That’s what i think to myself any time I see people taking photos / video with an ipad. There’s a time and a place for taking photos or videos with an iPad and that time is ‘never’. The place? ‘Nowhere’. Anyway, i’ve added my name to the list of iPad owners. 3rd Gen, Black, 16GB WiFi-only version for anyone that’s interested…

Why

Why do i need an iPad? Well it was a toss up between a laptop and an iPad (there’s no other tablet worth looking at as far as i’m concerned… not yet anyway). These days, i find myself fairly regularly moving around and in more and more meetings. My old netbook’s battery died which means it can only be used when plugged in to the mains. I’d buy another battery were it not for the fact that my current netbook is fairly slow and just doesn’t pack enough power to do anything other than write in notepad and run a web browser. Plus it takes a couple of minutes to boot up (you know the story). Those precious seconds and minutes tick by and you lose focus on the conversation because you’re willing something to open. Any second now. Just a little longer…

On the plus side, my old netbook has an SD slot & usb slots but right now i need something that’s portable, has great battery life and is fast. It was either going to be an ‘ultraportable’ (laptop) or an iPad. An ultraportable (any brand) is about twice the price of an iPad so that’s why i ended up buying an iPad… it destroys a basic budget laptop (>€500) for battery life and portability.

It’s just a giant iPod

A lot of people call the iPad a giant iPod… that’s exactly what it is. In the same way a 50″ LCD TV is just a giant 22″ LCD TV. What would you prefer to be sitting in front of watching TV? I rest my case. The thing about the iPod / iPhone is that the screen is too small for a full size qwerty keyboard. Personally, i prefer buttons on a phone but because i don’t use my phone as a traditional phone, i can live with a touchscreen. But i still don’t like touchscreens, i prefer physical buttons…

Touch typists would agree with me. You can’t feel the keys, therefore more precision and care is needed when typing which ultimately results in slower typing speed or if you maintain speed, more mistakes (which take an eternity to correct on a touchscreen). For the record, i’m not a touch typist and i don’t believe there’s a proper way of typing. If you can type 100 words per minute, great. Chances are they’re not your words though

The iPad of course doesn’t have a physical keyboard, but it does offer a ‘giant’ touchscreen keyboard which means that you can type with both hands… it’s a little more natural and with the iPad in landscape mode, i’d say i’m almost as quick typing as i would be on a normal keyboard. The problem is that i tend to make a huge number of mistakes, mainly because i’m so used to lifting my fingers up a certain height after every key press on a traditional keyboard. I’ll get used to it but given the choice of touchscreen -v- keyboard, there’s only one winner.

Retina Display

As a first time iPad owner, the display is impressive but so too is the display on the iPad 2. Only a fool would upgrade from the iPad 2 to the iPad 3. The display is really the only change worth talking about and if you’re the type of person that notices the difference (without having them side by side), you’re probably an Apple engineer, a designer or an app developer. If you’re like me and have a choice between the new iPad and the 2nd gen iPad, i’d say go with the 2nd unless, like me, you hate buying ‘new’ stuff that is actually out of date. It’d be similar to buying an iPhone 4S now. Why would you when you can hold off a couple of months and get a newer version for the same price? As a tech enthusiast, that makes no sense to me… it’s different of course if you can’t wait for whatever reason or get one as a gift.

The display is great but it’s also the iPad’s weakness. When i take photos with the iPad (only to test it out), i’m left disappointed by the quality of them… not because they’re not sharp but because the screen is so large & clear that it makes lots of things look pixelated or grainy. We’re just not used to taking photos or video with a huge screen.

The web & many apps also have a lot of catching up to do. For me, this new iPad highlights the growing need for a new, responsive image format. Some apps have been beautifully designed but you then have ugly pixelated headline images being pulled in which completely destroys the ‘crystal clear’ experience. It’s a problem. People with ‘retina’ displays expect perfect / maximum quality all the time. If they don’t get it, they’re left frustrated.

Too hot to handle?

This was one criticism of the new iPad… it was too hot. I had the iPad on my lap for several hours yesterday and again today. Probably wasn’t maxing it out playing games but if people think this thing is hot, they’ve obviously never held a 6 year old + laptop on their lap for a few hours. On one of my old laptops, the stickers on the bottom of it melted off over time. The iPad gets to what i’d describe as ‘luke warm’ at worst. Perfectly acceptable.

