Gotta buy 'em all!

Today's Daily 60 (seconds) builds on something I posted last week about phone renewals.  I call it the "gotta have it" bug.

"Holy crap, did you see that new phone's resolution?"

"The playstation 4 looks AMAZING."

"I can't wait for the new Macbook!"

Ok, I'm a tech-nerd as much as the next guy, unless that guy is my coworker Chris, but other than that I'm up there.  I love the new stuff, the new gear, the new phone, game console, video card, whatever.

Even more I love what's around the corner, awesome SmartWatches, digital paper, cybernetics, teleporters! (well maybe that one is a stretch, damn you Heisenberg!)

But I really also need to stop myself, and ask do I REALLY need to shell out the dough for that awesome watch, or the extra money to renew phones early.  I'd love to say that it was the devil/angel battle on my shoulders, but all the angel is saying is that I should wait 6 more months so I can shell out the money for the NEXT new thing before my friends get it.

I guess what I'm saying is don't fall prey to needing "what's cool."  I'm still on an HTX One X (not the One, that's newer) and I love it.  My Macbook pro is 3 some years old, and it runs like a dream.  Enjoy what you have.  The only thing worse than not getting the next big thing is leaving it on your shelf unused as you pine for it's next model.

Never stop looking forward at tomorrow's toys, but at the same time don't forget to play with the ones you have now!  Yesterday they KICKED ASS, and guess what, they still do!

Evernote, trust me you need it

Today's Daily 30 (seconds) is on a product I really can't live without, Evernote.

Evernote is an app that you can get for Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android, even just a browser without installing it.  What does it do?  It takes notes.  What did you expect, a circus?  

You can take audio notes and pictures too, but personally I just use it for taking text notes.  I use it all the time to organize anything from addresses to code to RPG notes.  

And it shares them to all the devices on that account, so I can write a long detailed note on my laptop, then use it for reference later on my phone.  Or a shopping list.

Give it a try, even the free version is pretty amazing, and I literally use it every day. The pay version is dirt cheap and has lots of features, like letting you share notes with other accounts so you and your wife can both ignore the same shopping list and just buy goldfish.

Have fun, and see you next time!

Quick, upgrade your phone, NOW!

Today's Daily 30 (seconds) is one the phone companies don't wanna hear, let's talk about upgrades.

Upgrade today, no contract, small payments.. New phone every 2 years, every year, TWICE a year!

Come on, really?  I mean let's be honest, do you really need to have the newest phone on the market this very second? Remember, AT&T's NEXT, Verizon's EDGE, and T-Mobile's JUMP lets you upgrade so much faster than every two years, for no contract.  

Problem is, you're paying the phone off in full, you know, like you would on a normal Credit Card, with payments?  It's not a free phone, and I'm not sure but it's likely not even much of a discount. (This part I didn't check)

I'm just saying use your head, look around, and don't get something because Jimmy next door does.  Look at the phone you have now, it's pretty fricken nice, just enjoy it and save up.  

Worst case?  You can wait the 2 years and get a much more awesomer new one much cheaper.

(I dun speak good!)

See ya next time!

Another need-to-have widget, PowerToggles

Today's Daily 30 (seconds) is a nod to a pretty awesome widget, Power Toggles.

Power Toggles is a widget I can't say enough good stuff about and I could go on for 30 minutes, but let's hit the quick points.  This widget lets you toggle (duh) just about anything you can think of, from your camera flash (flashlight) to 3/4G to sound sliders and more.  Not only that but you can drop in apps in your toggle board or custom links to any internal app references  (like SiMi folders or to directly call a certain person).

Now add in the ability to change the icons for any of those functions, or even just make them invisible so you can have home screen functions that are hidden (or matched to spots on your background) and you've got an incredibly powerful and lightweight tool.  Go on, give it a try, and have fun!

Come, Commune with Anti-nature

Come on everyone, today's Daily 90 (seconds) is here, Let's Get Social!

Everyone's doing it, it's social media!  Make friends you'll never meet, go to "events" in your own home, hell now you can even "hangout" in your boxers and no one will know. You've got Twitter (where stalkers hang out), G+ (Where I hang out), Facebook(where your girlfriend hangs out), LinkedIn (Where your boss hangs out), MySpace (where bands hang out), and so many more.  I mean who can forget Imgur, Reddit, Tumblr, and all the other dozens of sites that can't spell their names right.

