Congrats to the Foo Fighters for winning five Grammys last night, taking home:
Best Rock Performance – “Walk”
Best Hard Rock Performance - “White Limo”
Best Rock Song – “Walk”
Best Rock Album – Wasting Light
Best Long Form Music Video – Foo Fighters Back & Forth
I am so grateful that I was able to see them again last Fall. Dave Grohl and company certainly are the best rockers around.
I’m now a full-on Instapaper user.
From Instapaper, “Instapaper facilitates easy reading of long text content. We (people) discover web content throughout the day, and sometimes, we don’t have time to read long articles right when we find them. Instapaper allows you to easily save them for later, when you do have time, so you don’t just forget about them or skim through them.”
With the Instapaper “Read Me Later” tabbed on my Safari browser’s Bookmarks Bar, I’m all set to go. Anytime during the day that I come across an interesting article, from browsing news sites and the tens to hundreds of RSS feeds I’m subscribed to, and I’m pretty pushed for time but I just know I’d enjoy reading that later… I press “Read Later” and boom: the article is saved to my Instapaper account, both at Instapaper.com and on my Instapaper iPhone app, in a very condensed and super easy to read format.
I’ve read great things about Instapaper over the past month and have gradually incorporated it into my routine workflow (with an idea of coding my own personal RSS feed from articles on Instapaper into my blog), but now decided to go full-on with the mobile app addition.
If you’re into reading things, now or later, check it out. And if you have an iPhone/iPad, check it out too! … for a well spent $5.
Also, if you enjoy reading the thoughts and blogs of cool designers/developers as I do… the Instapaper blog by the developer himself, Marco Arment (former lead developer at Tumblr) has had some great stuff with great links for exploration.
The highest qualities of NCAA basketball:
1. The Duke vs UNC rivalry.
2. A game winning buzzer beater.
3. A Duke game winning buzzer beater over Carolina.
A Three Test Week. Don’t you just love those? I certainly do.
In the batter’s box — Abnormal Psychology.
On deck — Neurobiology.
And in the hole — Microbiology.
I’m ready to do some Tomahawk Chopping this coming Spring if you know what I mean. I think I may have heard pitchers and catchers report in SIX days… or something like that.
I thought I would take a quick break from my current science-mode and make a quick post that I’ve been thinking about writing.
Here is a list of my most used applications at the current moment. These are pretty much in my daily routine. They are either used on my Macbook with Mac OS X, my iPhone with iOS, and some of them on both devices. If you haven’t heard of some of these, you should definitely give them a look. All of them are available cross-platform (useable on Windows). I’ll link them to their site and then quote their description straight from wikipedia (unless otherwise noted).
Dropbox
Wiki: ”uses cloud storage to enable users to store and share files and folders with others across the Internet using file synchronization.”
I can access all the files in my dropbox folder, from anywhere with a web browser. I use this at school, in my lab, even for web hosting. I can also access all my documents (say class power points, pdf’s, etc) via their mobile app on my iPhone.
Summary: if you aren’t utilizing cloud-storage in 2012, you are really missing out!
Spotify
Wiki: A “music streaming service offering streaming of selected music from a range of major and independent record labels, including Sony, EMI, Warner Music Group, and Universal.”
I’m into a lot of alternative music. Their aren’t many “indie-enough” bands that I haven’t been able to access on Spotify. Basically, you type in the artist, Spotify lists their complete discography that you can stream whenever, where ever. Facebook integration is great as well so you can see what your friends listen to, and you can even message and recommend artists to each other. I have yet to try the iOS app yet.
Summary: if you are really into music, you will definitely get good use out of Spotify.
Foursquare
Wiki: “a location-based social networking website for mobile devices… Users “check-in” at venues using a mobile website, text messaging or a device-specific application by selecting from a list of venues the application locates nearby… Each check-in awards the user points and sometimes “badges”.”
Foursquare is a quickly growing start-up that I’ve used for a while. I’ve even got my Dad and his best friend hooked. A lot of places (especially restaurants and stores) have “specials” when you check-in or become they “mayor.” I could really see this being a lot of fun in a big city. It’s great for finding places that your friends like and recommend. If anything, you can at least use it for the recent team up with American Express and foursquare… at many businesses and restaurants, you get a $10 American Express credit when you check-in with foursquare and pay with American Express (a cause to support small businesses).
Summary: It’s a great app to travel with. Claiming the mayorship of your favorite pub, stadium, or grocery store comes with a lot of pride!
Starbucks (mobile application)
Via the Starbucks website, you can “reload your Starbucks Card, track your Stars in the My Starbucks Rewards program and scan your barcode on your iPhone at the register.”
I love using this app when I go to Starbucks. It’s very painless. I don’t have to sign for a debit card and I get rewards that add up. Plus, any Starbucks gold member gets any syrup add-ins on the house. There is a heads up for unauthorized purchases however. Just be sure to lock the app with the password option and don’t let your smartphone get into the wrong hands and you’ll be more than fine!
Summary: If you go to Starbucks and have a smartphone, why not just try it out! You just open the app and swipe your phone at the register.
These may not be new to the raging web 2.0 advocate, but I enjoy incorporating these apps into my busy-second-decade-of-the-millennium life.