Steve Holden's Blog

Does The Apple iPad Violate Steve's Best Practice For Tech Purchasing?

Steve's Best Practice for Technology Purchasing was developed during the Apple Newton years (1993-1997) as the editor and publisher of NewtNews - a weekly newsletter that covered the Newton marketplace and community.

The basic premise is that Steve will never purchase the 1st generation of any technology product.  After what seemed like countless painful experiences buying every Newton device, software, etc. released, this best practice has proven very helpful over the last 13 years.  Some successes - TabletPC ( HP TC1100 vs HP TC1000) and Apple iPod Touch (2nd generation vs. 1st generation).

Now that the Apple iPad is coming out (pre-orders start on March 12, 2010), I'm torn on whether or not to purchase the new iPad 1st Generation vs. the iPad 2nd Generation with a ton more features and more MTBF (mean time before failure) engineering. 

I am pretty sure the Wi-Fi only model is better for me than the WiFi + 3G version so that decision is easy for me.  

As a very happy iPod Touch (2nd generation) user I can really see how a bigger screen would be a major improvement.  And many of the applications that I use every day would seem to be very compelling on the iPad form-factor: Pandora, Evernote, Peggle, Facebook, TweetDeck, Stanza, Kindle, Toodledo, and Safari

The other bonus is that I'm pretty much using my older HP TC1100 as an "iPad-tablet" device already.  In the morning as I'm getting ready for the day, I listen to news podcasts via iTunes, catchup with social media sites, and check in on my news feeds.  And then in the evening, some of the same activities happen.  But the iPad form factor (smaller, thinner, etc.) plus battery life will be an improvement.

As a frequent traveler, the ability to watch videos, listen to podcasts, and ready books plus other references is a great improvement over the iPod Touch I'm currently using in this situation.

The Bluetooth integration seems like another key feature both on the audio side of the house but also for keyboard input.  Sometimes you just need to use a real keyboard!

As I write this and review what I've written, I get a sense I've already made enough case for the device at least for me. 

But the one thing really bugging me is the lack of multi-processing support. When I'm using my current "legacy iPad" (aka the HP TC1100) I have several applications open and I like to bounce between them and also stream music from Pandora or other sources.  Reading something, capturing it, and then sending it out on Twitter or Facebook currently doesn't work well for me on the iPod Touch, and I'm thinking the same is going to be true about the iPad.  The iPad is a content consumer device not a content producer device.

Well, I guess I'll need to make a decision soon or hold off.  To be honest I'm pretty sure I'm going to get one but I'm open to input.  If you have any, then please let me know!

NOTE:  One killer application for the WiFi + 3G version is how well Citrix works on the iPad.  If it works without issue, then the platform will really be compelling for the Enterprise.  And that could make the iPad both a consumer and a business success.

Mini-Tech Review: Apple iPod Touch 3.0 Features

I recently upgraded my Apple iPod Touch to version 3.0.  Here are the features that I have found the most useful:

• Landscape keyboard and landscape views on more applications
• Cut, copy, and paste text
• Spotlight searches throughout the iPod Touch
• Automatic Wi-Fi connections
• Safari improvements
• Sync Notes (not Lotus Notes but Mac OS X notes)
• Improved Mail client
• Calendar new features like CalDAV support

And these are the ones that I may get some more use out of once I get some more usage:

• Download media over Wi-Fi from the iTunes Store
• Support for Bluetooth stereo headphones
• Peer-to-peer gaming (waiting on games that enable this feature)
• Parental controls
• iTunes account creation
• New languages
• Data/Notification push (waiting on some tools that use this feature)
• 3rd Party Game connections (none announced yet?!?)
• Shake to shuffle
• Voice Memos

All in all a solid update IMHO and worth the $10.

Summary - Doing A GTD Weekly Review Via Twitter

I wasn't able to attend this event but I thought it was important to capture and share.

Kelly Forrister at the David Allen Company recently did an innovative event on Twitter (#GTD #Tweekly).  It was an interactive Getting Things Done Weekly Review.  Here is the sequence via 29 tweets that she posted:

