In Mac on
20 July 2010 with no comments
I have headed off to South Africa to do some research and work on the Aids epidemic with a few of my coworkers. While, I’m here in plan on putting the iPad through it’s paces. So far it has been amazing to work with. It started off with a 15 hour flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg. Knowing this I did a little research on the plane we would be taking over there, the Boeing 77L. This is one of the largest planes in Deltas fleet. According to my research the plane had AC outlets in each row. Well, come to find out that is true if you are sitting in the first class section. We were not.
At first I panicked. I looked frantically across the aisle. No, AC outlets. However I did spot something else, a USB outlet. Score. I plugged in the iPad and sure enough the USB outlet would keep it powered throughout my entire flight. If I was stuck solely with my MacBook Pro, I would have been in trouble. It’s why I love this iPad. More and more, I find that this device is getting me out of sticky situations.
In Thoughts on
18 July 2010 with no comments
I will be off the grid for the next two weeks. I will be posting but infrequently at best. I will resume regular posting when I get back.
In Life on
17 July 2010 with no comments
Do you need more proof?
In Work on
17 July 2010 with no comments
Amy just posted Jeff’s photos of our team. I think I will frame these.
In Mac on
13 July 2010 with Comments Off
It's time for a PSA from me to you about your data. Let me straight with you, if you have not backed up your data, do it now. Losing data (crashed hard drives, stolen computers or damaged equipment) always happens at the worst times. I know, we have lost three hard drives in our house and they have always happened in the middle of major projects.
Don't know what to do? Well, here are two rules about backing up your data.
1. Backups should be offsite – You should always have a back up of your computers data at an offsite location. If you ever lose your valuables to fire, flood or some other disaster, your backup needs to be somewhere else.
2. Backups should be automatic – Don't trust yourself to remember to backup your data. Instead, your backup should happen automatically in the background, without you thinking about it.
How do you make this happen? Check out this article in MacLife magazine which reviews five different services (don't worry their Windows compatible too). The article even gives you a chart with a breakdown of how the services compare to each other.
So heed my warning and back your data up. Now.
In Resources on
12 July 2010 with Comments Off
Short Version
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Read this.
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Read this.
Long Version
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Read this book by Michael Bungay Stanier entitled “Do More Great Work”. At first I thought this book was going to be pretty shallow and very formulaic. However, I was proven wrong after getting through the first two chapters. Using various maps, Stanier walks the reader through exercises that allows the one to identify what great work is for him or her, and then how to make that work happen. Pretty insightful for me.
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Read this ebook from Seth Godin. It’s an addendum to Linchpin (which if you haven’t read it, go read it right now), featuring people who inspired Seth throughout the years. A good, quick read.
In Thoughts on
9 July 2010 with Comments Off
Apple fine tunes products. Just take a look at the new iPhone. They spent hours figuring out which glass to encase the phone in. The user interface icons were painstakingly chosen and refined. Everything is fine tuned and you can feel it. This fine tuning is possible due the fact that Apple just focuses it efforts on a few projects and sets it’s own internal deadline for releasing a product (in other words only they know the release date).
Microsoft tinkers with products. Just look at the amount of money they spend on R&D ($9.5 billion). Why do they get so little return on that money? Because more than likely they have hundreds if not thousands of projects going on at the same time. At that rate you really can’t fine tune anything, especially when you announce products almost a year in advance. This of course throws a public deadline around your neck, which has Microsoft rushing to get it out the door. Too many products, with a lot of tinkering and public deadlines is a complete mess.
Tinkering is okay in the creative process. Sometimes by tinkering with something you can make a new discovery. However, tinkering doesn’t need to take place when you are trying to get something out the door.
Fine tuning though, is a must towards the end of a project. Fine tuning provides the user the feeling that what they are experiencing has depth and was carefully thought through. Fine tuning is what separates the amateurs from the professionals.
So tinker all you want on the front end, just make sure you fine tune on the back end.
In Uncategorized on
6 July 2010 with Comments Off
Quick note for those of you read this regularly. This week I am doing a bit of work under the hood of this site. I'm trying to build in some new features and experiment with some new tools. That being said, if you get some random items in your rss feed or see something out of place, just ignore it as I am trying to get the kinks out of the system. For those wanting to know what exactly I am doing here is a short list…
- Moving the site from http://blog.darrelgirardier.com to http://blog.darrelg.com (a little easier to spell)
- Adding a new section called "Sidebar" which will contain:
– Daily design and creative links from Delicious.com
– Art, videos and photos of the creative type
– More day to day activity stuff (behind the scenes)
- Implementing Posterous into the mix. This will allow me to update in multiple ways.
- Small UI changes. Increasing the font size, reducing the number of pages and laying out the categories more clearly.
That's all for now. Have a great week.
In Resources on
6 July 2010 with Comments Off
Short Version
- Listen to this
- Use this
Long Version
- Listen to this lecture entitled “Copyright vs. Universal Access” by Cory Doctorow. While I don’t agree with Cory on everything, he does a great job of making you think about the current state of media and copyright. Cory’s current assessment of the ebook market shows how they are headed down the same dangerous path that has practically killed the music industry.
- Use this website to add to really cool icons to anything that you are typing. Ever wonder how someone made the really cool Apple logo part of their Twitter handle? Well, just fire up Glyph board by Neven Morgan and cut and paste.
In Uncategorized on
3 July 2010 with no comments
Do you think you could just…?
That statement is usually completed by something makes most creatives cringe. It can be anything from “whip up a logo”, “put a few clips together” or “make this look cool”.
The issue here is the word “just”. Here it’s being used as adverb to let the creative know that what the person with the request wants is something small and insignificant. The problem of course is that creative work is neither small or insignificant and should not be treated as such.
How do you respond? First, you can say yes, which only allows the problem to keep happening. You could also say no, which could make the person requesting angry and confused. Or you could try qualifying your answers.
Qualifying your answers? Simply put, give a reason why behind your yes or no. Let the person know that what your being asked to is not as simple as they think. Look at like it as a chance to educate the person asking about the creative process. Will that require work? Yes, but it could alleviate you of future requests of the same kind.
Will they argue with you? They might. Will they think you’re dodging the work? They could, depending on whether or not you are being truthful. Face it, some people love making requests of others without thought of what the work might require. Some people even go so far as to say that they are “empowering” you to do the work (I hate the word “empowered” for that very reason). Then again, there are some people who just need help with creative work, and that is where you come in.