Wednesday, February 17, 2010

How do I get photos off of my Apple iPhone


If you're using a Mac with Snow Leopard, there is an easy way to download your photos from your iPhone without ever opening iTunes.

Just follow these steps:

1) In your Pictures folder, create a new folder called "iPhone Photos"
2) Plug in your iPhone to your Mac
2) Open Image Capture
3) Select your iPhone in the left hand nav
4) At the bottom, select the new folder you just created, "iPhone Photos"
5) Import your photos

It's a piece of cake to import your Apple iPhone photos to your Mac.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Was it something you did, or didn't do?

I'm convinced that most stresses are caused internally... you do it to yourself. They're caused by lack of preparation and planning. Stephen Covey calls this proactivity.

Think about it. When was the last time you were speeding to the airport, stressed that you weren't going to make it through security in time. Why were you stressed? Was it because of something the airline did? Probably not. Was it because of something your boss did? Maybe, but probably not.

I'll bet it was because of something you did, or didn't do. It was because of lack of preparation and planning. Were you late because you were surfing the web, or doing some other thing to waste time? Were you working on lesser important things rather than the things that really matter?

Like I said, I think most stresses are caused by this -- lack of preparation and planning. Of course there will always be stress caused by emergencies or accidents or the unforeseen problem that will surface tomorrow on your desk at about 9:00. But most stress is caused because you are not planning your time well -- or at all.

If you would have left for the airport just 15 or 20 minutes earlier wouldn't that have relieved a lot of the pressure and stress? As a result you'll be transferring your stress to others through poor driving. Speeding. Recklessness. Tailgating. Talking on your cell phone.

Getting out of bed 15 minutes earlier won't kill you. But the drive to the airport just might.

Plan your time so you know what's important and then do it.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Review: Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro 7.5

I've been a faithful user of Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro for some time now. But before I started using it, I did a lot of due diligence in identifying the right webinar tool for my needs.

Needs:
  1. Flawless streaming video
  2. Customizable layouts (chat/polls/PowerPoints/whiteboards)
  3. Ability to customize the wrapper around the platform to allow for a certification system
  4. Customizable reporting
  5. Integrated VoIP

It met all of these criteria with flying colors except the last one. The VoIP constantly had feedback loops and was hard to manage. We recently were upgraded to version 7.5 which is supposed to integrate multiple teleconference carriers into the system.

I've tried it once with pretty good success. It still seems a bit clunky, compared to the integrated audio in the Citrix products, but it seems to do pretty well. I'll be spending the next week or so giving it a run for it's money with some hard core testing.

Platform Grade: A
VoIP Grade: B

The Davis Principle

I played in rock band for the better part of High School and College. Lots of ska, a bunch of covers and a few great originals. It was a great way to earn money for pizza.

After each performance we would inevitably have a box full of cords and cables that were all tangled up in a knot.

Matt Davis was one of our lead singers. He had a theory that if you took this knot and shook it, it would unravel -- it would de-knot itself. So he would shake, and shake, and shake and, in many cases the ball of cables would eventually unravel or get close enough that you could easily finish untangling them. Whereas the rest of us would be fiddling with them and usually end up tying them tighter than they were before and it would take twice as long to undo them.

Now, this didn't happen all of the time. It worked when the bundle wasn't too messy. When it was a big messy knot it required someone to tackle it and trace back the ends of the cord like a crazy three dimensional maze until the cords were untangled.

You know where I'm going with this story, don't you?

This is a lot like the problems today. In some cases when you have problems that cause you stress and pressure you don't always need to sit and worry over them as much as you think you do. Some knots will unravel themselves with just a little effort, just a little shaking. However, there are some knots that are so tangled that you do need to take time and manage them until they're resolved. These are typically the knots that have been in the bottom of the box the longest and haven't had regular shaking. But for the most part, many of the knots in our life just require a little bit of coaxing and they'll resolve themselves.
  • Go and talk with the person that is causing your stress.
  • Spend a couple of additional hours working on that high-pressure project.
Some days I wish I had a roadie to shake out all of my knots at work. Wouldn't that be nice!