Well, It Is Missing An "E"

First with Flickr, and now with Tumblr, it looks like Yahoo is trying to purchase everything without an "e" in the name. All Things D reports:

The Yahoo board has approved a massive $1.1 billion all-cash deal to buy Tumblr. It’s not clear when the official vote was taken, but sources close to the board said the acquisition was a foregone conclusion and was unanimously approved by the directors of Silicon Valley Internet giant. The deal will likely be announced Monday morning, said numerous sources.

In terms of what will change for users of Tumblr, it doesn't look like much, which is a good thing:

As part of the Yahoo deal, Tumblr CEO David Karp — who will get a windfall of cash from the acquisition — will stay at Yahoo for four years at least and retain a lot of control over the service, much in the same way Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom does at Facebook. But, as there, Yahoo will undergird Tumblr’s nascent advertising business with its large and established infrastructure, said sources.

Some new ads so that Yahoo can make some money, and Tumblr is sure to bring tons of new traffic for Yahoo, so the acquisition makes sense.

My only remaining question: What does Marco Arment get out of this deal, if anything?

What Constitutes An American Tragedy

David Dennis, writing for The Guardian, analyzes the serious question of why the New Orleans Mother's Day shooting is not a national tragedy:

I've learned to redefine what constitutes an American tragedy. American tragedies occur where middle America frequents every day: airplanes, business offices, marathons. Where there persists a tangible fear that this could happen to any of us. And rightfully so. Deaths and mayhem anywhere are tragic. That should always be the case. The story here is where American tragedies don't occur.

As soon as I heard the news about what happened in New Orleans I was just waiting for the huge explosion of media. And then... nothing came. And for the life of me I couldn't understand why. The sad thing is that Dennis offers to tremendous new insight. It's just the upsetting way that American culture works with things like this.

Thoughts on 'Gatsby': Both Within and Without

The Great Gatsby. The great Great Gatsby. A film a anticipated seeing for months on end, only to have the release date pushed off a few months more. Then came the release of the absolutely stellar, tone-setting soundtrack. Finally, today, I was able to see the movie.

From the time the movie came out to the time I was able to see it, I noticed a clear divide in responses to the movie. Critics did not seem to be fans, while regular people loved it. The movie had an initial Rotten Tomatoes score of only 40%, later rising up to 51%, and finally settling at 49%. The Users score of the film, however, is an 84% — a score that makes a lot more sense to me.

Speaking of me, you're probably wondering what I thought about the movie. Well, I really liked it. I enjoyed the film from the very beginning until the very end.

Yes, I read the book — and like it very much — and I think that the movie stuck pretty true to the book. There were one or two smaller scenes that I don't think were in the book, and obviously stylistically the movie is quite different, but in terms of the overall plot, it was very true to the book. Fitzgerald's story is, of course, intricately rich and deeply complex, and I think the movie totally captures and conveys that well. It truly brings the book to life.

With a movie like Gatsby, re-watchability is important. And I think that the film succeeds at that level, too. Perhaps not like some of the greatest re-watchable movies of all time, but the movie is certainly re-watchable enough. I'd go see it again, and I could imagine myself really wanting to show this to people who haven't seen it yet years down the road. There are many scenes I could watch all day long. And the music, the clothing, the style Luhrmann's film only add to the re-watchability.

Speaking of the music and style of the film, that seems to really be the only critique of the critics — which would explain the massive discrepancy between regular movie-goers, even movie buffs, and the critics — most people don't care about stylization in a film. Everyone I spoke to, including my sister who saw the movie with me, loved the style of the movie. She couldn't stop talking about some of the cool transitions throughout the film. And you all already know how much I love the soundtrack, and I think the music worked perfectly in the movie — in fact, I only wish that there would have been more of the modern music.

(On that note, I should talk about the whole 3D thing. No, I did not see the movie in 3D. I can see how it could, maybe add to the immersive experience of the movie, but I think the movie's style alone is totally sufficient. Plus, I hate 3D movies in general and usually refuse to see anything in 3D.)

Faith Korpi, a movie critic in her own right, had this to say about the whole critics-vs.-people matter:

The thing that irks me the most about the buzz surrounding The Great Gatsby is the critics who have already decided to hate it. Look, if you don't like any of Baz Luhrmann's other films (Moulin Rouge!, Romeo + Juliet, Australia, Strictly Ballroom) chances are really really high you aren't going to like this one.

I make excuses for the general public, but when journalists and film critics are guilty of this, I cannot handle it. Yes, it's their job to write about these films, but how hard would it be to say, 'hey FYI I hated Moulin Rouge! so take everything I'm about to say with a grain of salt if you liked it.' Please do not write a piece as if your opinion is the correct opinion, and please do not presume I agree with you. Also, making it known how prepared to hate something you are (be it via Twitter or pre-release pieces) lessens your credibility enormously.

And I also particularly love this tweet of hers:

Criticizing a Baz Luhrmann film for being overly stylized is like criticizing a giraffe for being tall.

— Faith E. Korpi(@faitherina) May 8, 2013

There's also this great review of the movie by moviegoers on YouTube on Beyond the Trailer — a great YouTube channel if you like movies:

Guess what? They all love it.

All in all, if you're asking me, I totally, totally liked the film. The symbols were there, the great quotes were there, the music, the clothing, the style. Everything. I loved it. It was breathtaking to watch, the acting was phenomenal, and while it might not be the greatest movie of all time, I think it was excellent for what it was trying to do. I would not have preferred to see Gatsby made into a movie in any other way. I love everything about this one.

If I were giving the movie a grade, I'd give it a solid A- (and I did on FilmGrades).

The Seven Minute Workout Timer

Remember the seven minute workout from a week or so ago? Well, someone made an awesome timer for it, counting your through each of the various exercises complete with little images and text for what you should be doing in each a lotted time segment.

