Here’s Episode 1 of the Sounds of Tech (SOT) podcast. Tech talk for grownups, with some fantastic music thrown in for good measure. Let’s see how we can use tech to improve our lives, save us money and make us more productive.
Tech topics covered
Microsoft Office apps have been released for the iPad. Why it’s too little, too late and not as big of a deal as it should be.
Why I use Macs, and what I miss about Windows.
App of the week: a productivity boosting journal app.
Here’s some free advice to non-Apple executives. When you crap on Apple products, people view it as an admission that yours is inferior. Just make a great product and it will speak for itself. I’d love for someone to perfect what Apple TV is trying to do. But time spent criticizing their product should be used perfecting yours.
I’ll say it again. Bitcoin is the stupidest thing since Y2K. If you want a new currency, why not Brandar Tiles. Or any other one of these. There’s nothing worse than a horde of nerds (and I consider myself a nerd) getting carried away with something that literally no one else in the world cares a whit about.
EverDock is my favorite Kickstarter project so far. I have 4 of them (office, home office, farm and bedside table) and use them all. As soon as their new automobile solution project goes live, I will back it.
If you see this and don’t smile, you might just take things a bit too seriously. I can’t wait.
I lost interest in American Horror Story somewhere in season two, but by golly if Mackey is going to be in season 4 then you can be sure I’ll watch it.
I never could decide if I was an extrovert or an introvert. I’m not shy, I can talk to anyone, but I could also happily be a hermit. Today I learned, via Reddit, about ambiverts. Is there a word for someone who likes people until (they screw with him and) he don’t?
So, I was thinking about this song today. My favorite music video of all-time. Facebook should use this in a Super Bowl ad. It’s that good.
This is a promising project. The only thing I dislike about my beloved iMac is the placement of the ports on the back. It’s hard to connect devices by feel, so I end up turning the screen around and displacing things on my desk.
I cannot believe I just read something that combines two of my favorite things: farming and going paperless. Brooks Duncan and his work at Document Snap are among the best productivity-enhancing resources on the internet. Highly recommended. Brooks, if you see this, will you please, for the love of all that is paperless, create a foolproof Hazel or Automator process for batch converting Word documents to pdf? I can create automations to do amazingly complex workflows, but I have not found a way to create a reliable folder action (or a reliable Automator service) that will convert to pdf.
I love the specs of this new WD external hard drive. I don’t love the price, but it will come down.
Can we all agree, once and for all, that ad-supported isn’t free. It’s just payment in kind (of time). I would much rather pay a little money than see (as in notice, much less watch) ads.
As I noted last night, Office should have been on the iPad years ago. I suspect Microsoft was mired down in some combination of failed strategies: trying to force people to buy a (horrible) Surface tablet, trying to force people to use its online services (which even if we wanted to, we couldn’t find them because their names change every other week), and trying to drag people to its online suite of Office products, Office365.
They seem to have given up on some of those strategies, but Meatloaf was wrong. 2 out of 3 is not enough.
I’m simply not going to pay Microsoft $70 a year, forever, to use Word (the only Office app I really need on my iPad). Rather, I’ll continue to use Word on my desktop until someone completes the ongoing process of making Office completely irrelevant. Yes, Word has a stranglehold on corporate America, but Microsoft seems to have either ignored or given up on the rest of the potential user base. And here’s the other thing: the exodus from traditional computers to tablets isn’t going to stop just because Microsoft makes an offer that everyone can refuse. Having Word on our iPads would be good. But not $70/year good.
Sure, you can look at Office documents without a subscription, but hacking up features like that is as unnecessary and disjointed as, you know, having a tablet with two different versions of Windows on it. If they want to require us to use OneDrive (NOTE: by the time you read this, its name will likely have changed again) to sync and store documents, OK. But you can do that without making us pay a never-ending subscription charge.
I’m not saying Office for iPad should be free. Charge for it. $10, $20, whatever. If people will pay 3 figures for the various iterations of OmniFocus, people will probably sell their kids to buy Word.
Even if I was willing to pay $70/year for Office365, that only allows Office to be used on 1 PC (don’t own one) or Mac (I use three regularly). Sigh.
I guess I’m glad Office is closer to being available on iPads. But it’s not close enough for me to jump.
Office should have been on iPads years ago. It’s probably too late now. I may try it, but not if I have to use (whatever they call) Office365 (this week).
I think App Camp for Girls is wonderful. If it ever comes to Texas, my girls are going.
I’m cranking through The Sopranos on the treadmill. It’s great TV. I watched The Test Dream last night. It’s one of the best TV episodes ever. It replaced the also excellent Pine Barrens as my favorite episode so far.
