Blog•
on November 28th, 2011•
What do you do when you are at a hotel and all they provide is an Ethernet cable? How do you connect your iPad or iPhone to WiFi connection? If you are like me, you complete different tasks on different devices, and it helps when they are connected to the Internet. If you have a MacBook, MacBook Pro, or MacBook Air, you can easily set up a shared Internet connection by just having an Ethernet cable connected to your laptop. And if you don’t have a laptop, but maybe only have an iPad in a hotel room or house with an Ethernet connection, don’t worry, I’ll provide details on how you can connect as well.
Here are instructions on how to connect from your MacBook:
Plug in the Ethernet Cable into your Mac Laptop
I am currently staying at a hotel that has an Ethernet cable in the room. At this hotel, I am required to pay for the Internet. So, after connecting your Ethernet cable, open up your Internet Browser of choice and do whatever the hotel requires of you to connect to the Internet.
Open System Preferences and choose Sharing Preference
The sharing folder should be one of the last, if not the last folder under “Internet & Wireless”
Choose Internet Sharing
Once you have chosen Internet Sharing, choose the option to “Share Your Connection from:” and choose Ethernet, since you are connected to the Ethernet cable. Under that drop-down, select the “Wi-Fi” checkbox, and then choose “Wi-Fi Options…”
Select a Network name of your choosing (make it easy and something you will remember). For channel, I had to choose channel 1 for it to work. For security, enable 40-bit WEP or 128-bit if you’d like more security, and come up with a password based upon the requirements for 40-bit or 128-bit. For 40-bit, I had to choose a 5 digit password. And obviously, remember this password as well. You don’t have to do security, but then you run the risk of guests in the rooms nearby accessing your shared Internet connection.
Select the Internet Sharing Check Box
After all of this, check the “Internet Sharing” check box on the left side of the Sharing screen (see screenshot below). When you select the check box, it will ask if you are sure and click “Start.”
Congrats! You are now sharing your Internet connection! Your Airport fan icon in the top menu bar should now show an arrow pointing up like the screenshot below:
Power up your iPads and iPhones
As a final step, choose the WiFi settings on your iPad, iPhone or any other WiFi-enabled device and find the new WiFi connection and type in the password you set up. If for some reason it doesn’t work, you may want to try a different channel within the WiFi settings as noted above. I started out using 11 and couldn’t connect my devices. Everything worked fine when I switched it to channel 1.
What if I don’t have a MacBook?
If you don’t have a MacBook, get one. Just kidding. If you don’t have a MacBook, your best option is to purchase an AirPort Express. They are $99 and you can create a WiFi zone in your hotel room by using one of these. The AirPort Express has an Ethernet Cable input, so you would just take the Ethernet cable and plug it into the AirPort Express and then plug in the AirPort Express into a power outlet. Apple has an app available for free in the App Store called “AirPort Utility.” With that app, you can control your AirPort Express device and create a WiFi zone using your iPad or iPhone.
These two Internet sharing options work anywhere an Ethernet cable with an Internet connection exists. I have stayed at people’s houses where they do not know their WiFi password. After they go to bed (and with their permission), I unplug the Ethernet cable going to their router and either plug in my MacBook or my AirPort Express and I have Internet for all WiFi-enabled devices.
Blog•
on November 27th, 2011•
I just finished reading Mark Cuban’s new book called “How to Win at the Sport of Business.” Actually, it’s not a book in the traditional sense, but is a collection of blog posts he has written over the years. I thought it was a brilliant use of existing content. Mark sold this book on the iTunes store for just $2.99. I’ll buy a book for $2.99 any day.
The book is a quick read and it contains a lot of no-nonsense business and life advice. He talks about not spending too much time in school where you are paying to learn. He said to try to get in the working world as quickly as possible where they pay you to learn. If you don’t know what you want to do, start with something and at least you are learning and getting paid to learn.
Another topic I thought he did a great job on was advice for startups. He said you should take startup funds from one of two places. Your own bank account or from a product sale. Don’t take money from family, banks or VC’s to prematurely grow a business. Slow and steady wins the race in this case.
The final topic I appreciated in the book was Mark Cuban’s emphasis on learning. He says that he distinguished himself in some of his first jobs by reading more about the products and services than anyone else. He was more informed with both clients and with coworkers. He maintains his reading habit to this day, stating that he reads 3 hours a day.
