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Eminem and The Fear of Success

The Practical Nerd — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 21:00:24 +0000

“Look – if you had one shot, one opportunity, to seize everything you ever wanted in one moment, would you capture it, or just let it slip?” Eminem, “Lose Yourself”

This past weekend was my best buddy’s bachelor party. We took him to Chicago on Saturday and spent the better part of the night at an Irish pub around the block from our hotel. As luck would have it, it was a karaoke night, so between getting up and raucously cheering on those who decided to sing some tunes and signing up the groom-to-be to sing songs without him knowing about it, I decided it was a good time to pull out my old, reliable karaoke hit.

Years ago, on a whim, a friend of mine and I decided to do “Lose Yourself” by Eminem at a karaoke bar, and we had a blast doing it. I wound up doing it again a few years later because I enjoy the looks I get from people who wonder how this ultra-white dude can go up there and rap like that (Note: I do not look anything remotely like a guy who can rap.)

The above quote is how the song starts, and it stuck with me for a few days since – mainly because I keep reliving the experience in my head. But that opening quote is a good question to ask yourself.

What would you do?

Picture what you want out of life. Now imagine that you have the chance to go get it. You have the chance to grab that brass ring and get everything you’ve ever wanted. Do you go after it?

The fear of success is more serious than you think.

It’s easy to fail. When you fail, you can point fingers. To fail, you just have to stop doing anything. When you fail, nobody expects anything from you. The pressure’s off.

When you succeed, people start expecting more success. You have more responsibilities. You’ve set the bar higher for yourself. The pressure is on, baby.

“But where’s my ‘one opportunity’?”

It’s here. Now. You have the chance to do whatever you want. You know how I know? There’s a crazy thing called the “Internet”. You’re on it right now. You can search Google to figure out whatever you want, regardless of what stage of life you are in.

The Web is your instruction booklet. You can build your dream business. You can write the Great American Novel and sell it to an audience. You can travel the world. You can transform your body. You can build just about anything. You can access almost anything.

The opportunity is now. This is your one shot. If you are still hoping to do something, but you think this whole “fear of success” thing is a crock, then answer this question: Why haven’t you gone after it yet?

Looking for more inspiration? Check out these 20 average goals accomplished by extraordinary achievers. If you want to take it to the next level, join The "I Can" Movement!

5 Better Alternatives To Watching TV

The Practical Nerd — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 04:51:48 +0000

You just got home from a long day at work, and you feel fried. Your brain is running on fumes, and your body just wants to collapse on the couch. You want mindless entertainment, and fortunately, you’ve got hundreds of channels to choose from. You sit down, and from about 6:00pm until 11:00pm, the TV is on. Sound healthy to you?

I hear people at the office talk about Bachelor Pad and other pieces of garbage like that. I hear them spend 10 minutes talking about Twilight and what the celebrities are up to. In my mind, all I can think is this question: “Isn’t there something better we can do with our time?” I’m a self-admitted TV addict, but my TV watching has tapered off in recent years. And with the average cable bill running $75-$100 a month, I think it’s time we staged a revolution. Too often, we have let networks tell us what to talk about, what to buy, what to eat, and how to live. I say we turn off the TVs and start doing something. Here are some great alternatives that will make your life more fulfilling and, let’s be honest, healthier:

Have a conversation

Let’s start with the easiest one of the bunch. If you live with somebody else, and you spend your evenings watching TV, try hitting the “power” button and turning to that person. Then start talking. “How’s life been lately?” is a great starter. Since you live with that person, your relationship with him or her is obviously very important to you. Talk about anything: your hopes, your dreams, what you like, what you don’t like, etc. Yes, guys, even you. You don’t have to get all weepy or touchy-feely. If you need to, grab a beer so that you feel a little manlier. If the other person is up for it, go have a cigar. Just start talking and see what happens. That bonding time is important.

Yoga/Pushups/Situps/Gym/Running/Walking/Get Off Your Lazy Butt

I’m not a big advocate of the gym, but to each his own – whatever gets you off the couch. Do it for fun, and for your health. If you want to, track what you’re doing to show some accomplishment. The beauty of this, as an adult, is that you don’t have to necessarily answer to anybody. Set your own goals. If your goal is to run a mile within six weeks, go for it. Anything is better than nothing. And with cool apps on just about any smartphone that will track your progress for you and share it if you want, there’s really no reason not to try it out. The added benefits will include pretty much any benefit that you get from doing exercise. You know the drill: better sleep, better sex, more energy, lose weight, yada yada yada. Pick one benefit that you like and use that for the reason why you do it. Just do it.

Expand that brain of yours

The biggest problem with the education of today’s youth is that it makes education something that is miserable. From about grade 3 to college, classes are generally designed to make you sit, listen, and say what the teacher wants you to say. Education is seen as a challenge, which is fine – to a point. Now that you are an adult, many of you will sit and say, “I would never go back to school! I don’t miss THAT!” I know I say that all the time. But let’s use our brain power in a different way. For example, while putzing around online, listen to or watch a brilliant talk on TED.com. Some of my favorites include the critique of the current educational system, chef Jamie Oliver talking about how lousy our food is, and author Malcolm Gladwell talking about ketchup and happiness. TED is a great spot for educational, thought-provoking, and very entertaining presentations and speeches.

Other ways to expand your brain can be reading some great blogs (like this one). Your brain is not a static thing: it is a living organism that adapts and changes. If you don’t give it a workout occasionally, it starts to regress. Take some time to properly exercise it. If you think you are getting a brain workout at work, ask yourself this: how many of those 8 hours a day are spent daydreaming? Chatting with coworkers? Complaining about work? Eating? Surfing the Web? In boring meetings? Yeah, your brain isn’t tired yet. You’re just out of shape.

