My Tech Gear March 2012

March 16, 2012 by · 3 Comments

The other day I received a request from reader John for an update to the digital tech gear I use on a daily basis to run my websites. While I understand not everyone is interested in what I use, hopefully some of you guys will find this helpful… or at least partially interesting. If you feel like it, would love to hear about your setups in the comment section. I myself am always curious as to what people use to run their online lives!

Computer

My computer is a circa-2009 MacBook Pro which still works flawlessly. It is a 2.53 GHz Core 2 Duo machine with 4 GB of RAM. I am still running Mac OS X 10.6.8, but I will be updating to OS X Lion before summer. I have never understood the need for anyone to update their machine every year just because a company comes out with a new model. My computer still runs any and all software just fine, works just as fast as the day I got it, and has plenty of storage space left in it. I imagine I will get at least another year or two out of this computer. We aren’t in the old days of computers when they truly got exponentially better each model year; these newer machines can last quite some time before they need replacing.

Computer Accessories

  • External monitor is an ASUS 24″ Full HD/HDMI LED BackLight LCD Monitor, as I can’t stare all day at a 13″ computer screen.
  • Keyboard is a wireless Apple keyboard and my mouse is an Apple Magic Mouse.
  • External hard drive is a LaCie Starck 1 TB USB 2 drive, which gets backed up to constantly via Time Machine.
  • Printer is a Canon iP100, which mostly stays unconnected and in the closet.
  • Laptop case is from GreenSmart and is made from 100% recycled plastic bottles.
  • Batteries for mouse and keyboard are rechargeables, as otherwise would be constantly buying new ones.

Computer Software

To do everything I need to do every day, whether it’s for my own blogs, someone else’s, or a paying web client I have, I have several go-to applications that get heavy use almost every day.

  • Chrome, for web browsing.
  • Transmit, for FTP transfers.
  • Adium for chatting.
  • Reeder, for RSS feeds of my favorite sites. I have this open all day long.
  • ImageWell 4 for simple image resizing.
  • Spotify and Pandora for music.
  • Wunderlist for list-making.
  • MPEG Streamclip for ripping from DVDs.
  • Echofon for Twitter accounts (which, by the way, I just started one for this site. It’s @simpleolife.
  • LastPass for keeping passwords.
  • Adobe CS3 Suite for, well, all that stuff.
  • Final Cut Pro for video editing.
  • OpenOffice and Google Docs for word processing.
  • Dropbox for cloud storage
  • BackBlaze for automatic off-site backups.

Mobile

Phone – I am still rocking the iPhone 3GS and will do so until the next generation iPhone comes out. I was going to switch to an Android phone, but seriously – it’s the best looking phone that works flawlessly with all my Apple gear. I don’t care about open vs. closed, I am not a hacker; to switch would be crazy at this point. It is definitely on it’s last legs, but it should make it to the next update later this year.

Apps – The homepage of my iPhone contains the following apps: Maps, Safari, Clock, Calendar, TurboScan (for creating PDF’s on the go), Wunderlist, Fahrenheit, Words with Friends, Instapaper, Reeder, Tweetbot, Amazon, Messages, Mail, and Phone. I also have 4 folders on my homepage:

  • News – CNN, BBC, News360, LATimes, MSNBC, Dwell Magazine
  • Music – iTunes, Shazam, NPR, Ambiance, Remote, NPR Music, Pandora, KCRW, KPCC
  • Social – Trillian, LinkedIn, Tumblr, WordPress, Pinterest
  • Photography – Hipstamatic, CameraBag, Best Camera, Instagram, Plastic Bullet

I think that about sums up my tech gear and how I live my life online. I work from home and have for nearly 6 years, but unless I can find more work doing some writing, social media, content management, etc, I will be trying to find a desk job to pay the bills within a month or so. (So if you need someone, get in touch!)

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10 Tips To Reduce Your Clutter And Get Organized.

March 10, 2012 by · 18 Comments

If I lived in clutter I would never be able to stop thinking about it and it would hinder every aspect of my life. Where are my keys? Where are the bills? Where did I hide my social security card? Some people really thrive on being “cluttered” but it would drive me crazy. If you are looking for some ways to get organized and to get your stuff in order, here are 10 things that have helped me to get and stay organize.

