Archive for May, 2009

Bread making can be one of the most zen things a cook can do. And while companies who make bread machines and bread mixes have a vested interest in convincing you that it is a time consuming, difficult process requiring a ton of equipment or specialized mixes; in fact, it’s a really simple, really…

By: SoapyHollow

Daily aspirin therapy is often recommended for otherwise healthy people who are at risk for heart attack or stroke, but a new analysis suggests that aspirin’s risks may outweigh its benefits in this population.

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Jerry Kolber, an award-winning writer, producer, and executive producer of film and television.

Along with my own deepening mindfulness meditation practice, I’ve found Leo’s writing to be extremely helpful in my ongoing discovery of why I am on this planet.

For the last decade, from my mid 20’s to my mid 30’s, I’ve been working in film and television as a writer, producer, and executive producer on shows like Inked, Confessions of a Matchmaker, NOFX: Backstage Passport, and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Some of the television I’ve worked on has been aligned with my desire to help people overcome obstacles to manifesting their full potential as human beings – Queer Eye and Confessions of a Matchmaker in particular – while some of it has merely been great entertainment.  Along the way I’ve spent a lot of my spare time working on social justice media for places like Treehugger.com and working on environmental justice issues.

I’ve been taking active steps in the last year to manifest a life built more predominantly around my interest in social justice, particularly as it relates to food and the environment. I am constantly educating myself on issues around farming, local and organic food, and how our food choices affect the interdependent web that we all live in. As Leo has often said here, a delicious healthy diet is deeply satisfying and energizing, and once you start eating food that makes you feel alive in your core it’s hard to eat anything else.

Eating is basically the only time we voluntarily select which parts of the “outside world” we want to put inside us; the energy of the food has quite an impact on the quality of our energy and our thoughts. Yet the mainstream conversation about how to get and prepare healthy, fresh food focuses mainly on expensive organic luxury items, while conversations about eating on a budget too often focus on processed “cheap food.” Early this year I had an aha moment: I needed to take my avid interest in cooking, combine it with everything I knew about food justice, and write a fun, easily accessible cookbook so that people on a budget could join the “food revolution”.

The Power of Less to the Rescue

But I had a problem. When I decided to write this book in January I was in the middle of executive producing a pilot. I had four other projects floating around, plus friends I wanted to see, books I wanted to read, family to keep in touch with, and blogs to keep up with! Although everything going on was very satisfying and exciting, in my heart I heard a voice saying “write the cookbook” but I couldn’t figure out how to find the time. I’d been reading Leo’s blog for a while, and fortuitously right around this time he published The Power of Less which proved invaluable in helping me clarify how to get my book written and published. I found three ideas in Leo’s book that were particularly illuminating.

1. One Goal
The first of these is Leo’s advice to have only one “Big Goal” at a time. Leo’s idea of a “big goal” is something that is achievable but challenging, probably within about six months to a year. A big goal can be anything from, “get into law school”, to “become a published author”, to “finish a triathlon”. His feeling is that having one goal forces you to focus all your energy on achieving that goal, increasing your chances of completing it and reducing the diluted energy that results from the more typical advice of having several simultaneous goals.

I had never thought of it this way, but after trying the “One Big Goal” strategy I’m a believer. We live in a world of limitless possibility – and limitless distraction – so there’s already enough competing for the bandwidth of our attention without creating our own obstacles to success by having multiple goals. Using my own contemplative practice as well as Leo’s techniques from part one of the book, I arrived at my One Big Goal: “Make a living creating life-changing social justice media.” This goal sounds difficult, but I know it’s achievable because I can look around and see others who are doing it – and if they can do it, why not me?

2. Three Projects.
The next idea that proved invaluable was the advice to have only three projects at a time. Three projects? I had at least fifteen! Leo’s advice is to list your top three projects – three things that are big, game-changing, and can each be done in about a week or two – and add no new projects until all three of those are done. You’re likely going to have one work related project, and at least one related to your One Big Goal. I decided to give it a shot, listing my top three projects for the week of January 23 2009 as:

1. Finish rough cut of Sonya Fitzpatrick pilot (the Animal Planet show). (Work)
2. Setup website for cookbook at www.ThreeDollarDinner.com. (One Big Goal)
3. Finish editing pitch book for Mister Dance Pants (Work/Personal)

I don’t list exercising, meditating, or social life as “projects” – these are part of my daily routine.

3. Most Important Tasks.
The third piece of Leo’s advice that I found life-changing – and this one more so than any other – is to have three Most Important Tasks each day, to write them up the night before, and to do them first thing in the morning BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE. I lump all of these ideas under the heading “MIT” (Most Important Tasks) and can tell you that applying just this one concept will radically change the way you achieve success. He recommends that one of your MIT’s each day relate to your One Big Goal, one relate to work (if that is a different arena than your big goal) and one to your personal life. A good way to know if something qualifies as an MIT is to ask:  Will doing this task today make a profound difference in my life a week, a month, or a year from now?