So what do you do?  I mean you can't really be active in all those at once, but even better, why are you trying so hard to?  Get outside, make a phone call, visit a friend.  I'm a techno-crazed fanatic as much as the next techno-crazed fanatic, but really, sometimes you just need that face to face.  Games are going online, meetings are going online, employee reviews are going online, interviews are going online, everything is online.  I mean yeah, that's really awesome, but eventually aren't ya gonna forget how to bathe?  Or tie shoes?

My advice is pick a couple of those crazy social sites (Me? I use LinkedIn, G+, and Twitter occasionally), and just focus on them.  If you spread too thin, no one will notice you, and frankly you'll never see sunlight.  So remember one thing when you leave this blog, Social used to actually mean dealing with people directly, so don't forget that whole non-internet thing called talking.

See ya next time!

What's the new Buzz….. Launcher?

Today's Daily 120 (seconds) is on a launcher that I just recently tried out and wanted to share with you all.  Let's talk about Homepack Buzz and the Buzz Launcher.

Most android launchers are about making your own home screen as useful, or pretty, as you want to make it.  Then you can take snapshots, or show your friends.  I belong to a couple of groups online that share shots (and I USED to think I was pretty good at it, then I saw the stuff other people made).  Well Buzz Launcher is a launcher that takes advantage of this sharing idea, and frankly seems more interested in that aspect than the actual building.

Pros:  Without buzz launcher, if I had the desire to share with you what my home screen looks like, I'd need to tell you what launcher I used, send you the background image, send you the icon pack and widgets, and just tell you how to build it.  With Buzz Launcher I can just send you a link to my home pack and when you click it, the screens are added to your home screens, icons, themes, backgrounds, widgets already set up.  If a widget or icon isn't installed on your phone an arrow appears and tapping it takes you to the Play Store so you can download (or buy) it.  This opens up a world of, literally, thousands of home screens that you can just click on, download, and have instantly.

Cons:  As a user, as opposed to a designer, I do see a number of flaws so far.  First, I can view available home packs either from  my computer or phone, but I can only log into the site or download packs from the phone.  This means that if I see a pack I like while using my computer, I need to somehow get the URL of that home pack to my phone, usually by emailing myself, Evernote, etc.  Second, once you download a theme and customize it a little for your own use, you can't save it as it is without making a "public" home pack for everyone else to see and download.  I just want to save where I am so I can try a new theme then come back, or who knows what.  Because of that their website is littered with themes that are described as "Backup, do not download" and the like.

These are just the quick thoughts of a user, but I want to mention that I believe it was only released in March of this year, so it's still a young product and has a LOT of promise.  Once I get more into designing I'll come back and talk about the launcher from a pack maker's point of view.

Final thoughts?  If you like changing your home screen an having a library of examples to start with, then get this launcher.  It's not as robust as some launchers like Go Launcher, or as easy to customize and save as Lightning Launcher, but the ability to share so easily is building a community that, if they get the kinks out, could quickly shoot them above both those other launchers in fan base and use.

GUI, GUI Goo….

Today's Daily 60 (seconds) is on something very basic, UI.

Sometimes neat and flashy isn't always the best.  Let's look at everyone's favorite site, Google+.  I've been using G+ for years, so when things move, they usually move a little bit, or I'm invested enough in the site to learn the new locations, but someone who is just trying it out isn't.  I watched someone fumble over how to start hangouts, then how to find their friends in circles, and so on.  Honestly, is it really intuitive to mouseover a little floating house, then go down to people and click, then go up to the top middle on the right and click my circles.  Not to me, that one even took me some time to find.

I don't care how amazing your software is, if no one can figure out where the play button is, no one's going to click it.  I know it's hard, Google, but you need to ask someone who doesn't know who you are to try out your site, and please don't make the Apple mistake.  You know, the one where you say something like "we don't care if you can't find it, we know better than you and we won't move it."

To all the developers out there, remember, your users are your customers, and your customers keep you getting your paycheck, so just look twice before you change your interface, and make sure someone new to the suite looks three times.