ‘Not Important’ means.

Of course, this works for everything in life that you would like to remember. Mental tagging is a powerful thing.

Anyway, I hope it helps.

What Evernote Is For

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 19:12:03 -0400

What Evernote Is For:

Eddie Smith of Practically Efficient at the end of an article detailing how he uses Evernote:

Don’t approach Evernote with an all or nothing attitude. Instead, 1) look for specific ways that Evernote can make your life easier, 2) use it for those things, and 3) STOP.

May I make two points:

The same can be said for Yojimbo my “everything bucket” of choice.
I am still left wondering what he does for bookmarks. I throw all of mine into Yojimbo - and am even considering moving some other list and such into Yojimbo as well, although more on that in a future post - but he makes no mention of bookmarks at all.

My Relationship With My ToDo List

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 11:47:24 -0400

I just had a thought.

You see, there’s something that I have to do today, and in fact every day this week. The details of which are unimportant, but the fact of that matter is that it’s not something that I really enjoy doing, and thus there is not much motivation for me to actually do it. And thus, knowing myself fairly well, I knew that it was not going to get done unless I put it in my ToDo list¹.

I knew without a doubt, that if I put it down in my ToDo list, it would get done in the time frame that I specified.

Now that’s saying something.

Some things may take longer, but if I put something in my ToDo list it will get done eventually.

I’m not entirely sure why this is, but I think that when it comes down to it, it’s just my modus operandi. It’s just how I am. I only put things down that I really do want to get done. If someone tells me to do something that I don’t want to, or at least don’t believe - however deep down - that it needs to get done, it’s not getting on that list. But once something does, you can bet your bottom dollar it’ll get checked off. And boy do I like checking things off.

I write this all to say, perhaps, that if there is one thing that you should be OCD about, it’s your ToDo list. I’m rather glad that I have a relationship with my ToDo list in which I know that if something is added to it, I’ll have it done. I think everyone should be able to say that about their ToDo list. The difficult part is figuring out how to achieve that.

If it were me, I’d just add it to my ToDo list.

Managed by Things, so you know. ↩

Behind The Scenes of "Suits"

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 10:22:53 -0400

Behind The Scenes of "Suits":

Missing the best show this summer after that fantastic finale? Can’t wait an entire year until the next season starts?

Well, these behind the scenes shots from Gabriel Macht’s wife on set ought to hold you over until then.

Oh who am I kidding. There’s no way I can wait that long. But that’s not reason not to bask in the awesome glow of these pictures. My favorite, by the way, is by far the continuity shots of Harvey’s hair.

Tales of The Magic Trackpad

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 15:35:23 -0400

On July 27, 2010 Apple released the Magic Trackpad, the first radical new pointing device in a long time. Instead of dragging a mouse around your desk, you simply have a slanted metal trackpad that you drag your finger around on. Push down to click and the feet beneath the trackpad create a true ‘clicky’ feeling. All the multitouch gestures found on the iPhone and iPad can also be found on the Magic Trackpad, especially when used in conjunction with Mac OS X Lion. You can pinch, rotate, drag, flick, and more. It’s like a touchscreen computer, but better.

The Advantage

For the longest time people have been speculating that Apple would release a touchscreen desktop computer. When Steve Jobs announced the Magic Trackpad though, there was no loner any speculation. Apple’s stance on touchscreen desktop computers was clear. It was the Magic Trackpad.

How so? As Jobs went on to explain, a touchscreen desktop requires you to keep your hand in an upright position pointing forward the whole day. It causes fatigue and becomes difficult to use after a short time. In a word, and in my opinion, it’s ridiculous. I dreaded a day when Apple would create a touchscreen computer for those very reasons, and I’m so glad that we now know they never will.

Instead, they proposed the Magic Trackpad. It presents a touch based interface to interact with your computer, but is at the level of your hand. All the advantages of touch - fluidity, ease of use, simplicity, power of multitouch - without all the stupidity - fatigue and all that goes along with it, mainly - associated with an actual touchscreen desktop. Best of both worlds, right?

Kindda.

