Stupid Sucks!

About a week ago I ordered a small set of business cards from Overnightprints.com to replace the ones printed by PrintsMadeEasy.com. Well, they came in today (would have been friday if I was there).

Wow. I mean, WOW. It was a night & day difference between the two print jobs. I already mentioned how disappointed I was with the quality from PrintsMadeEasy.com but being able to compare the exact same card, side by side really shows the difference.

Overnightprints.com print job was a nice, thick & sturdy card stock, so it feels like it’s quality just holding it. Then the gloss was very smooth and glossy, quite well done. The edges were cut very smoothly, no rough edges, just clean and accurate.

Most importantly, the print quality was incredible in comparison to PrintsMadeEasy.com. I mean, the colors are vibrant & smooth. You can tell it was printed at well above 200dpi where as PrintsMadeEasy looked like it was printed out of an inkjet printer….wait I take that back.

I have seen better print jobs from standard desktop inkjet printers than from PrintsMadeEasy.

Lastly, the back has the same high quality gloss as the front, just as I requested! I am very happy with Overnightprints.com to say the least. Not to mention that they cost 1/3 what PrintsMadeEasy cost. If you’re planning on getting business cards (post cards, stationary, brochures, etc.), go with OverNightPrints.com

This is not a paid review for them, this is simply a very happy customer. Happy enough, in fact, that I may be ordering more print jobs than just my business cards from them.

It’s not all about the hard work ya know. As many people say, “Work smarter, not harder”. I always took that as don’t physically work harder when you can get it done better, faster and easier if you used your noggin more.

Luckily I managed to figure myself out pretty quick in life and know what I need to do to maximize most of my capabilities. Now I see all these college students pulling all nighters, sucking down more caffeine than should be legally allowed, spending hours upon hours studying and ultimately landing that less than acceptable grade.

So Wired magazine showed up today and as I began reading the feature story I realized that I had been doing the majority of the things the article mentioned, almost my whole life. No wonder why people think I’m “smart”.

So the feature story is “12 Hacks That Will Amp Up Your Brainpower“, which is definitely worth a read, especially for all you college students out there! Here are the things I’ve been doing but if you want the whole read, visit Wired.

1. Distract yourself. Say wha?! – Yeah, keep yourself entertained! Duh! Nobody likes being bored and reading that boring arse text book is going to make your brain as boring as a nun. So crank up some tunes or study for 15 minutes and bust out with some Xbox for a few minutes.

I don’t recommend tv as it doesn’t really engauge your brain. You’re trying to distract your brain with something engaging which is going to help you with the boring crap that you want in that brain too!

2. Slow on the Starbucks you caffeine addict! – Ok, I don’t even drink caffeine any more, nor do I soda pop (I save caffeine for the gym). If you need some extra go power though, don’t suck down that $10 Starbucks so fast, sip n’ go. Why?

Well, caffeine blocks your noggin’s adenosine receptors (the stuff that makes your brain tired), so if you keep a steady drip of caffeine to your brain you’ll keep things level and sharp. Lets take it to the next level shall we? Eat something with carbs (complex if possible) and that will help really fuel your thinker.

3. Learning is life long, believe it – As sick as I was of high school or college, I always knew I would be learning things my whole life. I just wanted to learn what I wanted to right then. If you think you only learn so much in life, you’re done for. If you give up easy on the problems in life that you run into, well, you are either lazy or you just don’t believe in yourself.

The world is your playground, go make somethin of it!

4. Stop, breath, relax and think – Tests suck (at least I think so), especially when you panic or get slammed with anxiety. Your brain freaks out and makes you as smart as a chimp….which isn’t going to help you pass Calc. 2. How to get pass that monkey business isn’t always easy but with some practice, it can be done.

Stop your brain from getting carried away with itself and force a mindset of confidence. You CAN do it and even if you do fail, so what. The brightest minds in history failed many times over in their lifetime. It’s part of life, relax and do your thing.

Control your breathing and control your brain. This one has taken me awhile to learn.

5. Make it memorable – If you have a reason to remember it, then you will. Make a joke of something boring or be clever with it and it’ll be easier to get in your thinker. Like when you had to memorize the 50 states in elementary. It was easier when you associated the shapes of the states with something.

In that case you used your visual senses to make it memorable. You can do the same with your other senses though as well as your humor. We can’t help but remember the funny stuff.

6. Move your lazy hind end! – It helps your brain A LOT to go for a jog or a walk. Get your body moving and your brain is going to follow suit. Don’t over-do it though. Getting your heart racing or your muscles pumped won’t really help you. You’ve got to keep things under control and thats when your brain will be at it’s best.

I usually buy domain names after a workout because I am most creative and clever on the walk home from my workout.

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Seriously give some of these tips a shot but since you probably won’t remember all of them grab a sheet of paper and jot some notes down or email the notes to yourself. Give ‘em a shot! They have helped me for a long time already.