Don’t want to learn? Here’s a quick exercise to help you out: get out a sheet of paper or open a document on your computer. Write or type 5 of your favorite things. Even the laziest of interests can morph into educational pursuits. Video games? Google around or grab a book on the history of video game development, or what goes into the design and making of a video game. You can learn about how marketing campaigns are developed or how technology has advanced over the years. Television or movies? Bone up on your history of Hollywood. There are fascinating stories about old movie studios and how movies have evolved over time as well. Food? Great! Look up cooking techniques and recipes. Get started in cooking and you’ll get even healthier!

Start a side business

“More work!” you say. Well, the problem with most jobs is that they’re work. This is your chance to start something that you think is fun. Something you are passionate about. Something that gets you excited. For me, it’s the chance to be a writer and work from home. For you, it could be to develop that awesome idea you’ve had, or to work with animals, or who knows? Start Googling around. Maybe your interest lends itself to freelance work, like photography or web design. There are dozens of different ways you can do it.

“I don’t have any money/time to start a business!” Call it a “project”, then. It’s something you can spend an hour or two every night poking at. It might turn into something amazing. As for money, if it’s a service business, you can start it with remarkably little: often just a computer and an internet connection. For example, I gave my writing business a reboot and just started sending out some emails. Within a matter of about two weeks, I now have 10-12 leads, 3-4 paying clients, and I’ve booked nearly $2,000 in work this month. All it took was sending out some emails, which I did for free. Starting a business is a rewarding experience, even through failure.

And if you need startup capital to put together your business, start running the numbers: if the average monthly cable bill is $75, how many months without cable would you need to go to get that money? Six months is $450, which is plenty of money to get a small business up and running. Spend that six months planning, and you could be well on your way to something pretty cool.

Read a book, or twelve

Grab some friends and start a book club, or join an online book club like the ones at GoodReads. Go to the library. Trade books with PaperbackSwap. Grab a Kindle and start getting ebooks. You can read about whatever you want, whenever you want. It’s your life now, not some teacher’s. Put together your own reading list.

These are just a few. What are your favorite non-TV activities?

The Practical Nerd Podcast: Episode #15 – The Benefits of Disconnecting

The Practical Nerd — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 14:45:00 +0000

(That’s not me in that picture.) Today’s podcast is a short one about disconnecting. We live in a world that is always “on” – TV always has crap to watch at all hours, our phones have our email, there’s Wi-Fi everywhere. There are a lot of benefits to just disconnecting from it all, even for a few minutes. Hit “play” to check it out!

Two More Great Chrome Extensions To Speed Up Your Browsing

The Practical Nerd — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 09:11:41 +0000

A while back, I posted an article detailing my switch to Google Chrome as my main web browser. Even as I have switched to Ubuntu (and also to the awesome Chromium daily builds – all the latest features of Chrome come to my browser every day), I believe that Chrome is the best browser on the market right now: it’s quick, it has great extensions, and it keeps innovating the web experience. While updating and improving my Chrome setup, I discovered two extensions that give my browsing more speed, and are easy to install and implement.

AdThwart

Pictured at the top of this post, AdThwart is an ad-blocker for Chrome. When I originally tried this extension, it didn’t work that great for me; it only blocked some ads, and it lacked the functionality of Firefox’s excellent AdBlock Plus. However, it has since updated, and it has eliminated my need to set up Privoxy – which was a little screwy with my connections anyway. AdThwart now allows you to tell it what ads it is missing, and with the recent news that ad blocking is about to get even better on Chrome, I’m happy to stick with this little extension.

Advertisements may make people money, but there’s no need for such intrusive and obnoxious ones (I’m looking at you, ESPN.com).

FlashBlock

Skip intro.

It’s the button that everybody knows and loves. Companies and web sites go to great lengths to put together fancy Flash presentations, but they just bog down web sites and make you click another button to get to where you really want to be. With FlashBlock, all those little Flash boxes are hidden unless you click on them. You can manually allow Flash on certain sites if you want, but without Flash loading on sites, they display much quicker. The internet is anxiously awaiting the full implementation of HTML5*, especially Steve Jobs!, but it’s going to be a while yet. Enjoy the Flash that you like and hide the Flash that you hate with this little extension.

*Note: for the layperson, HTML5 is a new, open-source method of embedding media onto web pages. It’s quicker and lighter, but it hasn’t been adapted across the board yet. It might be years.

So there you go, my fellow Nerds: two more great Google Chrome extensions. Do you have a favorite Chrome extension? Share it in the comments!

12 Reasons I Switched From Windows XP to Ubuntu

The Practical Nerd — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 20:28:04 +0000

This is a favorite topic of mine because it’s just good ol’ fashioned nerdery at work. But, I truly believe there are some great practical reasons why Ubuntu Linux should be considered for the general public. I bought my laptop in 2007 which, at the time, ran Windows Vista. After about a year, Vista kicked me off my internet connection, and several days with “Windows Certified” computer techs did me no good. I reinstalled Vista, and it did it again a couple months later. At that point, I was open to suggestion, and I tried out the LiveCD version of Ubuntu (which was several versions ago). Ubuntu recognized my internet connection and ran beautifully. I immediately fell in love.

A few technical reasons caused me to switch off of Ubuntu early last year, and I got my hands on a copy of Windows XP, which has served me well. However, it was time for a change. Ubuntu 10.04 (codename: Lucid Lynx) was recently released, with some solid new features. I was able to install it like a Windows program and try it out, and I discovered all the little technical problems I used to have had disappeared. This is a solid operating system with great support, and I’m happy to show you why I took the plunge and installed Ubuntu on my laptop, replacing Windows XP.

It’s the most recent operating system to date

We’re talking about technology here, where dates matter. When you have a piece of technology and something else out there is better, you want it. There’s a lot of tech envy in the world, and people scramble to have the latest. That’s why you see people ditching their iPhones for newer iPhones. Here’s a point of comparison: Windows XP was released in 2001 – NINE years ago. In 2004, were you still using Windows 95? For the vast majority of you, probably not. And the only reason XP has been supported this long is because Vista bombed and Microsoft had to. XP is being phased out now that Windows 7 has scored major points for the company. The energy is just not being put towards XP anymore. It’s time to upgrade.