Very interesting read- going behind the scenes with Nigerian scammers. I have little sympathy for those who fall for this sort of thing. But I have mad love for those who make hilarity with them. There are laughs to be had there.
I really don’t care that the government is (allegedly) reading my emails and keeping a thick file on my exciting correspondence. And I don’t care that all the cloud services (not really, but people think) claim all my stuff that lands there. But I absolutely hate it when people email me with read receipt requests. I always say no, and mentally put that person on a list of people to wonder about. So anyone who uses this on me will be banned from communicating with me.
Honestly, sometimes I think so-called (but not by my definition) Christians are trying to alienate people. It’s a shame when people (like me) who believe in God are hesitant to call themselves Christians because they don’t want to be associated with the haters that have co-opted so much of organized religion.
If you haven’t watched Vikings, you’re in for a treat. I really like it. Dude was crazy, though, letting his (extremely hot and warrior-like) wife split.
Yes, there is way too much smoking in rural areas. It’s a close cousin of the biggest rural problem- littering. Anyone who litters and anyone under 60 who smokes is an idiot. Period. No exceptions. It’s just not as cool as you think it is. And it will kill you.
Speaking of things I don’t care about, can we please never talk about Edward Snowden again? I just don’t care.
New app fist impressions: I’m coming around pretty good on DayOne (especially with some added IFTTT/Dropbox hacks). OmniFocus, not so much. Maybe David Sparks’ screen casts will help, but here’s the thing- if I have to work hard to use your app, then by definition it’s not making my life easier.
I’m going pretty much all-in with Google Drive, thanks to the huge cost reductions. Lifehacker shows you how to make it a media server. Speaking of Google, I still do my primary off-site backups to Amazon via AWS, but it looks like Google is moving on that space too. Regardless, it will be hard to top the AWS/Arq combo for backing up massive amounts of data.
WordPress.Com continues to prove it is the best blog/website hosting service in the world. It’s now ridiculously easy to create audio playlists.
This is well-deserved. My love of tech in general and computers specifically was nurtured writing basic code and doing early automation in DOS. I still remember how cool it was when you wrote some code, finally found all the errors, and watched it work.
PDF Printer looks like an interesting app. I’m still looking for the ideal iOS to pdf/scanned toolbox.
Sorry, but I don’t feel even a little sorry for this dude.
As I get more and more into podcasting, I find that I enjoyed daily, short and informative podcasts. One of my favorite is TUAW’s Daily Update Podcast.
I use Target Display Mode all the time with my second iMac. MakeUseOf has a great summary of how you can use a second Mac as the additional display. I wish there was a way to keep the second Mac in Target Display Mode even after sleep.
I can’t back this up with empirical data, but almost guarantee you that Microsoft changes the name of its products more than any other company in history.
I tried really hard to believe in Obamacare. Unfortunately, I have concluded that it is lacking, at best, and a disaster, at worst.
OS Xbecame a teenager today. While I was not a huge fan of the early OS X iterations, starting around Snow Leopard and continuing through Mavericks, OS X has been wonderful. At this point, I can’t imagine anyone voluntarily choosing a Windows machine over a Mac.
While I have only used iTunes radio sparingly so far, it is encouraging that Apple is adding additional streaming content. Hopefully, the addition of NPR news is the first of many additions.
One of the most interesting things about the rumored Apple-Comcast TV deal will be to see how a combination of my most favorite company and least favorite company turns out.
John Prine and Steve Earle did the second best cover of Townes Van Zandt’s excellent Loretta.
For those who haven’t had the pleasure, the best cover is, without a doubt, by Jesse Dayton.
Lucky Dog got himself bitten by a snake. We’ve been all over the creek, and in the wilderness lately, working on various projects. He was generally behind me, which proves my uncle was right. First one scares ’em, second one gets bit.
I kid you not, I ported my old landline (via a temporary cell phone) to Google Voice this morning. And, it goes on life support. Awesome.
There is nothing surprising about the fact that music sales have stalled. Music sales are over. I have 25,000 (legal and purchased over the decades) songs on a music server at home, and I haven’t listened to a one of them in years. I subscribe to and get all my music from Spotify and Google Music. My kids haven’t bought a full record in years. They use streaming too, and will occasionally buy a single song or two from iTunes.
There is nothing short of littering that I detest more than Facebook games. Why does Facebook put two separate games-related links in my sidebar and refuse to let me delete them? Why isn’t there a one-click setting to make every single game related thing disappear forever from my Facebook feed and apps. It’s not like I’m going to wake up one day and feel differently. Yes, I still filter as much game-related content as possible.
I’m all for rural neighborhood watch groups. We have one. What I really want is an army of heavily armed commandos to hunt down, warn (once) and then commit war crimes on litterers. The amount of littering in rural areas is hard to imagine if you haven’t experienced it.