Battery Life = Great. Charge time = Awful.

What i did notice however is how incredibly slow it is to charge. I seem to plug my iPhone in and it’s charged in a jiffy but the iPad is something that really needs all night to charge. I think the charge time is listed as 6 hours but i’m not sure whether that’s in an off state or not. Whilst i had it on yesterday, i was charging it and it seems to charge up about 10% per hour on average when i was using it on and off. It’s something i’ll study a little more carefully next time i charge it. I put together this little summary below although i realise it’s not quite as black and white as i make it appear…

Smart Cover is smart

It was only when i began researching the iPad and it’s rivals that i came across the official range of iPad ‘smart covers’. These covers stick magnetically to the iPad, acting as a shield, a cleaner and also as a stand. I’m almost as fascinated with this cover as i am with the iPad itself. Had i not got an argos voucher to use up, i probably wouldn’t have bothered getting one, but i would have missed out big time. Although it’s another additional expense at €39, the ‘smart cover’ really is ‘smart’ and no iPad should be without one.

It’s very difficult to type of the iPad when it’s flat on a table… it’s just not natural and i’m pretty sure it’d be damaging for your wrists / fingers to type like that constantly. The smart cover tilts the iPad up to about 30 degrees which is just about right for viewing and typing when on a flat surface. It also lifts it up to a near vertical state which is handy for facetime / skype or if you want to use it as a really expensive digital photo frame or clock.

Gestures

One thing the iPhone doesn’t have is gestures. With the iPad you can swipe four fingers across the screen to navigate from app to app. Swipe 4 fingers upwards and you pull up the task manager. ‘Claw’ 4 fingers towards the center of the screen and you get back to the home screen. All of that means that in theory, there is no need for a home button. I’m not sure why Apple haven’t gotten rid of it yet…

Gadget without a purpose

The iPad is consistently called a gadget without any real purpose. Yes it’s cool and it’s a great example of modern day technology at it’s best but does it serve any real purpose or enhance our lives any? I think it depends on the individual. I can see why a lot of people wouldn’t use it or may regard it as a ‘nice to have’ toy. Personally, i think it’s a giant iPhone / iPod touch which owners of said devices will see an immediate use for. Already, i’m using my iPhone less and less, particularly at night (in bed) or in the mornings. Pre my iPad era, i’d always check emails / messages in the morning and last thing at night along with doing some catching up on news or Facebook / twitter updates. For quick note taking, the iPad is also useful as it can sync stuff to dropbox or your email account. You can even sketch things on it or sketch over existing photos if you’re using the right apps. You can’t do any of that with a regular notepad.

All of that is just a much more natural experience on the iPad compared to the iPhone. You have the power to compose serious messages if you want or do some serious web browsing… on the iPhone you can’t really do that. You can in theory write a long email and quote people whilst navigating back and forth from the web but it’s cumbersome. On the iPad, it’s quick and simple. *Almost* like a laptop only without the bulk and slow start up time.

For development work or any kind of creative work, stay away from the iPad… that’s not it’s purpose. It’s not a laptop substitute. If you have a smartphone and understand it’s importance, you’ll most likely find a role for the iPad. For me, it’s now my chief consultant device and primary bed time tech companion. My iPhone has been fired from both positions.

Last August, my girlfriend got me a voucher for a 1 hour flying lesson in Weston airport. It expired at the end of January so i made sure to pencil in a date rather than let it go to waste. On Saturday, i finally took to the skies and flew an airplane for the first time…

Set for departure

My lesson was at 3pm and it was in a Cessna 172N which wikipedia tells me is the most popular aircraft ever built. Here’s the one i flew in;

Not quite in the same league as the F/A 18 Super Hornet’s i’m used to flying in Battlefield 3 but they both have wings in common. After a quick briefing by Jim (my instructor) on basic controls, physics and the flight plan for the day ahead, all that was left to do was to wait until the plane landed (it seemed to be kept busy all day long).