Our excuses are really running out. (Pun intended? Nah.)

Philosopher's Stone, Annotated

J.K. Rowling is auctioning off (for charity) a copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (or Sorcerer's Stone for all you non-British folk) full of new, original annotations, drawings, and notes. I can't imagine how much it'll end up selling for, but three of its pages were just posted online. Here's one:

This is what it says, in case you can't make out her handwriting (which could be a problem for the buyer, no?):

No shield here – crest. I mean all that came in the later editions. This one’s a bit wonky but you get the idea. Perhaps Hufflepuff house would have the respect it deserves from the fans if I’d stayed with my original idea of a bear to represent it?

Hypable has the rest of the pages complete with transcriptions. Does whoever ends up buying it know that we all expect him/her to scan each page of the book?

Man, I sure wish I could somehow go back, and read these books again for the first time.

The BitQuill Review: Killing Two Birds with One Wedge

It had to have been months ago that my father brought me home the darned thing from some sort of trade show he attended. It was the swag from one of the booths. A small little cleaning cloth for your electronic devices — specifically iPhones, iPads, and other iScreens. One one side a cool patterned design with a smooth finish, on the other a textured special micro-fiber cloth that magically, I kid you not, could make any screen look new again with a single wipe.

The instructions on the little package the Toddy cloth came in were simple: Wipe down once or twice with the textured side to clean, and then rub the screen down with the other, smoother side to polish. Once done, any screen will look new again.

The textured side is not the sort of micro-fiber that you're thinking of, though. It's like a mega-micro-fiber — oversized, in a way. It's super textured and I bet it's patented or something. But boy, does it work wonders.

A Thing

I never thought much else about the company, other than that I loved and cherished the single little cloth I had from them. It sat in my drawer and made every other cleaning cloth I owned obsolete. When I wasn't lazy, I would take it out and polish my iPhone with it, when it needed a good shining. It was not nearly as often as it should have been, though.

Then one day I saw the brand Toddy mentioned in first Macworld and then MacLife magazine (if I recall correctly). I didn't know that Toddy was a "thing" and that anyone could get one, but apparently it was more than just customized company swag. Excited, I visited their website and saw the coolest new product from them: The Toddy Wedge.

The Premise

The Wedge is basically a bean-bag like thing, shaped like a pyramid — or, well, a wedge, to be politically correct here — the front of which is surfaced with that oversized, special micro-fiber material, and the rest of which is completely made out of the polishing material. It's basically a bean-bag cleaning cloth. But it's more than that, because at the front of The Wedge is a little extra lip of material that functions as a stand for your iPhone.

That's right. It's a screen-cleaning iPhone stand. You rest your iPhone on The Wedge, and when a smudge presents itself, just grab The Wedge and rub.

Needless to say, I had to have one. They run just $15, but when I expressed interest, the folks at Toddy were kind enough to send one to me for review purposes free of charge. They also included another one of those regular cleaning cloths (which usually run $10). How awesome is that?

The Wedge comes in a variety of different colors, patterns, and designs. The one I got is just a simple brownish styling.

The Wedge

Every geek always has two problems (or at least to problems, anyway):

1. Screens are always smudged and dirty-looking. Especially the iPhone.
2. There's no ideal place to put your iPhone while you're at your desk that looks cooler than, you know, just laying it on the desk is you could be so crass.

The Wedge brilliantly and cleverly solves both of those problems in a way that nothing else ever has — for me, at least. Now when you get back to your desk, you can just stick your iPhone into the stand created by The Wedge — the surely comfortable stand, at that. And when you notice a smudge on your iPhone, iPad, or computer's screen The Wedge is just an arm's-length away. No more reaching through drawers and whatnot — or no more laziness of not doing that and letting your screens stay dirty. The Wedge is right there, and due to its shape and girth, might even function better than even the standard Toddy cloths.

It helps for cleansing the backs of your iDevices as well — although to a lesser degree. Oh, and you can also even fir an iPad Mini into the wedge if you's like to use it to prop it up for a movie, or if you'd want two Wedges, one for each your iPhone and iPad Mini.

It's seriously magical how well the thing works — and beyond the cleverness of The Wedge is particular, that should really be the highlight here. There's no spray, no nothing. Just a wipe and it's like new.

I love cleaning screens with it, because now it's actually realistic to keep all my screens clean at all times. It's right there always, and is super-convenient. It's fun, unique, and did I mention it's so clever.

Some Other Bits

• It'd make a great gift for someone (in addition to yourself).
• Audio plays fine while sitting in The Wedge. It was a slight concern of mine, but audio is not even noticeably muffled in my very unscientific testing.
• You can use it to prop your iPhone up in both landscape and portrait orientation.

Get One

Look, I love clever solutions to problems like this. It's so simple, and yet has so much personality. It's a cool and unique thing to have on your desk, and to solve the problem of screen cleaning alone is worth the $15, much less to also now have an awesome iPhone stand.

You can buy The Wedge as well as the plain Toddy cleaning cloths on Toddy's site.

'If I Were You' Show

Jake and Amir, the comic duo from such online comedy hits as Jake and Amir, have just released their first non-Jake and Amir-related venture. It's a podcast called If I Were You — a comedic advice show in which they take questions from real people (with fake cover names) and explain what they would do in said sticky situations.

There is only one episode out thus far, but I really enjoyed the show. It runs just about 30 minutes long, and so is easy to stick into your podcast listening routine. As they said multiple times on the show, neither of them are really equipped to be dispensing truly sound advice, and so despite the fact that at points there were some great suggestions, most of the show is just hysterical to listen to. It's a really fun half-hour. If you like podcasts, laughing, and Jake and Amir, check out the If I Were You show.

