Productivity @ Home

iPhone Productivity App of the Day - NYTimes iPhone App

Today's iPhone productivity app of the day won't be found in the "Productivity" category, but rather in the "News" category. Now, thanks to my iPhone, I have daily access to the New York Times through this convenient, free application.

We've had access to the Times for years through the website, but now with my iPhone and a few spare minutes I can get caught up with all the latest news and information. The app is free and does not require registration or subscription to the newspaper. The features vary daily but include most major sections of the paper (excluding classified adds and movie times). A small, unobtrusive banner ad appears at the bottom of each article page but is not a hindrance to reading the information listed on the page.

Upon initiation, the app takes less than two minutes to sync on my iPhone. Syncing is an important feature, as it allows the content to be viewed even when you are offline, including in airplane mode.

Individual iPhone users can configure the content you choose to view and select your favorites for the bottom row icons. In your iPhone settings, you can determine the amount of days for which you would like access to news and articles, up to seven days.

Apps like the NYTimes iPhone app make waiting situations much less painful - I enjoyed reading the Times yesterday while waiting for my son's clarinet lesson to finish. You don't need to bring anything with you but your iPhone to make smart use of a spare ten minutes!

What's your favorite new iPhone app? I'd love to hear from you!

NYTimes iPhone Application - FAQ - NYTimes.com

iPhone Productivity App of the Day - Typepad for iPhone Application

I'm having fun playing around with all of the new applications offered on my iPhone through the App Store. Even though I haven't upgraded, my phone still feels like a new toy/tool for productivity. I thought I'd investigate a few of the apps in the Productivity category of the App Store and share my thoughts with you. I will only be reviewing the free apps, but if anyone wants to give me access to their tools with fees, I would love to check those out as well and share my thoughts here.

Since Productivity @ Home is a Typepad blog, it made sense to me that one of the first apps I should check out is the new Typepad application. The app downloaded quickly (despite my lack of 3G) and was immediately installed. Upon entering the app after installation and verification of my blog info, I now have three options for quickly posting on my blog from the iPhone. I can either create a post, take a photo, or add a photo - all are fairly self explanatory. Under "create a post", one cool option is the ability to immediately twitter the post. Since my posts tend to be fairly long, I likely will have limited use of this feature but it's nice to have the option of blogging on the go. I think the best feature of the Typepad app for me will be the ability to take a photo and then immediately blog it - I can determine the category, decide whether or not to "tweet" the photo, and include text all from one easy screen. Other components of the Typepad iPhone app include the ability to review and work with pending and draft posts and some basic settings for my account.

All in all, I would say that the Typepad iPhone app is one I will definitely implement immediately and one that will certainly enhance my productity. So be on the lookout for more mobile blogging soon from Productivity @ Home!

TypePad - Features - Blogging on the iPhone

Save Money and the Environment

In this month's newsletter, Hostway offers a concise article on "Five Simple Ways to Save Money and the Environment".

Aimed at businesses, the content of this piece is also relevant for those of us who work from home. The tips include:

1. Turn off your computers every night and on weekends
2. Turn off your lights when not in use
3. Print on both sides of the paper
4. Think before you print
5. Digital faxing

Not revolutionary ideas, but still great reminders for us all. I've greatly reduced my printing this year by saving more things to PDF files on my computer. I'm trying to eradicate paper in my office as much as possible, and this has been a huge help. Have any tips to share? I'd love to hear from you!

Hostway Newsletter: Save Money and the Environment

Help Grandma Learn to Work Her Digital Camera

Two special friends of mine, Scott and Christine Maentz, have created a new website called RememberGranny.com, which is devoted to helping grandparents leave a "digital legacy" for their grandchildren. For many, the thought of doing much with the computer beyond simply checking email can be a bit overwhelming. That's where Scott and Christine step in! Here's some information on their new site:

Ok, so you’ve bought into the idea that it would be a good thing to leave a digital legacy for your kids, grandkids and the generations following them. Awesome! Congratulations on taking this important first step. Now what do you do? Where do you get started?

There are so many choices and options that you really do need someone to guide you through the technology maze. This is where Remember Granny™ shines. Our mission is to provide practical information for getting your life online and to keep things simple, always striving to speak to you in plain English. We know that much of this is completely foreign to many of you. Like traveling in a foreign country, you need a good guide to make the most of your time. We know you can easily learn to take full advantage of the Internet with the right guidance. Remember Granny™ hopes to be your personal Internet guide.

Here at RememberGranny.com we’ll be teaching you everything you need to get online. We’ll have instructional videos as well as articles on this web site that will help you filter through all the noise to make good choices and save you valuable time. It’s all free and is yours for the browsing. Just give me a couple of months to build up the articles & videos and we’ll soon have something really helpful here.

