Essential Mac Apps

Now that you have a Mac, what are the apps you can't live without? Here's a short list of apps that I have installed on my Mac and that make my life a lot easier.

Mac or PC?

A couple of months ago, as my work laptop was due for replacement, I struggled with the decision of which laptop I should request next. The options were somewhat limited to a couple of Windows machines, and a couple of MacBooks. For years I have resisted the Apple temptation, and faithfully stuck with Windows. In the last couple of years, though, more and more of my friends and colleagues have made the move to a Mac and keep exalting its qualities.

Education Delivery in a Changing World

After many years I went back to school, and I'm currently engaged in a Leadership and Management degree, which I am enjoying very much. Having said that, I must admit it has been quite a struggle to adapt to  a new style of teaching and delivery of knowledge, and for quite some time I felt frustrated with the way the curriculum was organized. I even thought this university was completely out of it, until I started discussing with people at other universities, and that the 'problem' was general!

SSD Woes

About a year ago I upgraded the SSD on my laptop to one with more capacity. The original was very small and within a couple of months was bursting by the seams. The new SSD, from Crucial, offered 512GB at a reasonable price, and it certainly improved the overall usefulness of the laptop. A few months ago, I started having some issues that I initially assumed were caused by some OS problem.

Typing Tip for iPhone Users

I'm not a texter! I hate typing on the iPhone, the iPad or any other small keyboards! But every once in a while, one has to do what one has to do, and I will have to send a text message or reply to an email on the phone, not to mention taking notes. If you too have to type on your phone, you will understand that one simple task may be really frustrating, and that is to simply change the keyboard to show punctuation marks so you can type in the period, then add a space, turn on the capitals and start a new sentence. Well, here's a tip that will save you some time and frustration.

When you finish a sentence, just tap the space bar twice, and it will add the period, the leading space and turn on the capitals for you! How about that!! And this works on any iOS device, any application, be it SMS, Email or Pages.

Type away and have fun!

Barclays Pingit App

It's about time Barclays would come up with such a nifty little app! Not the ideal app yet, but certainly a step in the right direction. Right, so, what is this all about?

Certifications for 2012

If you are looking for a new job in the IT world, you probably know that being certified will improve your chances. Well, here's the top 10 for 2012 that will help you get that job you want:

1. PMP (Project Management Professional)
2. CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate)
3. Security+

FamilySearch Indexing for iOS, Android

FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org) has now launched an Indexing app for iOS and Android. For all those interested in genealogy and with some free time on their hands, a warning... This is an addicting app!

First you want to do a few names just to test it, next you realise there are stats and you want to have a high number of matches, meaning the way you typed a name matches the way other indexers typed it, and then you just can't stop! You will do just one more name, just one more, just one more...

This is actually a great way to use your free time as you will be contributing to the largest freely available genealogical database on the Web, making it possible to search for names instead of spending hours looking at old microfilms. And with the mobile app you can index on the bus, at the beach or wherever you are, either on your smartphone or your tablet.

Way to go, FamilySearch!

Technology or People, Secret of Success

Since the Industrial Revolution that technology has not only replaced people in businesses, but it is more and more seen as the solution to productivity, performance, profitability. New automated systems controlled by powerful computers now replace hundreds of workers in many factories, and in the office the ancient role of the telephone operator has been replaced state of the art telecommunication systems.

iOS 5 Woes

Quite probably one of the most anticipated and feature rich upgrades to Apples`s mobile platform operating systems, iOS 5 ended up being also one of the buggiest. Adding to the (hopefully resolved) battery and DST bugs, it is now surfacing what seems to be one of the most annoying bugs of late, especially if we take into account there is no fix announced. After updating to iOS 5 many idevices are now unable to connect to wireless access points, or get such a weak signal that it becomes impractical to use Wi-Fi at all.

What I find interesting is that everyone criticizes Windows for its bugs, but Apple has no heat for theirs, even repetitive ones, like the DST bug.

I am getting really annoyed at not being unable to connect to my home wireless network, especially when iOS 5 brings Over the Air updates to the iPhone and iPad... right!

Have you been plagued by this bug? What are your thoughts?

Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet

Lenovo has recently launched the Thinkpad Tablet, powered by Android Honeycomb. This seems to be one of the best equipped, designed and a solid tablet that includes digitising features, but no one seems to have noticed it.