You can search for it in your favorite podcast client, or click here for a special Pocket Casts link.

Computer Anxiety

I came home the other day and went to the bathroom to wash my hands. As I was rinsing them my mind began to wander and I started to think of one or two things that I wanted/needed to do when I got to my computer as soon as I was done cleaning my hands. I had only just begun washing my hands, though, and so I needed to wait through the rest of the process before I could get to my computer. I almost rushed through the whole thing — rushed through washing my hands — to get to my computer faster.

Why? Why can't I just enjoy washing my hands? Why did I feel the need to rush through it just to go on to the next thing at my computer?

I always feel like I need to go to my computer — as if that's the goal and everything else is supplemental and revolves around it. It's like "computer anxiety", and the feeling is extremely dangerous. I know this, and I am working on it. Which is why I am writing this article. It took me a while to admit this all to myself — much less write about it.

But the truth is that I should be able to just enjoy washing my hands, and not be worrying about getting to my computer, and running on to the next thing. This is a bit of a metaphor, but it applies to everything.

Live in the moment.

I'm starting to get a bit better. My mother recently asked me to pick up my brother from a baseball game of his. They went a bit later than I expected, but I sat there and watched the game. I got into it and enjoyed it. It might have taken a bit of effort to not be worrying about all the time I could be wasting on my laptop back at home, but I did it. And that is what count. That is what life is about. Watching your younger brother win a game of baseball. Live in the moment. Don't always be thinking about, and looking forward to, getting back to your computer. That is no way to live.

Whatever you're doing online or whatnot, is not so important that you have to always be thinking about it and wanting to get back to it. Time spent away from your computer is not time wasted. In fact, it's probably very much the opposite.

Of course, all of this is easier said than actually truly believed. But like I said, I'm working on it. And I think we all should.

In a similar vein to all of this is the book entitled The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains. I recently saw a video that sort of sums up the book's basic concepts in just a few, tremendously worthwhile minutes:

And that's just the thing. It's not that the Internet is bad. It's quite the opposite, actually. The Internet has enabled great people to do great things, and is doing that all day long, every day. It can enhance our knowledge and thinking, just as much as it can ruin it. But exactly what the video is talking about in terms of the negative of the Internet, I am seeing somewhat myself. It's something I need to work on. It's not easy. But as the video recommends, a nice, true, relaxing break from the Internet on a daily, if not more frequently, basis is crucial to your mental, and thus physical, health.

Because after all, the Internet really will still be there when you get back to it.

Two Interviews You Should Read

The Verge has been doing some really great interviews with some really interesting people recently. (I mean, it's not BQ&A, but still...) Just a few days ago they published a cool interview with Peter Belanger, the guy who photographs Apple products for many of their ads. He spoke about the equipment he uses, and how he landed the jobs that he now has.

A little while before that, they interviewed Shane Carruth, the super-secretive director behind Primer and Upstream Color. They spoke about Upstream as well as Primer and various theories about the film. They even got Carruth to speak about his next project.

They're both interesting reads. You should check them out.

The Productivityist Workbook

Mike Vardy's new book The Productivityist Workbook comes out tomorrow, and you can pre-order it today for some extra free stuff:

The Productivityist Workbook is ideal for those who are just starting to work on improving their productivity, but it presents ideas for the seasoned productivityist, as well. The Productivityist Workbook is accessible both in content and in price. And if you pre-order The Productivtiyist Workbook, you'll get additional bonuses: my (PRE)PRODUCTIVTIYST e-book and the audio program ProductiVardy: Interviews with Personal Productivity Specialists, featuring over 4 hours of interviews with top experts in personal productivity, self-development, and workflow.

The whole idea of productivity online has become a little artificially inflated, but Mike Vardy (also of Workflowing, which you may remember I wrote about) continues to write about it in its purest and most helpful sense, and a single, go-to book as an introduction to enhancing productivity, and as a guide to those who want to do that, is a great thing to now have. The book is broken up into idea, time, email, and task management. It's worthwhile to pick up yourself if you're at all interested in, perhaps, making yourself a bit more productive — but it's also great to now have something to send to a friend of yours if they're struggling with, or are curious about, productivity in their own lives.

The book costs just $5, and comes out tomorrow.

Me Me Me

The next time someone makes some sort of argument about how selfish and self-centered our current "iPod Generation/Me Generation" is, send them this article from The Atlantic arguing that "every every every generation has been the me me me generation", and that journalists are simply writing the same article every few years with a new name for that generation. The Atlantic includes dozens of examples of this over the last century of journalism, as well as statistical evidence that shows that:

...it's not that people born after 1980 are narcissists, it's that young people are narcissists, and they get over themselves as they get older. It's like doing a study of toddlers and declaring those born since 2010 are Generation Sociopath: Kids These Days Will Pull Your Hair, Pee On Walls, Throw Full Bowls of Cereal Without Even Thinking of the Consequences.

I mean, how many times have you heard people bring this sort of thing up? I must hear it at least every week. I never thought that it had to do with our generation. It's just the nature of humans, in some respect. Every generation has their challenges, but at our core, we are all still the same humans.

We're not bad, self-centered people. We're just young, and foolish. But soon we shall grow up, and we will all be telling the next generation how bad and self-centered they are. Well, hopeful not.

Amazon Starts A Currency

Amazon today released their very own currency called Amazon Coin. You give Amazon your money, and they give you digital Amazon Coins. The conversion rate is 1:1, so 100 Amazon Coins equals a single US dollar. These new Coins can be used to purchase Kindle Fire apps, games, and in-app purchases. Oh, and all Kindle Fire owners get 500 free coins.

