WINNING People

Over the past few weeks, the catch phrase WINNING (coined by the one-and-only Charlie Sheen) has been all the buzz on social media outlets. However, when you really sit and think about it, there are only a few people that come to mind that are truly WINNING. The two people that immediately come to my mind are my niece and an old friend from high school.

My niece, Christina, was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor 5 years ago now. She had to overcome so much after her surgery however, never once did it stop her from living life. Christina is now attending dental school while raising thousands of dollars to help families that have children with brian tumors through a foundation she formed after her own ordeal. She is truly WINNING!!

Darrell Gwynn, an old friend from high school, was a young "Superstar" in the sport of Drag Racing. A horrific accident on the race track early in his career left Darrell paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. However, that didn't stop him from helping others. Darrell also founded a foundation that helps young children with paralysis. This past weekend Darrell made it back on the race track to raise money for his foundation by driving a modified electric dragster and racing against a drag racing legend -- Don Garlits.  There no better way to say what he has accomplished, then to just say WINNING!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

RE-POST: Complete Idiot’s Guide to Installing the Evernote Web Clipper on Mobile Safari Without Doing that Janky Bookmark Sync Bullcrap

This is definitely worth a re-post. Thanks to Brett Kelly @ www.brettkelly.org !!

First, visit this page in Mobile Safari. Done? Good. Now, bookmark it using the little plus symbol at the bottom of the screen.

• Copy all of the text in this box to the clipboard:

javascript:(function(){EN_CLIP_HOST='http://www.evernote.com';try{var%20x=document.createElement('SCRIPT');x.type='text/javascript';x.src=EN_CLIP_HOST+'/public/bookmarkClipper.js?'+(new%20Date().getTime()/100000);document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(x);}catch(e){location.href=EN_CLIP_HOST+'/clip.action?url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+'&title='+encodeURIComponent(document.title);}})();

• Here’s a Gist of the code if you can’t select it in Mobile Safari - visit that link and click “raw” if you still can’t copy it.

• Click the Bookmark button at the bottom of the screen and click ‘Edit’, then click the bookmark you just made for this page.

• Change the name to “Clip to Evernote”.

• Delete the contents of the “Location” field and paste the code you copied before. 

• Save it.

• Have a cookie because you’re done.

Now, if you want to clip a web page under Mobile Safari, just tap this bookmark and you’re off and running.

Disney ending Grad Nite tradition... LOSING!!!

Disney is definitely not WINNING after yesterday's blog post by their Social Media Director, Thomas Smith announcing that 2011 will be the last year for Grad Nite.  Unbelievable!!!  Grad Nite has been a tradition for at least 40 years.  Both my wife and I attended Grad Nite back in the 70's and 80's as well as our oldest son, who graduated high school 3 years ago.  And the excuse Smith gives is totally bogus -- having too many leisure guests visiting in the springtime!!!  I guess it's all about making money for Disney. So much for the "Magical" experience.  I guess the only "Magic" Disney is doing is making a fun tradition that every high school student looks forward to disappear.

Blogging from my iPad

I'm sitting here on my couch watching one of the worst shows on TV this season -- American Idol. So, instead of listening to this fake "Lovefest" by J-Lo, Randy & Steven Tyler, I decided to give BlogPress for the iPad a try. BlogPress is an app that allows me to create blog posts to my Blogger account right from my iPad. Pretty cool!!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

How my iPad replaced my laptop (Part 2)

In my previous post, I explained why I made the decision to replace my stolen laptop with an iPad and the hardware accessories I purchased so that it would physically function like my laptop.  Now, I will explain the software apps that I installed and how they are making it easy for me to function while on the road.

First and foremost, like all of my iDevices, I made the decision to Jailbreak the iOS 4.2.1 operating system so that I can use certain apps from Cydia that you just can't get from the Apple App Store.  The most important Cydia app is iProtect.  iProtect allows me to password protect the individual apps on my iPad so that no one can just walk up and open them. This way my private apps like Mail, HomePipe & Dropbox are protected.  The other Cydia app that is extremely useful is AttachmentSaver.  This apps lets me save email attachments to my iPad's memory storage or to my Dropbox storage.  There are other nice apps from Cydia that I use to make my iPad experience a lot more enjoyable.

Now for the other apps from the Apple App Store.

