Cheat codes for your real life

I was just reading an interesting compilation of "cheat codes" for real life on Reddit.  I play quite a few video games, and I'm familiar with cheat codes there - you can use them to gain access to special weapons, gain super strength, open up hidden challenges, and things like that.  I've used them a few times myself.

The list on Reddit is similar - special commands, sequences, etc. you can use in real life to gain advantages.

The full list or real life cheats is very entertaining (be warned, there is some adult language in there!) - here are a few I really liked from the list:

 #1. Stop: Stop: Play. Skip advertisements in movies and go straight to the movie.

#17. Can't find your car in a parking lot? hitting the lock button trying to get it to beep? Extend the distance of key-less entry by putting the key under your chin. The signal will resonate in your skull increasing the range dramatically. I swear to god this works, and I'm told it's safe because the radiation is non-ionizing.

#23. To peel a boiled egg, roll it around on your plate for a while until all of the eggshell is cracked evenly. Then it's easy to remove the complete shell at once. After you boil eggs immediately place them in ice cold water for a few minutes. No vinegar or salt or oil or whatever people use. Shells slip right off

#53. On flights, if you are fighting for an arm rest with a stranger. bring your arm (the one thats on the same side the arm rest you want) up to your mouth and sneeze/cough. Then place it by the armrest. The other person will move their arm. Has had 100% success rate.

There are a bunch more.  I can't vouch for whether they all work, but some of them are things I want to try (#53, for example).

Also, on #23 for peeling boiled eggs, I have my own little tricks for boiling eggs:  

• When you are going to boil eggs, put them in the water while it is still cold and let them warm up with the water - this greatly reduces the likelihood that the shells will crack during the cooking process. (You can further reduce the chances of cracking by letting the eggs warm up for 15-30 minutes after you take them out of the fridge.
• To make them easier to peel, add 1-2 tablespoons of baking soda (not baking powder) to the water before you boil them.  It doesn't affect the taste of the eggs at all, but it definitely makes it easier to peel the eggs - particularly if you peel them while their still warm.
• Also, the fresher your eggs are, the easier they are to peel.

Got any real-life "cheats" of your own?

A compact keyboard case for your iPad

In previous posts, I've written about the ZaggFolio keyboard for my iPad and how much I loved to use it with Evernote.  That keyboard totally changed how I used my iPad, and made it very easy for me to take notes and increase my productivity on my iPad.

A successful quest for less travel weight and bulk

Recently, I began to look for ways to lighten the weight of my laptop bag, and the ZaggFolio eventually became a target - it was a little bulky and thick compared to my MacBook Air.  A month or so ago, I discovered a new, lighter keyboard for the iPad called the Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover, which is made for the iPad 2 and the New iPad (aka "iPad 3").

The Logitech Ultrathin is a bluetooth keyboard like the ZaggFolio, and has a similar key layout.  However, instead of a vinyl case, this one attaches directly to the magnetic apparatus used to attach the Apple SmartCover.  As you can see in the picture below, the Logitech Ultrathin goes very well with the iPad and has a similar snap and powdered aluminum finish.  The magnetic hinge along the size of the keyboard holds the keyboard to the iPad very well but still makes it easy to remove the iPad so you can place it in the keyboard for use (see the other picture, on the right).

The good stuff

There is a lot to like about this keyboard.  Here are some examples:

This keyboard is slightly smaller than a "normal" desktop keyboard, but I find that you get used to it in a few minutes with no trouble.  As a touch typist, the adjustment was pretty quick and painless.

The battery life is very good, as well - I used it for nearly a month of pretty heavy use without having to recharge the keyboard (you can use any microUSB cable for this - one is included with the keyboard, as well).

There are a number of shortcut keys built into the keyboard to give you quick access to iPad functions like Search, Safari, cut, copy, paste, volume controls, play / pause, etc.  You have to press the "fn" (Function) key to access these.

While in use, the keyboard is very stable - one thing I like about the design is that the little "trough" you use to prop up the keyboard has some magnets in it to hold the iPad in place so you can move it around, type on your lap, etc. without having to worry that the iPad will fall off the keyboard.

You can "dock" the iPad in either portrait or landscape mode, depending on the best orientation for the app you're using.

The keyboard has magnets built into it that automatically turn off the iPad's screen when you close it (the same way Apple's SmartCover does).

Stuff to be aware of

While I am very happy with the Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard for iPad, it isn't perfect.  Here are some things you should know:

The shiny finish on the inside of the keyboard is a fingerprint magnet (not they keys themselves - they are a matte finish).  Doesn't bother me, but it comes with a microfibre cloth to wipe them off it the fingerprints bother you.

When it's closed, this keyboard will protect the iPad screen from bumps, but it is not a protective case that will cushion the iPad if you drop it.  If that is what you need, the ZaggFolio is probably a better choice for you.  As for me, I (knock on wood) haven't ever dropped my iPad so I care more about protecting the back from scratches.  For that, I have a Zagg InvisibleShield cover on the back (it is clear, but makes the back a bit more "grippy" to make it easier to hold on to the iPad while I carry it).  I don't have any kind of shield on the Logitech keyboard, though.