I know Lenovo is targeting the enterprise market with this tablet, but even the "pros" are quiet.

Maybe one such tablet will find it's way to me, so I can post a proper review. In the meantime, check it out at Lenovo.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Airport Security and Other Annoyances

I am writing this post from Switzerland, where I arrived yesterday for a brief business visit. When I picked my luggage at the airport I immediatly noticed something was missing. I had a bright blue handle wrap on my bag, which helps me identify it among all the other black bags and also makes it more comfortable to hold. Well, that was missing.

Social Media Courses

I am currently writing this post on a train to London, where I will participate in a series of courses on Social Media. While I was researching about what courses were available and which ones were the best I found myself completely lost. Some would say Social Media studies are so new that no courses were actually good at all, while others said that any course would be somewhat valuable.

Logitech ClearChat PC Wireless

Logitech ClearChat PC Wireless

My wife gets annoyed with a little habit I have. If I am on the phone, I can’t sit still. I will be walking around the room or the house, talking away. As I work mostly form home and the telephone is one of my main tools, you can imagine the rest.

When I was taking VOIP calls on the computer, though, I was stuck. I have used a bluetooth headset, but not only it made my ear ache, people also couldn’t hear me well. So I was down to a nice pair of Sennheiser PC350, typically used for gaming, but which I love to use both for VOIP calls and even with my iPhone. I had to buy a small adapter that allows both jacks (headphones and microphone) to be used with a combo audio socket, like the one on my Lenovo ThinkPad W510, but it worked fine.

Community Manager versus Advocate

One of the new professions that the new “always-on” world has given birth is the Community Manager. Some wonder if this is indeed a real job, but believe me, not only it is a real job, but is also one that is taking impetus and is becoming a key position in any corporation that values its future.

Jeremiah Owyang, an Industry Analyst form Altimeter Group and formerly from Forrester Research, has been an evangelist of this position and he defined what The Four Tenets of the Community Manager are. In brief, these

Corporate Support Online Models

As the corporate world moves online, the rest of the world struggles to understand the scope of this move. To be honest, many a good executives and managers, “old style”, are also struggling with the rapid and constant evolution of the online world, and those who think online corporate presence means having a website and maybe an online store are dinosaurs condemned to extinction.

Today, corporate presence online encompasses all aspects of the business, from customer engagement to brand development and hiring. The tools, available on the whole wide world, went from menace to key instruments, and Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn are no longer looked at as

Angry Birds on Chrome

For those of you addicted to Angry Birds (or just curious), you can now get it for free form the Google Chrome Store, install it as an extension on your Chrome browser and play it for free. If you want to give it a try, just follow these easy steps:

1. Start your Google Chrome browser
2. Go to the Google Chrome Store here (https://chrome.google.com/webstore)
3. If you don't already see a banner for the game, type "Angry Birds" on the search box and press Enter
4. On the search results, click on Angry Birds
5. Now click on the Install button

After Angry Birds is installed it will be available by opening a new tab on Chrome. Play away and have fun!

The Jawbone is connected to…

No, this is not a post about the human face anatomy, but it could be! I want to share a few thoughts what is purportedly the best bluetooth headset on the planet, the Jawbone® Era. For quite some time now, Aliph has made some of the best bluetooth headsets for mobile phones, and their new iteration, the Era, is a worthy descendant of a great line. You may find the name a bit strange, but it is inspired in the fact that this headset has a small sensor that

Sat Nav War!!! Well, kinda…

More and more, a lot of services for which we used to pay premium are becoming free. One such service is satellite navigation, commonly known as Sat Nav or GPS. You can buy a standalone device or have it integrated on your mobile phone or even laptop. There are many brands from where you can chose, like TomTom, Garmin, Nuvii, CoPilot and so many others, and each will sell you maps for a specific region plus the ability to receive turn by turn navigation instructions, speed camera positioning warnings, speed limits and even where you can find the next ATM machine.

iOS 5 Wi-Fi Sync... Oops

If you read my post from yesterday about the iOS 5 new features and similarities with other existing apps, this one won't come as a surprise to you. It seems like this new feature is very, and I mean very similar to an app submitted a year ago to the Apple Store, which Apple refused, but instead called the developer and asked for his CV. Greg Hughes, though, preferred to take his app to the Cydia Store (that's for jailbroken iPhones, in case you are wondering) where he made about half a million dollars selling it.