If you’re up for a quick read that will inspire you in your own business or in your ideas for a new business, this is a good book to read. Mark Cuban is a serial entrepreneur and he has a lot of wisdom in these pages.
Blog•
on November 5th, 2011•
My wife and I just returned from the High Museum in Atlanta. Upon arrival to the museum this morning, we were told about a new mobile phone app the museum had just released to enhance the experience. I went to download the app on my iPhone and couldn’t do it over 3G because the app is over 20MB. Not to fear, the High Museum provides free WiFi, maybe for this purpose.
After downloading the app, called Art Clix, I could take a photo of any painting that is part of the new exhibit and the app would pull up information about that painting and the artist. For some of the paintings, there was even audio commentary. Once I was on the painting’s page, I could then share the information or comment on the painting. I could even view other people’s comments who were also viewing the painting at the same time.
I just thought this was brilliant. A lot of the people in the museum have smart phones. A lot of people are curious about the paintings they are viewing, more so than what the little plaque says that sits next to the painting. And it’s just cool to have the app recognize a photo of the painting and provide further details. I was really impressed and hope this trend continues to other museums.
I think this app could have even been expanded to include more information about the paintings and the artists. Sometimes the description was the exact same as the plaque’s next to the painting. That didn’t really add any value and ended up wasting time as I snapped a photo of the painting. But I’m sure they will improve this app. For the time being, great job High Museum.
Blog•
on November 3rd, 2011•
I completed the new Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson earlier this week. It took me about a week to read it and I was entranced the entire time. I read it on my iPad, a device that would not exist were it not for the book’s subject.
It was like reading about your favorite band and where they were when they wrote a specific song. You can trace part of your life back to when specific Apple products were released. I loved reading about the product development process for devices that came out recently and changed the world.
In a way, Steve Jobs and Apple replaced this shared community that used to be built around music and created a world-wide shared experience for our generation. Talk to 20 and 30-year-olds about when they got their first iPod or iPhone. Many likely waited hours in line and recall the experience fondly.
I remember getting my iPhone after waiting in line for 5 hours with my bandmate at the time, Tyler Herrin. I just sat there and stared at the device unable to process all that it could do. Bloggers did dub it the “Jesus phone.” When I was a child, I used to ride the Spaceship Earth ride at Epcot and the parts about the future didn’t even dream up a device this cool. I wonder if Epcot has updated that ride now that the technology exists.
For me personally, my Apple story began when I added iTunes to my Dell PC and began burning all of my cds to iTunes. After burning my cds, I sold most of them to CD Warehouse (whose unfortunate slogan was “The Future of Music”) and used that money to purchase a grey iPod Mini. During graduate school, I used a loaned MacBook Pro on school trips and upgraded to a 30GB iPod. In 2008, I purchased a Black MacBook and began my switch from PC to Mac. That was also the exact same time that I started my company EPR Creations. I credit a lot of what I was able to accomplish with my business to that MacBook. It was a great computer that I had for 3 years and averaged use on it of 12 or more hours a day. I have since upgraded to a MacBook Pro. Apple makes working on a computer an aesthetically-pleasing experience.
I include the information above because this all adds to the experience of reading a book about Steve Jobs and Apple. If I read a book about Coke, I would be able to relate to what goes into the product development because I enjoy an occasional Coke, but Coke has not changed how I interact with the world.
If I were to recommend a single business book for a college student to read, I would pick this one. It’s not a business book in the sense that Good to Great is, but you learn a ton about business just reading about Jobs and Apple. One of my favorite lines in the book was when Steve told his son to join him for 2 days of meetings at Apple. This was during the “Attenagate” problem with the iPhone. Steve told his son that he would learn more in those two days of meetings with some of the brightest minds in the industry than he would in 2 years of business school. In many ways, I felt the same reading this book.
Steve Jobs challenged so many aspects of conventional wisdom throughout his career. And he cared deeply about design. I was never aware of how harsh he was with people. He didn’t have a nice button. He embarked on insane diets and could be downright cruel to the wait staff at a restaurant. He told thousands of people that their ideas were “shit.” In my favorite line of the entire book, after Bill Gates showed the new version of Windows to Steve Jobs, Steve replied with “Oh, it’s actually really a piece of shit.”
