Blog

I’m learning a second language for the second time. Normally you’d consider that a third language, but when you don’t properly learn a second language the first time (read: via high school Spanish), your second second language is really your first second language. After that clarification here are a couple tools I’ve been using to make language learning a bit more automatic on my Mac. 1. Using PopClip to make translation easier. I’ve mentioned my love of PopClip before. It’s an extension that appears when you highlight text with your mouse on your Mac. There are two handy extensions you can find on the PopClip website. Translating via the Google Translate website and having a pop-up translation appear. ...

It’s been two months since the release of iOS 8, and I’ve quickly taken to using widgets in the Today View. If you’ve updated to iOS 8 but haven’t explored widgets, you’re missing out. With your phone unlocked, simply pull down from the top of your screen to see your Today View, and at the bottom click the Edit button to add widgets.[footnote]You can reach your widgets via Today View at any time, but you can only edit your widgets with your phone unlocked[/footnote] Here are the widgets I’m currently rocking. ...

Jordan and Niki discuss the cure to clutter, how to figure out what stuff you don’t need, and best practices for eliminating clutter, after a brief detour about Harry Potter. Click here to listen. I’ll use the made up word “unclutter” a number of times, we’ll chat about why clutter builds up, and how to feel more comfortable throwing out picture frames from your grandma. Check us out in iTunes here or visit our podcast website. ...

Calling out awkwardness is the new black. Alerting the world to awkwardness is now cooler than sitting with the in crowd at lunch. There are hand signals for bringing attention to awkwardness. There are websites dedicated to awkwardness. Awkward is the strange love child of American culture. We’ve made it all encompassing. When something is weird. When it’s uncomfortable. When it’s embarrasing. When there is more than one second of silence in a conversation. When someone mispeaks. Or misteps. Or misses a cue. When you do something clumsy. When you run into that old, former friend in an unexpected, ordinary place. ...

I’ve been blogging, intermittently, for five years. Somehow I don’t completely hate my first post. I started with a hope. I hope this can be a place where I can share my thoughts, my encounters, and my opinions in an effort to make this world a better place, one reader at a time. I was called a pliable college idealist shortly after writing that. I suppose I’m now a pliable twentysomething idealist, because my hope remains. ...

For some reason, some media files don’t play nicely with your computer. You may have an old song in an outdated or uncommon audio format that just won’t jive with iTunes. Or maybe have a strange video format that you can’t get to play and you’re bummed about not seeing that old home video someone converted into a funky digital format. Enter VLC–the media-play-all solution for your Mac, PC, or smartphone. ...

It feels good to be remembered. It feels good to remember something you thought you might forget. Overall, remembering important things is pretty terrific. But we have a lot to remember. Birthdays. Anniversaries. Check the mail. Take out the trash. Call your mom. Text your friend. Finish that work project. Pay your bills. We live in a complex world, and our minds simply don’t have the capacity to efficiently and effectively remember all we need to do when we need to do it. ...

Jordan and Niki discuss developing habits, finding keystone habits in your life, and giving grace when we inevitably fall short. Chock-full of book recommendations and quotatious quotes. You’ll hear quotes like, “I didn’t grow up in the floss” and hear about the newly conceived Donut Willpower Theory. Check us out in iTunes here or visit our podcast website.

I’m unashamedly an app lover. My wife and I joke about who spends more money on their favorite things–me on apps or her on clothes. We’ve ruled it a toss up for now. To stretch my app budget as far as possible, I keep an eye on apps and snag them when they are on sale. The best way I’ve found to track apps and be alerted at discounts is through the app and website App Shopper. ...

If it was still 2007, I’d say, “Podcasts are the next big thing.” But, well, I kind of missed the prediction boat, so I’m going to hop on the podcasts-are-amazing bandwagon instead. One of my favorite things about our current world is that we have unlimited choices. I choose not to listen to terrestrial radio[footnote]I’ve noted on our podcast that I use the term “terrestrial radio” in a derogatory manner. That’s not the term’s original intent–it was used to differentiate between AM / FM and Satellite radio, but I prefer to use it as a diss.[/footnote]. I have no control over the song selection or content. The ads are rarely relevant. There are far more interesting things by lesser-known people who have more to say. ...