**EDIT**: Drop.io gave away more than 20 – 5Gb 1 year premium upgrades to the first people that twittered them with a suggestion on their service! I just got one myself! This is why Drop.io rocks. Thanks Drop.io

Awhile ago I wrote a review about a pretty cool service offered by Drop.io which I was a big fan of right off the bat. Although the features they had to offer were helpful, there were some drawbacks that threw a kink in my work flow.

There is one thing for sure though, Drop.io is not twiddling their thumbs on the job. They know what needs to be done and are doing it and doing it well. To make things even better, they’re listening to what people want and need. They even picked up on the blog I made about it. They’re on twitter too!

So what new features has Drop.io been dropping in the mix?

• Small improvements (design wise) of their home page and drop page(s).
• You can subscribe to drops via email, which is great when you need to know when something is added or changed.
• The way you interact with documents has greatly improved (added links to delete, comment, send & save).
• You can now send files between drops which is a really helpful feature I think.
• Improved embedding
• Sending files via mms, email, fax, or existing drop.

The feature I have been the most happy to see added was a delete link per document (you had to view the file then delete previously). As great as it has been to see these features added there are still some drawbacks I find annoying during my daily work flow.

On a daily basis I have to proof files with clients (I’m a graphic designer) so Drop.io is a great service to do just that. But I work at a newspaper which means I have to proof anywhere from 10-50 or more ads per day. Within 20 minutes I have proofed several versions of an ad with a client. What am I getting at?

The way files are managed should be improved upon more (which I’m sure they’re doing). I think the following features would really help improve the service.

• Multiple file deletion at once – it’s a pain to have to delete one file at a time.
• Selective archival – it would be nice to be able to archive/download multiple files at once rather than the entire drop or a single file at a time.
• Send multiple files – many of the clients I interact with have several ads. It would be great to see a feature that would allow for sending multiple selected files at once.

So, aside from multiple file management, what else could Drop.io possibly do to make their already awesome service even better?

• User management or selective password protecting. Since I deal with multiple clients, it’s not a good idea to leave the drop unprotected. Clients would be able to view each other’s files. If the drop could be setup so that you could password protect files individually that would be great. Although if the following was an option I suppose this wouldn’t be necessary..
• Send files via link rather than sending the actual file. One of the main reasons why I use Drop.io is because sending large attachments via email isn’t fun with clients. When I noticed that you could send files via email I was pretty happy but quickly disappointed to find out it sent the file itself rather than a link. I don’t want to clutter my clients’ inbox.

All in all, Drop.io is one of my favorite services. It’s super simple to use and is actually quite powerful. Recently I used the conference call feature and was really impressed at how easy it is to use, tell other people how to use and the quality was fantastic.

If you haven’t checked out Drop.io, take a few minutes, it’s well worth it. If there is something you feel is missing, contact someone and let them know, they are really nice and want to hear what people think of their service. They have stated that what is available now is just the tip of the iceberg so I’ll be watching for the upgrades!

This post was guest blogged by Simon Koldyk

Jarel just recently started on Twitter.com; but, I think we might of gotten him hooked. If you haven’t already go and sign-up on Twitter.com with your name even if you don’t think you want to Twitter just yet, your name might get taken later.

There are a couple of keys to Twitter

• Its always a lot more fun to be following a bunch of people
• Don’t worry about how many people are following you
• Post interesting stuff, I don’t care that you just went to the bathroom
• Twitter is for conversations remember to use the @ command.

The conversations that go on twitter are amazing, everything people are thinking about is brought up and interesting things turn into huge Twitter conversations that can span on to hundreds of people. In twitter you could type “@personsusername say something here” and Twitter will treat that as your talking to them.

There are a few people that I think you should be following.

• photomatt – Matt Mullenweg from Wordpress
• johnchowdotcom – John Chow from TheTechZone
• problogger – Darren Rowse from ProBlogger
  
• TechCrunch – Micheal Arrighton from TechCrunch
• Scobleizer – Robert Scoble from FastCompany
• JasonsCalacanis – Jason Calacanis from Mahalo
• factoryjoe – Chris Messina from Citizen Agency

Once you have a few people you like following you want to use Twubble, it’s this neat little website that finds you new friends that you will probably also want to follow. Twubble gets this information from who you are already following and who they follow.

So now you’ve a few people you’re following and hopefully a few people are now following you back, you can’t always be checking Twitter.com or you’ll waste your whole day away. Thankfully some really smart people have created desktop apps – the two big ones are Twitterific (Mac) and Twhirl (Windows & Mac). Tweets will not show up on your desktop as they appear, although I do warn you that you may need to turn this off time to time to actually get some work done. Twitter is the new place for fast information and connections.

You should also follow Jarel and myself on Twitter

It seems like lately I’ve been using my cell phone a lot. What would I do without it?! It’s still surprising to see so many people unaware of the nifty little tricks our cell phones are capable of, especially in a business environment.

If you’re still fresh to cell phones take a few minutes in your spare time and check out your manual. I was shocked at how big the manual was for my first cell phone. Of course, I fell prey to the typical guy mentality of disregarding the manual.