Here is a list of some other subjects that stood out to me while reading this book:
Steve’s Relationship with God
It’s well-known that Steve was into spiritual matters and that he was especially interested in Zen Buddhism. What is really ironic, and Isaacson notes this, is that for all of the teaching about calm and tranquility, Steve was about as opposite of that as you can be. In terms of God or a Christian God, there are three main quotes in the book that highlight Steve’s thoughts:
- When Steve was young, he asked a pastor about the problem of evil. The pastor’s answer was not to Steve’s liking and he said that he decided against God at that moment.
- Steve had the cellist Yo-Yo Ma over to his house one day. Steve had wanted Yo-Yo Ma to play cello in his wedding, but he was out of the country at the time. Yo-Yo Ma came by and played Bach on his 1733 Stradivarius cello. When he finished, Jobs teared up and said “You playing is the best argument I’ve ever heard for the existence of God, because I don’t really believe a human alone can do this.”
- Isaacson the author was talking to Steve towards the end of his life and Steve said “I’m about 50/50 on believing in God. For most of my life, I’ve felt that there must be more to our existence than meets the eye.”
That Yo-Yo Ma quote was really astonishing to me. Yo-Yo Ma didn’t say a word and yet probably brought Steve Jobs to his closest encounter with God.
Bill Gates
Another topic that stuck out to me was Steve’s relationships with Bill Gates and other celebrities and politicians. Steve and Bill Gates fought a lot but also had a deep respect for each other. Towards the end of Steve’s life, Bill Gates went to Steve’s house and they reminisced for 2 hours. Oh to be a fly on the wall during that conversation.
It appears that Steve Jobs was only nervous around one person. That was Bob Dylan. Steve Jobs idolized Dylan. Otherwise, Steve had no problem cussing out Bono, telling Obama he was weak and headed for a one-term presidency, and telling Bill Gates that Windows sucked and was unoriginal.
Design
The staircases in the Apple stores were designed by I.M. Pei. He’s the architect who designed the Louvre’s pyramid (and the building where I currently work). Steve’s famous turtlenecks were actually created by a famous Japanese designer. This designer sent Steve over 100 of the shirts so that he would always have them available. I loved that Steve was so demanding of the design aspects of his products and would also seek out the best designers for collaboration on product design, logos, and store design. He took it a bit too far at times as evidenced by his mansion being empty because he couldn’t decide on the right furniture.
Honesty
Steve never held back. He told it how he saw it. But there was also a mischievousness about his honesty. For instance, many colleagues accused him of taking their ideas as his own, usually after he called the ideas “shit.” Steve was adopted and was acutely aware that his real parents had abandoned him. Yet, Steve did the same to his first daughter somehow convincing himself that he might not be the father, and excusing himself from the responsibility. I was intrigued and challenged by reading about Steve’s comments to people. I often sugarcoat my comments, which is a form of dishonesty. Steve didn’t have that problem.
Overall, this book will be interesting to a wide audience. If you like reading business books, this one is for you. If you are interested in reading biographies about entrepreneurs, Jobs was an entrepreneur extraordinaire. If you love design, read this. If you are curious how Apple became the most valuable company in the world, get the book. If you like reading about powerful people being told off, there are some great episodes here.
One of Jobs’ goals was to build a company that outlasts him. I hope that is the case and that we continue to see incredible innovation out of the company he founded.
Blog•
on November 2nd, 2011•
Have you tried the new Apple IOS feature allowing you to show your iPad screen on your flat screen tv? It is called AirPlay mirroring and it ‘mirrors’ your iPad screen with any tv containing an Apple TV connection. It’s really mind blowing. This all happens wirelessly. Think of the ramifications. You can now load anything onto an iPad and show it on a bigger screen wirelessly. Set one of these up in your office conference room and each participant can show their portion of the presentation without fumbling with a projector, wires, or power point.
Mirroring is really amazing, but the next step in this development will not be better mirroring, but rather a separation of functions. For example, developers have already created games on the iPad where you use the actual iPad as the controller and the game shows up on the big screen. In the case of a racing game, the iPad becomes your steering wheel and the big screen becomes the course. In this case, the iPad becomes the device controlling the on-screen content.
