In my line of work, I often find myself looking for the right word to use in a situation – be it via email or verbal. The words we use in any situation are powerful, and can influence the manner in which our points are perceived.
A word I frequently encounter is “deadline.” Deadlines for clients, for internal tasks. Deadlines dictate how we prioritize our work and allocate our resources, but I hate the word. It implies pressure and grave (pun intended) consequences. “You better get this done by the deadline or else!” Let’s consider some alternatives:
Milestone à Better connotation and a more positive message, but I think it makes tasks seem larger and more daunting than they in fact are.
Due Date à Pregnant women have due dates. Our projects have nothing on what they have to go through J
Target à Targets are hard to hit, especially the ones that move.
Goal à Bingo! Goals are fun. You can score a goal, achieve a goal. It’s easy to say, not hard to find, and when you reach them, you get to celebrate!
Looking forward to a 2012 where all our goals are met!
The new Revolve Fitness website is now LIVE!! It's a very cool site that lets the user buy credits (or rides) and then reserve a spot in one of their 3 types of classes. Check out the site for yourself http://www.revolvefitness.com/
About Revolve Fitness:
Revolve is one of few specialized indoor cycling studios to open in the greater Washington, DC area.A studio, as opposed to a larger all-encompassing gym, Revolve pays close attention to detail, priding itself on maintaining the highest standards for both instructors and equipment. With approximately 40 Schwinn bikes in studio, Revolve offers ample opportunity for cycle enthusiasts to benefit from its three unique, custom-designed classes. With these options, cyclists can tailor their cycle workouts to different needs, all while keeping up with the intense cardio workout for which indoor cycling is known:
Real Ride (RR) is a traditional cycling class focusing on cardio and building endurance, designed to provide participants with a competitive edge in a body that can deliver in real life.
Complete Body Ride (CBR) is a custom-designed hybrid class incorporating cycling and upper body weight training, designed to offer everything needed in one complete class - cardio, strength and flexibility.
Barre Ride (BR) is a custom-designed hybrid classes incorporating cycling and barre method training, designed to provide both intense cycling cardio and toning barre-based exercises all in one class.
At Revolve, participants can expect to find a community where bonds with instructors and fellow riders grow beyond the cycle room. The studio atmosphere allows for people to meet and form relationships with other local like-minded people. Revolve welcomes cyclists of all ages, backgrounds, levels of fitness and experience.
Revolve provides fitness enthusiasts with the ultimate experience whether the goal is to lose weight, complement another workout style or enjoy a community of people with similar interests.
Come in and try us out. We look forward to riding with you!
So if you're rocking the 4S or if you just haven't jailbroken, here are some tips to get somewhat similar functionality without jailbreaking. Some are simple, others more difficult. We'll label them as such.
1. Toggles for Wifi, Bluetooth Settings, etc. (A La SBSettings)
- Difficulty: Easy
- Time:1-5 Minutes
The easiest way to do this is go to http://bswi.ch/is then click the bookmark button and choose to "Add To Home Screen." You will now have a webapp installed to quickly toggle frequently used settings.
If you prefer to have the toggles on the Springboard itself, follow the guide here: http://bswi.ch/idb
DCAP Insurance's updated design makes the site very user friendly. The home page features a video spokesperson that makes the site more welcoming as well as gives the user helpful suggestions where to find what they are looking for.
About DCAP:
DCAP Insurance offers competitive rates and great coverage from the nations top car insurance companies. Your DCAP Insurance agent is equipped with all the resources necessary to help you get the right policy at the lowest rate, regardless of past accidents, poor credit or points on your license. Let DCAP Insurance eliminate the worry of not being properly covered and give you piece of mind to stay behind the wheel.
I'm often asked about how to do things on the iPad that are simple to do on a regular PC but elusive on the iPad, so I decided to make this guide. This is version 1, and as new comments and suggestions come in, I'll be adding them. If you have any additions, please comment on this post. Also, if you can't find something, always remember to search the App Store.
How Do I:
[ Section I : Documents, PDF's, Books, Etc. ]
Save PDF's (from email, the web etc.) for later viewing?
Many ways to do it including using iBooks, but I find the Goodreader app best suited. When viewing the PDF click on the "Open In" box in the upper right corner, then select Goodreader. To save from the web, use the Web Downloads feature in Goodreader, select Browse the Web, then click "Download Linked File" when selecting the PDF.