My Thoughts

Backing up a bit, the Magic Trackpad really isn’t quite that radical. We’ve had them on laptops, also due to Apple, for years. It’s bringing that model to the desktop that is so radical. It was right in front of us all, but I would have never thought to use a trackpad to control a desktop. But it does make sense. A lot of sense. We’re clearly moving in the direction of touch interaction, and a trackpad is far and away better than reaching forward all day to tap a screen. I still can’t believe that anyone thinks that’s a good idea. The Magic Trackpad is indeed how touch should be, but that’s not to say I don’t have my issues with it.

The Good

It’s Magical

Say what you will about Apple and their recent use of the word ‘magic’, the Magic Trackpad is indeed somewhat magical. The way in which you can manipulate the screen using just your fingertips is, well, there’s just nothing else like it. Except for the iPad. I remember the first time I saw the iPad demoed, and how ‘magical’ I thought the way you interacted with it was. Specifically the photos app. The pinching and rotating. With the Magic Trackpad you get the same magic on your desktop.

Gestures and Speed

Gestures are what make the Magic Trackpad. They truly do speed things up a ton - once you know how to use them all. Some are more gimmicky, and some are impossible to live without. The best resource I found to learn just about every gesture there is is this article over at Macworld.

Also, a word of caution, many gestures were switched with the move to Lion. The most noticeable of which is the Exposé gesture which is now enabled by a three finger swipe up as opposed to the four finger swipe down of old. On that note, most every gesture is highly customizable in System Preferences.

The Bad

Slow

I’m just going to cut to the chase here when it comes to the downsides of using the Magic Trackpad: I feel like it’s far slower than a mouse. I tried using only the Magic Trackpad for weeks, and while it did get somewhat better, it still didn’t feel nearly as good or as fast as a real mouse. Nor, by the way, did it feel as accurate.

Maybe it’s the strangeness of not actually physically moving anything while using the Magic Trackpad. Maybe that’s just how it is supposed to be. But as John Siracusa has said, I feel like I would be able to beat anyone using a Magic Trackpad with my Magic Mouse on both accounts of speed and accuracy.

I feel impeded slightly with the Trackpad. Slowed, hampered, if you will.

Hovering

I actually find the Magic Trackpad less ergonomic than my mouse. I think it has to do with the fact that I feel the need to hover the rest of my hand over the Trackpad so that I don’t accidentally hit it, and make a move I did not want to make. It’s one big slab of touch sensitivity - it feels far more likely to do something by accident than a mouse. Regardless of whether or not that’s actually true.

Laptops

What’s super interesting is that I never felt any of this with the trackpad on my MacBook. I never felt slowed, nor the strange ‘don’t let another finger touch the trackpad’ phenomena.

Maybe it’s the positioning, or the size of the smaller trackpad and the size of the smaller screen. I’m just not sure. But to me, the trackpad feels best suited for a laptop.

Misc.

Tap To Click

I have Tap To Click on. This way I don’t actually have to press down on the Trackpad to make a click. Just tapping will do. Just like on an actually multitouch device. I just find it easier this way.

Battery Paintings

If you look on the underside of the Trackpad by where you insert batteries after the cap is removed, you actually can see two small painted batteries facing the direction they need to be placed inside. It’s a real nice touch. Love it.

For Who?

The Magic Trackpad is clean and people really love it. It truly is magical, fluid, and just downright cool. For me though, at least for now, my Magic Mouse remains my primary pointing device. I do still keep the Magic Trackpad on my desk to use on occasion, and would recommend that anyone do at least that. It is the future, like it or not.

And again, that is not to say that I don’t like it. I just don’t love it - and definitely not as much as I love my Magic Mouse. And you see, I get the Magic Trackpad. I really do. But I still just find it a tad slow for my taste for speed.

The Magic Mouse is the perfect cross between a plain old mouse and the Magic Trackpad, just like the Magic Trackpad is the perfect cross between touch desktops and mice. I guess I hope they both stay around.

Apple’s Worst Icons

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 20:19:27 -0400

Apple’s Worst Icons:

Don’t agree with them all, but they do have some seriously painful ones here. Apple makes some killer icons, and some that are disgusting. Very few are in between.

