$24 – Write drunk; edit sober. Digital illustration 13" x 19"
Obvious State – Original Illustrations by Etsy man Evan Robertson
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In 2012, the lack of outlets in a Barnes & Noble is a criminal act against humanity. In fact, in this age of technology, the lack of outlets to power our devices is just plain immoral.
Mophie hears our pain and is making the world a better place for smartphones and tablets needing juice to survive. Juice Pack is a slim, sleek extended battery pack that easily slips in your bag or pocket, but packs a hefty 4000mAh of battery power. In short, the Juice Pack offers quadruple the battery power of an iPhone. Yes, it works with BlackBerry and Android devices as well.
Boarding a flight from LA to NY? Three-day camping trip in the near future? Road trip to Vegas? Half your life spent in book stores or coffee shops? Bring your Juice Pack along for the ride and you'll be able to use your iPhone or iPad up to 4X longer.
If you prefer to tote just one gadget and don't care for the external Juice Pack, Mophie has also created an extended battery that envelopes your iPhone called the Juice Pack Air. It also doubles as a shock resistant carrying case. Depending on how much juice you want, you can get the whole kit and kaboodle for $79 or $99. The latter offers an additional 8 hours talk time. This is a really great deal considering you're likely to spend $30 on a decent shock resistant case, the extended battery life is just $50 – $80 more respectively.
Juice Plus Air
All images courtesy of Mophie.com
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A few months ago Blue Ant Studio's blog dedicated a weekly area to shine the spotlight on creative spaces. Some photos are of famous folk, some not. Check it out – the collection is growing and inspiring.
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1.iPad 2 - Whether they use it for writing or not, writers will figure out how to embrace this gadget and include it in their daily lives.
2. Other tablets – I would consider the Kindle Fire or the Nook simply because unlike other tablet makers (HP, Motorola, etc.), these two brands will be around for a long time and offer solid support. Droid tablet makers that have the ability to offer content will be the victors of the "tablet wars" because they can sell their products and make the money on the back-end while offering the device at an ultra low price.
3. iTunes gift card – The iPad, iPod Touch, and iPhone are fairly useless without the apps that make them great. An iTunes card gives writers the chance to fill their gadgets to the brim with geekd'm.
4. Macbook Air is simply one of the best, if not THE BEST laptop for writers. It has all the power a writer will ever need, a responsive keyboard, ultra portability and decent screen real estate. Did I mention the portability factor? Writers can carry this on their person and have absolutely no excuse for not having time to write.
5. Lenovo Thinkpad X220 must include the OneNote software. Click here for a thorough review.
6. Extended monitor – Give the gift of tech real estate (i.e. extended monitor). Remember extended monitors aren't really about making one application REALLY BIG, it's about viewing multiple apps at the same time. Therefore, I would advise a minimum of 24". Dell makes a great product and leads the market by keeping costs down.
7. Noise cancelling headset is the greatest gift you can give a writer – silence – or at least the ability to tone down the white noise. Bose's QuietComfort have been around forever but Studio Beats by Dr. Dre have become one of the top rated noise canceling headsets on the market. Top 10 Reviews click here.
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Creativity flows through us in many different ways. For some it is writing, for others it is music and for me it is photography. I acquired my love for photography as a child, following in the footsteps of my dad.
My parents divorced when I was 10 years old. Twice a month (with overnight bags in tow) my sister and I would head to dad's. Weekends with dad included four-wheeling in his jeep, camping at
My sister and I would spend countless hours posing alongside rocks, logs, water, plants… you name it, we stood by it, and dad would “shoot” away. It wasn’t long before I was asking to stand behind the camera instead of in front of it… and that is where my love for photography began.
I actively pursued photography as a young adult, working jobs from portrait studios to Little League to owning a mobile studio to my favorite photographic role of “mom”. However, several years ago I put still pictures at bay and moved towards moving pictures with my entrepreneurial venture of LitCentral.
Over the past few years I have followed many photographer’s blogs and viewed umpteen websites, anxiously awaiting the next great image. There are many whose work I love (and admire) and here are just a few…. [click to continue…]
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Ever try to personalize a letter written on a computer by choosing Lucida or some other hokey script font? And did the letter look hokey? I thought so.
It's a simple seven-step process to be able to type letters and documents using your very own handwriting. Fontifier will first present you with an ABC template. Fill it out in caps and lowercase, then scan, save and upload. Fontifier will use your handwriting to then create a font that can be downloaded and installed in the font folder on your computer. Once installed, your handwriting will be as accessible in Office or iWork as Times New Roman. Frontier points out this is also a great way to preserve your child's handwriting.
If you prefer to create an international font (non English), they have templates for that too. One of the best features of Fontifier is their new digital signature. Program it (signature) to insert into documents by stroking a simple key from A to Z.
Cost? Brace yourself… It's a whopping $9. Maybe I should reconsider the $300 House Industries fonts.
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Option 1
If your lap currently serves as your main desk area due to the size of your current digs, the concept of the Clino Retractable Wall Table may be a better option. I emphasize "concept" because the Clino price tag of $980 (currently on sale for $699) seems a bit excessive. The Clino is a great space saver, allowing you to maximize floor space. Of course you can't pile much more than a laptop atop the 27" x 43" space, but with all the organization apps available to writers these days can we not just PUT DOWN THE STICKY NOTES AND STAPLER ALREADY!
Price $699 [click to continue…]
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Instructions:
Replace "distance runner" with "writer"
Replace "distance runner" with "entrepreneur"
Replace "distance runner" with "activist"
Replace "distance runner" with "musician"
Replace "distance runner" with "student"
Replace "distance runner" with "athlete"
Regardless of who you are…PRESS ON
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You've just received a writing assignment to create a feature-length drama centered around the milieu of the current Occupy Wall Street Movement. You're excited about the opportunity, it's a brilliant topic dealing with current events, you'll eat for the next nine months, and oh yeah…there's just one problem, you know NOTHING about financial markets, banking, or even Wall Street for that matter. This predicament reminds me of advice given by one of my old LMU professors – writers write what they know and research the rest. Great. Except, grasping the financial markets, banking, micro this and macro that all goes well beyond a day or two at the library.
What's a writer to do?
I'll start by giving you a little PPB (personal private business). Friends and family often tease me because I have the dreadful habit of starting a new book without finishing the last. At any given moment I have at least three – four books on my person (digital and paperbound) along with a 4" stack of tech and design magazines. And because 90% of what I read is non-fiction, I'll often traverse a book in no sequential order from middle to back, back to front and upside down, looking for specific information. Did I mention this haphazard approach to reading means it takes me forever to finish a book cover to cover? I'm willing to look into meds to rectify the situation because it may very well be a peculiar form of A.D.D.
Ok, I digress…
There's a growing business service offered online that revolves around the fact that C-level execs like myself only have so many hours in the day to focus on their business. Yet, the landscape is constantly changing and it's important to stay current on ideologies, trends, concepts etc. I thought about this services with regard to writers and decided I would at least suggest it as an option. They are called book summary services with several web companies offering a host of subscription models. Essentially, business book summary services offer subscribers concentrated knowledge of best selling business books ranging from law, to finance, to economics, banking and beyond. [click to continue…]
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