Here are my three MIT’s from January 25, 2009:

1. Research different kinds of blogging software and pick one (One Big Goal)
2. Call Barry to review Mister Dancepants slides (Work/Personal)
3. Finish writing outline for act four of the Sonya Fitzpatrick rough cut (Work)

Since I’m already an “early riser” (another Leo habit) I tend to spend about two hours before the day really kicks into high gear doing my MIT’s; I also practice meditating during this time, as well as scanning a bunch of blogs and news items. If I wait until later I’m already busy with work, and after work I’m socializing or winding down. Already having an “early riser” habit in place has been very helpful. If I wasn’t already getting up early, it would be the first habit I would want to develop in pursuit of my big goals.

Each night I would list my next three MIT’s, the next morning I did them, and after about three weeks I’d finished those first three projects. I was so excited to finish the cookbook site and so impressed with this simple goal management system that I decided to focus almost exclusively on the cookbook and the website through March and April, taking on freelance writing clients for income through Guru.com. My project list throughout March and April was some version of:

1. Finish project for client (whatever writing project I had that week)
2. Edit cookbook (or take photos of food, or get graphics for website)
3. Write rough draft of personal manifesto for cookbook website

And a pretty typical list of three MITs each day read:

1. Write seven pages of client ebook
2. Edit ten pages of cookbook
3. Write copy for welcome and manifesto page of website

I knew that my cookbook would help people and go a long way towards my goal of “Make a living creating life-changing social justice media.” Because the cookbook is as much about “food justice” as it is the awesome recipes I’ve put together, it was impossible to not be on fire with passion for this One Big Goal.

A few other tools that deserve more than honorable mention. Jonathan Field’s book Career Renegade is a great guide to launching a self-generated career even in a “bad economy” and his free manifesto at www.CareerRenegade.com is fantastic. My contemplative practice – a daily session of sitting meditation, usually ten to twenty minutes – is critical to staying grounded and relevant, and is inspired by Ethan Nichtern and his book One City and the community at The Interdependence Project. I’m also a regular contributor to the One City Blog on Beliefnet.com, where every day I find great support and provocative conversation from others who are making Buddhist inspired meditation relevant to 21^st century life.

Results
Combining my own mindfulness practice with Leo’s very practical advice helped me go from concept to finished product in less than 10 weeks – including putting up a website, setting up an ebook delivery system, writing a 50 page book, and writing a 25 page free manifesto that I give away on the site – all while maintaining my “regular life.” You can see the results yourself at www.ThreeDollarDinner.com. I wouldn’t undertake any producing or writing project now without applying Leo’s methods.

Jerry Kolber is an award-winning writer, producer, and executive producer of film and television including Inked and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. He regularly enjoys www.ZenHabits.net and recently launched a site offering insights into eating great food on a budget at www.ThreeDollarDinner.com.

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Read more about simple productivity, focus and getting great things done in Leo’s book, The Power of Less.

Microsoft has put together a collection of software called the Touch Pack, creating a few new games and repurposing some familiar tricks from their Surface table computer to make a fun little multitouch toy set for Windows 7 touchscreen users.

Some have been ripped straight from the company’s multitouch table, as evidenced by the still-present “Surface” branding, but two more games and the blackboard app are either new or drawn from elsewhere. Gottabemobile’s video (below)makes the pack look pretty fun, and Microsoft’s decision to bundle the software with touchscreen PCs is a smart move; by virtue of being primarily a non-touch OS, Windows 7 isn’t immediately fun to navigate with your fingers. Everyone loves to have a few goofy, visual toys to play with on a new computer (like Photo Booth in OS X) and that’s exactly what the Touch Pack provides. [Gottabemobile]

These little speakers are made from real eggshells, meticulously cut to allow for one Hi-Vi B1S driver per egg. Creator Gomhi says they sound a little “narrow,” but what can you expect from such an adorably tiny “cabinet”? [Flickr via DVICE]

Google/Android’s Andy Rubin said at the Google I/O conference that Google expects 18-20 Android phones this year from 8 or 9 manufacturers—and those are just the devices they know about. But it's gonna be slower going in the States because of the custom Android builds that carriers want.

(The custom builds frighten us, on multiple levels.)

More interesting, perhaps, is how they fall along the Android lines—there are apparently three ways for a manufacturer to put Android on their phone with varying levels of Google control (though all are free). The "no strings" version anyone can grab, but it doesn't have Google's apps. The "small strings" version includes an agreement to distribute Google's apps, and 12-14 are this flavor.

The final one, aka the Google Experience, is like the G1—you've got Google apps and an agreement from both the carrier and phonemaker that they won't restrict access to the Android market at all. You can spot these phones by the Google logo literally branded onto them. (These are the Android phones you probably want.)

So, maybe 2009 will be the year of Android after all. Maybe. [NYT]

The Gadget: The Cool-er, a lower (compared to the Kindle) priced eBook reader that lacks built-in wireless functionality and a hardware keyboard, but adds music, an SD card slot and PDF/MP3 support. But of course, the lower price is the big draw.