I’m pretty tech savvy so I of course figured out the majority of it myself but I was surprised to find a few little features in the manual that I didn’t know about.

Of course, doing a Google search for your phone could clue you in on some other neat things you can do with your cell phone!

Here’s a list of the things I use my cell phone for aside from calling:

An alarm clock – I’ve used my cell phone as my alarm clock for years now. For some reason it’s more effective and easier than a normal alarm clock. Plus, if you’re stuck somewhere and want to take a quick snooze you’ve got your alarm right there with you.

Phonebook – Of course this is the most common use aside from calling but I have addresses, notes for people, etc. that I might need in the future for each contact.

Internet – For about a year I used my cell phone for EVDO because I couldn’t get dsl or cable internet where I lived. EVDO is so much better than dial-up

Entertainment – Pretty much all cell phones have some form of a game…and when I’m utterly bored and stuck somewhere it’s just enough to keep me busy and entertained.

Make shift flash light – I can’t tell you how many times I manage to get stuck in a dark room or something and can’t see anything. My cell phone screen is so bright it will illuminate the room to where I can find even small items.

Texting of course - I don’t text a lot, but I do text every day. It’s my way to keep in touch with my girlfriend while I’m at work and a pretty easy way to get a message to someone quick without having to talk to them. I’m not big on small talk so a short and sweet text message is perfect for the job.

Pictures & Video – Cell phones are great for a quick snapshot or video. Now that phones are getting more and more high tech, this is a feature I may use more often once the quality starts really going up. Now that phones have way more memory it’s not an issue having 50-100 pictures on your phone either.

Music – I don’t really listen to music on my phone but I have a few songs that I really like on it and when I don’t have my iPod or aren’t by a computer and really want something to listen too.

Anyway, those are the majority of uses I have for my phone. I use to have a PDA and used it basically like a micro-computer for email, document editing, etc. but I’ve since downgraded to a sleek and stylish flip phone from LG, the VX8700.

I’m sure there are a ton of other great ways to use cell phones, if you have one share with a comment and I’ll add it to the list

Have you ever had one of those days where you feel like you were insanely busy but you didn’t actually get anything done? Even on the days where I feel like I really accomplished something, I look back and evaluate my work and my day…suddenly realizing that I wasted a significant amount of time.

Earlier this morning I read a post over at JohnChow’s about 5 Online Time Savers. I really felt like they were things that were common knowledge. Unless you’re new to the internet, you most likely already know everything that was posted. So in a sense, the guest blog was preaching to the choir.

I was a little surprised to find out though that some people felt like it was good to have a gentle reminder. I don’t think that could be any more true. We get so caught up in other things we forget about the most useful and simple tools available to us.

Without further ado, Time Management Tips and Helpful Keys – a gentle reminder:

1. Time management is always going to fail you. After everything is said and done, you will have been able to get more done in the time you had but won’t. It’s the nature of life.
2. Set goals, without them, you’re a lost puppy in a caffeinated world going at light speed. When you have something to set your sights on and focus on, you know what has to be done between where you are now, and where you want to be.
3. Use tools available to you to stay organized and on track. Whether it’s a pencil and paper, a PDA, laptop, online tools or something else, there are tons of tools available to keep you and your day organized and focused on your goals.
4. Be aware of where your time is going and prioritize. Knowing where you’re wasting time and knowing when you can waste time is going to help you work and play much more efficiently. Getting your priorities all lined up will help you figure out where and when you can waste time.
5. Get into a routine and stick to it. Routines do suck, I’ll admit that, but they do help you figure out much more efficient ways to do things. When you establish a solid routine you’ll get faster and more efficient the more you do it.
6. Set yourself up to remember the things you forget. I forget things left and right….but I have learned that I will forget those things and how to set myself up to run into those things when I will need them next. For instance, I will forget to call people back by certain times. I know that I check my email as soon as I get home which is at 5:15pm at the latest. So if I email myself a reminder to call those people, I’ll do it and won’t have to worry about remembering anything.
7. Set and Forget….this one goes along with number 6 but I like it. You can spend all day worrying about things, getting things done, calling people, making deadlines, etc. There are notification systems surrounding us. So set a reminder and move on (in a sense forget about it). You have fewer things cluttering your brain while not missing a beat and getting even more done.
8. Stop waiting and start doing (multitasking). I see this one a LOT. So many people say, well I had to wait for this and I had to wait for that…. while you’re waiting you could be doing something else. Get the task started and go get something else started. This is essentially multitasking but a little different (in my opinion).

You might have to learn to use a few things you don’t usually use (ie. cell phone, task manager, advanced email functions, google calendar, etc.) but it will save you time and save you stress.

My girlfriend has a tendency to walk in the apartment and start setting things down. Then later she can’t find anything and is scrambling so she won’t be late. Inevitably, she is late, usually can’t find something and is stressed out. Stay consciously organized and aware. Put things where you know you’ll find them (tangibly and digitally).