By contrast, Ubuntu is the latest Linux release to date, and by far their most mainstream release yet. It has support for lots of hardware right out of the box (it “just works”, as people say), and it continues to innovate, such as with their “Gwibber” social networking integration.

Less bloat

Are you on XP? Hit Ctrl-Alt-Del, then look at the “Processes” tab. How many “svchost.exe” lines are there? Windows is notorious for taxing a computer’s system into oblivion. I’ve heard wonderful things about how lightweight Windows 7 is, but Ubuntu is right up there with it. Ubuntu is loaded with lots of functionality, but moves quickly, even on older hardware. It doesn’t ship with all the crappy trial software that Windows does, and it doesn’t “gain weight” with age like Windows does. Spending less time uninstalling stuff when you get a new operating system is a good thing. Plus, your desktop is nice and clean – no default icons. I like that.

Ubuntu Software Center

I’ve said it before and I will say it again: the smartest thing Apple popularized was the App Store. Having an app store eliminates the intimidation and complications of installing software. When you install something on Windows, you hit “Next” about forty times, agree to license agreements, tell the program if you want a desktop icon or an entry in the Start menu, tell it where to install it, etc. On top of all of that, 75% of the programs you install require a system restart, so you need to save what you’re doing and reboot the whole stinking computer.

In Ubuntu, you find the program you want, and click “Install”. That’s it. No restarts or anything. The app installs and is organized for you automatically. If you want to use the command line to do so, you can (as some old schoolers prefer). But if you’re like me, you want it as simple as possible. Click “Install” and go get a glass of water. It’ll be ready by the time you get back.

Slick, not overbearing animation

This was a pleasant surprise for me. Ubuntu has always had some slick animation stuff, but nothing that I could enjoy on my basic laptop. My version of Vista was Basic, so I never got to experience the Aero Desktop animations. This version of Ubuntu, however, is able to use my hardware to add subtle window animations that I love. While Windows is the front-runner for operating system animations, I’d really rather limit the effort put into animation anyway. The Alt+Tab feature (to switch windows) will show you only the window you are switching to, to allow you to focus on which window you want. Switching desktops (see below) is done with a slick sliding of the windows on your current screen. For a guy on a limited laptop, these animations are a welcome change without being a total distraction.

Multiple desktop support out of the box

A default installation of Ubuntu includes four virtual desktops. Having virtual desktops is a nice way to organize your windows and keep things straight. For example, I like to keep my Gmail and HootSuite running while I’m on the computer. I’ve given each their own desktop, so if I want to check my email, all I need to do is switch to that desktop and there it is (there are notifiers available, but I prefer the control). You can have whatever you want running in your four desktops, which allows you to keep things open without cluttering up your taskbar, and keeping a clean focus on the windows you need to focus on!

FREE

Ubuntu is free. There is no trial version, no “Pro” version, no “Ultimate” version. It’s free. All of it. Windows is several hundred dollars, and Mac OS X computers are thousands of dollars. You can go right now and download Ubuntu. Not only that, you can install Ubuntu alongside Windows and try it out. It is installed and uninstalled just like any program on Windows – a great, risk-free way to try it out.

Mac-like simplicity without Mac-like prices

There are lots of ways to “skin” Windows XP, and a couple days ago, I re-skinned it to look like Windows 7. I actually hated it. I’m sure the Windows 7 performance is great, but I found the taskbar to be way too big and trying to do too much. By contrast, the Mac OS X layout is known for its simplicity, which draws itself to a lot of users. Ubuntu retains that simplistic approach – and it is very customizable if you want to tweak it out. Keeping the desktop clean means you can focus more on what you’re doing with the programs, not with their windows or taskbars.

No viruses

There are two reasons why Ubuntu has no viruses: #1. You need to enter your password any time you try to install something, protecting you from automatic installations of garbage. #2. It doesn’t have the market penetration to warrant the attention.

The second one is a biggie. Those using Linux make up about 3% of computer users. Mac users are 5%. That means Windows users are 92% – why do you think they are targeted more? Any operating system can be hacked, eventually. Windows has a reputation for viruses simply because all the jerks that release viruses do it on the operating system that affects the most consumers. That’s Windows.

Great support

The Ubuntu Forums are a great place to ask questions and see answers. While the internet has a (valid) reputation for being full of rude and obnoxious users, the Ubuntu Forums are generally people who understand newbies and help explain to them how to do something on Ubuntu that they don’t know how to do. Plus, you can search their forums without logging in and get answers pretty quickly. Google is an Ubuntu user’s friend when support is needed. Compare that to calling India to have a tech support guy tell you to try rebooting, and then tell you to reinstall the entire Windows operating system because he doesn’t know what else to do about it (happened to me!).

Breathes new life into old hardware

My options: buy a new Windows computer for $500. Buy a new Mac computer for $1000. Install Ubuntu to my perfectly-fine computer for $0. The numbers speak for themselves. Linux can handle plenty of older computers, and Ubuntu is a great choice for those computers that are only a few years old.

GNOME-Do

This is a program exclusively available to Linux users, Ubuntu in particular, and it is easily my new favorite. The first app launcher I used was Launchy for Windows, which was a little window I could bring up and launch programs from. Without Launchy, to open Chrome, I could either put an icon on my desktop or taskbar (which I didn’t want), or navigate through endless menus. With Launchy, I hit Alt+spacebar, type the letter “c”, and hit “enter”. Done and done. Using an app launcher cuts down on tons of time spent moving around the mouse to double-click and all that jazz.

GNOME-Do is a step above Launchy. While Launchy also exists for Ubuntu, GNOME-Do comes with several useful plugins built-in to maximize its usefulness. I have the program synced with my Google account, which means I can hit Alt+spacebar and search my contacts for a phone number or address within seconds, or I can open a saved spreadsheet or document from Google Docs without ever having to open the main Google Docs page in my browser. The latter unifies the desktop and the webapp in a very useful way.