So what does this mean for you? What are you supposed to do with this information? Well, here's what Garret Murray had to say about Amazon Coins today on Maniacal Rage:

These kinds of monetary systems are designed to get customers to lock in a bunch of cash they can’t later get back out (no refunds or exchanges in this program, of course), and they’re baited with “discounts” to get people to dump large amounts of cash into the ether. If you buy hundreds of dollars of coins at once, Amazon will give you a discount on them, up to 10%. But at the end of the day, you’re still giving Amazon hundreds of dollars that you might not spend for months or that you have to worry about managing separate from, you know, your bank accounts. And if you buy coins at discounted rates, good luck remembering how much you paid for any of these apps, since your coins will be worth different amounts all the time.

He concludes with this gem:

We already have money, it’s called money.

Or, in simpler terms: I'd stay away from it if I were you. What the hell is the point?

Whenever companies release things like this it always makes me wonder if it's something they've had in the works for a while, or if it's something they just decided to spit out, half-baked, just because other companies are doing it.

BQ&A: Mike Vardy the Productivityist

Who are you, what do you do, etc.?

I'm Mike Vardy and I am a writer, speaker, podcaster, and productivityist. I'm also a stay-at-home father with two awesome kids and I am married to a woman who is amazing on so many levels — not the least of which is because she puts up with me and my online pursuits.

What tools do you use to get your job done? Software, hardware, etc.

My primary work machine is an 11" MacBook Air. It's a little over a year old, and it's been able to handle anything I've thrown at it since I picked it up. I use an original Drobo as my Time Machine backup drive loaded with four 1 TB drives — although it is getting a little long in the tooth. I've also got a RocStor 1 TB drive that holds a lot of the media that I simply can't store on the Air. I also own an original iPad (32 GB version) and an iPhone 4S (also the 32 GB version).

As for OS X software, I use OmniFocus as my primary task manager, with Asana and Flow filling out my team-based task management (depending on the client I'm working with). I'm using Evernote more than ever before, mainly for research and sharing notes with my family. I also use Evernote so that Michael Schechter and I can keep our Mikes on Mics notes synced up between the two of us. For writing, I use Byword for blog posts and Scrivener for books. Postbox is my email client of choice, Fantastical is my portal to my calendar, and Cobook is my contact management software solution. Other OS X apps that get a great deal of usage are Alfred, Acorn, Dropbox, Hazel, TextExpander, Skype, and Day One.

On iOS, there's a lot of crossover. I use OmniFocus, Evernote, Cobook, and Fantastical to primarily deal with workflow, with apps like My Minutes (iPhone) and Drafts also getting heavy use. Other apps I use extensively on my iOS devices include Tweetbot, Netbot, AwayFind, Launch Center Pro, and the Neat mobile app.

Not too long ago you sort of rebranded your online presence under the umbrella of "Productivityist.com" — Can you speak a little bit about why you did that, and what the site is?

I decided to change the name of the site to something that I felt would offer a better opportunity to reach more readers and yet still retain a great deal of Vardy.me’s personality. Considering that the focus of the weblog had been largely around productivity — in all of its various forms — I decided to shift the name of the site to fit that focus a bit more. It's worked out really well, and has allowed me to clearly define what I do a lot more and (hopefully) help more people out along the way with my work.

I also know you speak publicly from time to time. What do you usually talk about, and how is it talking about these sort of geeky things to larger crowds?

My talks usually focus on task management, and all of the facets that can impact that management in a positive or negative manner (like email, calendar use, and so on). The goal of my speaking efforts is similar to my site: to illustrate ways that will help people stop "doing" productive and start "being" productive.

Most people are quite receptive to what I have to say because I try to relate it to something that people can identify with — and even care deeply about. Because I have a background in performance (I have over 10 years of experience in improv and founded a successful sketch comedy troupe that performed at many comedy festivals), I'm very at ease with speaking in front of an audience and can "go with the flow" when I do. I think that puts my audience at ease as well. The biggest challenge for me has been to focus on less talks and get better at them rather than spread my repertoire out too far and sacrifice quality in the process. I've gotten better at that over the past few years, but it's still something I'm working on.

Okay, now a bit about working from home. How do you balance your work and home life? And how do you not go mad being cooped up in your house all day long? How do you motivate yourself to get out of the house and go do something? I'd love to work from home one day myself, but I always fear I'd go insane.

It's an ongoing battle, but it's one that I am winning now more often than not. I've implemented a strategy that employes both expectations for myself and boundaries for others, but not in a way that limits flexibility. I have what I call "heavy lifting days" and "light lifting days" and I have my tasks and projects aligned with them in a way that allows me to be both productive and balanced.

Days where I'm home with my two-year old son are considered "light lifting days" so I don't work on any major tasks or projects during that time — basically things that can be done where I can afford disruption. On the days where my wife is home with him or he is at daycare, I do the heavy lifting. That's when a great deal of my writing gets done, interviews are scheduled and conducted, and I work on tasks and projects that are best served by little to no disruption.

I also use contexts (and/or tags) that allow me to clearly separate my home office from the home itself. I don't use "Home" as a context because, well...I'm at home a lot. Instead, I'll use app-specific contexts to help me carve out those boundaries. For example, Evernote is used for my beer cellar tracking and for book research, so Evernote is a context. But when I look at that context I think about what I should be doing within that app rather than all I should be doing within it. I won't do beer cellar work on a heavy lifting day because it's not a "work" thing, it's a "play" thing.

I try to bring as much thought into the process as possible so that I'm better connected with my tasks and projects. One of the biggest allies you can have when you're trying to be more productive is awareness. Awareness can only be achieved if you are thinking about that stuff. I'm all about awareness when it comes to productivity, and also when it comes to balancing your "home life" and your "home work" — it's essential.