For those of you who are not inclined to take the time to do this yourself, we’ll be starting a services business that will take care of getting everything set up for you. I’ll have more information on this coming soon as well. One way or another, we’ll make sure you have what you need to take advantage of today’s digital age by using today’s rich digital media to communicate your life, your values and your ideas to future generations.

Remember Granny - Virtual immortality made easy.

Digital Photography Tips

One of my favorite online resources Surfing the Net with Kids offers some great tips this week for making the most with your family's digital photography. We'll all be taking lots of photos this summer, so visit Barbara Feldman's suggested websites to learn more about using your digital camera and photography in general.

I'm always amazed by the number of people I know who have no idea how to get the photos off of their digital camera. If you're one of them, take a look at Barbara's suggestions. While you're at it, examine your system for handling family photos. Whether you're an avid scrapbooker, or one who organizes your photos on the computer, it's great to assess whether your system is working for you. I usually take advantage of the quieter days of summer to print and organize our family photos. Here are a few tips:

1. If you print your photos and place them in albums, look through the Sunday ads for photo printing specials during the weeks leading up to and following the 4th of July. Many retailers and online printing services offer specials before and after holidays.
2. If you're organizing your photos on the computer, employ a software program that enables you to "tag" photos, labeling them with names, events and dates. Tagging photos is a huge help when you need to lay your hands on a particular photo for a specific project. Take the time when you initially handle the photos to tag them - it will be time well spent when you are looking for something later on.
3. Have a backup plan. Whether you keep your photos organized in albums or on your computer, have a backup system in place and keep them all together so that you can access them immediately in the event of an emergency. Backup your digital photos onto disks or a hard drive (preferably in two places) to ensure that you do not lose these family treasures.
4. Look at your photos with your children. This is probably my most important tip! We tend to take tons of photos, especially with the ease of digital photography, and then never find the time to enjoy them. Pull out your albums today and let the kids enjoy looking at themselves or have a digital slide show on your family television tonight.
5. Mom and Dad, get in the picture. I recently was asked for a candid photo of myself and had to search for a very long time to find one. If you're the family photographer, remember to ask someone else to take a few photos with you in them on every vacation or occasion.
   

Digital Photography Tips

My Scribefire is Back in Business

Following an uninstall and fresh reinstall of Firefox 3, I'm happy to report that my old friend Scribefire now seems to be running properly - I missed you Scribefire!!

It's interesting how dependent we can become, in a very short period of time, on applications that make us more productive in our work. We may have done without them for years, but once we discover their ease of use and the impact that they have on helping us to Get Things Done, we can't do without them. A huge thanks to Chris from Scribefire, who was immediately responsive to my plea for help. Persistence paid off and I'm now back to happily blogging away with Scribefire.

Greening Your Family Computer

I found this article by Carolyn Jabs at Growing Up Online to be a very helpful digest of information on making our family computers more "green". In age of rising fuel costs, every little bit helps.

Greening the Family Computer

Firefox 3 - Better or Worse?

I've upgraded tonight to Firefox 3, but my favorite new application, Scribefire, appears not to be working anymore.  It's funny how quickly you can become dependent upon these little plugin apps.  With Scribefire and Firefox 2, I could easily blog to either of my blogs with a single right click and no need to log into my blog editors.  It made blogging quick and easy - and therefore made me a more productive blogger.  Although the Scribefire site states that Scribefire is compatible and fully functional with Firefox 3, my Scribefire program appears to have disappeared and I get an error message when I try to reinstall on the new version of Firefox.

Having wasted thirty minutes on this problem, I'm contemplating uninstalling Firefox 3 for the time being.  I'd love to hear from any of you who have upgraded - what makes 3 better than 2, and if you're running Scribefire successfully, what did you have to do to get it running?

All I Need Now is the Kindle...

Over at 43 Folders, Merlin has a great run down on a free source for Kindle books and his readers have chimed in with other resources too. Amazon, if you'd like to send me a Kindle I'd be more than happy to post a review on it!

What are your thoughts on paperless books? One of my sons, Adam, can't wait to get his hands on an e reader, but Eric, the classics reader, scoffs at the notion. Do you think these tools will help our kids to read more, or less? The jury's still out on that question for me, but I do know that I'd love a Kindle...and now, thanks to Merlin, I know where to go for free books!

Free Books for your Amazon Kindle | 43 Folders

An Idea for Dad for Father's Day

About a month ago, I reminded all of the Dads out there to be good to your wives on Mother's Day and I know you followed through! So turnaround's fair play! Moms, there are all kinds of things Dads might love to have for Father's Day. One of them is the gift of satellite radio, and Sirius is running a special offer this week. Here's the deal: