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A Web Worker’s December Twenty-Fourth

Charles Hamilton — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 02:00:53 +0000

‘Twas the night before Christmas, and in my workspace,
The tech gear was taking breaks from the rat race.
The smartphones were plugged into USB,
And the laptops were waiting for “press any key.”
The servers were nestled with heads in the cloud,
And a few FTP files were being allowed.
So I started to close Twitter, Facebook and Gist,
‘Cause tomorrow, I thought, the news could be missed.
When from the dark screens there rose such a ruckus,
I jumped to my desk to see what overtook us.
The normally placid display on my Evo
Was flashing and shining a red-and-white glow.
The light was so bright I could almost not see,
But it looked like a video window to me.
And from the speaker there came such a sound,
Saying “Can you hear me?” in a voice big and round.
“Cell service is bad at the North Pole, you know,
But I wanted to call you on Skype ere I go;
To get on the sleigh,” said he, sounding merry;
“I’ve got more calls coming in on my BlackBerry.
The season is great now the ‘Net works all right;
I have the elves tweeting; Rudolf runs my website.
I can check Google Tasks while I’m up in the air;
And I’m mayor of my own domain on Foursquare.
I’ve outsourced most packages to Amazon,
And UPS delivers for me by the ton;
But there are some things I must still do myself,
There are just a few presents can’t be left to an elf.
Some gifts just won’t fit stockings hung on the hearth;
It’s tough to find packages for Peace on Earth,
And I pay large-box charges on Goodwill to All,
And Joy to the World can’t be found at a mall.
Meanwhile, though, can you do me a favor,
I’ll thank you for being such a good neighbor.
Please pass on the word to your friends at the blog:
Tell them for me to have an eggnog.
Say thank you to Simon, to Scott B. and Amber,
Pamela, Dawn, Thursday, Darrell; remember
Celine and Aliza, and don’t forget Om;
And pass on my thanks to the readers at home.”
He raised eyes to webcam, or maybe to heaven,
And said, “Wish them good cheer in twenty-eleven,
But now, tell them all to relax and sleep tight:
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

Image courtesy of Flickr user SolYoung

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Remote Workers Should Lead the Charge for New Mobile Tech

Darrell Etherington — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 14:00:48 +0000

Lately I’m all about taking chances on tech that may or may not improve how I work and what I get done. It can be expensive, but it’s fun and (most of the time) it’s deductible, too. I do it because one of my few hobbies includes being an early adopter of new tech, but recently I’ve been thinking that there’s probably more to it than that.

The fact is that companies aren’t willing to field test new mobile tech unless they receive a huge incentive to do so. Breaking ground with new tech often falls then to freelancers and contractors who have a greater degree of freedom regarding choice of tools they use. Not only is it just plain cool that field testing new toys often falls to us and then trickles up, it’s also a responsibility I think web workers and the places that support them should openly and actively embrace.

Sometimes this means taking a risk with your money and investing in something relatively untested, but that’s not necessarily what I mean to encourage. Some may not be so quick to drop hard-earned cash on things that might end up collecting dust on a closet shelf. You don’t always have to spend your own money to test things, though. There are ways to have your cake and eat it, too.

Firstly, if you think you can make a strong enough case, you can roll equipment and software purchase or rental costs into your contract price. This can work more often than you’d think, partly because companies like to spend money on software and equipment since it makes them feel like they’ll have a greater chance of getting a quality product back. I still can’t really get over how many times I’ve been asked to suggest a paid alternative to the free tools that I’ve written into contracts.

Secondly, you could ask for things you want to try out to be adopted at the places you frequent for work. That could mean the local coffee shop, or it could be your neighborhood coworking office, if you’re lucky enough to have one. For example, I’d like to get Qi-standard wireless induction charging pads to be made available at my own coworking haunt. It wouldn’t be hard, since there are even inexpensive Nintendo Wii charging accessories using that standard. You may face resistance and skepticism, but if a few others support your argument, you shouldn’t have too much trouble working something out.

Helping to discover and spread the word about new mobile tech advances is rewarding in its own right, but it also benefits you as a web working professional. You’ll be occupying the cutting edge, and it’ll show in the products you deliver and in how knowledgeable you come across to employers and peers. That’s worth the price of a few duds, even if you are buying your own gear instead of folding it into contracts.

Does anyone else feel that part of their role as a web worker is to test out new things, or is it just my way of justifying an extreme gadget-buying process addiction?

Work Smarter: 5 Top, Inexpensive Hardware Devices and Tweaks

Samuel Dean — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:00:06 +0000

Some of the biggest hardware efficiency boosts we can get are either completely free, or nearly so. Sure, a maxed-out new laptop would be great to have, but these are tough times. If you spend a little time with the hardware you have or pick up some very inexpensive peripherals, you can immediately start working smarter. In this post, you’ll find five hardware devices and tweaks that you can put to work with good results almost immediately.

