Starting-up in the forest
Imagine one day you’ll wake up early in the morning in the middle of a Scandinavian forest. Nobody around you. The only creatures you see are singing birds and some Elks drinking at the lake side. You light up the campfire, prepare some bacon & eggs… and then you start coding.
This is the life of Thomas Backlund. Thomas is a coder. He quit his job, quit his apartment and is going to live in the forest until his startup takes off. “I love the forest, I love to code.” Follow his adventure and his start-up at www.thomasbacklund.com/
(Source: www.thomasbacklund.com)
Up to a Paperless Desk – Part 2
Around 9 months ago my office desk looked like a mess, a jungle, a warzone. Back then I thought by myself that it would be a good idea to get rid off all this stuff (papers, sketches, printouts, etc) and start to develop a paperless desk instead. So I believed that there was only way to get rid off my print & read addiction: cold-turkey style. So I decided to forbid myself to use the print button. From now on, I had to get use of the painful bright light of my iPad. The habit of printing, reading and annotating, especially the most important stuff, on plain paper was such a natural and instinctive habit. Thus it was it was frustrating adapt to read and annotate on a screen. But after a while I got myself addicted to a new habit. Look at the result…
Before (April 2012) …
… And after (January 2013)
A selection of the best apps that became my (only) favorites are
No. 1. (by far!) iAnnotate
IPad app for reading and annotating all the documents which I would normally print, review and annotate with my yellow marker or pencil. Very easy program to upload all kind of files (word doc, pdf, rtf, etc). It also comes with a very convenient browsing feature wherein my annotated docs can be filed. I use this program on a daily basis and it rocks. EUR 9 sounds a lot for this app, but it is very well spend. So cool that I’ve got all my stuff organized and always with me.
No. 2. Mail
Indispensible. Handy to save docs on the fly and of course to send to-do lists and reminders to myself.
No. 3. iA Writer
Convenient text editor for iPad. I likte it, it is simple.
No. 4. Instapaper
I started to use this app recently. Since I often make use of a desktop pc and wanted to store and read an article on a website in a later moment in time. With a button installed on my computer I can instantly save an article whereafter it is automatically stored and uploaded to my iPad for offline reading later on.
Passion for Bikes and Coffee
By coincidence I ran into a wonderful coffee house (Ride Studio Cafe) last week in Lexington (greater Boston area). Another concept store that is a fusion of cycling and coffee cultures. A coincidence, because Frank already posted this story about a similar coffee house in London. The story about this coffee house is maybe a little bit different. I understand that the store was initially used as a gathering place for cyclists to drink a first shot of coffee before heading off for a morning or weekend tour. The rapidly increasing number of riders was a kickstart for two local entrepreneurs to integrate the concept of cafe with the business of a bike (and repair) shop. The cafe offers food and drink that is particularly allied to cyclists, but that includes fresh pastries and treats. The vibe of the cafe was not only created by cycle freaks but it also serves as a comfortable working space for the ones who got bored of Starbucks.
Especially thanks to the barista who prepared for me the most tasteful coffee I drank in ages.