You recently published your book "The Front Nine". Can you speak a little bit about the book?*

The Front Nine is a book that you can use to help you start the year you want anytime you want. I'm not a fan of New Year's Resolutions, and I also think that starting your year on January 1st because you've got a brand-spanking-new calendar isn't smart. I mean, you've just come off several weeks of holiday craziness and then you're supposed to muster up the energy to take on some new challenge with very little left in the tank. It's not something I think is feasible. I tend to start my year in February (Groundhog Day, to be exact), and I leave January to be a month of renewal and reflection.

That said, your year may start at a different time (students may start in September, for example). But The Front Nine isn't just a guide for how to start the year you want whenever you want. You can apply the principles inside the book to an idea, project, or even a task if you want. The book is divided into three sections that focus on the beginning, the middle, and the end (and it uses golf as a metaphor through much of it). It's not a "pure" how-to book in the sense that the ideas are there for you to apply as they fit within your life. But you're bound to find some good stuff in there that you can use no matter what kind of life you lead — or want to lead.

How did you land that publishing deal and how has the experience been so far? Have you been happy with how things have gone? Would you consider self-publishing in the future?

I kind of fell into the deal. I had the idea to self-publish and my agent emailed me and said that he thought he could get a publisher to go for it. In fact, he had the ideal one in mind. That's when Diversion Books came in, and I've been very happy with how things have gone. They've even started to run it as a print-on-demand book, which wasn't part of the original plan.

I've self-published some of my work already (the book that highlights some popular writings from the blog — PRE-PRODUCTIVITYIST — would be an example), so I'm not averse to the idea. But since Diversion has had a team working on promoting the book — something that I could do but don't have much time to do — I'm also a fan of what book publishers can do for authors. I'm the writer, and I do that well. I like the idea of giving tasks to people who can do them better than I can, and a book publisher can cover a lot of that stuff for a writer.

Any plans for the future that you can divulge here?

I'm going to be making some changes over at my site over the next couple of months, and there are a few other irons in the fire. Nothing I can really get into yet, but stuff I'm really excited about because it's finally coming off of the back-burner and becoming a reality.

If you could only install one third party app on your iPhone, what would it be? Mac?*

That's a tough one. Just looking at my home page I see a slew of third party apps. The obvious one would be OmniFocus, but since I can send tasks to OmniFocus via Mail Drop now I can remove that from the equation. I'm going to have to say Evernote because of its versatility. I can use it for simple note-taking, capturing ideas (whether in audio, visual, or written form), and a lot more. If there's one third party app that makes it on to my iPhone, Evernote wins out.

As for the Mac, I'm going to have to say OmniFocus. It's my "life hub" and there are other apps out there (Evernote included) that allow web access. Not so much with OmniFocus… and I'm fine with that. I've tried more than my fair share of task management apps and I keep coming back to it, so it would be the one that has to be on my Mac no matter what.

7 Minutes to Fitness

Work out for only seven minutes everyday and be totally fit? Sounds like a geek's dream come true. But, according to Gretchen Reynolds for The New York Times, it's no longer just a dream. It's actually now a reality. Apparently quite a bit of research has gone into this, and by following a precise set of twelve different exercises in rapid succession, at high intensity, you can achieve the same amount of muscle activity as a long jog or run. Hey, that works for me.

If you are at all familiar with kick-boxing, most of these exercises should not seem all that new or profound — or at least so I am told. The idea is simply the order, succession, and intensity:

The exercises should be performed in rapid succession, allowing 30 seconds for each, while, throughout, the intensity hovers at about an 8 on a discomfort scale of 1 to 10, Mr. Jordan says. Those seven minutes should be, in a word, unpleasant. The upside is, after seven minutes, you’re done.

A few questions about this all, though:

1. When they say everyday, they mean every weekday, right? I mean, I suppose you can do this as little or as often as you'd like, but the idea that it's really only a seven minute investment removes most excuses to not do it at least once or twice a week — even if you are a geek like me.

2. They say it's seven minutes, but I count more/less. At 30 seconds an exercise, that puts you at six minutes total. Plus the 10 second break between each exercise and that puts you at closer to eight. I smell some rounding going on around here...

Take a look at the full (not-very-long) article for all of the details.

Jobs' 2.65

Alexis C. Madrigal reporting for The Atlantic:

On the standard 4.0 scale, Steve Jobs, master of the universe, got a 2.65 at Homestead High School from 1968 to 1972. For those who've forgotten the number-to-letter conversions, that means he got mostly Bs and Cs.

When we talk about the wonder of the United States' entrepreneurial system, I don't think we usually mean that we let kids who receive bad grades get ahead in the world. But perhaps the abilities it takes to get a perfect high school record do not perfectly overlap with the skillls [sic] it takes to build a $450 billion company.

I don't think any of this is really much of a surprise to anyone, no?

What this is really saying, and what I think we all already know, is that school is not the end-all-be-all for success. In fact, it probably isn't even close at all. You don't need great grades to succeed in life, and if you do have the great grades, it doesn't mean that you definitely will succeed beyond school.

There, Their, They're and Other Related Things

This Mental Floss video correcting 38 common grammar and spelling mistakes is a must-watch. It's shorter than it looks due to some random unrelated stuff at the end, so you can and will sit through it. You'll be a smarter person for it. It truly runs about 7:30.

50 Movies Every Geek Should See

There are some movies that everyone should see. These are 50 of them. Some are funny, some are sad, some are emotional, some are adventurous and fun, other are deeply meaningful. But I think everyone should see all of them.

(And I suppose, in that way, the title is a little disingenuous, because this list really is for everyone, not just geeks. But considering I, myself, am a geek, I feel even more confident that other people like you and me will like them.)

