Email Etiquette
I don’t know about you, but I get a lot of emails across a lot of accounts and the time and effort to process my inbox is growing exponentially. I just wish that senders and responders on email would follow some basic etiquette rules that will make our use of email both more pleasant and more productive.
Email is a form of communication which is a reflection of you. Bad email etiquette reflects badly on you, and a record of this is kept in mailboxes over which you have no control. Good email etiquette reflects well on you, improves your public perception and persona and increases the chance of a prompt and comprehensive response. It’s not hard to maintain good email etiquette once you know what it is.
One thing before we start, before creating or responding to an email, ask yourself this: is email the right medium for this communication? If you are not sure, pick up the phone or wander over to the person and have a conversation. Email only if it is the right medium.
And always follow good etiquette. This article contains a comprehensive list of rules and recommendations learned through experience and research.
The Big 5 Windows 8 Lineups
My thoughts on announced hardware for Windows 8 being released this week. Asus Asus will be launching their Zenbooks with touch screens for Windows 8 in November, or really replacing the screens on their old Zenbooks with touch screens and selling them as new models. They are updating their modular tablet to run Windows RT and calling it the Vivo Tab RT. 10.1” with a dock for the low price of $599.
There’d be something called a mini
My thoughts on today’s announcements by Apple. 13” Retina Macbook Pro The 13” Retina Macbook Pro looks good, is priced high as expected, and is probably going to sell very very well. But the 8GB RAM limit and the lack of an external graphics card to drive the Retina display is puzzling. The 15” has an external NVIDIA GT 650M and can go up to 16GB RAM, that makes it a pro machine.
The myth of the wireless spectrum crisis
Great article by Tim Farrar, a real pro on Gigaom entitled The myth of the wireless spectrum crisis, presents the fact that wireless data growth has stalled because of tiered pricing, low caps and market saturation instead of growing out of control: However, underlying the statistics are numbers that tell a far different story: in fact, there was a dramatic slowdown in wireless traffic growth during the first half of 2012.
Huge Last Week in October 2012 for Tech
It’s going to be a huge week in tech this week, with launches and events from the big three, Microsoft, Google and Apple. Here’s what happening and my take on each. Microsoft Windows 8 and Surface On October 25, 2012, Microsoft will hold an event to launch their new Windows 8 Operating System for release the next day. I expect to see more demos of the system itself, a lot more Metro, er Windows UI, style applications and some great hardware that is tuned for it, especially touchable wrap-around laptops from Lenovo and Acer.
Solutions born from deep experience
Comment of the Day: That clearly illustrates the difference between charging for our time and charging for our experience. Clients want cheap, quick fixes, but we sell solutions born from deep experience. The latter is worth more. Aaron Mahnke In response to: I love it when my clients casually ask, “Can you teach me how to [insert knowledge that comes from supporting Macs for 20+ years] so I don’t have to [call/pay/wait for] you?
45 Revolutions
When the Earth was in the same relative position to the sun 45 revolutions ago, a baby boy was born at the southernmost point of a continent called Africa. The Earth did not stop, or even pause as it continued its solitary journey. Yet the baby grew up and made his own journey. Cape Town to Sydney to Tokyo to New York. Via Jerusalem, Johannesburg, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Nice, Geneva, Munich, Salzburg, Milan, Rome, Athens, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Singapore, Bangkok, Phnom Penh, Saigon, Hanoi, Vientiane, Sapporo, Kobe, Nagano, Kuala Lumpur, Borneo, Berlin, Barcelona, Prague, Budapest, Vienna, Venice, Malta, Sicily and hundreds of places in between, all filled with wonder, sights, tastes, experiences and joys.
Say NO to Spec Work
TL;DR: Spec work is delivering creative work for free to prospective clients, encouraged by a bunch of work-listing or contest-hosting services. Say NO, even if that means you have quiet times, or you’ll never become a professional. One of the negative things about being an indie is that the consulting and project work comes in fits and starts, and there are times, like now, when we have no client work to do at all (so contact me).
Why Windows Just Can’t Win
Mat Honan, writing in Wired in Why Windows Just Can’t Win, concludes: It doesn’t matter if Microsoft creates the greatest operating system in the world if it then allows others to junk it up. And, ultimately, it means that Microsoft isn’t in control of its brand. The Metro name, the crapware, and the horrible release dates all point to the same problem: Even when Microsoft has a great product on its hands, even when its product, engineering and design teams manage to hit one out of the park, it won’t matter once the business team comes in and ruins it for everyone.
Too Many Menu Bar Apps?
These days, in order to maximize my productivity, I seem to be running a lot of menu bar apps on my Macintosh OS X system. So many that I had to buy a menu bar manager, Bartender! Add what you use in the comments. Here’s what each one is and why I use it (in no particular order): 1Password - One of my must have tools, enables me to reach and log into sites securely using strong site-specific passwords.