Pre-Checks

After a 2 second walk through security (metal detector which wasn’t switched on) we were set for departure and strolled out to our temporary home for the next hour which was in the process of having 102 litres of fuel pumped in to it. I was told that lasts for about 4 hours.

Upon climbing in to the plane, you’re greeted by a dashboard of dials and toggle switches. I couldn’t help but think to myself there has to be a better way of simplifying the dashboard. Playstation controls are the way forward… two pedals on the floor weren’t for accelerating / braking, they were both brakes. One left, one right. The ‘accelerator’ was a throttle knob – push in to speed up, push out to slow down.

I didn’t do a whole pile on the ground only assist with throttle and check the instruments were all working, but it was a lot take in and i was looking forward to getting off the ground.

Take Off

Take off was pretty smooth. People think that light plane = flintstone car but it’s more like a solid boat cutting through waves. Wobbly, sure… but no more so than driving on some of our roads. Take off just felt like a normal take off on a passenger jet. It should be noted though that my position in the cockpit was one of luxury in comparison to when i went skydiving in another small aircraft. I think i just had a bench to sit on for that, squashed in amongst other people. This time i had a seat, with leg room.

Taking Control

Once we were up, i was told to ‘ghost’ the steering wheel (i’m making that word up because it sounds good) which basically meant grabbing it and getting a feel for what turning & movement felt like. Soon after i was given the take of steering towards certain objects… e.g. a green field in the distance which stood out because the sun was shining on it… or some tower in the distance. After a few tips and demos i was getting the hang of it… turning whilst not letting the nose drop… turning quicker, turning more aggressively.

All the while, Jim was keeping in contact with traffic control and directing me on what direction we should be heading. We went as far as Kells (about 60km’s away) and ‘The Spire of Lloyd’ which i circled around and found interesting.. it’s a ‘mock’ lighthouse in the middle of a field build in the late 1790′s.

Landing

I surrendered controls as we were approaching  Maynooth and that’s when we started descending and preparing to land. We had to circle before coming in to land but just like take off, the landing was pretty smooth. All in all, a good day out and something i’d happily do again.

This is a question i had recently… can i set an alarm, then turn off my iphone but still have the alarm go off? I think i’ve done that once or twice in the past and chalked the fact it didn’t go off to me setting the wrong time. On all of my old nokia phones i remember turning them off, then having the alarm kick in at whatever time i set…

The problem

The reason why i didn’t want to keep my phone on and set an alarm is because i didn’t want to be disturbed by phone calls or messages at night. Usually, i’ve no problem with that – i like people to be contactable 24/7 in case of emergency and so i do my best to make sure that’s exactly what i am.

At night, my phone is on vibrate and if i’m woken by a message or call, it’s no big deal… in this specific instance, i knew i’d be getting a call that wasn’t important but it would be ridiculously early (long story). So i wanted to set an alarm as normal but not be interrupted by this call.

I could have just switched off vibrate but i also wanted to conserve power because i’d left my phone charger at the other side of my bedroom. So i wanted to set and alarm and switch the phone off.

A quick google told me i couldn’t do that. Off means ‘off’. No exceptions. Initially, i thought that was pretty stupid given the fact most people only use their phone as a clock and alarm clock when abroad… plus they’re looking to save power when abroad too because their charging schedule is messed up.

The solution

It was that thought process however that led me to remember the ‘airplane’ mode on the iPhone. That cuts all network connectivity meaning the iPhone becomes an expensive iPod without wifi… calls & texts can’t get through and power is conserved due to the lack of connectivity. BUT the phone is still powered on, therefore the alarm clock function still works perfectly.

So if you ever find yourself setting an alarm and switching your iPhone off, remember that you won’t be woken up on time the next morning Never switch the iPhone off… airplane mode is as ‘do not disturb’ as it gets.

Yesterday i noticed my twitter timeline was flooded with ‘RIP bebo’ tweets and lots of people throwing in their 2 cents on how & why Bebo died. I did some searches and a quick scan of all major tech sites – nothing. Within minutes, Bebo’s wikipedia page was edited stating this ‘fact’: “The website closed on 30th January 2012″…

I Immediately took a screenshot because i knew this wasn’t happening and it was a great example of how rumours turn in to facts online. The problem was, up until the wikipedia page was edited, nobody had any sources. That didn’t stop the rumour spreading. Then, once the wikipedia page had been edited, it became a ‘source’ which added further credibility to the rumour. It was the only source.

