If you do anything with computers, you deal with passwords and you probably have a handful of different passwords for different sites and systems. The best password is something that you will never forget, but even your family or closest friend would never guess. In my experience people either have extremely secure passwords like J!*xurQ1# that are so difficult to remember that they have to write them down (which defeats the security of a password) or extremely unsecure to start with, like Jonny (the name of their spouse). The goal of this post is to give you some ideas on how to generate secure passwords. The tips start out with some simple ways to come up with terms and end with … [Read more...] about 10 Tips for Creating Secure Passwords
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Remote or Local Assistant?
There has been a lot of interest in virtual assistants. The idea sounds great. You hire someone to do the work you need remotely. Since you don't have to be in the same city, state or country, you are free to choose the most cost effective assistant from anywhere in the world. On the other hand, there are some significant advantages in hiring someone locally. Here are some advantages for both types of assistants. Benefits of a virtual assistant They can work while you sleep. If you hire someone from a different time zone, they may do the bulk of their work outside of your business hours. Depending on your line of work, it can be very convenient to hand someone a project at 5 PM … [Read more...] about Remote or Local Assistant?
The Distribution of Inspiration — Productive Blogging
Most successful blogs post new content every weekday. People looking to start successful blogs look at this and think, "I guess I need to write something every day." The problem is that inspiration isn't evenly distributed. One day you may have ideas for 10 posts and the next two weeks--nothing. To be a productive blogger, you need to learn to use the mountain tops of inspiration to help fill in the valleys where you can't think of anything to write. This can be as simple as keeping a word processor document of future posts. If your blogging platform supports it, I suggest using the scheduled post feature. Write your post when inspiration strikes but set it to go live when you … [Read more...] about The Distribution of Inspiration — Productive Blogging
MacSpeech Dictate
I haven't used speech recognition software since 2001. Back then, I was working in a hospital and we were experimenting with Dragon Naturally Speaking (now owned by Nuance)as a way to streamline the medical transcription process. The software was interesting, but far too primitive to save time for anyone who typed with more than two fingers. When I was offered a review copy of MacSpeech Dictate, I was intrigued. How much of a difference would eight years of development and processor speed bumps make on speech recognition? Evidently, (thanks to Moore's Law) eight years makes a huge difference. I have honestly been blown away at how accurate the software is. In fact, after using it for … [Read more...] about MacSpeech Dictate
Reducing Expenses vs. Being Productive
We usually think of being more productive as a way to make more money, or at least make the same amount of money with less effort. This is a short sighted approach. Being more productive really means doing things that will give you more time to pursue the things that are really important to you. If I am able to maintain my same level of pay and cut my work time in half, I've made some pretty significant improvements in my productivity. But what if, instead of maintaining the same level of pay, we just try to maintain the same standard of living. Or better yet, just maintain the same standard of living on things that are important to us. This type of thinking suddenly opens up … [Read more...] about Reducing Expenses vs. Being Productive
Beautifully Simple Solutions
The study of aesthetics is the study of beauty. When you really think about it, the way we react to art and music is fascinating and not very well understood. Sometimes beauty seems to be only in the eye of the beholder--subject to cultural conditioning. Other times beauty seems like something that can be appreciated by all humanity--transcending cultural considerations . The way we react to beauty is really an emotional response. I don't know how to really define it, but for me, the reaction to something beautiful feels like it comes from something in my chest instead of my head. Maybe that sounds weird, but that is the best way I know to describe it. In college and graduate … [Read more...] about Beautifully Simple Solutions
Google Voice Mobile App
If you have a Google Voice account (formerly Grand Central) you might want to check out their new application for Blackberries and Android phones. It appears to do a lot of what the GVDialer does, but it is free. You can send SMS messages and place calls using your Google Voice number. If you have a plan where you can add a number to your "circle" or "friends" you can add your Google Voice number and drastically reduce the number of minutes you have to use. Google Voice is still in a closed beta, so there doesn't appear to be a way to sign up for an account if you don't already have one. … [Read more...] about Google Voice Mobile App
Great Amex Platinum Concierge Service
I've been critical of American Express Platinum Concierge Service, but last week I had an interaction that was very impressive. A deer ran into our car and broke the mirror. Due to a misunderstanding, the local shop didn't order the part in time for our trip. I sent the concierge service a map of the route we were going to take, the time we were leaving and asked them to find me any dealer with the part in stock on our route. The concierge came back with a list of dealers with it in stock along with a list of dealers that could get it in two days near our destination. This was a huge time saver for me and very helpful. Do you have any success stories from using the concierge service? … [Read more...] about Great Amex Platinum Concierge Service
Cost of a New Computer
It is very easy to underestimate the cost of a new computer. The cost of purchasing a computer is relatively straightforward. You pay the price that on the sticker. However, there are two other areas of cost that are often overlooked. Let's briefly look at each of them. Maintenance costs Computers are like cars. They have a finite life and at some point it is very likely that they will both need repair. The older they are, the more likely it is they will need repair. When people buy computers, they often focus on the sticker price and not the total lifetime cost. The one year warranty that comes with a computer automatically may be a lot cheaper than the three-year coverage, but how … [Read more...] about Cost of a New Computer
Scanned Signatures and Handwriting
Previously we've looked at how to create a scanned signature that you can use to sign documents without printing them out. Today we are going to look at how to get your signature and handwriting into a font that you can use on your computer. First off, lets look at why you'd want to do something like this. Benefits of a Scanned Signature and Handwriting Having your signature as a font has some big advantages over having it as a .PNG or .GIF file. Fonts are mathematical representations of the shapes they contain. This means you don't get jagged edges, no matter how big you make it. .PNG or .GIF files work ok if you are making them smaller, but you will start to see artifacts and jagged … [Read more...] about Scanned Signatures and Handwriting