Why You Need a Daily Prioritization Meeting We live in a culture of urgency, constantly throwing our emotional energy into the latest public scandal, emergency, or cat video. Most of us work in always-switched-on companies where everything feels urgent. Call backs, emails, and meetings are wrought with peak energy. How quickly do you expect a response to an email or changes to a report? Because of this, I believe that prioritizing is the most essential skill a creative can possess. The media theorist and writer Douglas Rushkoff describes his concept of “present shock” as “one big now… where everything is happening so fast it may as well be simultaneous.” “The Principle of Priority states (a) you must know the difference between what is urgent and what is important, and (b) you must do what’s important first.”― Steven Pressfield, The War of Art Urgency is a great motivator, but a flimsy one. It’s true the creatives among us who make ideas happen have a remarkable ability to ignore distractions. My daily prioritization check-in
Android: A visual history 292inShare Jump To Close Google’s Android operating system has undergone a pretty incredible metamorphosis since it debuted on the T-Mobile G1, which celebrates its fifth anniversary this week. Half a decade might seem like a long time, but on the scale of the PC's growth, it's a blink of an eye. You could make a pretty convincing argument that no consumer technology in history has evolved as quickly as the smartphone, and Android has been at the very center of that evolution. With the release of Android 4.4 — KitKat — on Google's new Nexus 5 smartphone, we wanted to take a look back through the years at how Andy Rubin’s brainchild has evolved into the industry titan that it is today. Sticky TOC engaged! Where it all began Where it all began The Android era officially began on October 22nd, 2008, when the T-Mobile G1 launched in the United States. The pull-down notification window. Home screen widgets. Deep, rich Gmail integration. The Android Market. Android 1.1 Android 1.1 Cupcake, 1.5
Alone Time 37signals is spread out over four cities and eight time zones. From Provo, Utah to Copenhagen, Denmark, the five of us are eight hours apart. One positive side effect of this eight hour difference is alone time. There are only about 4-5 hours during the day that we're all up and working together. Guess which part of the day we get the most work done? When you have a long stretch when you aren't bothered, you can get in the zone. Getting in the zone takes time. Set up a rule at work: Make half the day alone time. A successful alone time period means letting go of communication addiction. Get Into the Groove We all know that knowledge workers work best by getting into "flow", also known as being "in the zone", where they are fully concentrated on their work and fully tuned out of their environment. —Joel Spolsky, software developer, Fog Creek Software(from Where do These People Get Their (Unoriginal) Ideas?)
Could Ron Paul pull an upset at Republican convention? Ignore Details Early On We're crazy about details. The space between objectsThe perfect type leadingThe perfect colorThe perfect wordsFour lines of code instead of seven90% vs 89%760px vs 750px$39/month vs. $49/month Success and satisfaction are in the details. However, success isn't the only thing you'll find in the details. How often have you found yourself stuck on a single design or code element for a whole day? Don't worry about the size of your headline font in week one. Details reveal themselves as you use what you're building. The Devil's in the Details I really got over the "get into details right away" attitude after I took some drawing classes...If you begin to draw the details right away you can be sure that the drawing is going to suck. You should begin by getting your proportions right for the whole scene. Work from large to small. —Patrick Lafleur, Creation Objet Inc.
Top 10 Game Center Apps 36 Shares Google+ 0 Twitter 30 Facebook 6 LinkedIn 0 inShare0 Reddit 0 Pin It Share 0 Buffer 0 36 Shares × Want to rank #1 on Apple’s global leaderboards? Compete with your friends for the top spot while racking up those achievement points! iOS 4.1 lets you experience social gaming in a whole new way. But not sure which games to buy? #10 – Pix’n Love Rush It’s a fast-paced game that’s perfect when you have a few minutes to spare. #9 – Spider: the Secret of Bryce Manor Now you can unlock the secrets of Bryce Manor! #8 – Farmville Love it or hate it, you have to admit it’s addicting. #7 – Bit.Trip Beat As mentioned by my fellow GeekBeat.TV blogger Chris Cameron, this game is like Pong + Guitar Hero. #6 – Pocket Frogs Pocket Frogs is all about collecting beautiful and colorful frogs. #5 – Super Mega Worm Giant worms have been released on our planet with the intention to cleanse it of human parasites. #3 – Time Geeks: Find All! I hope you enjoyed this list of Game Center Apps. Trusted
How to Make Things Happen This is an excerpt from Making Things Happen, my bestselling book on leading project teams. One myth of project management is certain people have an innate ability to do it well, and others do not. Whenever this myth came up in conversation with other project managers, I asked for an explanation —how to recognize it, categorize it, and, if possible, develop it in others. The only thing we usually identified—after considering many of the other topics covered in this book—is the ability to make things happen. Some people can apply skills in the combinations necessary to move projects forward, and others cannot, even if they have similar skills. This ability to drive is so important to some that it’s used as a litmus test in hiring project managers. Priorities Make Things Happen A large percentage of my time as a PM (project manager) was spent making ordered lists. I invested so much time in these lists because I knew that having clear priorities was the backbone of progress. Figure 13-1.