1. Hello everyone! Ready? We'll do this in 3 parts/11 steps
2. PART ONE: GET CLEAR. Collect loose paper and materials. Gather everything that's loose into an Inbox, Tray or folder.
3. You have 5 minutes for this step. Go...
4. You all have one more minute on step one: Collect loose papers and materials.
5. PART ONE-STEP TWO-GET CLEAR: Get In to Zero. Choose the inbox that can good progress on in 5 min--email? paper? VM? Go!
6. a good way to process in is 4D's: Delete it, Do it (under 2 mins), Delegate it, Defer it (onto a list)
7. PART ONE-STEP THREE-GET CLEAR: Empty your head. Open a Word doc, or grab and pad and clear your head for 5 minutes. Go.
8. STEP THREE - SOME MINDSWEEP TRIGGERS: Family, health, meetings you've had, meetings you're going to have...
9. SOME MORE MINDSWEEP TRIGGERS: Your direct reports, finances, 401k, the dog, your car, health appts you've been putting off...
10. PART TWO, STEP FOUR-GET CURRENT: Review your Action lists (or maybe you call them Tasks or To Do's.)5 minutes start now. Go!
11. 2 more minutes to review action lists--are they current? anything to mark done? anything trigger you to add?
12. PART TWO-STEP 5-Review previous calendar info. Any triggers?
13. Many times reviewing your old calendar (go back about 3 wks) catches things you meant to do. 3 more mins left
14. PART TWO-STEP 6-REVIEW UPCOMING CALENDAR DATA - anything you should start getting ready for? Go!
15. REVIEW UPCOMING CALENDAR TIP: if you find something you need to process, you can add to your mindsweep for now.
16. if you don't get anything on reviewing your calendar, try going further out. Recurring Tasks are great for calendar.
17. PART TWO-STEP 7-REVIEW WAITING FOR - if you've got a list review it. If you don't have one, what are you waiting on?
18. WAITING FOR TIP: Review your email Sent folder. Usually some waiting for's hiding in there.
19. PART TWO-STEP 8-REVIEW PROJECT LISTS. Projects are your outcomes that require more than one action step. Go!
20. PROJECT TIP: Projects are typically completed within 18 mos. If you can NEVER mark it done, it's likely an Area of Focus.
21. PROJECT TIP: Most people we coach have 30-100 current personal & professional projects. Don't be surprised!
22. PROJECT TIP: If you are not willing to take any next action on a current project, are you sure it's not Someday/Maybe?
23. PART 2-STEP 9 - REVIEW CHECKLISTS - birthday checklists? travel checklists? home mntce? Go!
24. CHECKLIST TIP: Maybe you want to CREATE a checklist? Anything recurring that would be good? What to always pack for vacation?
25. PART 3-GET CREATIVE!-STEP 10-REVIEW SOMEDAY/MAYBE: If you have one, update it. If you don't have one, create it!
26. SOMEDAY /MAYBE TIP: S/M is not just a "fantasy wish" list. It can be a fantastic place to stage "not yet" projects.
27. SOMEDAY TIP: You'll trust S/M list(s) more if you know you're actually going to review them again. Otherwise they'll die.
28. PART 3-STEP 11-BE CREATIVE & COURAGEOUS! Any new thought-provoking, creative, risk taking ideas to add to your system?
29. CREATIVE & COURAGEOUS TIP: What's REALLY got your attention in your job, family, environment? This is the last step!

It is my understanding from the GTD Virtual Study Group which did a quick review at the very beginning of their latest podcast is that the timing for this weekly review was limited to 1 hour with all the major items (11 steps) taking approximately 5 minutes each.  The big take away from many of the participants was that they were  amazed at what they accomplished in 1 hour.

Other recommended resources during the Twitter session were:

• Weekly Review CDs
• Weekly Review Summary Article 
• Weekly Review Guides

I've listened to the Weekly Review CDs and I personally recommend them.  The guides are excellent also, and I use them when I need references during GTD processing.

Conference Update - GTD Roadmap, New Media, MT Communications, Office 2.0

I was recently able to attend a David Allen Getting Things Done (GTD) Roadmap seminar during one of my regular trips to Washington DC. 

It was a fabulous one-day conference. 

As someone who has been practicing some form of GTD since 2004, it was great to finally get to learn from David Allen in-person.  The Roadmap material was, frankly, excellent for someone in my situation who tries to practice GTD on a daily basis and is maturing in the model.  For instance for me, my Runway is pretty well managed, as is my Horizon's of focus above 20,000 feet. But I do struggle with Projects (10,000 feet) and consistent Weekly Reviews.  This year (2008) could be considered the year of getting a handle on both Projects & Weekly Reviews. After this seminar, I definitely think I have some good best practices to move forward with.

There are three other conferences that have my attention right now:

I will be at the upcoming New Media Expo (NME) 2008 speaking on "Getting Started With Audio Editing - Hands-on With Audacity." More information about my Audacity related resources over at AztecMedia.net/Audacity.  Christy is going to go with me this year, and we hope to get some Jersey Boys Las Vegas interviews completed for the Jersey Boys Podcast. And yes, we will be seeing the show again while we are there. ;-)

I am also planning  to attend the Manager-Tools.com Effective Communications conference in San Antonio, TX on September 9-10, 2008.  This should be a great conference and if you are a manager, you should really consider attending.  Or at the very least, go over to Manager-Tools.com Getting Started page and get started.