Print to any printer?
Get the Print N Share app, then use Airprint normally.
The untimely and tragic passing of Steve Jobs has left just about every pundit in the industry and indeed just about every reporter and commentator in the media wondering about how the future of iPhone and Apple will be affected. While I agree that there is definitely a large looming question created by Steve's passing, some other indicators have me wondering: are we witnessing the beginning of a major shift in the smartphone market from hardware to software?
Bed Bugs are for real and the problem is growing. Germs and filth have always and continue to be an issue. Most airlines and theaters are not concerned for your well being in this regard. So if I know I’m sitting on a seat that may have all that under me, I’d want a Bug Off Seat Cover.
We’d especially like to thank Javaria, Ari and Tatyana on the BlueSwitch side and Joseph and Jack on the Bug Off side for all their dedicated and thorough work on this project.
Kanu Surf designs and manufactures swimwear and resort wear for men, women, and children. They have offices and a distribution center in Ocean, NJ and Edison, NJ and a Showroom in New York City.
We’d especially like to thank Mark, Ioana and Tatyana on the BlueSwitch side and David/Sally/Joey on the KanuSurf side for all their dedicated and thorough work on this project.
With Pi Day (March 14th or 3/14) fast approaching here's a cool video that shows you what Pi sounds like. I think its safe to say this will be the Pi Day theme song. #justsayin
In a nutshell, web fonts allow web designers to use fonts that are not installed on the viewer's computer.
Here is a complete list of fonts that are viewable on all devices including mobile.
Arial
Arial Black
Helvetica
Tahoma
Trebuchet MS
Verdana
Century Gothic
Geneva
Lucida, Lucida Sans, Lucida Console
Courier, Courier New
Georgia
Times New Roman
MS Serif
New York
Palatino, Palatino Linotype
Impact
Trebuchet MS
Good typography is key to any good design but when it comes to web sites, Arial will be a web designers new best friend.
Or will it?
Last year, a service called TypeKit was announced allowing design companies to license fonts, creating a way to embed fonts that would work across web browsers.
TypeKit has also partnered with Google Font API creating a loader that will give designers complete control over how fonts are loaded as well as access to Google’s own font library.
There are many hurdles with this process right now such as font foundries being cautious about having their hard work invested being displayed on open web servers but in a few more years designers can look forward to a wider palette of fonts in the future for those who are ready to take that next step.
Rio, a bird-centric animated film coming out this April has teamed with the Angry Birds development team to create a new app out this May. View the trailer and get hooked!
And for those of you who would like to see the movie RIO out this Easter starring the voices of Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, Jamie Foxx, will.i.am, Tracy Morgan, George Lopez, Jane Lynch, Wanda Syke, check out the trailer here:
How many people actually realize the extent to which Google has penetrated our lives? I hadn't thought much about how deep it went until recently. And it goes way, way beyond web search. I will illustrate.
First of all, the first fundamental to accept is this: If Google has access to data, there's no reason to assume they aren't accessing, indexing, and profiling YOU using that data, especially since their Terms many times freely admit they are doing this. And even if you believe that they are not accessing and indexing, if faced with a subpoena, is there a doubt that the data will be handed over to someone who will? Last, remember that you'll notice a common thread with Google's products and services. The word *free* will keep popping up. You need to ask yourself: if Google is giving away free what others charge for, what do they expect from me in return?
USE CAUTION BEFORE ATTEMPTING THIS GAME, IT IS INSANELY ADDICTIVE.
Entanglement (entanglement.gopherwoodstudios.com), the goal of the game is to make the longest path using the 6 sided pieces provided. You get additional points if your path runs through multiple pieces. My high score is 145, lets see who can beat me. Credit to Alex Paskie for the find.
Javaria Iqbal, Creative Director and Susan Wu, Senior Designer at BlueSwitch have both joined the Sketchbook Project traveling art gallery created by the Art House Co-op of Brooklyn. The way it works, each year, the gallery invites artists to fill an empty sketchbook with drawings that depict their interpretation of a theme chosen from a provided list.
They range from...
Revenge
A day in the life
Starting March 2011, the gallery, featuring over 10,000 sketchbooks, will be traveling all across the country so keep a look out for Javaria and Su's!
