Two weeks with no iPhone
Apr 9, 01:05 PM by Eric Allen
A little over two weeks ago I was giving my girlfriend a hard time about how much time she spent reading blogs on Google Reader. After a bit of cajoling, she responded “fine, I’ll give up Google Reader if you’ll give up iPhone for a week!” Now this seemed like an absurd challenge, but after a bit of negotiation, we had a deal. She wouldn’t use Google Reader or go directly to blogs, and I would only use Phone, SMS, and Calendar functions on my iPhone. Anything less and I’d start missing responsibilities. Anyway, if either of us cheated the challenge would be extended (for both of us) by one week.
A few days into the challenge she ended up on Ben Cashnocha’s blog via Twitter, and actually read the article there. I called this a violation, so we were at two weeks. Two weeks with no real smartphone functions! Two weeks with no email, no web, no games, no weather, nothing! I held off getting a real PDA until sixth grade, and I’ve had one continuously ever since (I don’t bring one on camping trips, though). So, this PDA sabbatical was quite an interesting experience.
For the first few days I had to keep tight control of myself lest I end up checking my email on the way to class. After that, it got easier. By the end of two weeks, I think I’ve actually broken some of my bad PDA habits. I actually walk to class now without distracting myself the whole way with infoporn. I’m more mindful of the world around me, and I waste less time doing stupid things with my iPhone to keep myself busy. When I first got an internet-connected PDA (seventh grade), I though it would be great to have something I could be productive with in little five- or ten-minute periods of downtime. As it turns out, I’m better off cooling my heels and relaxing instead of constantly trying to be productive. I never would have realized that if I hadn’t accepted the challenge.
Taking a break from constant internet connectivity has been a very healthy thing for me to do. I’ve learned a great deal about myself and how I deal with the world. Who would’ve thought? My wonderful girlfriend deserves a lot of thanks for putting me up to this crazy challenge.
Dear Joyent
Dec 31, 03:54 PM by Eric Allen
Dear Joyent,
I really can’t believe how much you guys have lost your edge. It seems like just last year you were top dog in Rails hosting. Speaking of which, what happened to that awesome Rails hosting site you acquired? Whatever, I’m sure you’ve been working on more important stuff like….oh wait, what? I really want to believe you are busy on things that will improve the experience of your customers, but I haven’t seen anything in the last few years. Heck, I know somebody who just finished migrating from the old FreeBSD system last week! Didn’t that migration start over two years ago?
How can you possibly have let something like Engine Yard happen to you?? Here you are, top dog in Rails hosting, lots of great press, great server farm, good service, and these whipper snappers eat your lunch? Heck, what kind of edge have you got on Slicehost anymore? I know, I know, you’re doing a lot more than Rails…like, uh, hosting people’s Wordpress blogs? Come on, how card can that be? Your shiny Virtualmin is sluggish as all get out, and setting up mongrels still isn’t particularly easy.
I guess I should probably just shut up. I’m one of those pesky freeloaders who committed $500 up front to get in while things were getting going. Yeah, I had definitely planned on getting more features out of Joyent as time went on, but it’s been a few years and the $500 has probably paid itself off. I’m just a cost to you. But even if I’d gone and gotten a shiny Accelerator, I still wouldn’t be any better off. I’m writing not because I need the features (my next Rails app will probably end up on Engine Yard), I’m writing because I care about you guys. I loved having the personal touch in the forums back in the day, and I feel like Joyent has taken good care of me despite the lack of new things. I wish you the best of luck as a company, and I hope to be proven wrong!
Evernote
Dec 29, 11:09 PM by Eric Allen
I really can’t say enough good things about Evernote, the online note-taking application I ran into a few weeks ago. It’s not just online, it’s on my iPhone, my Mac, my other Mac, the PC I rarely use, and I can even send notes in via email! I’ve finally found a place I can keep all of my random thoughts and notes that organizes them well and is accessible from anywhere. Oh, and as a bonus I can record audio and photo notes, and it even searches for text inside the photos! I can take a snapshot of a whiteboard from my iPhone, and have it searchable within minutes. Evernote does everything I could ask for, and more.
Let’s start with basic text notes. When I have an idea, a thought about a project, or some notes I need to take about what I’m working on, I launch the Evernote application. Command+N gets me to a new note, I throw a title and a few tags in, and I’m immediately writing a note with rich text formatting and checklists! The tags are a huge plus for me: I can organize all of my notes and index them without even thinking about it. When I want to go back and review notes about a specific project, I just click on its tag and instantly I have a list of what I want to see. I can select multiple tags at once to narrow the field even tighter. If Evernote just handled text notes and synchronization with multiple computers, I would be sold.
Nothing’s cooler than having an iPhone app, right? Well, Evernote’s app delivers exceptionally well. I hadn’t bothered to purchase a voice recording application yet, and boy was that a good move! Now, when I’m on the go, I can whip out my iPhone and be recording a voice note straight into Evernote in seconds. I can add tags and textual notes to make the audio easier to find in the future, and I’m on my way. I can’t believe how awesome this feature is. But wait, there’s more! In addition to handling text nearly as well as the desktop version, and making audio recording a snap, Evernote for the iPhone lets you take pictures of things as notes and search them later! It did an impressive job on a few of my whiteboard snapshots, and my handwriting isn’t very good. Evernote for the iPhone on its own is worth a few bucks in the App Store, but even it is free!
Last but not least, the synchronization is perfect. No matter where I am, I have all of my notes at my fingertips, and the interface is optimized for the device I’m using. The Mac client is a beautiful piece of software, the iPhone app is well optimized, and the web version seems almost as good as the Mac! Now I never have to think about where my notes are—they’re with me wherever I go. Awesome.
Evernote is already an amazing product, and I think it’s clear that it will only get better. They just launched document synchronization, so you can keep your documents with you everywhere, too! I’m already very happy with this free product, and I will have no qualms about upgrading to their $5/month plan if and when I need it. Thank you Evernote for making my life easier!
An Information Diet: one month later
May 20, 09:28 PM by Eric Allen
It’s been over a month since I went on my information diet, and it is such a better lifestyle. I still read blogs, check email, and function normally, but I never read slashdot, digg, or reddit. As it turns out, this works quite well for reducing my inforporn to a reasonable minimum. Even four weeks later, I still find myself trying to check news sites once in a while, but thanks to AdBlock, the urge goes unfulfilled. I’m very productive at work (I’m back in CA for the summer), and I have a 3-day average for finishing tasks that I keep track of in Tracks. I’m even reading real books!
Paul Graham seems to have discovered a different solution to the same issue. Some other people have also found RescueTime to work well for keeping tabs on themselves.