The other conference that is on my radar but I don't think I'm going to be able to attend is Ismael Ghalimi's Office 2.0 Conference.  David Allen is going to be giving the keynote which is great, but the line-up of other speakers is impressive, and the content seems right up my alley.  If you are interested in attending, you can save $100 off the conference fee by using this link that Ismael gave me.  For those who are GTD Connect members, David recently interviewed Ismael for the In Conversation podcast.  It is a very good podcast that examines what Ismael is up to with regards to Office 2.0, and gets deep into the personal GTD systems Ismael is deploying.  He is definitely an impressive 'cloud/virtual systems' guy.

 

Executive Staffing With Stay-At-Home Moms

Sue Shellenbarger @ WSJ.com recently had a very interesting article in her Work & Family column called "How Stay-at-Home Moms Are Filling An Executive Niche." 

I think this idea is extremely beneficial for both the consultant and the business.  The consultant gets to keep their skills current and in use. The business gets access to "C-level" expertise at an extremely reasonable rate.

Some links mentioned in the article:

• FlexibleExecutives.com
• FlexibleResources.com
• FlexexperienceConsulting.com
• MomCorps.com
• On-Ramps.com

"Box House" - More Options But Plan For More Mondey

The "Shipping Container" home concept from 2005 was an interesting idea.  Prefab houses/dwellings/offices have been around for along time, and for some reason I am intellectually interested in thinking about architecture items like this especially from an efficiency and cost-effectiveness standpoint.

I noticed that the WSJ.com recently published an article related to this topic entitled "The House In A Box" by Sara Lin.  The article examined three solutions: Flatpak, NextHouse, and Rocio Romero. 

All-in-all the 'house' part seemed to be what was expected by the owners, but the estimated up front costs of actually start-to-finish seemed to be anywhere from 20-50% off target.  So, if you are considering something like this, expect to pay more than you are being told.

Thoughts on LifeBook?!? - San Diego Self-Improvement Service

I am still trying to wrap my head around an article written by Jennifer Davies in the San Diego Union-Tribune called "Shelf Help: There's a new tool in the individual improvement library - personalized books that are made to guide you to your goals in life."

This new $4000 service is delivered over four days by LifeBook (mylifebook.com) to help participants to outline their goals in such a way that a personal book can be built summing up all that is learned and experienced during the four days of sessions.

Right now the service is available in San Diego and Chicago with future plans to expand their 'lounges' to Orange County and Los Angeles.

The article did mention three other resources:

• Self Help Inc by Micki McGee,
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey (which is an excellent book that I highly recommend), and
• Marketdata Enterprises (that studies the self-help market).

Recommendation - Mobile Project Pouch Containers

David Allen (author of Getting Things Done) recently introduced some new mobile pouches for collecting and organizing 'stuff.'  The are in orange (so they can't be missed) and are called "Getting Zip Pouch."

I've been using an alternative from The Container Store called "Zippered Vinyl & Mesh Pouches."  I usually carry two in my backpack - one to track my Getting System File Folders, and the other to capture and store reference material.  I really like that they are semi-clear and you can see what is inside them.

I have to highly recommend them as an alternative.  They also seem to be lower in price, and you can probably pick them up at your local store.

FYI TECHCRUNCH - Advice From Jack Welch On How To Say Good-bye To A Top Performer

Jack Welch has some excellent suggestions for Michael Arrington.

Wild Idea Gets Some Traction: 'Personal Movie Place'

A while back on one of my runs I had this 'wild' idea that centered around a geographical social networking site that linked movie buffs to each other by enabling them to come together and watch movies that they were very passionate about in a high-end but personal cinema environment.

One of the high-level use cases was:

Sandra goes online to mypersonalmovieplace.com and signs up to "host" her favorite movie "Blade Runner" on Friday night at 8 p.m.  Other fans of "Blade Runner" in her area would be notified and then they could reserve their spots in the 10-20 seat mini-theater.  Once some minimum is met, the room is reserved, and confirmations are sent out.

This movie establishment could have 10-20 of these mini theaters in standard footprint.  The scheduling and collaboration software would be the core glue to bring it all together.  I by no means think something like this is easy to do, the legal issues are probably enough to make most people go crazy.  But when I talk to folks about it, I always get a generally favorable response.

Well ... this idea has some traction no thanks to me.  Mark Cuban and his excellent team at Landmark Theatres is doing something similar at their $20 million multiplex in West LA near Beverly Hills.

They call their rooms - Living Rooms - where a few dozen people can watch a movie in their own personal screen room with access to bar, food, concierge services, and other treats.  The tickets per seat are $11.  There are also plans for slightly bigger rooms like for 60 people that would rent out for $1500 a show.

There is no indication that you can order up the movie of your choice, but I'm sure that is something that would be doable.

The source of the information for Mark Cuban's effort was from an article in the Union-Tribune published on July 22, 2007.

If you like this idea, please feel free to use it (it is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License).  You do have to compete with the likes of Mark Cuban.  Good luck with that.