I’ll be in the shed… I mean, my office.

Posted by Paul Mayson on June 27, 2008

Lifehacker has a post this morning showing how one fella in a crowded house built a shed to serve as a home office. The finished product looks fantastic. Check out the full post here, and the flickr set from the shed-dweller.

Filed Under Sites, Space

Money blogger John Chow gives a tour

Posted by Paul Mayson on June 25, 2008

John Chow, professional big-money blogger, has posted a tour of where the magic happens. I was surprised that Chow is a Mac guy (who isn’t anymore?!) and he now blogs in the glow of a 30″ Dell monitor. Nice! It is strange that a guy that’s making that much loose change blogging (about how to make money) is still rolling with a 3G(?) iPod. Come on John, stick a crowbar in that wallet live it up. Maybe you can do a fundraiser - “buy John a new iPod!”.

Filed Under Space, Tour

What up, Skitch?!

Posted by Paul Mayson on June 24, 2008

About a year ago I installed a beta of a tiny application called “Skitch.” I heard about it on MacBreak Weekly and never thought I’d use it. Many months later, I’m hooked and use it at least a few times a week.

For anyone that ever needed to grab a quick screenshot, circle or comment on something on the shot, then dish it off to a website or in an email, Skitch is the answer. It’s one of those applications that should have been packaged with your computer since 1995.

I use it for a couple different things. One is to go back and forth with quick design ideas. You can load up an image in Skitch, mark it up, and fire it off in an email. No layers or screwing with Photoshop. It feels the same as printing out a hard copy, writing stuff on it with a sharpy, then send it off via fax. Only it’s much better.

Another great use I’ve found is for giving instruction. For example, if I set someone up with a new WordPress site, I can quickly grab a screenshot, then mark up things like: Step One - click here, Step Two - Fill this out, etc. Here’s an example of a Skitch I did for a new blogger:

Giving that instruction on the phone or via text would have taken a lot more talent than I possess. With a quick Skitch - I get the idea across, and the client is blogging away! To learn more about Skitch, I included a quick 3 minute video from the company. I find the pop up comments annoying, but at least you’ll see it in action!

Filed Under Applications

Spam got you down? Gmail may be the answer!

Posted by Paul Mayson on June 21, 2008

Being in the tech business, a top five question is always, “what do I do about all this spam? I get [insert variable ranging from 15 to 700 here] junk messages a day.” Usually the person that gets 15 pieces of spam is the most dramatic, but, junk mail is a problem. I personally get about 500 pieces of spam a day. Or, I should say, USED TO GET. Now, about 10 make it through to my inbox.

What’s my secret? Did I install super filters? Am I running some proprietary application? Unusually high fiber intake? Well, no, no, and yes… but the fiber has nothing to do with it. My trick is Gmail. They have a remarkable filtering ability that I have found to make email useful again. Here’s how I set it up as an individual…

One: Set up a Gmail Account

Go to http://gmail.com and click the link to Set up a New Account. You’ll be asked to fill out a little form. You’re on your way…