Ubuntu One

In my original post on backing up your stuff last year, I wrote about a great program called Syncplicity, which backs up 2GB worth of files for free. Now, Ubuntu has an online backup solution called Ubuntu One, which also lets you back up 2GB worth of stuff for free. In addition, the Ubuntu Music Store syncs up with Ubuntu One, so any music you buy from the store is automatically available in the cloud. I’m a fan of Ubuntu One simply because it is a necessary utility for most, and it’s built right in to the system.

I’m not here to discredit Windows or Apple’s operating systems. They are both very good and they appeal to very broad audiences. But for me, I think Ubuntu has a leg up on both of them for packing a simple, powerful, useful operating system into a free package for the average user. If you want to give Ubuntu a test run, visit their web page, which also includes instructions on installing Ubuntu as your main operating system, if you so desire (just remember to back up your important files first, or they will be lost forever!). Also, check out this very in-depth article on things you can do to maximize Ubuntu’s usefulness after you install it. Anybody else have any thoughts on Ubuntu? Ever tried it out or thought about it?

Four Things Missing From Hulu’s New Subscription Service

The Practical Nerd — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 02:01:08 +0000

The world waited with baited breath for Hulu to finally announce their subscription service. In case you missed it, Hulu confirmed that they will be offering full seasons of TV shows from NBC, Fox, and ABC at a price of $9.99 per month, including the ability to watch from your iPhone, iPad, and a number of set-top boxes.

As exciting as this news is, I can’t help but feel a little underwhelmed by it. I thought of four reasons why that is. Please keep in mind that I’m aware TV contracts are much more complicated than I’m making them out to be, and I know Hulu will probably be offering some of this stuff down the line. But here’s what’s keeping me from signing up:

Tiered pricing

The reason you hate cable TV is because you pay for a lot of crap you don’t watch. I know this can’t be avoided, but why not come up with a way to tier it per channel? Maybe I don’t watch anything on Fox, and I only want to subscribe to NBC and ABC? Why should I have to pay for Fox if I’m never going to watch it? Let’s give the people the ability to choose what stations they want. And in that same vein…

Open it up to cable offerings

Here’s one I’m oversimplifying, but it still is a valid argument: I’m not going to give up cable to have access to network TV shows for $9.99 a month. I want shows like Mythbusters, Man Caves, and awesome stuff from The Travel Channel. I want Phineas and Ferb (darn it!). Most good network TV shows are in syndication on regular TV. If I’m going to pay for TV, I want a broader offering.

XBox 360/PS3 Integration (for now)

Yeah, I know it’s coming, but two of the biggest platforms for this sort of thing are currently left out while they haggle over contracts or whatever it is. If I were Hulu, I would have waited to announce this service until they were nailed down.

The Killer Alternative to Netflix

Frankly, I don’t see why I would pay for Hulu right now. Netflix continues to broaden their offerings, including cable shows in HD, and I can watch it on my XBox 360, and get DVDs of stuff not streaming, for under $10/month. There’s no killer feature that makes me go “WHOA! I need to go out and get Hulu!”

Will it come? Sure – in time. But right now, I’m saving my money. What is your reaction to the big announcement?

The E-Readers Price War Has Begun: What’s The Best Reading Option?

The Practical Nerd — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 23:57:55 +0000

Reading was once a privilege only enjoyed by those well-off and those with patience. It wasn’t that long ago that books took forever to print and the world clamored for new books a couple times a year. Now, books are published and distributed in so many ways that it’s hard to even keep up. In Martin Luther’s day, The Bible was chained up in the library. I have a version of it on my Blackberry that I can search different translations with just a few buttons.

Technology has met books with the introduction of the e-reader. Amazon released one of the first mainstream e-readers in their Kindle, a device that employs “e-ink” technology, where the page treats your eyes like a piece of paper but you don’t have to turn pages. Reviews raved about this little device: you could download books from anywhere – especially with wi-fi hotspots – on the fly, and store hundreds of books on a little device like this. Ebooks generally run cheaper than regular books anyway, so it seemed like a slam dunk. Plus, the e-ink took less power to operate, so battery life could be over a week.

One problem: the price. Amazon’s Kindle was $259. Sony’s comparable e-reader was a whopping $349. Barnes and Noble released their Nook last November at a price of $259. This is a pretty high upfront price to pay, and you’d have to read a lot of books to make up the price of just buying books like normal. So the niche market has always been travelers and very heavy readers – people who need to lug around a lot of books and can store them in one little device instead. But all these e-readers are looking to crack into the full, mainstream reading market.

Then: The Price War Began

Two things happened that kicked off the price war. One, the iPad . As much as I hate this piece of hardware, it has a slick presentation that grabs eyes. One of the biggest features of the iPad has been iBooks, which is just a slicker version of an e-reader. Even though the iPad is at the ridiculous price of $499 (and jumps to an even-more-ridiculous $629 plus a monthly data plan to add 3G service like the Kindle/Nook offers for free), some people justify that price for a color e-reader. So that started taking market share from the other e-readers; why pay almost $300 for a device that reads books when you can pay $500 and get (in certain ways) more functionality?

The second was the brilliant move by Borders: bringing the Kobo eReader to the U.S. While this device lacks any internet connectivity, its price point of $150 finally started to look enticing to the mainstream. And with the announcement of bringing in the Aluratek Libre eReader for $120 , Borders looks like it is readying itself to start bringing in some serious market share.

Until earlier this week, when Barnes and Noble announced they were dropping their Nook to $199, and releasing a wi-fi only version of the device for $149. With access to a ton of free wi-fi hotspots in the country, all of a sudden, the Nook looks like the best option. Amazon, the same day, responded by dropping the Kindle to $189 . With wi-fi and 3G service, as well as a pending App Store , it looks like the one to beat.

So where is the future of reading? So far, here are your options:

1. Buy an e-reader and use ebooks.

Pros: Extremely convenient – get a book in a matter of minutes, either through your computer or through your device. New releases available immediately. Low price for ebooks. Carry a ton of books without the weight.
Cons: Big upfront price for device. Quality of device varies from company to company.