I'm no true movie buff, but I've see a ton of movies this year (taking full advantage of my long commute into school) and the more I saw, the more I appreciated the art form, and the more confident I became recommending movies to people. I saw old movies, and new movies alike. So this is no definitive list by any stretch — it's just a list of 50 movies, in no particular order, that a sort-of-movie-buff thinks you should see. So go on, see how movies in this list you've seen, and which you still need to get to and add to your watch-list. Because if you've seen all the movies in this list, you'll be good in most any conversation a geek would have about movies.

(Note: Movie information is from IMDb.)

1. Gladiator

   Maximus is a powerful Roman general, loved by the people and the aging Emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Before his death, the Emperor chooses Maximus to be his heir over his own son, Commodus, and a power struggle leaves Maximus and his family condemned to death. The powerful general is unable to save his family, and his loss of will allows him to get captured and put into the Gladiator games until he dies. The only desire that fuels him now is the chance to rise to the top so that he will be able to look into the eyes of the man who will feel his revenge.

   I really enjoyed this movie, and thought the ending was brilliant. And it's a great example of Russel Crowe's acting ability.

2. Airplane!

   An airplane crew takes ill. Surely the only person capable of landing the plane is an ex-pilot afraid to fly. But don't call him Shirley.

   One of the greatest comedies of all time.

3. Monty Python and the Holy Grail

   King Arthur and his knights embark on a low-budget search for the Grail, encountering many very silly obstacles.

   Probably the greatest comedy of all time.

4. Sherlock Holmes & Sherlock Holmes 2

   Detective Sherlock Holmes and his stalwart partner Watson engage in a battle of wits and brawn with a nemesis whose plot is a threat to all of England.

   Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick Dr. Watson join forces to outwit and bring down their fiercest adversary, Professor Moriarty.

   The world's strongest films they are not — but they are a ton of fun.

   

5. The Matrix

   A computer hacker learns from mysterious rebels about the true nature of his reality and his role in the war against its controllers.

   Great movie. They should make a sequel one of these days.

6. Dr. Strangelove

   An insane general starts a process to nuclear holocaust that a war room of politicians and generals frantically try to stop.

   "Gentlemen! You can't fight in here! This is the war room!"

7. The Shawshank Redemption

   Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency.

   IMDb's number one movie of all time. And for good reason (even if it isn't actually the greatest movie of all time. But then, what is? How could you ever quantify that?)

8. Inception

   A skilled extractor is offered a chance to regain his old life as payment for a task considered to be impossible.

   This is what happens when Christopher Nolan isn't making superhero movies.

9. Catch Me If You Can

   A true story about Frank Abagnale Jr., who, before his 19th birthday, successfully conned millions of dollars' worth of checks as a Pan Am pilot, doctor, and legal prosecutor.

10. Memento

    A man, suffering from short-term memory loss, uses notes and tattoos to hunt for the man he thinks killed his wife.

    This is also what happens when Nolan isn't making superhero movies. The guy is brilliant. One of my favorite directors.

11. The Avengers

    Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. brings together a team of super humans to form The Avengers to help save the Earth from Loki and his army.

    I really didn't like this movie, but it sort of has to be on this list. It's totally superficial, but it was pretty fun.

    

12. The Indiana Jones Trilogy

    Archeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones is hired by the US government to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis.

    This is sort of a given.

13. The Back to the Future Trilogy

    A teenager is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his friend, Dr. Emmett Brown, and must make sure his high-school-age parents unite in order to save his own existence.

    I'm not sure if this is more, or less of a given than Indiana Jones.

14. The Dark Knight Trilogy

    When Batman, Gordon and Harvey Dent launch an assault on the mob, they let the clown out of the box, the Joker, bent on turning Gotham on itself and bringing any heroes down to his level.

    Some of my favorite movies of all time. Not just an awesome, awesome superhero movie, but excellent mafia/gangster movies as well.

15. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

    A meek hobbit of The Shire and eight companions set out on a journey to Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring and the dark lord Sauron.

    I was never much of a fan of these movies, but you kind of have to see them. At least the last one.

16. 12 Angry Men

    A dissenting juror in a murder trial slowly manages to convince the others that the case is not as obviously clear as it seemed in court.

    A true classic that somehow could not still be any more relevant today.

17. The Princess Bride

    A classic fairy tale, with swordplay, giants, an evil prince, a beautiful princess, and yes, some kissing (as read by a kindly grandfather).

    The satire of all satires.

    

18. The Prestige

    The rivalry between two magicians is exacerbated when one of them performs the ultimate illusion.

    I pretty much think every Nolan movie made it onto this list.

19. Following

    A young writer who follows strangers for material meets a thief who takes him under his wing.

    The lesser-known Nolan film. If you've seen this, you'll be one step ahead of most. It's short, and in black and white, too. It was independently produced, and is just as superb as Nolan's other work.

20. American Psycho

    A wealthy New York investment banking executive hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he escalates deeper into his illogical, gratuitous fantasies.

    One of my favorite movies of all time, and an excellent performance from Christian Bale. This is why they pay him the big bucks.

21. Saving Private Ryan

    Following the Normandy Landings, a group of U.S. soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.

    Perhaps the greatest war movie ever made.

22. Shutter Island

    Drama set in 1954, U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels is investigating the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane and is presumed to be hiding nearby.

    

23. Drive

    A mysterious Hollywood stuntman, mechanic and getaway driver lands himself in trouble when he helps out his neighbor.

    Some Ryan Gosling for you.

24. Jaws

    When a gigantic great white shark begins to menace the small island community of Amity, a police chief, a marine scientist and grizzled fisherman set out to stop it.

    If not for the movie itself, than just to see how well the effects and techniques Spielberg used hold up.

25. 2001: A Space Odyssey

    Humanity finds a mysterious, obviously artificial, object buried beneath the Lunar surface and, with the intelligent computer H.A.L. 9000, sets off on a quest.