This separation of the mirroring function will quickly move from games to productivity and office applications. One place I think we will begin to see this separation is in document and spreadsheet creation tools. The iPad can become a keyboard and complete editing device while the big screen is where the actual spreadsheet will be shown. In that case, a spreadsheet would not need to be squished onto the iPad with enough room for the keyboard. The keyboard could be extended to contain additional features necessary in working on spreadsheets.
I also see this being a great feature for photo editing and image creation tools. The iPad can become a complete drawing and editing tool while the photo or canvas can be shown on the big screen.
As of now, mirroring is not available on the iPhone, but I see this as the next step with the separation function occurring soon after. Think about giving a presentation on a big screen directly from your phone!
I think the days of plugging computers into projectors is coming to an end. I see most corporate board rooms beginning to install flat screens and Apple TV devices that allow employees and visitors to give a presentation from anywhere in the room.
Blog•
on October 29th, 2011•
A great way to jot down random ideas is to use the Evernote note taking program. You can create different folders within your Evernote account and even share those notes with other people. Name one of those folders “Ideas” and begin adding quick notes to that folder. That way, you can always go back and look at the ideas. They won’t be on a napkin that gets thrown away. And with Evernote, you can add notes from your phone, tablet, or computer, making it easy to jot notes at any time. Even if you aren’t connected to the Internet when you write the note, Evernote will save it and add it when you are connected again.
This is also a great way to collaborate with other on a project where ideas are welcome and important to the project,
Blog•
on September 24th, 2011•
There are two basic ways to connect your website to Facebook.
- Facebook Like Button
- Facebook Like Box
Facebook Like Button
The Facebook Like Button adds a like button to your web page and allows your user to ‘like’ that website page. If the user clicks the like button, this doesn’t add their number to the complete number of Facebook Fan Page likes. It does however show up on that user’s Facebook account as something that they liked. That is why you can have 24 likes on your website and only 14 likes on your Facebook Fan Page. If you use the Facebook Like Button, the likes will not add to each other.
Facebook Like Box
The Facebook Like Box connects directly with your Facebook Fan Page. If your website user clicks the like button within your Facebook Like Box, that will add to the total number of likes you have on your Facebook Fan Page. The box provides a more direct contact with your Facebook Fan Page. If you are interested in building the number of overall Likes to your Facebook Fan Page, then use the Like Box.
If you use WordPress, here are links to two great widgets that will do exactly what you need for each of these options:
Facebook Like Button – Like-Button-Plugin-For-Wordpress
Facebook Like Box – Facebook Like Box WordPress Plugin
Blog•
on September 19th, 2011•
I started EPR Creations a little over 3 years ago and so much has changed in that time. It used to be that you could do a little bit of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your website and get high rankings immediately. Google would consider a few items to determine your ranking. Now, there are 200+ features that are considered when ranking a website in the search engines.
Most large companies have on-site webmasters. These are the guys who run the website. Most big companies also have their own social media departments to control Facebook, Twitter and other platforms. But what about the small- and medium-sized businesses?
My prediction is that small- and medium-sized businesses will begin hiring webmasters, only the title won’t be webmaster. It will be a position that will encompass much more than a traditional webmaster. I think the title of the position will be more along the lines of an “Internet Presence Manager.” This will include big ticket items like the website, SEO, social media, and online advertising. However, the Internet Presence Manager will also be in charge tasks like these:
- Online Reputation Management
- Domain Name Purchase Strategy
- Surf Engine Optimization (optimizing the path the user takes through the website)
- Training of all Employees regarding online communications about the company
- Coordination of blogs, tweets, and other messages from employees
- Deep understanding of user analytics and the communication of these results to respective management
Additionally, I see this Internet Presence Manager being deeply involved in the marketing strategy of the company. This manager will be required at all marketing and company strategy meetings. All major company announcements, updates, or mea culpa’s need to be run through the Internet Presence Manager for the most effective presentation of the content.
This job position will not only be imperative for companies, it will also be required for major organizations and major public officials. Also, boutique hotels and single-location restaurants will also be highly interested in the online reputation management part of this job.
My advice to those seeking a job in this arena is to become knowledgeable about the tasks listed above. Designing and developing websites is not enough. At your core, you are a marketer and you live in the world where advertising now takes place. Practice communicating about online strategy and become familiar with case studies of how companies have failed. Even brilliant companies like Google and Netflix have made big blunders in product or pricing launches.