Michael Birch, co-founder of the site pretty much confirmed it was all a big evil publicity stunt by tweeting “Am super sad that Bebo has actually gone. Some very fun times with very cool people.” He followed that up a few minutes later with ” Hold the press (too late for that), Bebo should be coming back in a matter of hours”.

It would appear to me, this was a deliberate act by Bebo to generate hype. I don’t buy in to the fact that a social network of bebo’s size could go down and stay down for such a long period of time without even a simple ‘sorry, we’re offline temporarily’ message. Yes it may be a ‘technical clusterfuck‘ but Bebo have twitter accounts, Birch is still involved and the first message that came from any of them was Birch’s ‘confirmation’ that the site was closed. It doesn’t add up, unless of course it was all a publicity stunt in which case it has worked.

My guess is bebo will see a massive spike in activity when it comes back online, not because people warm to it’s old charm, but because they’re grabbing all their old photos and messages before it shuts down for good.

Eerie Prediction

Back in February 2008, i posted this blog post about bebo. Pretty critical, gloomy and pessimistic about bebo’s future…

“No doubt revenue is up and traffic is flying, but it’s short term gain for long term sacrafice. They are driving people like me away from bebo.”

A month later, the site sold to AOL for $850m. From then on it continued to free-fall to it’s current status as a former giant of social networking gone bad. A lesson in how not to monetise a social network and how big bucks mean nothing if you don’t understand what users want…

How important is a mouse? Would any mouse do? Would any keyboard do? Chance are if i were to replace either on you, you wouldn’t be happy because the replacements would feel different and that would mess up the way you operate…

Change

For the past 6 months or so my old logitech mouse was acting up. It wasn’t tracking properly on wood / glass / plastic / anything. Eventually i discovered that it would track perfectly on a purple plastic A4 folder for some reason so that became my temporary mouse-mat. Over the past couple of weeks though i noticed it was becoming a bit unstable on that so i decided to get a new mouse… the reason why i didn’t get a new mouse as soon as the old one started playing up was simple – i had gotten so used to the old mouse, that a change in size / feel / button combinations would really mess up my work flow.

With dual monitors, a programmable mouse is very important. I flick windows from one monitor to the next with my mouse and also do all my copy / pasting with my mouse. It also controls the volume of my speakers. So replacing my old mouse with something that *didn’t* have those features wasn’t something i was willing to do. There’s a trend these days for mice to be small… mini mice. The problem for me is that i have a mini mouse, in fact it works perfectly and it has programmable buttons. But the position of those buttons isn’t ‘natural’ to me so it slows down my workflow when using it. Plus i prefer bigger mice when working with a desktop, i find that my hand is less ‘arced’ when using a full size mouse, so there’s less stress on my wrist as i can relax it a bit more.

New kid in town

After much investigation i found that the Logitech m510 was the closest replacement to my old mouse (which was bought as part of a keyboard package).

Similar size, similar location of buttons, same Logitech software i’m used to. Everything i back to the way it should be… smooth movement, smooth scrolling, no frustration. However, it’s amazing how we’ll do anything to avoid change, simply to save ourselves the hassle and time of learning something new. It even took me a while get used to the idea of a new mouse. Thankfully my ‘new’ mouse isn’t all that different from my last one so the change is minimal.

Plastic packaging shoutout

I hate plastic packaging.. the kind that is welded together and can only be opened with a knife. Not only is it frustrating to open, it’s bloody sharp & dangerous too. It should be banned as it’s a lazy way for manufacturers to package stuff and benefits nobody only manufacturers. I was expecting to have to cut open my new mouse package with a knife when i flicked it over and discovered they had a perforated edges at the back of the package along with a convenient ‘open here’ slot. No knives, no slitting your fingers open on sharp plastic. The very fact this surprised me and is worthy of mentioning is sad – this is the way all packaging should be… it’s stuff we should be able to take for granted but far too often the packaging isn’t thought about and it’s not seen as important by manufacturers. Will it make or break my decision to buy something? No. But Logitech have earned themselves a bit more respect from me because of it…