2. Go to the library .

Pros: Free.
Cons: Can be a limited selection. You’re on a time limit, so you have to keep renewing the book. If you’re like me, you don’t like that added pressure sometimes.

3. Trade books on PaperbackSwap for cheap.

Pros: Own a book for $2-3. Big selection available.
Cons: Have to wrap and mail books to get credits. Receiving a book can take weeks. Quality of books can vary depending on sender. Few new releases available.

4. Buy new books at the bookstore.

Pros: New releases. That “new book” smell.
Cons: Sticker price.

5. Download free e-reader software on computers and smartphones and buy ebooks.

Pros: Software is free. Ebooks are cheap. Take your books anywhere on your phone.
Cons: Reading on smartphones can be hard on the eyes, reading on computer is less-than-comfortable for long periods of time.

6. Buy used books on Amazon.

Pros: Low price. Generally good quality. Excellent selection – pretty much any book you want. Free shipping on orders over $25.
Cons: Shipping charges if you just want one or two books. Have to wait for books to be shipped to you.

What’s the answer?

I don’t know yet. I think e-readers are getting very close to breaking through. If you show me an e-reader using the e-ink technology and works well (and looks slick enough) for under $100, I’m buying in. $150 is still just a little too pricey for me to buy (although I would take one as a gift!). What are your thoughts? With so many options for reading books, which one is the best for your situation and why?

28 Reasons To Love Your Forgotten Laptop

The Practical Nerd — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:45:10 +0000

The world is abuzz about the pending iPad and it’s pre-orders. Everyone is talking about the Microsoft Courier. You love your iPhone/Droid/Blackberry. You constantly search around for bigger, better devices that will do almost everything in the world. In this “buy-buy-buy” haze, have you forgotten the love for your laptop?

A laptop is a versatile tool. When people talk about user experience on new gadgets, they distract people from an important point – you already know how to use a laptop. A laptop can fit in a small bag and go anywhere you want it to. It’s never as flashy or as impressive as one of these new gadgets, but are you just paying for the flashiness? The status? Aren’t we over that in this country?

Over the past few years of developing into the Nerd that you see before you today, I learned how to push a laptop to do almost anything. It boasts an impressive array of features that we’ve all forgotten about. Today, I want to remind you of all the things your laptop can do, and hopefully inspire some of you to hang on to that relic instead of swiping that credit card for another gadget purchase, or dipping into your hard-earned savings. But first, here are the specs on my laptop, so that you know I’m not talking about some super-laptop that you can’t afford:

This is a dual-core, 1.60GHz Toshiba Satellite laptop with 1.5GB of RAM. It has an 80GB hard drive. I bought it with Vista and downgraded to XP about a year and a half later. This setup cost me about $700 when I bought it in 2007, and a quick search on Newegg.com pops up a computer with twice as much memory and a hard drive FOUR times as large as mine for under $400. Honestly, this computer blows mine out of the water, and it cost almost half as much as I paid for mine.

So here’s the list, in absolutely no particular order. I sat down and jotted down all the things I can use my laptop for, so this is a “stream of consciousness”-type list. A quick editor’s note: I’m not dumb. This list assumes moderate maintenance (i.e., running CCleaner about once a week, having a free antivirus application running at all times), Windows XP (though you don’t need XP for most of this stuff), and a decent internet connection.

1. An e-reader

It’s the flashiest feature of them all right now – read books on a screen! The iPad will have books! Well, you don’t need to buy a new gadget for this necessarily. Barnes And Noble and Amazon both offer free software for reading books on your computer, so if you want to buy ebooks, go right ahead! Better yet, visit Project Guternberg and download over 100,000 free ebooks from the public domain if you want.

This is probably the feature I use the least, since you can’t compare the ease on the eyes of a book compared to an LCD screen. This is one place I think the iPad will fail, and why, if you’re a heavy reader, I actually would recommend getting a dedicated e-reader. The e-ink technology is much, much easier on the eyes.

2. A portable television

I’ve written at length about how you can use your computer as your television, and even hook it up to your TV. But also, for quick show-watching on the go, just visit a site like Hulu. I subscribe to a lot of shows within Hulu and they post to my queue the morning after they air. So, all I need to do is log in, go to my queue, and click “Play”. Boom.

If you’re looking to watch live sports, start getting to know TVAnts and StreamTorrent. Plus, this method ensures that you get out-of-market games, too.

3. A pretty good gaming machine

You hardcore gamers looking to play graphics-intensive games will probably want a powerful desktop, but laptops can handle quite a bit too. Plus, if you’re a casual gamer (like myself), you are just looking for simple games to pass the time, in which case, there are plenty of great gaming sites out there like this one.

4. Your new teacher

Miss college? Want to learn a new skill? There are lots of great places online to see and hear lectures and lessons taught by fine professors from all over the country. Looking for something a little more fun? Learn guitar (see link above) or build something cool at Instructables. There are endless possibilities for what you can learn through your laptop.

5. Your complete photo album

When I go to my grandmother’s house, looking through pictures involves emptying a cabinet full of old albums and sitting at the kitchen table while everyone crowds around them and tries to see what’s going on. Nowadays, all those pictures (and more!) can be stored on your laptop. Back them up to a site like Picasa (my favorite) and tag, organize, and share them with everyone forever.

Bonus tip: set your screensaver to pull pictures from the folder on your computer where you keep all your photos, and your monitor becomes an instant digital photo frame when not in use.

6. Your radio

Talk radio, comedy stations, music of all types and genres – internet radio is fantastic. Set up a Pandora station for customized listening goodness, or listen to hundreds of live radio stations on iheartradio.com. Take it with you.

7. Your complete music library

The local version of the previous tip. Imagine: no CD towers to buy, no cases to spend half an hour opening. Download music from iTunes or Zune Marketplace or Amazon. Store them on your computer (and back them up, of course). Rip your current CD collection and then pack away those discs in a bin somewhere. You can listen to any music at any time, anywhere. It’s a beautiful thing.