A couple of thoughts in closing

If you have an iPad and you take a lot of notes or want to work on the go, the Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover deserves serious consideration.  It is such a productivity booster (at least for me).

One comment I get from time to time is, "You have a MacBook Air - why don't you just use it instead of this contraption?"  There are a couple of key reasons:

1. Battery life:  I can use my iPad in meetings all day and never even come close to running out of juice.  My MacBook Air lasts a long time, but not as long as my iPad.
2. Focus:  While I can task switch on the iPad, I can't really multitask.  On my laptop, I start off with the best intentions and open Evernote to take notes.  Then, suddenly, in a moment of weakness I find myself in a web browser, or in email, or on Twitter, or…  On the iPad, I can switch to another app, but it takes more effort and forethought.  The fullscreen nature of the iPad helps keep me more focused.

Sharpen your saw with THINKBook

A while back, I bought a THINKBook, which was developed by my old friend Rajesh Setty.  The problem?  I got busy and forgot I had it, so I just got around to using it a few weeks ago.  I am very impressed with this unassuming little notebook.

What the heck is a THINKBook?

In simple terms, a THINKBook is a hard-bound red notebook, about the size of a Moleskine notebook.  But it's way more than that; sure, it has ruled paged you can use for writing, but it is more than just a general purpose notebook.. This is a thinking person's journal, for challenging your thinking.  

The thinking challenges are framed by "prompters" on various topics interspersed throughout the THINKBook (see the example on the right).  There are a bunch of topics relevant to both business and personal introspection, and I like them very much.  Full disclosure, I didn't think I'd like them at first, but I surrendered to the process, tried a couple and found that they were very useful.

The structure of the prompter exercises in the book really pushes you to think at a fairly deep level, and definitely promotes "out of the box thinking."  It feels very soothing to follow this process and begin writing journal entries in the THINKBook - this is all about crystallizing your thoughts and devoting some time for your own improvement.  That's something a lot us us don't take time out to do, and I think we'd all be better off with some periodic deep thinking.

Spread the Thinking

I really like one of the suggestions from the THINKBook web site, which is to use the THINKBook as a personal and professional gift.  I particularly like the thought of giving it as a business gift, and I just may try that to see how people react.

I like the framing of the "why" behind the THINKBook, according to Rajesh:

THINKBook makes it easy to pull your people’s own best advice out of them. It can be used to super-charge group brainstorming sessions or as a trusted advisor to help you improve the brilliant idea keeping you awake at 3am.

Pretty cool, don't you think?

If you could use some time working on your own creativity and mental health, I encourage you to  grab a THINKBook and give the process a chance.  And, if you like it why not give one as a gift to someone you like (a new one, not your old used one)?

Get things done on the Mac and/or without Outlook

The dark side of the Mac:  personal productivity systems

As some of you may know from following my escapades on this blog, I have been a big proponent of the Getting Things Done (GTD) and Mastering Your Now (MYN) as personal productivity systems. At one point, I was pretty good - and very productive - using these systems.  A couple of years ago, however, I switched to the Mac and I lost a lot of momentum.

You see, I used to use Outlook as my "home base" for processing my inbox and managing tasks, and I relied heavily on ClearContext for managing my mail volume.  On the Mac, Entourage, OS X Mail, and Outlook don't even come close to the power of Outlook on Windows.  To make matters worse, Outlook on the Mac is not extensible so there is no way to do anything like ClearContext on the Mac.

I tried OmniFocus and a number of other tools, but never could find one that became a habit, so they all fell by the wayside (usually after a couple of days).

I found a personal productivity system I like on the Mac!

I have good news - I've found a personal productivity approach that is a) familiar, b) works well on the Mac, c) has a mobile approach that works.  This one comes from my old friend Michael Linenberger (creator of the Mastering Your Now (MYN) system - that's him in the video freeze frame).  A few weeks ago, I found out Michael had created an online offering for Master Your Now ToodleDo Video Training.  He has done a lot of work to apply his MYN system to a pretty powerful cloud-based task management service called "ToodleDo."

I bought Michael's video course (as I write this, the price is discounted - not sure how long that will last), and I have been using ToodleDo and MYN as my new home base for tasks.  I really like the system.  Not only does it work extremely well on the Mac and my iPhone, I find that I actually check in on my tasks regularly

It fits well with inbox processing, as I can send emails to ToodleDo to automatically add them as tasks on my list.  There are also some intuitive "commands" you can add to your subject line to adjust the priority, start date, and more on the task right from your email (I'm using OS X Mail).