The first thing i do every morning is roll over to my left hand side, switch off the alarm on my iPhone with the top button (without opening my eyes) and then go back to sleep. I do this about 10 times within 20 minutes until it gets to the stage where i’m awake and waiting for the next alarm to go off. At that stage i know i’m 100% alert and ready to go. Up until that point, i live in hope that i’ve accidentally set my alarm to go off early. That could happen once, unlikely to happen 10 times…

However, once i’m fully awake i disconnect my iPhone from charging and see if i’ve any notifcations or emails. Usually there’s a dozen or more. It was getting to the stage before Christmas where i’d wake up to 20 emails alone. Most of them newsletters or stuff i didn’t want to see.

Unsubscribe from all the things

Over the past several weeks, i’ve literally unsubscribed from all newsletters i’ve ever signed up to. Yesterday (about 3 weeks after i first started mass unsubscribing) i woke up to no new emails. That meant that for the first time in what was probably years, i hadn’t received an email in about an 8 hour period. FINALLY.

I’m still getting newsletters and still unsubscribing but my inbox looks a whole lot more useful these days. I’d absolutely recommend everyone does the same. Unsubscribe from everything. Set up a new address if you can (but you probably can’t because it’s too much hassle). The idea of a ‘priority’ inbox is a nice one but i don’t like the thought that some algorithm decides what’s important and what’s not. Smart asses will say that that’s how spam is taken care of but spam can be spotted a mile off… bad IPs, known spammy domains, keyword searches for ‘prize’ + ‘winner’ etc…

Letting an algorithm decide whether a boarding pass is more important than a newsletter is something i don’t want to surrender control of. Sometimes the obvious answer may not be the correct one. If i’m booking a flights for someone and cc myself in on the email it’s not all that important to me, i just do it to have as a backup. If it’s my own boarding pass then it’s more important… all this stuff is hugely complex and to a computer, there’s no reason or logic to it. That’s why i don’t use gmail’s priority inbox even though i applaud the concept.

Rather than find ways of getting through my email faster, i want to reduce the amount of email i get and go through it all one at a time without having to filter it. Facebook & Twitter will go the same way… too much crap linking to and from my accounts which leads to ‘notifications’ which aren’t important. I don’t want to be alerted if somebody invites me to spamville or whatever game is leeching it’s way to success through Facebook notifications… but in order to stop that stuff happening, i have to cut contact with the friend who sent it, or most likely didn’t realise they sent it because they just wanted to start using the damn game and just kept clicking ‘next’.

Time saving algorithm

It’s a never ending problem… trying to keep all channels of communication open whilst ensuring you only receive ‘quality’ information. That said, it would appear i’ve managed to improve my email situation. Less email & fewer notifications = more time saved.

I spent New Year’s Eve 2011 and the following couple of days in London soaking up the pyrotechnics, fireworks & rain…

Lights, Camera, Action

I’d always wanted to be in London for a New Year’s Eve. It’s the home of ‘time’ and the home of the most famous clock in the world. Each year, they put on a show that betters the last. Bigger, louder, more colourful, longer… well this year (or should i say last year) i got to go and see it up close for the first time.

I’m not sure how many people were there but there was a lot, 250,000 according to the daily mail. I’d say there was more because everywhere you looked in and around central london there were streets crowded with people, all trying to catch a glimpse of the London Eye / Big Ben.

I’d looked a few photos & reviews online from previous years and learned that the area around Westminster (with the best views) is closed off by police early in the evening around 7pm or 8pm as it gets crowded. To get a decent view, you’d need to be there earlier. But of course that means staying out in the elements longer and the elements in London on 31st December 2011 were unpredictable. Not heavy rain but the odd light shower. Strangely, it was quite mild. Milder than Spain, Morocco & Iraq (still jumper and coat weather though at about 14 degrees).