8. Your map command center

It doesn’t matter if you are biking, running, or driving a car – sometimes you just need directions. Now, you can type in any location or address into sites like Google Maps or MapQuest and you know exactly how to get anywhere. You no longer have a need for a big paper map that takes up half the front of the car. Just search, print, and move on.

9. Note-taker and organizer

If you want a laugh, look at my notes from high school and college: they’re messy and smudged (I’m a lefty), completely disorganized, and a total failure. Today, with services like Evernote, you can organize and tag your notes, and they won’t be smudged or unreadable. Heck, you can even just use a word processor to get the job done if you want. Just pull your laptop out of its bag and get to typing.

10. Complete database of knowledge, regardless of usefulness

Remember how embarrassing it was to go to a bookstore or a library and pick up one of those stupid “For Dummies” books? Now, you don’t need them. I’m amazed they’re still on the shelves at all. There is no longer an excuse for not knowing something. You can Google it, you can Bing it, you can even Ask Jeeves if you want. Get your plumbing/cooking/health questions answered just by typing your question into a search engine. For facts (mostly accurate), hit up Wikipedia.

11. Your calendar of events

I use Google Calendar, but you can use whatever you want. All the things going on in your life can be chronicled, and you can have reminders sent to you straight from your calendar. Stop missing those anniversaries/birthdays/whatever.

12. An address book

My mom kept an address book for years. When I needed a phone number, I needed to go to the closet, pull it out, flip to the section with the first letter of their last name, navigate through old, crossed-out addresses and skim through until I found what I was looking for. Now? I just sit at my laptop, open up Google Contacts, and use the search box to find the entry with the person I’m looking for. You can use Outlook or something else if you want. But have a backup of all your contacts, and you can search them easily at any time.

13. Your weather station

Hop on Weather.com and enter in your zip code at the top of the page – severe weather warnings, detailed forecasts of the next couple of days, and extended 10-day forecasts all come up. You can watch the live radar if you want. Do this stuff for monitoring the weather of your next vacation destination. Turn off the Weather Channel and put down the newspaper.

14. Your professional presentation tool

Ever notice how you don’t see presentations done with big poster boards anymore? That’s because you just need to load that PowerPoint presentation and plug your laptop into a projector. It looks slicker, makes you look good, and was easy to do with your laptop.

15. Your new checkbook

Wave “bye-bye” to adding and subtracting errors. A complete money management system can be had on any laptop. Need to share it with your husband/wife? Use a free online service like ClearCheckbook or share a Google Doc. The math and tracking is done for you – all you need to do is enter in those transactions.

16. Call anybody, anytime – even by video

VoIP technology continues to advance. I run a Skype phone line with a little headset for business. Want to video chat with somebody like you see in the movies? Get a cheap little webcam and you can all you want. I used to video chat weekly with my then-girlfriend while she was in Taiwan. You can now talk to somebody and see them, regardless of where they are. Powerful stuff.

17. Keep in touch with all of your friends, all the time

High school reunions are becoming obsolete with sites like Facebook. We all know what we are doing, all the time. That’s lame sometimes, but it comes in handy. For example, I have friends all over the country, and I can stay a part of their lives through my communications on Facebook. When done correctly, Facebook can enhance your personal relationships, and you can share joys, sorrows, and laughs with people every day.

18. A retro gaming system

Here’s where the fun starts! Do you miss the Super Nintendo? How about classic Nintendo? Sega Genesis? Hop over to your favorite search engine and type in “SNES emulators” to find a program that will play old Super Nintendo games. Download it, then search for “SNES roms” to find and download the games. Plug in a USB controller and you’ll feel like you’re 8 years old all over again!

19. Sports/News Central

Whether you do it in an RSS feed reader or you just visit a site like CNN or MSN, the headlines are always updating and keep you in the loop at all times. Hit up ESPN for live scores of all of your games. Then, cancel your newspaper subscription. I mean, like, NOW.

20. Your recipe database

When I cook, I just put the laptop on the kitchen counter. I don’t need a shelf of cookbooks (although I do still have a few). You can store recipes in Evernote or use a service like Supercook to manage your inventory of recipes. It makes your cooking life a lot easier, and you never have to remember which recipe book that breaded chicken recipe was in.

21. Track your workouts

DailyMile lets you map and save your runs. DailyBurn allows you the ability to track any type of workout, and even track your nutrition levels. You don’t need to keep a paper notebook or print out a spreadsheet. Type it in, submit it, and move on with your life. Slick, slick, slick.

22. Business-builder

Build a website, run a blog, connect on Facebook/Twitter, design brochures, write copy… the list goes on. Take notes during your meetings with clients. A laptop computer offers the flexibility to work anywhere you choose, provided your business can pay those bills. A laptop, in my opinion, is an absolutely essential tool for business-building today.

23. Create CDs and DVDs

I remember back in 2000 when I first learned how to burn a CD. It took forever. Now, I use CDBurnerXP, but you can use just about anything. Put those home movies on a DVD. Make that mix CD for your friend (or that girl you like). It only takes a couple of minutes, and you can do it right from your laptop.

24. Stream home media anywhere in the house

XBox Media Center, now on the original XBox, PCs, Macs, and Linux machines. All your movies and music on any TV in your house, from your computer.

25. Portable CD/DVD player

Again, another invention that I am shocked is still on shelves: the portable DVD player. Instead, play this stuff on your laptop when sitting on the plane or when you’re supposed to be paying attention in class. Chances are, your laptop can handle any kind of DVD, too.

26. Your to-do list

Google Tasks or Remember The Milk, or about a dozen others. Ditch the paper to-do list and type it up in your laptop. Want to keep it simpler? Open up a little Notepad document and bang out your list.

27. The answers to your minor medical questions

I’ve always been a big fan of WebMD, but there are other ways to get medical questions answered, too. This is not a substitute for a doctor’s visit, of course, but it can help you diagnose minor situations instead of paying that co-pay to be told those lumps on your throat are just leftover food scraps. [Note: this is not a good tip for hypochondriacs.]