1. Have a place for everything – this means your keys, your wallet, your office supplies, etc. If everything has it’s place, it’s pretty hard to lose anything once you learn where that place is. My files are in the file cabinet, my keys hang by the door, and my wallet goes on the little table in the hall. There is no mad scramble to get out the door as I know where everything is!

2. When you bring one thing home, try to send at least one thing out the door. Buy a new shirt? Try to get rid of an old shirt at the same time. If all you do is bring stuff home and you never purge, you will never be able to beat back clutter.

3. Boxes, boxes, boxes – I am a huge fan of storage in the house. Even if you have tons of crap, having it in boxes makes it look and feel more manageable. However, I don’t pay for any storage containers – I use shoe boxes, shipping boxes, etc. Why not use the free stuff instead of spending money on the plastic versions?

4. Craigslist, Ebay and Amazon are your friends – Sell, sell, sell. Books, CD’s, DVD’s, clothes, televisions, you name it – if you have it, someone else is willing to pay for it.

5. Purge twice a year – Make it a point to spend a day or two twice a year doing nothing but purging.

6. Put stuff away in storage until you need it. I am not talking about paying for storage, but rather your garage or some place like that. Your Christmas supplies do not need to be stored in your closet in the house if you do not have the room for it…it’s going to be 11 months before you need them again!

7. Start small. If you have trouble because you are overwhelmed with the amount of “stuff” in your home, try doing just 10 minutes a day of purging. This is the system I have my mom on now – she spends a few minutes each day just doing a single pile or filling up 1 trash bag and taking it downstairs. It makes the process way more manageable and less scary.

8. Unsubscribe from magazines, catalogs, etc. – Catalogs you do no need because you can look at any of those products online on the internet, and magazines are available for free from the library. How many times do you read a single magazine? More than likely only once, so why pay for it and then have it hang around your house? If you can get it from the library, it will only be in your house for 2 weeks…and it’s free!

9. When you buy a product, buy a multi-function version. A coffee maker that both grinds the beans and makes the coffee. A remote control that runs your TV and your stereo. A blender that is also a food processor. By combining these type of goods, you can reduce the amount of “stuff” you have to find a place for.

10. Make lists. I have 1 small notebook that I have with me at all times, so I can jot down notes, story ideas, stuff I need to get done at home, etc. If you write it down when you think of it, you are more likely to follow through on whatever it is. So make lists – like what you will accomplish around the house next Tuesday, reminders to go to Goodwill and drop off your clothes, or just to file away or shred the paper in your inbox. Lists are an immense help to anyone having trouble with clutter.

Hopefully these tips will serve as a boost and incentive to get organized. If you have any additional tips to add, be sure to let me know!

Originally published 3 years ago; now updated and pushed back to the forefront. It’s important to keep these 10 tips in mind!

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Wunderlist – The Free, Syncing To-Do List App

January 23, 2012 by · 6 Comments

In October of 2011 I wrote a post about the program SimpleNote, which was my note-taking application of choice. At first it only worked on my iPhone, and then they eventually added a weird work-around for syncing, but I got tired of stuff not showing up on one machine or another… so I stopped using anything at all, reverting back to either a piece of paper in the house or the Notepad app on my phone. A few months ago I put the word out to my contacts that I was looking for a new to-do app that would work flawlessly on both my laptop and my phone, and I received a few responses back. The one that caught my eye was one called Wunderlist, which is marketed as being “task management at its best”, so I decided to give it a try. It’s fantastic.

Why is it fantastic?

  • It’s free.
  • It syncs perfectly between my devices.
  • It’s as simple as it can possibly be.
  • It allows me to cross off completed items while still being able to see them.
  • It’s beautifully designed.
  • I can share lists with others.
  • It’s cross-platform and available for Mac, Windows, and Android devices

Here’s a snapshot of the list I was working from earlier today:

wunderlist Wunderlist The Free, Syncing To Do List App

If you are looking for a desktop or mobile app to help keep you organized, you really couldn’t do much better than this one. Seriously, give your to-do list a makeover and give it a shot. You’ll dig it.

Filed Under: Organization · Tagged With: ,
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