I didn’t fancy hanging around all day in the one spot, wondering whether one step backwards or to the side would cost me a position i’d spent hours queuing for so we headed down to Buckingham Palace at about 9pm where there were already people standing & waiting. Buckingham palace is about 1 mile from the London Eye (focal point of fireworks). From there (a certain angle) you can see the top half of the London Eye, but it’s quite a distance back…

St James Park is right beside Buckingham Palace and the end of that park is less than half a mile from the London Eye, so that’s where we ended up watching the show from. We *could* have gotten a better view had we moved closer up but only at the sacrifice of being able to move around 360 degrees without bashing in to someone. It’s not as spectacular as on TV, but here’s some of the show, from where i was standing.

We couldn’t see the countdown or hear the music, nor could we see Big Ben but then again not many could, even if you were right beside either (best place to be was right in the middle of the Thames river) or on a private rooftop. We could certainly hear the fireworks though as could the birds and wildlife in the park who didn’t know what hit them and started freaking out.

Tube, y u no open 24/7?

Despite the fact i’ve been to London about a dozen times now (lost count), i never bought / used an oyster card up until this trip. Reason being that despite what people will tell you, it’s not cheaper, nor is it any more convenient if you’re just using the tube all the time. A one day travelcard does the same thing and there’s no £5 deposit (that’s what on oyster card costs, then you gotta top it up). That said, it is a nuisance having to buy travelcards day after day (if you’re staying more than a few days). I don’t think i’ve ever seen a bank of empty ticket machines in any tube station… there always seems to be someone at them. Same with the ticket / info desks particularly in the train stations.

But i decided to get an Oyster card this time around because i seem to end up in London once a year or more and this saves me a bit of time plus it’s easier to carry & not bin a plastic card -v- a paper card.

“Why take the tube?” you say… well on our last night we went to the cinema in the O2 (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo). It lasts 2 hours and 40 minutes and started at 8.45pm. I knew the last tube left at roughly around midnight but i figured we’d make it / have plenty of time. WRONG. Thanks to about 15 minutes of cineworld trailers & ads and *constant* promotions for their £14.99 unlimited movies that left us literally about a minute late catching the last tube. So we missed that but needed to get back over to canary wharf where we were staying. It’s almost a stones throw away but across the river thames. To walk to it however would take about an hour and a half as there’s no pedestrian bridge close by. It’s about a 10 minute drive.

As it was new years day / night, taxis were entitled to charge £4 extra. So total cost was £20.80 but driver accepted £20. To put that in perspective the same journey on the tube would have been quicker and cost about £2.00. So the lesson to be learned is never take taxis, unless you’re desperate. I also find it strange the tube closes in central London relatively early (between 12am-1am) given the fact there’s always so much on and so much tourism. I’d like to see it run 24/7 or at least stay open until about 2am.

Photos

Taking a swiss army knife through airport security

When in London, i decided to put my car keys in the hotel safe and noticed that i’d left my swiss army knife on the key ring. Not only that but i have a swiss utility key too (a key that opens up in to a knife / bottle opener). Both of them are strictly prohibited and should / would have been confiscated had i had them in my hand or brought them to someones attention. They went through the scanner though and nobody said anything.

When i realised, i wasn’t thinking to myself “how am i gonna get these home?”, i was just surprised they made it through. Of course i should have been thinking security is a lot tighter in Stansted but i did the exact same thing again coming back – completely forgot they were in my bag (i’m so used to carrying them around on my key-ring at home). Again though, same thing happened – nothing. Bag went through the scanner although my body didn’t make it without bleeping (i’m convinced they manually set the scanner off randomly because i make a point of emptying out everything of my pockets and wearing no belts, glasses, watches etc… i didn’t bleep in Dublin and i’d pretty much the same clothes on coming back apart from a tshirt & jumper change).

Maybe i got lucky or maybe they’ve just eased up a bit. I still find it strange they ban stuff like that yet you could in theory buy a glass bottle of something in duty free, smash it and use it as a weapon.

Tomorrow i’m heading off to London for a few days, mainly to see the New Year’s Eve fireworks up close…

List of things to do

Every year i’m usually watching the New Year’s Eve celebrations on TV / with a TV in the background and Big Ben / London Eye is always the center of attention. There’s always a stupid amount of fireworks let off in a bid to compete with other cities who put on a similar show. This year it’ll be the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee plus London is hosting the 2012 Olympics so it’s a big year for London. So this year, i’ll be there with my girlfriend, along with 250,000 others.