28. Your shopping mall, all the time

Want to buy anything? Put your shoes down. Stay in your pajamas. Open up your laptop and get to Amazon. Search for whatever you want, and they’ll have it. Oh, and it’ll be cheaper, too.

Okay, so some of these are obvious, but it helps to have them here. Your laptop is a remarkably strong piece of technology. I would think twice before you ditch it to use some fancy-looking thing that only does two or three things on this list.

What do you use your laptop for?

Why I Switched From Firefox To Chrome, and How To Do It Painlessly

The Practical Nerd — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 06:48:12 +0000

Google Chrome is one of those programs that has been around for a while, but when you first tried it, you weren’t that crazy about it. It was somewhat buggy, it didn’t have any type of customization available, and you couldn’t block ads. As much as I wanted to make the switch (being the Google nutjob that I am), I couldn’t do it without a few features that just weren’t available:

1. I needed ads blocked. Period. Even most of them would be sufficient.

2. Add-ons. I want to be able to customize it.

3. A way to integrate my Google Bookmarks so that I can use them like regular bookmarks.

Then one day a couple months ago, I heard that extensions were finally hitting the mainstream. Google Chrome Extensions were a great idea, but you needed to download Chromium, which was the “guinea pig” version of Chrome (which means it doesn’t always work properly), and you had to do a lot of nerdy command-line work to get it up and running. It wasn’t pretty. Once one-click extension support came around, it was time to dive back in.

Now, a few months later, I couldn’t be happier.

Why Switch From Firefox?

Hey, Firefox is a great product. Go ahead and download it if you’d like. It’s stable and it’s popular. But Firefox is very prone to bloatedness. After a while, it takes forever to load Firefox. Chrome just pops right up. It just feels light. Check out the screencast I took below of a comparison between a Firefox start and a Chrome start and you will see what I mean. The little box that pops up in the middle is Launchy, which is my application launcher. In layman’s terms, the box pops up and I start typing the name of the program. When the box disappears, that means I hit “enter” and the application is starting. First I try opening Firefox, then Chrome. Check it out:

If you time it, Firefox takes a full 7 seconds to load up for use, and Chrome takes about 1/2 a second – that means Chrome, in this situation, is 14 times faster loading!

Interested yet? Here are my full reasons why you should give Chrome a chance:

Speed. See the above video.
Full script support without any extra extensions. One of the best plugins for Firefox is Greasemonkey, which allows you to install “scripts” that will modify a particular website for you. For example, I have a script installed that makes my Google Calendar go full-screen without any sidebars by hitting the “F12” button. But working through Greasemonkey is a little abstract for the average user. In Chrome, you can just go to a site like UserScripts.org, find one you like and click “Install”. Chrome does the rest – and if you like wasting time on Facebook with Mafia Wars and FarmVille, they have tons of scripts to make it a more awesome experience for you (if you’re into that sort of thing).
No restart necessary. Want to install an extension? Go for it. It’ll just show up. You don’t have to interrupt your entire browsing session to install one script or extension. They’ll just be there for you.
Speaking of no restarts, the whole application won’t crash on you. Say you are in Firefox and you have a problem with a website that causes your browser to close. That sucks. Now you have to restart and possibly “restore” your session. In Chrome, only that tab closes out on you. So if you have a bunch of open tabs, they don’t depend on each other – minimizing the interruption.
More screen real estate – look at sites, not toolbars. I had to install plugins and customize Firefox to get as much screen as possible for browsing. Chrome’s got it all set up already. In fact, it doesn’t have a bottom toolbar, giving you even more room for surfing.
Turn web pages into applications. Sometimes I just want to open up straight to Gmail. I browse to my Gmail, then click the little page icon in the upper-right corner and click “Create application shortcuts…”. I can put a shortcut on my desktop, in my Quick Launch, and/or in my Start Menu. It will go straight to that site in a full window, just like an application (i.e., no address bar, etc.). I have that set up with Hootsuite as well.

Okay, okay – enough gushing. Time to get into the nuts-and-bolts: how do you set this thing up? Remember – it needs to do all the stuff that my awesome Firefox setup could do.

After installing Chrome, you need to block some ads

This is easily the most complicated part of the process, but it’s not that hard, really. Without a true contender to the ad-blocking throne, the best way to do it, in my experience, has been through a program called Privoxy. There’s a 7-step process to it that is awesomely-simplified in this post by Lifehacker and Geekzone. Just follow it, step-by-step, and you’re done. Bada bing.

Throw on your bookmarklets

Remember from my Firefox setup, I make full use of bookmarklets – little bookmarks that can do some awesome things in your Bookmarks Toolbar. I’ve found the easiest way to do this is to open up a Firefox window next to your Chrome window and literally drag your bookmarklets from Firefox and drop them into the Chrome toolbar. If you don’t have that, here are links to my bookmarklets and what they do. Instead of clicking on the link, just drag it up to your Bookmarks Toolbar:

StumbleUpon Toolbar – All the fun of StumbleUpon with none of the bloated toolbar taking up space.
GmailThis! – Like a page/article and want to quickly email it to your buddy? Click this icon and a new “Compose Email” window will pop up with the site title in the subject line and a link to the page in the body. Very handy!
Subscribe in Google Reader – If I find a new blog, I can just click this button and it will automatically open up Google Reader and subscribe to it for me.
The Hootlet – If you use Hootsuite to share stuff on Facebook and Twitter, clicking this will automatically open a new “hoot” with the title and shortened link to the site. GREAT for link sharing on Twitter!
Lifehacker Random – The latest addition to my bookmarklets: Lifehacker just put out this button to go to any random article from their vast archives. What a great site.
Readability – After setting this one up, you can just click it and it will clear your webpage of anything except the article text and pictures. Very useful with Evernote (I’ll be doing an article on that one soon).