The Price: $250

The Verdict: Cheap in every sense of the word, but usable. The Cool-er has the same 6-inch screen as the Kindle 2, but renders text with a proprietary computer-screen-esque font face instead of the more “print”-like Kindle 2 typeface. It is, of course, size-adjustable. You can also flip it 90 degrees to read in landscape mode.

As if it wasn’t obvious enough from its appearance, the Cool-er is designed to be the iPod of eBook readers. It succeeds in looking like an iPod and being available in a lot of colors, but fails in usability and design. The only thing going for it is that it works as an eBook reader if reading is the most important part of the package (which it is, to many people). Also, it’s quite a bit lighter than the Kindle 2, so you can easily hold it with one hand while you’re brushing your teeth, lying in bed, or using the bathroom.

The problem comes from the interface—it feels very much like a Chinese knockoff. The giant iPod design, with the D-Pad scrollwheel acting as both a menu selector and a page turner, isn't the best way to read a book. Meaning, you can only turn pages with either your right or left hand (if it's in landscape mode), making reading slightly more awkward. The onscreen UI is also indicative of it being made by a smaller company; it works, but you have to conform to the interface rather than the other way around.

Being able to play audiobooks in MP3 format off the SD card is better than straining to understand text-to-speech with the Kindle 2’s robotic voice. And listening to music while reading is good, but you have no playback controls unless you get out of your book and into the file. It’s really mostly intended for audiobooks, I believe. And it’s more half-baked than anything.

You load eBooks onto the player via mini USB or onto the SD card, but it’s not quite compatible with Macs. Transferring files via OS X will get you four blank folders (the metadata files that Macs deposit on external drives) that you can’t seem to ever get rid of. Also, the battery meter is somewhat finicky and fluctuates up or down depending on its mood. There’s also no great auto-sleep mode like the Kindle has.

Where They Get You: The books. The Host, by tween vampire novelist Stephenie Meyer, costs $20.79 on coolerbooks.com, but only $9.99 for Amazon’s Kindle. Other, older and less popular novels, are more on par between the two stores. You do get 25% off of the list price if you own a Cool-er reader.

The coolerbooks selection is also smaller than Amazon’s, housing none of Ian Fleming’s Bond books, one of which I’ve found used in the photos anyway. (Amazon has them all for $9.99 each.)

Good For Piracy: But the upside is that the Cool-er supports native PDF format documents, like the Kindle DX, so you can load on downloaded and torrented eBooks with ease. But if you really wanted to pirate books onto the Kindle 2, it’s just a matter of using calibre to transcode the books into a compatible format beforehand, so it’s not that huge of a benefit.

Versus Other Players: It’s not as capable as say, a Kindle 2 or the touch-capable Sony PRS-700 reader, and it’s not as cheap as this lousy Ectaco jetBook reader at $170, so it’s kinda just right there in the middle.

If it were $199, we’d recommend this to people who just want to read, and don’t care about all that extra stuff like touchscreen or downloading books directly to the device before your plane takes off. But it’s $250, which is only $50 cheaper than the Sony. If that $50 is very important to you, go with the Cool-er, otherwise we’d recommend either the Sony or the Kindle 2.

I really, really wish this reader were $199, because it’s not a bad reader, it’s just not as good as what’s out there now. [Cooler]

$50 to $100 cheaper than more popular eBook readers

UI is only so-so, and page controls are slightly awkward

Feels plasticky, lighter build means easier reading

Not as polished as Kindle 2 or Sony’s PRS-700, which may be worth the extra $50 to $100

You’re probably wondering what’s been happening with that super thin, super sexy Plastic Logic e-book reader that we’ve seen floating around various tradeshows. Well, the device has landed at D7, and it’s got a few new features cooked up — most notably, built-in 3G data. There’s no specifics on what carriers or bands, but besides that WiFi connectivity, you’ll be able to go totally nuts out in the real world. Additionally, it looks like the company has seriously tweaked the UI, now providing a simple and clear interface for getting around your documents, and a page-turning gesture (don’t mind the green tint in the pic above, the screen is still very much grayscale). The slate is definitely lust-worthy, but we noted a fairly slow screen refresh (way slower than the Kindle), which is kind of a downer — along with that fairly distant 2010 launch date. Plastic Logic also made an appearance on Fox Business News today, and the video is embedded after the break.

Continue reading Plastic Logic e-book reader: now with 3G

Filed under: Displays, Handhelds

Plastic Logic e-book reader: now with 3G originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 May 2009 19:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looks like Chris’ hatred wasn’t totally unfounded. We just got our hands on a Google Ion — which as you can tell is a spitting image of the HTC Magic — complete with 30 days’ worth of T-Mobile service on an included SIM card. It’s not a public release model, but seems fully capable. Yes, it’s got Cupcake, and while the portrait keyboard seems more cramped than the iPhone’s, we found it very comfortable to type in landscape mode. Form factor wise, this thing is as sexy as hardware gets — light, sleek, and thin. The only thing that exceeds our love for it right now is its own love for fingerprints — seriously, the entire body and screen attract them like flies to honey. Colorful similes aside, hit up the gallery below for all the pics you could ask for.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Google Ion hands-on and unboxing originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 May 2009 16:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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