In order for me to be totally productive, I purchased the complete iWorks Suite -- Pages, Keynote & Numbers.  These apps are the equivalent of MS Word, PowerPoint & Excel.  I can create or import documents directly into the iWorks apps.  I also purchased GoodReader so that I can manage the files on my iPad.  Next, is Dropbox and HomePipe for remote file storage and retreival.  Dropbox lets me store files from my desktop in the cloud so that I can open or even download them to my iPad.  HomePipe lets me securely access my desktop file system just in case I forgot to copy a particular file to Dropbox.  Then there's Evernote, one of the coolest apps around.  With Evernote, I can cut articles from the web or documents, save photos or videos to the cloud.  It's really cool because I can take a picture of something with my iPhone, upload it to Evernote and the pull it up on my iPad whenever I want.  IM+, so that I can use my Instant Messaging accounts to communicate with coworkers, friends or family from my iPad.  Not to mention, the built-in Mail & Contacts apps that connects directly to my company's Exchange server.  Finally, the ultimate in productivity apps is GoToMyPC and Webex.  With these apps, I can access my desktop from anyway as well as host Webex meetings right from my iPad.  The Webex app even allows me to use the iPad's built-in microphone and speakers for the audio portion of the meeting.

These are the main apps that I use on a daily basis when I'm on the road.  I also have several other apps for listening to music, satellite radio, accessing other systems like VNC, RDP, iSSH, my sports scores and highlights, network management, etc.

Overall, I really have no complaints so far.  I know people are always saying that one of the downsides of the iPad is the lack of Flash. I really haven't had the need for Flash and if I do, I just use the GoToMyPC app and connect to my desktop.

Cheers!!!

How my iPad replaced my laptop..

This is for all the techies in the house. LOL!!

Back in November, I had an unfortunate situation happen while on a business trip in Northern California -- my brand new MacBook Pro 13" was stolen out of the trunk of my rental car, along with a lot of other items (including my favorite leather jacket). :-(  As you can image, that was a real nightmare!  For those of you who travel on business regularly, your laptop is your lifeline to everything you need for business and sometimes even personal and you feel totally naked without it. Well, thank God I still had my iPhone!!!

Upon returning to Miami, I had to scramble and figure out first of all, if I had a backup of my data and then how far back it was.  Luckily, I did and that it was from September.  WHEW!!!  I was saved, sort of.  So, I proceeded to restore my backed up data to my desktop computer and then did some reconfigurations on it so that I can use it for work.  See, like any good geek, I kept a desktop computer for my personal stuff and used my laptop solely for business.  BAD!!!!  Ok, at least I'm back up and running with just a couple of months of data missing.  I could deal with that -- I guess.

Now, the big question, do I replace my laptop and if so what do I replace it with??  A bigger, badder MacBook Pro -- $$$??  Do I just use my desktop and not replace it at all?  Or do I do something totally out there and get an iPad???  Well, if you know me, I went "Totally Out There"!!!  (but, not after doing my due diligence by calling my best "Geek" friend and asking his opinion.)

So, after going back-and-forward with the pros-and-cons of replacing my laptop with an iPad, I took the plunge and was glad I did.  I purchased a refurbished iPad 32 Gig, Wifi only from the online Apple store (not eBay).  This way it is under complete warranty like a brand new one and I also was able to purchase the extended Apple Care for it.

Ok, now what gadgets do I need to make this my new iPad a bone-fide laptop replacement and meet my needs when I'm on the road.  There were only two gadgets I needed -- a keyboard and VGA cable to connect to projectors when I'm either doing a presentation or in a meeting with a bunch of people.  The cable was easy, just pick one up from the local Apple Store however, the keyboard --- hmmm.... a lot more choices.  Full-size, half-size, etc and then how's it going to fit in my backpack???  AHHH, the perfect fit from a company called ZAGG!!!  The ZAGGmate all-in-one aluminum case and bluetooth keyboard -- AWESOME!!!  Great conversation piece as well. :-)

Now the even bigger question, what apps do I get and how do I get the data I need on this thing.

To be continued....

My Anything Blog

Good morning Cyber Friends,

It's 4 AM and couldn't sleep so, I thought I get up and try something totally new, at least to me.  Hmmm... how about I create a blog about anything that I can think of and see how many people would be interested in hearing what I have to say.  An experiment of sorts.  I know that I'm a little late to the game since blogging has been around for some time now.  However, it's never to late to start, at least that's what people say all the time.  Anyway, I wanted to make my blog "OPEN".  Open to anyone to read, comment, criticize, share, etc.  It's where I am going to post about things that happen, have happened, rants, raves, rages, random thoughts, etc.  I'm also going to use the technology that has become all the rage today -- Twitter, Facebook, & Blogging -- "The Social Network" to hopefully get people to follow.  There's not going to be any set frequency of my posts.... I'm just going to post "whenever".

Stay tuned for more posts....

Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jwolach