Get some sweet extensions

Like Firefox plugins, these add-ons help you further customize your browsing experience. There are plenty out there, so feel free to browse around. Here are mine:

GBX – Google Bookmarks For Chrome – This is a third-party extension that inserts my Google Bookmarks into the bookmarks toolbar to work like any bookmarks on a browser. Probably my favorite extension, just because I never think about it.
Evernote Web Clipper – Like a page/article and want to save it for later? Just click this button and it will save it and set up a new note in your Evernote for you.
Google Docs – One-click access to your most recent Google Docs, which is great if you just want to open up one quick document (or create a new one right away).

Handy Google Shortcuts – If you like Google like I do, you use a lot of their products. This is a nice drop-down box of Google products (customizable, too) so that you can go straight to your Gmail, Reader, YouTube, or any of your favorite Google stuff.

Take it to the next level with scripts

No complicated Greasemonkey stuff. Just click “Install” on these bad boys:

Facebook Fixer – There’s not enough room to fit all its features in here, which is why I wrote a full post on it a while back.
Facebook Purity – Don’t care what quizzes people took? Annoyed by FarmVille announcements? God bless you. Hide them all with this script.
Remove Facebook Ads – Privoxy doesn’t catch these. It does as promised.
GooglePreview – Adds a little screenshot of each web site in the Google search results. Helps you figure out where you’re headed before you click on it.
Google Images Enlarger – When doing an image search, this allows you to mouse-over the thumbnail and see a full-size picture without having to click through to the site. Very handy and a big time saver!

Your turn

Am I preaching to the choir? Do you already use Chrome? What are your favorite extensions/scripts? Why should we encourage more Chrome usage? If you’re a diehard Firefox user and you’re not convinced, tell us why. If you’re an Internet Explorer advocate, seek help immediately – we cannot help you here.

My Renewed Appreciation for Pandora Radio

The Practical Nerd — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 16:53:11 +0000

Is there anything more frustrating than the local radio? Never is this more evident than at Christmastime. In Milwaukee, the only two Christmas songs available are that “Canon In D” thing with the boys’ choir, and “All I Want For Christmas Is You” by freaking Mariah Carey. Yes sir, nothing gets me in the spirit like Mariah Carey. Ugh.

I love Christmas music, but this was killing me. Even better, at nighttime when they might play a few different ones, we have an annoying DJ named Delilah who intersperses each song with over-the-top mushiness and “inspirational” messages. Pandora came to the rescue, and here I am, still using it more and more.

Pandora Radio is a little web application where you tell the service an artist you like and it plays music by that artist and others like it. You can give the ol’ thumbs-up or thumbs-down to songs, and it will adjust your playlist accordingly. The more you rate, the better it gets at picking music you’ll like. You can even add more artists to a radio station for variety and even better chances of getting music you like. For music lovers like me, this service is a Godsend, as it is free and easy to use, and it helps me discover new music. But why else is it so great?

A big variety in types of stations you can create.

You can make as many stations as you want in Pandora. So I can make a country station if I want by just adding a few country artists I like. As you can see above, I added a Rockapella station to listen to a cappella covers of songs any time I want (I never said I was cool). What about Christmastime? Pandora had a couple Christmas stations created, and you can create stations with your favorite artists singing holiday songs, too. Bye-bye, Mariah, hello Straight No Chaser!

No commercials.

My biggest beef with local radio is the commercials. First, they take commercial breaks like every five minutes. We have a station here called FM 106.1, which is an all-country station, and they actually advertise the “No-Talk Triple-Play” where they play, wait for it… THREE whole songs in a row! WOW. And I think there’s something written in the laws of radio that every station has to take commercial breaks at the exact same time. It bothers me. A lot. If I’m in the car for 10 minutes, I don’t want to listen to commercials for 8 of those minutes.

It’s still radio.

Yes, I love my Zune with all my heart. But what about the days when I just want to sit back and let somebody else pick the music for me? That’s why Pandora comes in handy. When I’m in the car, some days I’ll just plug the adapter into my Blackberry and let Pandora entertain me. Most are hits, there are a few misses occasionally, but it’s nice to have a variety without dealing with all the crap of local radio. I even get (a limited number of) skips (per hour) that I can use for songs that drive me nuts.

No annoying DJs.

Is there anything more pointless than the radio DJ anymore? I understand if you are on talk radio. For example, I’m a huge fan of Dave Ramsey’s radio show. But in those situations, I want to hear the guy talk, not play music. Delilah kills me. At Christmastime, I was listening to a local station during the day while I ran some errands, and they decided to spend 10 minutes in an interview with Ray Romano. *siiiiiiiiggghhhhhh*… With Pandora, it’s computer-generated and analyzed. I don’t have to listen to anybody explain any garbage to me about anything. I don’t have to listen to people winning money and big giveaways. I just get the music.

You can take it pretty much anywhere.

If you’ve got a pair of headphones, you can listen to Pandora anytime. First, it runs in a web browser, so if you are near a computer, just plug the ol’ headphones in and start listening. Or, if you’re at home, crank up the speakers! As you can see above, it’s available on almost any type of smartphone. I use the Blackberry app myself, and I love it. Plug that bad boy into the cassette adapter or FM transmitter, and it feels like you’re just listening to regular radio. [Bonus feature: when you get a call or a text, it pauses the station for you to take care of it, and then unpauses when you’re done automatically. Cool!]

Have other needs? Well, some boombox-type devices support Pandora music, and Pioneer has announced plans to bring Pandora to more cars in 2010. In addition, I have recently discovered Jamcast, which streams your audio to different supported devices, including my XBox 360 (see link for full list of supported devices, including PS3 and various DVD players), so that I can play Pandora on my computer and listen to it in my living room on my TV. Slick!

It’s FREE.

Yup. There’s no better argument than this one. It doesn’t cost a dime. You can pay for it if you’d like, and Pandora One offers some nice features, too. But if you want to stick with free, there’s nothing stopping you. The limitations aren’t ridiculous like some services out there, and you can still enjoy it fully.

Yeah, Pandora isn’t big news to anybody who’s been online for the past few years. But if you’re not all that tech-savvy, this can be a great new discovery for you. Check it out today!