15 Android Games You Should Be Playing 114 Shares Google+ 42 Twitter 27 Facebook 40 LinkedIn 4 inShare4 Reddit 0 Pin It Share 1 1 Buffer 0 114 Shares × I’ve recently been gaming a lot more on my Android tablet. It still holds true that iOS tends to have more polished, quality software than Android, but recently that has started to change. Developers have started taking notice that Android devices own a significant portion of the mobile market. This is lucky for those of us who own Android tablets and phones because we are finally starting to see some really enjoyable and well-polished games. Battleheart I love this game! Age of Zombies This is a seriously fun twin-stick shooter with a ridiculous premise and entertaining art. Castle Warriors If you’ve ever played games like Galcon or Archipelago then you know what to expect here. The mechanics are super simple but the game can get very challenging as you progress. Stair Dismount Here is another game with a simple premise and simple mechanics. Dungeon Defenders Shadow Era PewPew 2
How to be Happier and More Productive by Avoiding 'Decision Fatigue' 6.1K Flares Filament.io 6.1K Flares × Let’s say it’s your birthday. First, happy birthday! We got you a cake. We’ll come back to the cake in a moment. Second, we have a question for you on your special day. Which would you pick? For myself and a surprising number of people I talk to, the answer is B. We’re conditioned to think that more choice is always a good thing, but in the past few years, studies have discovered something called decision fatigue. Our cognitive resources are regularly depleted because we’re fighting an uphill battle every day — physically and mentally, both at home and at work. It doesn’t have to be that way, though. Let’s start with that cake. Running on empty – The decision fatigue phenomenon Kathy Sierra has written and spoken extensively on this topic. In the talk, she tells the story of a famous experiment by Professor Baba Shiv. This was unbelievable; it took them a long time to figure out what was happening, because it seemed so bizarre. The rise of simple 1.) 2.)
Pioneer AppRadio 2 128 Shares Google+ 102 Twitter 20 Facebook 5 LinkedIn 1 inShare1 Reddit 0 Pin It Share 0 Buffer 0 128 Shares × For Car Audio aficionados we’re talking about a double din sized head with a MOSFET power amp with four 50-watt channels. If you already have a power amp you’re happy with, the head has two sets of RCA jacks, front and rear, and a subwoofer out. However, what you really want to hear about is what happens behind the 7” capacitive touchscreen. The Pioneer AppRadio 2 is available now at a suggested retail price of $599.99 Our email robots can be trusted. Trusted
5 Things We Need For Sustainable Performance At Work We all want to perform well at work and live a fulfilling life. It all gets down to these two simple needs. If we take a minute to contemplate that a bit more, those two simple needs further get down to a few simple actions. I’m writing this for those folks who work in offices at computer screens: software developers and others. #1. Big things start with simple habits. #2. You woke up in the morning. #3. Our stress ball is rolling on. #4. This involves interactions that we have with co-workers, whether work-related or not. #5. Count all those occasions when you have mini-bummers as your tools won’t let you do the work comfortably, keeping your flow. Related articles: Top 5 Non-Office Brain Killers Cognitive Endurance Basics for Software Developers Continuous Problem-Solving Is No Accident
The Early History of LEGO Simple, block-shaped toys have been around for hundreds of years, but it took a 20th-century Danish genius named Ole Kirk Christiansen to invent the interlocking pieces we know today as LEGO bricks. It all started in 1932 in the village of Billund, long before LEGO had achieved world domination as a brand. A master joiner and carpenter, Christiansen opened a humble woodworking shop with his son Godtfred, just 12 years old at the time. And play well they did. Dubbing them the (decidedly un-catchy) "Automatic Binding Bricks," they were the forerunner to today's LEGO brick. In 1958, the LEGO brick finally came into its own. After a devastating warehouse fire in 1960, the company decided to ditch production of wooden toys altogether and focus instead on plastics. LEGO hasn't changed the design of their brick since then, which means today's sets are compatible with sets from 1958 onward. More LEGO fun: In 1961, the LEGO wheel was invented. But whatever you do, don't call them LEGOS.
Rules that have no reason are just obstacles Productivity We all abide by many spoken and unspoken rules every day; while some of those rules have good reasons, plenty more have no reason and possibly a negative outcome. They stifle us, they rob us from imagination and they contain us. Why do we follow rules that stifle us? Well, most of the time because it’s the easy thing to do. It saves us from thinking, and from challenging our assumptions. As comfortable as this may sound; here are 5 reasons why avoiding rules will make you more productive. Rules that have no reason are just obstacles A classic example is the work dress code. “Hell, there are no rules here – we're trying to accomplish something.” — Thomas A. Rules hinder our imagination If you live by the rule of “never color outside the lines”, you will quickly become bored (and possibly boring), life will be filled with mediocrity. Challenging assumptions makes us grow as people. Rules trap us in a local maximum Moving from one hill to a bigger hill often requires risk.
Ben Rimalower: Hashtags Are Over Dear @FeldmanAdam, Hashtags are over. Hashtags are hoary. Hashtags try too hard to be funny in a vulgarly transparent way. Look, Adam, nobody enjoyed hashtags as much as I did -- in 2009! How many times did I relish buttoning tweets with ironic and awkwardly long-winded, punctuation-less, space-less hashtags, running on my efforts to sum up themes or anti-themes of my tweets? And then one day, March 28, 2012, at 1:38 p.m., I read our mutual friend Brendan Kennedy's (@waywaw) tweet: "Remember hashtags? Yes, I was horrified. And don't give me that crap about pandering to trends. Hashtags began with a real purpose. And hashtags are unseemly outside Twitter. Look around and see who's using hashtags nowadays. There's no crime in joining Twitter late. I'm grateful to my young friends in their 20s for letting me know what's hip. And, Adam, by any definition, you are cool.