This MYN/ToodleDo system will work with pretty much any mail system on pretty much any OS - a big plus in my book

ToodleDo customized for MYN

I'd used ToodleDo in the past, but it didn't flow well for me. Now, Michael Linenberger has collaborated with ToodleDo and has implemented a quick setup method that optimized the settings to support MYN.  That made a huge difference by reducing clutter in the UI and making it simple for me to understand and use.  There are also instructions in the course on how to configure your mobile client to work in this new way with ToodleDo (the mobile instructions are manual, but short and easy to follow).

With this setup in place, all your sorting, columns, default values, and so forth are set up as they need to be to make MYN easy with ToodleDo.

Why do I like MYN?

MYN is very similar to GTD, but I find it to be a bit more prescriptive - just enough to make it work better for me.  The philosophy with GTD is "Do what you need to do for the system to work for you" which doesn't alway work as well for a distraction-prone guy like me.  GTD also relies heavily on "Contexts" to drive what you do - do the thing that matches the place you are.  I had a tough time with contexts, and never felt effective in that aspect of GTD.

In contrast, MYN is more of a "Do it this way" kind of system, which is what I need when it comes to time management.

For example, MYN cares a lot about when you want to do things, and less about where you want to do them.  The diagram on the right illustrates what I think of as the "MYN Zones" for when you want to get things done.  The Critical Now tasks are ones that must be done today (they are the "If I don't' get these done I've gotta stay late" tasks).  The Opportunity Now tasks are ones you'd like to get done within the next 10 days.  The Over the Horizon tasks are analogous to the "Someday Maybe" list in GTD - you want to get them done someday, but if they don't get done it's not the end of the world.

Limits are good

Within these "MYN Zones" it gets even more structured - you should have no more than 5 Critical Now tasks on any given day, and no more than 20 Opportunity Now tasks.  Everything else should be in the Over the Horizon bucket, which can be as big as you want it to be.

I find this budgeting method to be a great forcing function as a safety valve against over-committing (that's a big problem I tend to have).

Summary

I'm just scratching the surface here, but my summary is this:

• After years of frustration I've found a personal productivity scheme on the Mac that I can actually use and stick with.
• I am a big fan of Michael Linenberger's Master Your Now ToodleDo Video Training.
• Using ToodleDo with the Master Your Now ToodleDo Video Training is really powerful.
• This method will work very well for those of us not using Outlook, and/or not using Windows.
• The ability to use this consistently on my desktop, from a web browser, and on my iPhone is very powerful.

Would love your feedback and war stories regarding productivity on the Mac - particularly if you're a distractible type like I am.

Run your own private cloud at home

I've been looking for an easy way to access some of my home files (music, pictures, some of my software, etc.) remotely, as well as share large files with other people.  I recently found a great, cost-effective way to do this:  The "Tonido Plug 2" personal cloud device.

The Tonido Plug 2 is a small device that you can plug into your broadband router to share data.  The data is shared from a local hard drive, which you can either attach via a USB on the Tonido Plug; or from an internal 2.5" hard drive which you can insert into the Tonido Plug 2's built-in hard drive bay.  I opted for the internal drive, as I had an extra 500Gb drive that I could use. I've been using this device for about a month, and really like it.

The device includes a straight-forward set of configuration instructions, in which you create a "Tonido ID" and establish an account which creates a front-end that enables you to access your files and configure sharing permissions & access controls.  The configuration process also handles making your device accessible outside your firewall so you can get to your data from any internet connection.

It's hard to tell how big this is from the picture in this post, but it is pretty small.  It comes with two power options: one is a cord, so you can lay it on a table or on the floor and plug it into your outlet; the second is a power plug that attaches directly to the Tonido Plug 2, so you can just plug it directly into the outlet and the device just hangs there.

Easy access to my stuff

To get to my files, I have quite a few options:

• Access my personal cloud "portal" from any web browser
• Access my files from my iPhone with a Tonido App (there are native apps for iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry or Windows 7 mobile)
• Mount my cloud drive as a folder on my computer (I use a Mac so I open it via WebDAV, on Windows there is an app to mount it as a folder)
• Stream data to DLNA devices (I don't have one yet, but it supports XBox360, Sony PS3, etc.)

There are also a number of built-in "apps" that run on the Tonido Plug 2 itself (it has its own embedded OS).  For example, there is a file sync app you can use to keep files in sync between your personal cloud and one or more computers.  To find out more about the device or the apps, check out the Tonido site.

Share stuff

I can now use my personal cloud drive to share files with other computers in my house, access files from other computers, and to share files with other people without worrying about file size limitations of email.  For example, I just shared a PDF of one of my previous blog posts and you can download it by clicking on this link.

You can set security controls around your files or folders, which will enable you to restrict who can access specific items, as well as set up passwords for greater control.  It took less than an hour of experimentation to get the hang of the interface, and I really like this piece of gear.

Oh - and I got this for $119, not including the internal hard drive.  Not bad.  If you want your own cloud service, within your own control, I think you'll love the Tonido Plug 2.