Darrin Rich

Minimal Mac: Microsoft's Biggest Miss

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 05:04:02 -0800

One of the benefits of a long car trip with my wife is the opportunity to have really great and insightful conversations with the smartest person I know. Yesterday, on the first leg of our trip, we spent some time discussing Microsoft’s many missed opportunities. The failure to take the iPhone…

RIP iChat, 2002-2012

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 16:26:20 -0800

RIP iChat, 2002-2012:

Dear iChat, This isn’t really a eulogy. It isn’t goodbye. You’ve simply gone to a better place: iMessage for Mountain Lion. I know you’ll be happy there, watching on proudly as the kids (on iPhones) jabber back and forth in the translucent bubbles you passed down to them. The spirit of I…

mashable: So bad it’s awesome.

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:30:45 -0800

mashable:

So bad it’s awesome.

Really cool concept. I would love to try this out.

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:43:52 -0800

Really cool concept. I would love to try this out.

I really want this thermostat. Can’t believe I’m...

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:08:59 -0800

I really want this thermostat. Can’t believe I’m excited about a thermostat

http://www.nest.com/

evernote: Get version control over your notes with the note...

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:38:47 -0800

evernote:

Get version control over your notes with the note history feature. If you or someone you’re sharing a notebook with makes a change to a note you don’t, like you can easilly roll back to a previously synced note using the note history feature. This feature is only available to Premium users. Check out our complete list premium features here.

Several times each day Evernote will check to see if any notes have changed. If they have, it’ll make a new snapshot of those notes and add them to your Note History stored on our servers.

Email Etiquette: cc & bcc are not your friends

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 06:23:00 -0800

This is a guest post by Maura Thomas - a speaker, trainer, and author of Personal Productivity Secrets from Wiley Publishing. Learn more at RegainYourTime.com.

Do you work at a company where everyone is copied on everything? My work has shown me that so much email a company generates is unnecessary, ineffective, and primarily unread. Many of these are sent as a cc or a bcc. The fact that these acronyms stand for “carbon copy” and “blind carbon copy” should give you an idea that their time has passed. Who even remembers what a “carbon copy” is?

I want to point out some of the reasons I’ve seen these used, and give you some ideas for improving your effectiveness with email.

Cc for FYI

Bad Idea: Sometimes a cc is used to “keep people in the loop.” Perhaps you copy someone on an email because you want them to know what’s going on. This is not the best way to keep your co-workers informed. First, your recipient has to read through the message to figure out why they got it. And then they may not glean from it what you intended them to know. What’s more likely, if the message is not addressed to them, they probably didn’t read it at all. Maybe they just deleted it, or perhaps they moved it to a reference folder, or they marked it as unread but kept it in their inbox. All of these are ineffective for the recipient, because they cause clutter, but also you have not met your objective by sending it to them in the first place. This is one of the most frequent causes of communication breakdown in an organization.

Better: If you want someone to know something you’ve put in an email, cut and paste the information and send it in a separate email directly to them. Then there is no chance for misinterpretation and a lower chance that it will be overlooked. Alternately, address them directly in the original message, near the top. For example, “Hi Jane – I’m writing to summarize our meeting. Mary, I’m copying you because I wanted you to know what we agreed upon yesterday.”

Cc for CYA

Bad Idea: Maybe you’re not really sure if you’re on the right track, so you copy your boss, figuring that this will give her an opportunity to correct you if she doesn’t agree with your course of action. See above. She’s probably not reading it, and copying her does not absolve you of responsibility anyway. This is another source of communication breakdown within an organization, sometimes with damaging results.

Better: Run your intentions by your boss prior to the communication. Or, as above, address your boss directly in the message and invite her input. For example: “Jane, I think we should go with the 5×7 flier. Mary, please let me know if you disagree.”

Bcc for Private Communication

Bad Idea: You’ve probably heard at least one horror story about a Bcc gone embarrassingly awry. A common use for bcc is to share a message with someone that you don’t want the recipient to know you shared. Ethics aside, there is simply too much potential for unintended consequences with a bcc.

Better: If you want to privately copy someone on a message, send it to the primary recipient, then go into your “sent” folder and forward the message, alerting the “private” recipient why you are sending it to them. For example, “Mary, below is the message I sent to Jane to call attention to her frequent tardiness.”

Employing these ideas can allow you to set an example for communication within your organization, minimize communication breakdowns, cut down on email clutter, and save everyone some time.

If you have other ideas or thoughts, of course I’d love to read them in the comments. Thanks for reading!

seanbuscay: Cut-Away Leaf Art

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 07:02:05 -0800

seanbuscay:

Cut-Away Leaf Art

alfredtips: URL History and adding bookmarks to Alfred From...

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 05:20:13 -0800

alfredtips:

URL History and adding bookmarks to Alfred

From version 1.0, Alfred can now remember all the URLs that you launch through the app.

Simply call up Alfred, type a URL and hit Return. The next time you start typing this URL, Alfred will suggest it in the results. Just make sure you have “Store and Show history of URLs in Alfred” ticked in the preferences.

Tip: This is the fastest way of adding a bookmark to Alfred. Just launch your URL once and Alfred will suggest it from now on.

Andrew's Hot Chocolate: Lovely Users [not]

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 07:28:27 -0800

Andrew's Hot Chocolate: Lovely Users [not]:

preppeller:

[Updated with latest reply at bottom]

Almost all of the email we receive is from absolutely lovely users who are very happy for our help, some is even just email praising Alfred or praising what we have done. Every so often, you have to support slightly difficult users. As you all know, I take…

What’s the scoop on PPO? HMO? HSA? | DIME

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 08:51:49 -0800

What’s the scoop on PPO? HMO? HSA? | DIME

I think this bird is trying to get in and kill me

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:24:47 -0800

[Flash 10 is required to watch video.]

I think this bird is trying to get in and kill me

This bird always scares the crap out of me when it lands on my...

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:19:13 -0800

This bird always scares the crap out of me when it lands on my truck mirror (Taken with instagram)

It’s just fun reading (Taken with instagram)

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:54:09 -0800

It’s just fun reading (Taken with instagram)

I like my stapler. (Taken with instagram)

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 07:12:15 -0800

I like my stapler. (Taken with instagram)

Wife and I made spicy shrimp fried brown rice. Pretty dang good

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 13:14:00 -0800

Wife and I made spicy shrimp fried brown rice. Pretty dang good

sparrowmail: Sparrow 1.5 is here. It brings 3 of the most...

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 06:23:19 -0800

sparrowmail:

Sparrow 1.5 is here. It brings 3 of the most requested & awaited features!

First. Dropbox.

Drag, drop, send (and sync). Sending a mail with attachement has never been simpler. And without even noticing it, you are syncing your files in the cloud making sure you never lose them.

Second. Block remote images.
Keep control of the images displayed in your mail: once or always.

Third. Search.

With it’s new smart search & Gmail-like tokens, find the mail you’re looking for in a matter of seconds.

Already a Sparrower? As always, this update is completely free for you. Check for update or visit the Mac AppStore and enjoy the new features.

If you’re new to Sparrow, you can get the lite version here or get the full version for $9.99.

Christmas soda made with hops and malt. Strange tasting....

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 12:57:24 -0800

Christmas soda made with hops and malt. Strange tasting. Can’t decide if I like it or not

New hospital is looking nice

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 16:27:28 -0800

New hospital is looking nice

Photo

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 16:02:26 -0800