Crowds

Apparently the viewing areas fill up by about 7pm which means you have a 5 hour wait in the cold and possibly rain. In order to avoid the crowds & prevent getting ‘stuck’ in the one spot (police close off sections when they fill up & you can’t get back in), we’ll probably go elsewhere to see the display which will mean we’ll be further away and probably won’t get a full unobstructed view, but at least we’ll have some breathing space.

I’ll worry about 2012 when i get home

I’ve got plenty to do when i get back and i’m eager to set lots of challenges for myself in 2012 but not until i get back home. As usual, i’ll have hundreds of photos & videos from my trip up on this blog on January 3rd / 4th…

Christmas is the one time of year where every company in the world is guaranteed to send out their messages of festive cheer along with a fantastic 5% discount coupon for use in their sale which start at 6am on boxing day (terms & conditions apply)…

No to automatic emails

It annoys me that so many companies who i rarely hear from throughout the year use it as way to squeeze in some promotion by camouflaging it as a “We love you, have a great Christmas” message. It’s as if anyone with your email address comes crawling out of the woodwork at this time of year. Some, because they genuinely want to thank you for your custom throughout the year, others because it represents another opportunity. It’s easy to tell the difference.

I’m taking advantage of it all though by unsubscribing from literally every newsletter i’m getting. I don’t want any. My goal for the start of the new year is to have a subscription & notification-free inbox. I’ve even removed all twitter, LinkedIn & facebook notifications (email notifications) which probably means i’ll be slower to respond to people because i won’t have a red envelope or pop up alerts nagging at me every minute to open up an unread message.

What email needs..

How do you know who has your email address? You don’t. Do you have a record of everyone that has sent you an email? Yes. Is that list nicely formatted and searchable? No. Why isn’t it? Beats me. I think gmail & all email providers should provide a list of people who have your email address or who have sent you an email. It needs to happen otherwise the value of email will be diluted to the extent it becomes as useful as a letter in a pile of junk mail & ads. It becomes ‘work’ to sift through emails which we don’t really want to find the emails we do want.

At the start of 2011 i set 10 goals. I’ll do the same for 2012 but now it’s time to review 2011′s…

1. Develop an iPhone app – fail

I started the year learning about iPhone development and did in fact build my first app but it involved clicking a button and displaying a popup message. I never got around to building a proper app & getting one in to the app store though.

2. Build another theleavingcert.com – fail

I’m harsh on myself here because this is something i’m in the process of doing.

3. increase traffic to theleavingcert.com – pass

This was done in the summer where traffic officially eclipsed 2010′s yearly traffic.

4. increase traffic to smemon.com – fail

Traffic has fallen just below last year’s level but it’s not surprising as i’ve been blogging less. 2011 has been one of my worst years ever in terms of blog post numbers.

5. Edit & upload more videos to youtube – pass

Done. As an added bonus one of my videos went viral and got over half a million views.

6. Upload even more photos to flickr – pass

I now have over 7,000 images uploaded to flickr. Over 4,000 were uploaded in 2011.

7. Get at least a 2.1 degree in IT Management – pass

Probably the biggest achievement of 2011 on paper… a 2.1 honours degree in IT Management.

8. Visit more Irish landmarks & attractions – pass

Glendalough, Dublin / Wicklow Mountains, Blarney Castle, Rock of Cashel… not a great ‘haul’ of Irish landmarks but certainly better than in previous years.

9. More networking – pass

I can’t remember going to any events in 2011, but early in the year i started working on 25/7 sports and that kind of ‘took over’. I’d expect 2012 to be packed with new faces, new opportunities & new friends but that’ll all be down to the initial work done 2011.

10. Masters / Job / Business – fail

A fail in a technical sense but in terms of ‘figuring out what i want to do’ (which is what i had in mind when creating the goal), a pass. 25/7 Sports will be a my job in 2012.

RIP, formal education.

Every year of my life thus far has been mapped out. The big milestones have always been ‘education’. Moving up a year, junior cert, leaving cert, college, degree. 2012 will be different because for the first time ever, education won’t be the goal. I won’t have to sacrifice everything else for education. So i’ll have much more freedom in 2012, my first full year without having the pleasure of sitting exams.