    The king of sci-fi movies. One of Kubrick's finest.

26. The Godfather

    The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.

    The truth is that you should probably see the second one, too. You can definitely skip the third, though.

27. Goodfellas

    Henry Hill and his friends work their way up through the mob hierarchy.

    One of the greatest gangster movies ever made, and perhaps my favorite Scorsese film

    

28. Inglorious Basterds

    In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a plan to assassinate Nazi leaders by a group of Jewish U.S. soldiers coincides with a theatre owner's vengeful plans for the same.

    My favorite Tarantino film. Brad Pitt is awesome in this movie.

29. Forrest Gump

    Forrest Gump, while not intelligent, has accidentally been present at many historic moments, but his true love, Jenny Curran, eludes him.

    The source of many a movie quote.

30. Cast Away

    A FedEx executive must transform himself physically and emotionally to survive a crash landing on a deserted island.

    A lot of Tom Hanks on this list, it would seem. For good reason, though.

31. The Latest James Bond Trilogy

    Armed with a license to kill, Secret Agent James Bond sets out on his first mission as 007 and must defeat a weapons dealer in a high stakes game of poker at Casino Royale, but things are not what they seem.

    You should really go back and watch as many of the originals as you can as well, but at the very least, start with Casino Royale.

32. The Sixth Sense

    A boy who communicates with spirits that don't know they're dead seeks the help of a disheartened child psychologist.

    Shyamalan's best movie. Too bad he couldn't do more like this one. His others are decent, but not much more than that.

    

33. Blade Runner

    Deckard, a blade runner, has to track down and terminate 4 replicants who hijacked a ship in space and have returned to Earth seeking their maker.

    Another sci-fi must-see.

34. Star Wars

    Luke Skywalker, a spirited farm boy, joins rebel forces to save Princess Leia from the evil Darth Vader, and the galaxy from the Empire's planet-destroying Death Star.

    I can't believe I even have to list this. But if, for some ridiculous reason, you haven't seen these movies, see them in this order: 4,5,2,3,6. Yes, Episode 1 was left out intentionally.

35. Star Trek

    The brash James T. Kirk tries to live up to his father's legacy with Mr. Spock keeping him in check as a vengeful, time-traveling Romulan creates black holes to destroy the Federation one planet at a time.

    Of course, there's a lot more to Star Trek than this movie, but start here.

36. Fight Club

    An insomniac office worker looking for a way to change his life crosses paths with a devil-may-care soap maker and they form an underground fight club that evolves into something much, much more...

    "The first rule of Fight Club…" blah blah.

37. Apocalypse Now

    During the U.S.-Viet Nam War, Captain Willard is sent on a dangerous mission into Cambodia to assassinate a renegade colonel who has set himself up as a god among a local tribe.

    If Saving Private Ryan isn't the greatest war movie ever made, then this is.

38. The Silence of the Lambs

    A young FBI cadet must confide in an incarcerated and manipulative killer to receive his help on catching another serial killer who skins his victims.

39. Fantastic Mr. Fox

    An urbane fox cannot resist returning to his farm raiding ways and then must help his community survive the farmers' retaliation.

    Feel free to add Moonrise Kingdom or maybe Rushmore here, too.

40. Caddyshack

    An exclusive golf course has to deal with a brash new member and a destructive dancing gopher.

41. The Untouchables

    Federal Agent Eliot Ness sets out to stop Al Capone; because of rampant corruption, he assembles a small, hand-picked team.

    "Let's do some good." Loved this movie. (See also: L.A. Confidential.)

    

42. There Will Be Blood

    A story of family, religion, hatred, oil and madness, focusing on a turn-of-the-century prospector in the early days of the business.

    "I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE!"

43. Primer

    Four friends/fledgling entrepreneurs, knowing that there's something bigger and more innovative than the different error-checking devices they've built, wrestle over their new invention.

    There's so much to say about this movie, but none of it does it justice. Talk about real sci-fi? This is it. It's this movie. Shane Carruth is the genius filmmaker of our generation. And he's only made one movie aside from this one, and it only just came out. You should probably see it too.

44. Garden State

    A genre defining movie, made in the last few years. By Zach Braff.

45. Spaceballs

    Planet Spaceball's President Skroob sends Lord Dark Helmet to steal Planet Druidia's abundant supply of air to replenish their own, and only Lone Starr can stop them.

    It's ridiculous, but Mel Brooks has to be in this list somewhere.

46. Office Space

    Comedic tale of company workers who hate their jobs and decide to rebel against their greedy boss.

47. 300

    King Leonidas and a force of 300 men fight the Persians at Thermopylae in 480 B.C.

    Tried to be Gladiator, failed, and instead created a super-quotable, stunningly gorgeous, next-best-thing.

And that's it for the list. Anything I totally missed or forgot? Leave it in the comments below. (And yes, Harry Potter should probably have been in the list somewhere, but the books are way better/more necessary than the movies.)

Oh, and don't feel gypped — if you count all the trilogies mentioned you have way more than 50. But just to appease you, I shall now list upcoming movies that I think are (going to be)must-sees and would probably have made it onto this list:

1. The Great Gatsby

   I cannot wait for this movie to come out. Been counting down the days since I first saw it announced. And that was a long time ago.

2. Upstream Color

   Shane Carruth's second movie. If his first is anything to go by, this one will be excellent.

3. Man of Steel

   I'm just a tad hesitant to list this here, but I think it has tremendous potential.

Want to Learn How to Develop for the Mac and iOS? This Is the Book to Get

A little while ago I wrote about a podcast episode with Aaron Hillegass, the founder of The Big Nerd Ranch. It was quite an enlightening show for the budding programmer in me. One of the topics he spoke about was the series of books that The Big Nerd Ranch puts out called The Big Nerd Ranch Guides, authored by Aaron himself, for those that want to learn programming, but can't , or don't want to, make it to the actual Ranch for any number of reasons.

