What the heck is a podcast — and should I be listening to them?
I freaking love podcasts.
Thanks to all who came out for my “Optimizing Social Media” marketing presentation at AlphaLoft‘s Portsmouth Startup Meetup.
Evernote Web Clipper saves content better than bookmarks.
Is your browser packed with bookmarks to read later? Do you use a service like Pocket (formerly Read it Later) or Bitly as a way to save links to visit later? Have you ever pinned on Pinterest or posted a link on Facebook as a reminder to yourSELF to read something later? It’s okay, we’ve all been there—but there’s a better way to save articles and websites of interest: Web Clipper for Evernote.
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| Evernote Web Clipper is available for all major browsers (and Internet Explorer (*zing!*)). |
The Web Clipper is my new favorite Evernote application/extension. The control over how much of a web page it clips, the ability to direct it to a specific notebook or tag it right there while you’re saving the web page is invaluable. And of course, in Evernote, once it’s in, it’ll never take up future space so you can save it forever. You know, in case you suddenly want to tell someone about something you recently read. Whip out your phone and type in a keyword or tag and BOOM, derailed conversation thread saved!
Let’s answer a few questions…
Productivity tip of the day: take advantage of keyboard shortcuts on your iPhone and never type your email address again!
If you do a lot of mobile browsing, you’ve likely mistyped out your email address about a hundred billion times. “There’s gotta be a better way!” Well, there is, Kevin!
The iPhone OS allows you to set custom keyboard shortcuts. Your email address is an absolute no-brainer for this option, although you can set them for any frequently used word or phrase. In this example, I’ll use “#portsbkfstclub,” since that’s something I type frequently and have to check each time to make sure I’ve spelled it correctly.
Ever want to get an Instagram filter on a photo without sharing it publicly on Instagram?
Austin Kleon tweeted this brilliant hack awhile ago, and I’d thought I’d share it with you all, in case you aren’t already following him on Twitter (which I suggest you do). Don’t worry, he’s cool with stealing.
1. iPhone Settings > Airplane mode > on 2. Post photo to Instagram. Fail. Remove. 3. Filtered photo is now in your camera roll w/o posting
— Austin Kleon (@austinkleon) September 30, 2013
- In your iPhone Settings, turn on Airplane Mode.
- Instagram photo as normal—but when you “Share” it, it will fail. Just tap the “X” and Remove Upload.
- The photo is now on your Camera Roll in your iPhone’s Photos.
That’s it! (Don’t worry, I also Instagrammed this tip.)
Personally, I usually use Camera+, as I recommended in a previous post, because it gives much more control and filtering options. However, this trick can be quicker, or come in handy if you want the specific look of an Instagram filter you love.
Once you have amassed a bajillion notes in your Evernote account, you may find it cumbersome to locate frequently-used reference notes. There are plenty of tactics for solving this—sidebar links, tags, or any number of searches or saved searches—but one I find super useful in some cases is creating a Table of Contents note using the Note Link function in Evernote.
A few months ago, I learned about Coffitivity. It is a tool based around the notion that some people work better with the ambient noise of a bustling coffeeshop around them. I like Coffitivity a lot. I like even more that they’ve built in a volume level that can be adjusted in tandem with the volume of your own music, making it likely that you’ll at least give it a try, and that you’ll hopefully keep using it even if you are a music listener.
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| Coffitivity |
Thanks to Netted by the Webbys, I just discovered another new service: focus@will. This site offers channels of various genres of music for focusing and productivity—and the kicker is, they are all ambient, wordless, lyricless tunes, which is optimal for not losing focus.
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| focus@will |
I’ve created Rdio playlists for writing—some classical, some movie soundtracks (which are great for writing fiction, and which I lean heavily upon for NaNoWriMo in November), but this is one-click access to curated ambient music, which is way easier than culling your own wordless tunes.
So there you have it—two new productivity tools for writing, working, and getting things done! I love finding this cool tools, so please let me know what neat-o productivity hacks YOU have discovered!
The Facebook iPhone app has a slide-to-shrink message feature.
Writing is an important part of any job, particularly if you use social media, where communication style and language are integral to maintaining a consistent voice. However, there are times when a writing project arises which is longer than 140 characters or the average Facebook post. And if you are tired of looking at Microsoft Word’s clunky interface, trying some new tools may help get your creative juices flowing.
This post is for my lovely colleague, @thenotoriousNME, who just upgraded to the iPhone 4 from a phone model not to be named… let’s just say it was a flip phone… Anyhoo, I figured I’d post my top musts for her here, in laughtercrystal land, where other random interwebs browsers might partake of this advice as well. With iPhone 4 now free for new contract-signers, there are probably tons of people getting them who feel behind on the whole “app” thing. Never fear.
The following recommended apps that I have on my iPhone 4S also apply to pre-Siri, pre-iOS6 phones, and most are available to Android users as well, so if you’ve become frustrated with iPhone 4S/5 exclusive posts, welcome to this post where no one judges you for not having, like THE latest phone. We love you. Settle in.
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