Don't Trust Your Hotel Room Safe

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 21:10:23 -0400

Don't Trust Your Hotel Room Safe:

Good to know for when I actually need to unlock it because the bimbo before me didn’t.

Then again, perhaps it is indeed best to avoid them entirely. Just don’t leave your things out in plain site. No one is ransacking your room, but making things overly tempting to take is never a good idea either.

A Magical Magic Wallet

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 13:10:00 -0400

If you’re a guy, you no doubt carry around a wallet with you. In fact, you probably have a large bulge in your back pocket from said wallet right now.

Yuck.

That bulge is not only a big no-no in the fashion world, but I just flat out hate it. It’s annoying and looks terrible. I’ve always been one for thin wallets. And I always thought my wallet was pretty thin until I heard Ben Brooks talk about the JCrew Magic Wallet one day.

Ordered

I had wanted to get the Magic Wallet since I first heard Mr. Brooks talk about it, but only recently got around to it. It came the other day in a nice little envelope. Reaching inside I was super surprised and excited at just how darned thin the thing really is.

Plus, the package came with preprinted return labels in case there were any problems. Big brownie points for JCrew there, but there’s no shot in heck I’ll be returning it.

Come to think of it, as it’s a rather old item on there site, I should probably order more before they discontinue it.

A Magic Wallet

The Magic Wallet is not your typical wallet. Yes, it is wafer thin, but that’s not what makes it special - or “magic”. Rather, the magic is in how exactly the wallet holds your cash. You see, in any other wallet there is a large pocket for you to stash all your money. Not so with the Magic Wallet. Instead, with the magic wallet, there are simply intelligently placed elastic bands that wrap around the whole thing. Simply lay your (thin) wad of cash on the bands, close the wallet over it, and the next time you open it you’ll find that the bands have moved along with the wallet, slipped around the money, and are now snugly strapping your money down to the inside of the wallet. Magic.

Now I know this concept is rather hard to visualize and truly understand through the written word. Trust me, I had no clue how it would work until I first tried it, which is why instead of continuing with the written word - as this is the internet - I’ll just show it to you:

In the words of Steve Jobs, “Pretty cool, huh?”.

Apparently the concept for this is of French origins, and I actually remember having a magic trick years ago that used the same method.

At First

To be honest, the magic wallet was a little difficult to figure out at first, and it came with absolutely zero instructions of any kind. After a tad bit of tinkering though, it became super easy - but keep in mind that I had that magic trick to jog my memory. Should you choose to purchase one - which I wholeheartedly recommend - the video above should be more than enough to get you going, so fret not.

Misc.

Latching

Although I’ve seen it written elsewhere that magic wallets latch onto the cash as soon as they are closed, that’s actually not entirely true. It doesn’t do anything when it’s just closed until you pull it back again in the opposite direction. That’s just enough to snap the elastic around the cash.

And yet it still is so much faster than a regular wallet. Just fold the cash stack, lay it on the inside flap of the wallet, and with a quick flick of the wrist the cash is more secure than in a regular wallet. And to get it out you just tug it out from under the elastic. The thing is super slick. And you can tell from all the italics I’ve used in this post thus far.

Colors

I believe at one point JCrew offered the magic wallet in a black as well, but they do not any longer. The brownish leather is fine in my opinion, but the fact that they no longer stock the other color is what worries me that they will discontinue it one day. Sad, but I suppose there will always be other places to get similar things.

Cards

Be warned: There is not much room at all for cards. Of course, that’s kind of the point of a thin wallet. I mean, how many of those cards do you really need?

To be precise, there are two slots for cards, but I found I was able to get two cards in each slot no problem. So, with doubling up, you can get a maximum of four cards, IDs, etc, in the magic wallet. More than enough for me.

A Favor

Please, do yourself a favor and get rid of the bulge in your pocket. Get yourself a thin wallet. And once you’re going to do that, make it the magic wallet. It’s simple, clean, minimal, super thin, and unique. It’s all leather other than the elastic and goes for only about $25.

And the best way to understand all the magic spoken about in this article is to try one for yourself.

Tempting, no?

So go buy one.