A year or so ago, I had high hopes for the new Sim City game. EA ruined it. It’s too late now to fix it.
Yeah, I know. But I’d rather panhandle in my golden years than trust the government with anything remotely resembling a national pension. If states weren’t so busy “subsidizing corporations under the guise of economic development,” all those retirement accounts we fret over would be much smaller.
Here’s Beta Version 2 of Sounds of Tech (SOT) podcast. Tech talk for grownups, with some fantastic music thrown in for good measure. Let’s see how we can use tech to improve our lives, save us money and make us more productive.
Tech topics covered
How I manage my email, calendar and contacts for maximum efficiency, and why I deleted all of my Google contacts.
How to dump your landline, keep your number and save money.
The best, time-saving and awesome Mac app, which is on your Mac, but I bet you never use.
Automation preview (and why you need to catch the next few episodes of SOT).
I’m going to tell you a little secret about getting your records reviewed by music bloggers. Those of us have been doing this for a long time get a lot of music for review. At the moment, I probably have 50 records in my queue for review. In fact, it’s not uncommon for records that rotate through my online sources, such as ReviewShine, to expire before I get around to listening to them. I’ve talked to numerous other music bloggers and almost everyone has a similar story. There is simply more music to listen to than time to listen.
Step One: Grab Me Quickly
So, getting your records reviewed becomes a two-step process. The first, and most important step, is to make it past the “20-second listen” and into the “whole album listen” stack. I’ll show you how this works, using ReviewShine as an example.
Click for a larger view
The incoming music page for each reviewer at ReviewShine looks like that. There are a ton of records, and each band picks one song to lead with. The potential reviewer can click the play button and hear that song right from this page. This is the “20-second listen” stage. If a song is some combination of not my genre, not quickly identifiable as being performed by good musicians or just not good or distinguishable, I move to the next one. As an aside, let me say that I almost never hear music that isn’t good. But I hear a ton of it that sounds just like every other same-genre band out there. So even if you have a great record, it is critical to lead with something that will grab the potential reviewer quickly.
If a song grabs me, with a click I add the record to my inbox. From there, I can listen to the entire record. Songs that I have pre-approval to stream are labelled in green. I estimate that 75% of the songs I put in my inbox get some sort of mention, if not a full review.
Step Two: Do a Lot of My Work for Me
Once a record is in my inbox, it is accompanied (usually) by a photo of the band/artist and a bio.
Click for a larger view
I don’t need a clever bio. I need facts and a summary I can cut and paste. I’m not looking for a Pulitzer for my record reviews. I just want to share good music. Quickly.
Tonight I was working through my ReviewShine queue, looking for something to write about. There’s some good stuff in there. Because I like alt. country (rockers playing twang) a lot, and Americana (too many old dudes waxing philosophical) much less, anything that has alt. country as one of the first listed genres gets a listen.
So let’s take a look at The Highballers. I like the name. The lead song, Lula’s Gone, has a twangy-but-rocking vibe. These are good musicians. Hear for yourself.
That is going right into rotation at Rancho Radio. The first song on the record, Fire and Smoke, is a wistful mid-tempo number, with a different good singer. So I’m getting hooked. Love Will Find You is another alt. country number. At first I didn’t like Down that Road Before, thinking it was another (producer-mandated) generic rocker. Then the vocalists (one male, one female) started trading off bits and I (mostly) came around.
And the bio had this, in exactly these words. Easy peasy.
The Highballers were born on the rock of guitarist/vocalist Kendall Jackson and vocalist Hope Hudson in 2007, forging a hard-edged, rockin’ country sound built on the duo’s male-female vocal harmonies. After several personnel shifts, myriad gigs and more than a few empty whiskey bottles, the band arrived at its current lineup of Jackson, vocalist Victoria Patchen, guitarist Sean Lally, bassist Michael Barrientos and drummer Drake Sorey.
Cant Stop Drinkin’ starts out with this line, which is good enough to guarantee multiple listens: “Honey, I’d drive you home, but I can’t stop drinking.”
I’ll Break Something More, is probably my favorite song on the record. Great story. “If I had a dime for every time you broke me down I’d buy myself a sheriff to run you out of town.” Holy moly, that’s fabulous.
I Need My Ass Kicked is that rare semi-novelty song that is actually clever. 80% of what is proposed as clever is anything but.
Here’s the bottom line. The Highballers can play well. They can write well. There’s not a bad song on the record, which is a rare and wonderful thing these days. This is a great record. Buy it here (@ Amazon).
Sure, you can look at Office documents without a subscription, but hacking up features like that is as unnecessary and disjointed as, you know, having a tablet with two different versions of Windows on it. If they want to require us to use 
Newsome.Org 