For the beginner who wants to build up to be able to program for both Mac and iOS, he suggested The Big Nerd Ranch Guide to Objective-C Programming — a book he wrote for that very purpose. I've been looking for the perfect book as my introduction to more advanced programming, which this is, but I think I have forever been using the idea that no book I've ever found is perfect as an excuse to simply never get one. There are so many of these books out there, how could I ever find the one?

Well, I've found it. And it is indeed The Big Nerd Ranch Guide to Objective-C Programming with an almost perfect rating on Amazon, and acclaimed by many a programmer. I dropped the $26 on the book, and ordered it right there on the spot. This was it. I found my book:

Want to write applications for iOS or the Mac? This is the guide for you. Based on Big Nerd Ranch's legendary Objective-C Bootcamp, this book covers C, Objective-C, and the common programming idioms that will help you make the most of Apple technologies.

That's the description of the book, and it totally lives up to it and then some. I was careful with my wording of the title of this post to say "develop" and not just "create apps", because that is what the book really prides itself on. It builds strong fundamentals and explains the really important big-picture conceptual stuff. And it does so early on to allow you to build on the ideas and really have a solid understanding of how things work. You're not just learning how to copy and paste code to build a "Hello World" applet. You're really, truly, learning how to program here. It's not an easy read, and Aaron says as much in the book numerous times. Things don't make much sense at first, but as you go on, little by little, they start to.

The book is excellently written, and full of images and screenshots. It's easy to understand what you should be doing, even if what you're doing itself doesn't make much sense at the time. And then there are the challenges at the end of the chapters — challenges without any answers that you have to solve to really make sure you understand the concepts taught in the book.

The truth is that I do already have some background with programming, having done an Introduction to Java course, and having taught myself some HTML, CSS, MySQL, and PHP on the side, so some of the earlier stuff in the book was a bit easier. But I'm only a few chapters in, am learning a ton, and am totally, 100% convinced, that if you want to learn how to program for the Mac and iOS, start with this book. It is everything you need. From there, Aaron suggests moving onto the more focused Big Nerd Ranch Guide to iOS Programming. I can't wait. It's hard. It's slow. It's easy to push off. But it'll so be worth it in the end.

Write for iOS

A little while ago, a new and unique Dropbox text editor — if you could imagine! — dropped onto the scene. It was called Write. It cost a dollar, had some really great and innovative new features (that you can read about here), but didn't really fit much into how I use notes on my iPhone. So I never even downloaded it.

Today, however, Write is free on the App Store for a limited time in celebration of the release of Write for iPad. I figured the app would be free at some point, so I'm glad I held out (for a whole dollar, I know). I've been messing around with the app for the last little bit and I really, really like it. This is what Brett Terpstra had to say in conclusion about Write back when it first came out:

Keep in mind that if you’re editing long-form documents in Markdown, you’ll miss some of the more advanced editing features of other editors which are more specifically geared to that purpose. And if you’re just scratching quick notes, it might be overkill. For everything in-between, Write is a standout editor in its class, combining intuitive gestures, Dropbox file management and a wide range of sharing and export tools.

And that still holds completely true. That app is phenomenally built, but it's at this weird mid-section between a really lightweight notes app, and full-featured one. Ergo my lack of a need or use for it. For free though, I'm quite glad to have it on my phone so that I may watch it grow into what could one day soon be the ultimate Dropbox notes app.

In the meantime, they released a mean-looking iPad version for $1.99 today, and with it, as you would have expected, comes a really cool, totally new feature: Device Sharing. You're able to seamlessly transfer data from Write on your iPhone to Write on your iPad. Copy some text on the iPhone and it's available on your iPad — and vice versa. There are other things you can do with Device Sharing as well, like sync with a free Mac companion app, and the whole premise of something so clever and new really has me excited for the future of the app. Device Sharing might not be something that I would really ever use, but I love the interface and design of the apps, as well as some of the other clever features. With a bit more power in other places, it could replace Notesy for me.

The app icon is pretty sweet, too.

Talking to Music-Making Robots

GQ got the rare opportunity to sit down with the duo behind Daft Punk to talk about their latest album Random Access Memories, and living life as the masked band that they are:

...Random Access Memories is a calculated departure from past Daft Punk records, even for Daft Punk, a band that, over the course of its lengthy reign as the most well-known and critically revered dance-music act on the planet, has made a point of never making the same record twice. Only a handful of people have heard the album so far, but the two men already seem resigned to the possibility that no one will like it...

No one has ever really seen them unmasked in public, but their interviewer did:

...Since you're probably wondering: They look not unlike a couple of guys in a rock band. Bangalter, 38, is tall, slightly rumpled, bearded, hair thinning, handsome in a cinema-studies-professor kind of way—he's funny, good with eye contact, palpably eager to make himself understood. Today he's wearing fashionable motorcycle boots, black jeans, an unstructured suit jacket, and a big drapey scarf, perfectly tied, framing a neat Daft Punk pyramid of bare chest. De Homem-Christo is one year older, and a lot shorter. He has long stringy metal-guy hair and weary pale eyes, and his black boots have gold spurs. Everyone calls him Guy-Man...

...The experience made them even more grateful that they'd chosen to do things the way they had. The costumes granted them a measure of freedom that their friends, people like Kanye West, had long since lost. It's what allowed the two of them to sit out here on the sidewalk, sipping strawberry lemonade, while Daft Punk was out in the ether somewhere, fighting crime, playing music, or doing whatever superheroes do when their alter egos are somewhere else...

Go ahead and read the whole interview. It's quite interesting. Random Access Memories is due out on May 17th.