Making, 2012.
Tools, hacks, side projects, this site
- Hacking todos: daily review for Wunderlist
I have had a hard time finding the perfect to-do list system. I am a light implementer of GTD — I haven’t read the whole book, but I get the basic idea — capture; focus; do. Stop working from the top of your inbox. Amen. A few years ago, I started using Things for Mac, which… Continue reading
- Defragging your Brain, The Slow Hunch, and Open Commonplace Books
Alex Hillman has a nice post on his response to Steven Johnson’s Where do Good Ideas Come From, thinking about how we continually process and re-process our information. It mentions one specific method, which Steven calls “the spark file“. The idea being that you keep a simple log of “sparks” — th...
- Making the Switch to Android
A few things happened recently, which are causing an unexpected and totally interesting change in my digital life. 1) On the last day of our vacation, Theo dropped our iPad on a brick patio, smashing it to bits. 2) I realized that I could save over $100/mo by consolidating my wireless accounts, and ...
- Reinventing the Home Row
I have been intrigued recently by apps that give a new spin on what have previously been stock features of the phone. Apps that a) improve upon in minor ways or b) really try and re-invent some of the basic things we do every day. Above is a snapshot of my new “home row”. Sort… Continue reading
- Smoke Detectors, or, it’s not the Backup; it’s the Restore
This week we are out in Cape Cod with Frannie’s family, hanging out at the beach in Truro (where, incidentally, there was a shark attack a few weeks ago). This week, we’re renting a different house than normal — it’s an old run-down house next door to the cottages where Fran’s family has vacationed...
- Why Sliderocket Could Be So Awesome, and Why It Isn’t
I wrote the other day about wanting a better way to share slide presentations. I think there is a huge opportunity here, and I don’t think anyone has nailed it yet. I consider this to be an open letter to Sliderocket, which is so close to capturing this opportunity but has (in my humble opinion)… C...
- When Paper is Better
Last week, I spent some time shopping for a new health insurance plan for our family. Two takeaways: 1) The new Massachusetts Health Connector is really great — the health connector is a state-run exchange that helps you find, choose, and purchase a health plan, either a state-run plan or a private ...
- Highrise Chrome Extension
Last week, I wrote about wanting a Chrome extension for Highrise. This week, I built a first pass: https://github.com/nickgrossman/highrise-chrome-extension Here’s a quick video demo of how it works: Continue reading
- Open source and open knowledge
I spent part of the train ride home today working on a coding project (the Highrise bookmarklet I blogged about wanting on Monday). It’s almost done and I’m excited to start using it. I am not a great programmer, but I like it a lot. I only took one CS course in college. I really… Continue reading
- Automating your way out of bad behavior
As I write this, I’m sitting on the platform at the Back Bay Amtrak station in Boston, waiting for the train to New York. At 9am (6 minutes ago), I got a text message prompting me to write a blog post today. It said “Get your blog on! It’s a good thing”. The text message,… Continue reading
- Wanted: Highrise Chrome Extension
Update: I built it. I’ve used Highrise as a lightweight CRM for a few years now. It’s fine for my needs — basically keeping track of people who I meet on email. The thing that really made Highrise start to work for me is integration with Gmail, via Rapportive. Being able to add someone to… Continu...
- cibi.me
The Civic Works team at OpenPlans just launched another sweet micro-site: cibi.me — for NYC’s forthcoming bike share program. The site is notable for a few reasons: First, it’s beautiful and fun to use. The OpenPlans team has been putting out a ton of these small, beautifully designed and really fu...
- Hacking email: getting things done by bypassing the inbox
I’m not a hard core follower of GTD, but I do believe that working from the top of your inbox all day long is a recipe for disaster. However, accessing email is important and necessary. Problem is, with most email clients (I use gmail), you have to pass through the inbox (risking distraction) to…...
- Quick Compose w/ Gmail and Quicksilver
From the Yak Shaving department Working from the top of the inbox is a recipe for working on stuff that isn’t important. But, sometimes you need to write emails. The problem is, to write an email you need to first go to your email client, which usually means passing by your inbox. For me, this… Co...