The days of the Yellow Pages and TV advertising are over. A single negative tweet or review can have tragic results for a company. These negative items don’t happen over the period of weeks or months. They don’t allow for extended thinking time on how to reply and maintain clients. These things happen in real time. The lack of a real time response or overall strategy signals arrogance or aloofness, neither of which will help in a negative situation. As companies, organizations and major public personalities realize this, they will take the position of the Internet Presence Manager seriously. I would not be surprised to see this position morph into a C-level position at some of the major companies. A Chief Internet Presence Officer (CIPO).
Blog•
on September 18th, 2011•
I’ve been told that I am very productive in my work. Over the years, I’ve learned different techniques that have helped in accomplishing tasks faster. I’ve also wasted a lot of time. So I approach this topic as one still learning daily on who to better utilize my time to get major projects as well as simple tasks completed.
Luckily, there are so many new tools now that make time management even easier. I’d like to highlight a few of these tools below:
Evernote
Evernote is a free note-taking tool. I use it for everything from shopping lists, clipping online news articles, and collecting notes about particular projects. I will create a folder for a project and then place all notes and relevant information in that folder. With Evernote, I can also share these folders with other collaborators on the project.
For time management purposes, I use Evernote to create a weekly to do list. My boss in my first job strongly encouraged the use of daily to do lists, so I have carried this over from my first job experience. Evernote makes this easy. You can create check box lists. There is something truly divine about putting a check in that box once the task is complete.
With Evernote, I create a weekly table for days Monday – Saturday. I list any meetings or phone calls set up for the day. Then I create a check-box list of tasks to fulfill each day. Under the 6-day table, I write in goals for the week and other big-picture items. This helps me focus the to do tasks around those goals to make sure the given projects are completed by the end of that week. Oftentimes, I will need to move certain tasks from one day to another. That is easy with Evernote as well.
And with Evernote, you can keep up with and edit your to do lists on any other computer, phone or tablet. If you have an idea of something that needs to be completed while you are outside of the office, just add it using your phone.
Email
If you use more than one email account, use Gmail to combine these emails into one location. Gmail allows you to gather all of your emails together into one Inbox and then send from all of those different addresses. This will save a lot of time so that you are not looking at multiple email locations during the day.
Also, there are two main formats in which you can receive your email. One is POP and the other is IMAP. You want to be using IMAP. IMAP allows you to make a change on one device and have it affect all of your other devices. Therefore, if you are accessing your email on your phone and delete a message, it will be deleted when you look at your email again on your computer or tablet. It’s a waste of time to use POP and have to delete messages separately on all of your devices.
On a project time management basis, it is best to set specific times to check your email. If you are working on a big project and are interrupted every few minutes with a new email notification, you won’t make it very far on that project. It’s better to set times during the day where those are the designated email times. I know that is harder for some than for others as some emails do require an immediate response. However, if you can check email in the morning, around lunch, and then towards the end of the work day, you will have more uninterrupted time to work on your projects.
Another time saver for email is setting up filters for different messages. For instance, if you receive emails that you need to keep on file, but don’t need to read, filter those to go directly to the email folder where they should be stored. This saves you time having to move the email to that folder every time it comes into your inbox.
Dropbox
Dropbox is another free tool (at least to 2GB of space) where you can begin saving your files in the cloud. The benefit is that your files are saved in one location that is not tied to any of your work stations. Therefore, if you have an office and also have a different computer at home, and you do work at both of these locations, Dropbox will save you a lot of time emailing files back and forth or saving them to an external drive.
Connect both computers to your Dropbox account and whenever you save an updated version on one computer, you will be able to access it on your other device.
Blog•
on September 7th, 2011•
I updated my MBP to the new Lion OS and one thing I noticed that is not working is the color picker in Fireworks CS4. I use the color picker option almost daily. The only solution I found online was to purchase Fireworks CS5 as the color picker works in Lion. For the last month, I have been using the free trial version of Fireworks CS5, but that has now expired. I didn’t want to spend $150, but it looks like that is the only option to get the color picker working.
If anyone knows of a solution to fix this, please use the comments area below.
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