Technology

There’s a famous quote from Steve Jobs that I think about often: What a computer is to me is the most remarkable tool that we’ve ever come up with, and it’s the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds. — STEVE JOBS Whatever your mind could do before computers, it can go further and faster with less effort now. The analogy is even stronger because just as you have to learn how to ride the bike to actually use it, you need to know what you’re doing with a computer to move faster. But once you do, you can cruise a lot faster than your two feet can carry you. ...

The Fastest Way to Transcribe Something from Your iPhone—For Free Dictating text to your iPhone is one of my favorite ways to save time and save my thoughts, especially when I’m on the go. Whether you’re sending a message, writing an email, or drafting a blog post (like this one), it’s incredibly convenient to speak and have the words just appear on screen. Unfortunately, two problems typically occur: 1. Siri doesn’t quite nail it, so words get lost, and if you live overseas like I do, Siri might struggle with foreign languages or words; or 2. The dictation times out and just stops recording the words. ...

Online shopping is everywhere but safe online shopping isn’t. In one year, I replaced nearly every credit or debit card due to hacking. Even the most cautious internet shopper is defenseless when hackers steal information from websites that store your payment information. What if there was a way to have a unique credit card number for every website you used? Then, if (read: when) you get hacked, you only need to shut down that card number. You wouldn’t have to go through the hassle of contacting your bank and getting a new credit card, followed by the pain of re-entering your payment on every single site online. ...

I didn’t think I needed another medium to connect with my online “friends.” Between life updates on Facebook, pithy posts on Twitter, and too-good-to-be-unfiltered pictures on Instagram, I see and share more than enough of life online. But even with all of these social networks, I’ve come across a new-to-me service1 that’s quickly become my favorite: Goodreads. At its core, Goodreads is an app to manage books you’ve read, are reading, or hope to read. The premise of Goodreads is personal reading management with a twist—you can see what your friends are reading too. ...

I love apps and I love finding a good deal. When those two things intersect, I can hardly resist. Here’s a quick roundup of my favorite apps that are on sale for Black Friday first for iOS, then for the Mac. iOS Due (an alert wizard with natural language input) For tasks that have to be done at a certain time (putting out trash cans for weekly pick up, reminding someone of something at a certain date or time) and recurring reminders, there’s nothing better or simpler than Due. ...

Maybe you started the year with a plan to read through the Bible. By now, maybe you’ve fallen behind or you’re contemplating giving up. Here are a couple resources to make things just a tiny bit easier to follow through on one of the most worthwhile things you can do this year. 1 – Tracking a Reading Plan Across Your iOS Devices Reading Plan is a free, simple app for starting a bible reading plan. You can customize: ...

At some point, nearly everyone needs to make a graphic. There are countless tools for adding text to an image. Photoshop and Pixelmator give you tons of options and range in difficulty of use, but for an on-the-go, simple app, Typorama is unbeatable. In fact, I own multiple design programs but often reach for Typorama because it’s so fast and simple. It creates images as good or better than what I would on a computer in less time. ...

Maybe online privacy isn’t something you think outside of keeping your credit cards and banking information out of the hands of hackers. iOS offers an option to change your search engine under Settings ? Safari ? Search Engine. There you can choose from: Google Yahoo Bing DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo is the only search engine in the list that doesn’t track and store your search results. That means they aren’t targeting you with ads or trying to sell your data to marketers. I like having more control over who has my information and search history, but what sold me on DuckDuckGo is a unique feature called bangs. DuckDuckGo enables you to search certain sites directly by using an exclamation point followed directly by the website shortcut. ...

Writing an Internet post about how posting things on the Internet can strip away your joy is like writing a book about why people shouldn’t write books or singing a song about why we need to stop singing songs. I’m aware of the irony. Bear with me, please. I’ve shared that notifications can’t satisfy us. Unfortunately, that truth hasn’t sunk in yet. Nevertheless, I continue to internally yell “Validate me!” with each post to the Internet. ...

Occasionally, someone asks me for a bit of advice on starting a blog. I’m always happy to share how to get started. Choosing how and where you’ll host your blog online seems like the most important thing when you’re starting out. The reality is, actually writing and consistently posting, no matter where you do it, is far and away the most critical aspect. Nevertheless, you have to put your blog somewhere, so here are your best options for where to call home on the Internet. ...