Tips for mobile productivity: Ways to use your mobile LESS

Abridged version

Lately, I have formalized in writing how my phone is taking away from my time I used to save for daydreaming, sketching, talking with people, and moments of relaxation. Not that I want to give it up, but Ive decided I wanted the option of connectivity, rather then the requirement. Now that I have access to data all the time, I really should think strategically on how it adds value to my life vs the time is uses – where technology becomes a cost.

Here are a few things I am going to try out on a prelim basis.

1. Buy a watch– stop using my phone as my watch, which temps me for other time wasting apps.
2. Only reply to tweets, facebook, and email posts from computers. If they were that important, they will be just as important when I get back from my walk.
3. Delete extra apps that I only use when I am bored.
4. Stop using LBS– I know those points are worthless, so why invest my time.
5. Unsubscribe from all my lists, and unlike random companies: They are filling up my feeds and time. I used to really enjoy searching for things and exploring. SEO and feeds and subscriptions have turned the things I used to enjoy into spam.
6. Use SMS strategically, but use much much less. Disruptions are disruptions
7. Schedule time for social media– it should not have rank over the rest of my life
8. What would Tim Ferris do?
9. Reconsider this in 1 month.

Patrick Donnelly, 6/22

Note: this is a personal list, and obviously many of these guidelines are contextual or preferential.

QR code photomosaic

Microsoft Tags (2d barcode)

My next Challenge. Today microsoft announced this big step into 2d barcodes, a microsoft tag that is a variation on QR, and other mobile reader systems.  I am going to try it out and see what I can do.

http://www.microsoft.com/tag/content/overview/customtagguidelines.aspx

So, I figured out how it works. Yay!

Both of these marks use the same patterns, but with custom marks, they have taken out the majority of the space needed to decode the mark. Thus, allowing for an area for a background image, or creating custom graphics IF they align with the dots.  Need to read up more on threshold values, etc.

From the app I downloaded from them, I was happy with the rate of automatic detection, and instant upload. Apparently they can be smaller then traditional QR codes, but if all of these really contain a url, how much data do you need to include. However, if this technology and format is available, it will be used. Whether that will be effective is another question.

There is a bigger question with all these QR/ datamatrix codes being available, how will be standardized, and  if thats important. Honestly, if my phone can have one app that will decode all of them, standardization goes away.

-pd

First Iphone App: Hello World

My first coding experience with Iphone SDK!  The basic “Hello World” tutorial with image background.