ProBlogger: How Working Fewer Hours Can Increase Your Productivity.
Experiment with Pomodoro techniques. It works. Don’t get bogged in the details, just use the 25 minute spans as recommended, eschew all distractions, and concentrate.
AppleInsider: Users upset by Evernote price hikes & two-device limit for free Basic customers.
Well. If you’re PO’d and on a Mac, check out EagleFiler. I liked Yojimbo very much, but it’s pretty much dead. EF is still getting updates and ‘keeping the faith.’ [I am currently using Evernote ...]
Later: Forgot, Volker - even before the price hike - prefers OneNote.
Meetings, meetings.
Tootle along elsewhere, I’ll be with you after a bit. Busy Friday.
PDN: 500px Guts Royalty Rate on Non-Exclusive Images.
CEPR/VoxEU: Balance of payments statistics and hidden assets.
Jeebus. Makes me think of the Bing Crosby quote, “Everyone’s got a little larceny in ‘em.”
The Atlantic: Americans Identify Barriers to Achievement.
“Despite there not being very many well-paid jobs available, many people think they’d be doing better if they had more training.” There seem to be a great deal of good IT jobs in the job boards I follow via RSS. Most want experience, however ... which can be hard-won at criminal payscales. You’ve seen the ‘web designer’ jobs asking for ridiculous laundry lists of skills, on top of washing dishes and playing receptionist.
Guernica/Robert Reich: Why the Critics of Bernienomics Are Wrong.
#5. Health care costs are making small businesses in NM hemorrhage; I can’t speak for elsewhere, but I imagine similar in many states.
Medium: Simple way to manage your time.
Clever. I like this concept.
PS Blog: Why Walter Iooss’ Streak of 50 Super Bowls Could End.
The big grab by Time, again. You’re going to see worse and worse photography. Question is, will anyone actually notice. When I see the gallons of HDR beshat upon so many pictures these days ...
Facebook at Work.
No. Just say no. Project management, putting info in one spot, yes. Facebook is not optimized for tracking issues. I predict a quagmire.
euansemple: A plague of managers.
This makes me think of today’s project management software (a la Basecamp, Asana, Trello, etc.). Metadata is virtually required to make it all worthwhile; keeping the system up to date is a job in itself and kills production time for workers. Minimal solutions such as Slack seem the better bets to me.
Pomodoro Time Manager.
For those of you like me who tend to collect these low cost apps in search of the perfect solution ...
TechCrunch: Prototyping Suite InVision Is Acquiring Design Tool Macaw.
“Notably, InVision is not shutting down Macaw. The company will indefinitely allow access to the current version, while Macaw’s latest product Scarlet (a live, real-time design environment) will be bundled into other InVision products this year.” Another reason to keep an eye on InVision ...
Sortd: Smart Skin for Gmail.
If you use Gmail as a to-do list - and love lists - you’ll like this. I have hated lists my whole life, and only recently made an uneasy detente with them. I recognize and appreciate their utility, but dislike them nonetheless.
Productivity. Real and feigned.
At a meeting the other day, talking with a planner, the planner said, “Oh, I spend like 90% of my time organizing. By the time I’m organized, I’m super-productive for the last 10%”.
Needless to say, the product reflected that work ethic. Beautiful charts, graphs and memos.
The work sucked.
Like having an impeccably and expensively coiffed interior designer walk into your living room ... scan the room, harrumph to themselves, and then turn one pillow 90 degrees on the couch declaiming “That’s perfect! Quelle magnifique! Here’s your invoice.”
PS Blog: Is TIME Screwing Photographers?
The Atlantic: Are Higher Minimum Wages Eliminating Restaurant Jobs?
Misleading. When Santa Fe increased the minimum wage, the businesses that were operating on a shoestring failed almost immediately. Restaurants cut back on personnel and portion size, but that was neither sustainable nor sensible (customers dwindled) ... so eventually supplies were re-sourced, economies found, prices raised a smidge or so ... and hiring resumed. So any ‘elimination’ is temporary at best.
Adweek: Watch People in Other Industries React Hilariously to Being Asked for Free Spec Work.
Folks buying photography need to see this.
Salon.com: Wil Wheaton is right: Stop expecting artists to work for free — or worse, for
I’ve always admired the phrase, “Work for free, work for your rate ... but never work for cheap.” I’ve always felt I’ve had control that way.
c|net: The cult of productivity, and the obsession with ‘getting things done’.
“Technology is a great tool and a horrible master.”
More meets. Links soon.
Tootle along elsewhere for a while, I’ll be back soon. Busiest time of my year, this month ...
Photo shoot early; links soon.
Making hay ...
The Atlantic: The Best Job Candidates Don’t Always Have College Degrees.
“Many companies find that skills-based pre-employment tests are better predictors of success on the job.” The airlines saw this most starkly in the ‘60’s and 70’s, though they did virtually nothing about it. They lost some of the best veteran stick-and-rudder flyers by pushing a degree restriction on pilots. Never overlook ‘naturals.’
ArtDaily: Craft in America episode focuses on fine handmade instruments.
Busy Thursday. Links as I can.
Meetings this afternoon, prep work required. Catch as catch can.