Optimize Your USB Flash Drive. Many people own USB flash drives that they got as gifts or were passed on from someone else, and high-capacity versions have become very cheap. Even on drives with relatively low capacity, you can put entire suites of freeware and open-source applications on your flash drive, keep it in your pocket, and have useful applications to use no matter where you are, even if you need to work on someone else’s computer. PortableApps is my favorite site for downloading a suite of Windows apps optimized for a flash drive, while MacLibre is a good equivalent for people on Macs.

Next-Gen Note Taking. Recently, I’ve been using the Livescribe Pulse smartpen (shown above), which you can get for $149 to $199, for capturing digital notes. It’s a writing instrument, but it has a computer and camera onboard. As you jot down notes on special paper (it has millions of dots embedded in it), every move you make is digitally captured so that you can take handwritten notes right into software applications. What makes it better than other similar digital pens is that it also records audio, and creates a time line so that you can jump to various parts of a recording and review anything you were taking notes on at that point. Highly recommended.

Better Battery Life. Low battery life remains a chief complaint among users of portable computers, but there are a number of simple steps you can take to radically improve it. In this post, you’ll find nine tips that can make a big difference. Also, this post illustrates how much juice the display on your portable computer consumes, which is an incredible amount. One of the quickest and easiest ways to get much more battery life is simply to turn your brightness down.

The Lowly Mouse. In my post, “Nine Ways to Make Your Mouse Roar,” I made the point that many of us spend more time sitting with a computer and a mouse than we do with any person. The post details a number of ways to get more out of your mouse (not many people read mouse documentation), including using a scroll wheel directly within productivity applications, scrolling horizontally, and speed scrolling without using the scroll wheel.

Get More From Wi-Fi. Many of us rely on Wi-Fi all day long, but I am constantly surprised by how many people there are who don’t optimize their Wi-Fi setups. As just one example, a couple of years ago, I wrote this post, recommending using access points around a home, and many commenters responded that they use a router only for home Wi-Fi, and haven’t considered access points. That’s fine in some homes, but in others, especially larger ones, an under-$50 access point can provide huge performance and range benefits. Check out more tips on inexpensive Wi-Fi hardware upgrades here.

Share your hardware tips in the comments.

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Ditching the Crutch: Improve Productivity by Avoiding the Lure of the New

Darrell Etherington — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:08:46 +0000

As web workers we often like to think of ourselves as being on the cutting edge of technology. Our clients often depend on us to be just that.

But it’s easy to get so caught up in keeping current that we forget to keep the focus on productivity, where it should rightly remain. We can have all the tools and gadgets under the sun, but that won’t necessarily make us effective resources for our clients.

The problem really came home to me recently when I realized I was eagerly awaiting my new Eee PC so that I could get out and explore some co-working with friends. It struck me as painfully similar to the time when I was eagerly awaiting my new Wacom Cintiq 12WX so that I could begin doing freelance illustration in earnest. And that was similar to the time that I was eagerly awaiting the release of Adobe CS4, so that I could finally purchase the Classroom in a Book series and begin supplementing my self-taught proficiency.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but I was clearly waiting and anticipating much more than I was doing and producing. A quest for the best tools had become an excuse to indulge that most dangerous of professional vices: procrastination. Drastic measures were in order. Hence the following rules:

Rule 1: If you have what you need to do something, regardless of whether or not you might be able to do it better with something new or upcoming, do it.

I call this the Robinson Crusoe rule. The key is to stop thinking of your goals as inextricably tied to software and hardware beyond your reach. Freelancers, and freelance web workers, are valued most for their innovative solutions, not for their ability to rack up huge amounts of additional IT spend. Do what you can with what’s on the island; don’t sit back and wait for rescue.

Rule 2: Every once in a while, take a “Paper Day”

A Paper Day is sort of like a personal day, except you’re still working, you’re just working differently. When I take one of these days, I am not allowed to touch a computer for professional purposes unless absolutely necessary. I often take a Paper Day on the weekend, to avoid spot requests from clients. Writing longhand flexes different muscles, and helps me escape the boxed-in thinking repetitious digital work lends itself to. Plus, there are activities like brainstorming that I still find much more productive and enjoyable on paper.

Rule 3: Set up an IT refresh schedule, like those employed by private companies and corporations.

To prevent a passion for staying ahead of the curve from becoming a daily distraction, I’ve found it helpful to establish a schedule for reviewing, purchasing, and implementing new hardware and software into my workflow. I borrowed the tactic from the small consulting firm I used to work for full-time. They would review and make changes to their IT spend twice yearly, at regularly scheduled intervals. For my own purposes, a quarterly review seems to work best. And, of course, you always have to allow for unexpected purchases (to replace broken hardware, perhaps) and upgrades, as long as they’re actually necessary.

The temptation of shiny new things is a hard one to resist, especially for those of us so steeped in the tech world. Nor should we resist it all of the time, since really, it often represents our bread and butter. Yet we do need to establish boundaries, in order to make sure that the tech we use serves to bolster, not interfere with, our productivity.

How do you ensure the lure of new tech doesn’t impact on your productivity?

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