Brooklyn, NY | Austin, TX | San Francisco, CA | Portland, ME | Atlanta, GA | Chicago, IL | Washington, DC | Winter Park, FL | Seattle, WA.
Congrats to our Creative Director Javaria, who got engaged over the weekend...
Her fiance', Khuram is obviously a man after her heart. He proposed with cupcakes...We expect her to be exploding with creativity now that she has updated her Facebook status to "Engaged"
There's a lot of talk about what the iPhone on Verizon means for the overall industry and for Verizon in general. Most notably, most pundits are discussing how this will impact Android device sales, and what this will mean for the Verizon owned brand of Android - DROID.
What I want to zero in on today right before the announcement is something slightly different: the AT&T factor.
It's well known that the cellphone companies are in a limited growth market. There are only so many people in the US that are eligible for phones, and once they have one, they aren't generally buying another for some time. That's why it's cutthroat between carriers for customer acquisition. That's also why the carriers try so hard to add features, markets, services, etc. They need to justify company and stock growth.
In a nutshell, yes. Increase a user’s shopping experience by adding this feature to your ecommerce site and watch your sales add up to what it should be.
Users have become accustomed to newer web practices that have helped them stop clicking into more pages than they need, preventing them from getting lost or sidetracked from what they really were looking for.
This ability will truly make your site, a one stop shop.
If you want a keyboard for your iPad, your best bet right now is the ZAGGmate Case with Keyboard from ZAGG.
It comes with a rechargeable battery that is charged via micro-usb. Pairing is quick, and once done the keyboard performs really well, and even has buttons to control many of the native iPad functions like volume, language, Spotlight, etc. It's quite thin and very light, and doesn't add much bulk or weight to the iPad.
Check out my video review below, or visit their site:
There are several "workarounds" for full-featured web browsing on the iPad. By full-featured I'm referring mostly to Adobe Flash support, especially for Flash Video. While it's true that many sites now support direct mobile video (via HTML5) there are still many that don't and there are some that charge specifically for the iPad and make their videos unavailable without paying (Hulu, NBC.)
Some of the past methods have been Cloud Browse, which essentially is an app that remotes into a Linux box running Firefox. It is subscription based, and not worth the money especially because video performance leaves much to be desired. Skyfire for iPad takes a different approach and instead transcodes Flash video so that it can play on the iPad. The problem with Skyfire among others for example is lack of compatibility with many sites.
Enter Splashtop.
This $1.99 app from the App Store allows you to remote into your desktop, but unlike other RDP, VNC, etc. apps, this one flawlessly streams even the audio and video content from your desktop seemingly effortlessly. So, wherever I am, I VPN into my office network and load up Splashtop. The resolution on my desktop is automatically changed to 1024x768 (by choice, this is a Splashtop option) and I am able to browse using Google Chrome, my preferred browser. Even better, using the Splashtop Beta features (made available by naming your computer "Splashtop Beta [Name]") makes available a menu that appears when touching the screen with 3 fingers. That menu allows you to switch between "Sharp" video mode and "Smooth" video mode. I've found using Smooth mode allows Hulu to play full-screen with no noticeable lag.
In my opinion, right now Splashtop offers *the best* browsing experience on the iPad, at almost no cost.
Check out my video review for the full experience, and go and buy Splashtop for your iPad.
We’d especially like to thank Tatyana,Ari & Susan on the BlueSwitch side and Rachel & Sari on the TOF side for all their dedicated and thorough work on this project.
BlueSwitch is always looking to meet new people that can inspire us to expand our creativity and help others reach their maximum potential on the web and through mobile.
On top of revamping our company for 2011, we’re updating our offices with more color, more games and of course, more candy.
So if you’re in the neighborhood and are looking to work with us, stop by and check us out!
Check out the What to Expect Pregnancy Blackberry app released by Everyday Health, developed by BlueSwitch. It allows all you moms to share advice and experiences on pregnancy through message boards and groups.
We’d especially like to thank Susan, Israel, David P. & Tatyana on the BlueSwitch side and Added Extras Team for all their dedicated and thorough work on this project.
Brooklyn, NY | Austin, TX | San Francisco, CA | Portland, ME | Atlanta, GA | Chicago, IL | Washington, DC | Winter Park, FL | Seattle, WA.
