Applecore Cable Manager

I have really been enjoying these simple rubber cores that cheaply and effectively organize cords of all sorts. They make it easy to wrap a cord around due to the shape (like an apple core...duh) with slits on both ends to thread cord through. I find the hardness of the rubber just right; firm enough to hold the cord, but soft enough to be easy to bend open to insert cords. There are three sizes: small for something like earbud cords, medium for a phone/ipod etc. charger-size cord, and large for computer charges or appliances. I haven't tried the largest size yet, but love the ones I have. They come in a variety of bright colors which helps when it comes to finding and organizing cords. -- David Rosenfeld Applecore Cable Manager Small, Medium, Large $2, $3, $5 Available from and manufactured by Applecore

Most Hackable E-Reader

I'm interested in purchasing an e-reader of some kind (i.e. must use e-ink tech, no LCD screens) and wondering if anyone has any suggestions about which reader lends itself most to tinkering / extending / hacking? Are there any that make it possible to install your own software? (It would be cool to see i.e. Emacs running on one.) Nook Color, hands down. Unfortunately, your eInk criterion limits you to cheap knockoffs. If you're willing to go LCD, you won't be disappointed with a Nook Color. Cyanogen makes the ROM for it, and they are nearly impossible to brick. Heck, you can run a custom ROM right off the microSD card, never putting your warranty in jeopardy. And, because it's Cyanogen, you can read nearly anything, and have full Android Market access. -- Christopher Nook Color $249 Available from and manufactured by Barnes and Noble

FAQ: BlackBerry Messenger & PIN Messages are NOT Encrypted

I just wanted to provide some more detail to my previous explanation of what communications are encrypted on a BlackBerry. This issue has caused quite a bit of confusion recently so I thought I would clear it up specifically for BlackBerry Messenger and PIN messages.

BlackBerry Messenger and PIN to PIN messages are NOT encrypted. They are scrambled using a global cryptographic key which EVERY BlackBerry in the world uses. BES administrators have the option to encrypt the body of PIN messages (but not the PIN itself) using a organization specific encryption key but that limits users to only be able to send PIN messages within the organization so it is usually not done. It is possible to use the S/MIME Package RIM sells to encrypt PIN to PIN messages but that gets complicated and is really only done by Government organizations.

There are a couple of problems with PIN to PIN messaging that is also the basis of BlackBerry messenger that you should know about. The Communications Security Establishment in Canada was kind enough to detail some of these issues:
As said before PIN to PIN messages by default are NOT encrypted they are scrambled using a cryptographic key
If an wireless carrier or government manages to reroute your PIN message to any other BlackBerry in the world by changing the header then it will be readable on that device
Devices cannot be reused by another person since messages for that PIN will continue to come to the device for the original owner. Think of it this way. If you sell your BlackBerry the new owner will get your PIN messages. The sender would also have no idea that this is the case.
You have no idea if the person sending you that PIN message has not sold their device or had it stolen by another person who is impersonating them.
Even if an organization uses their BES with a organization specific PIN key the PIN number is still not encrypted and sent in the clear. That means a snoop could see who is sending messages back and forth.

http://rss.berryreview.com/~r/Berryreview/~3/0OqBSow_C3E/

RIM server in Saudi Arabia

http://crackberry.com/reesearch-motion-reaches-deal-saudi-arabia

TWORK...TWITTER TWEETS AT WORK

HOW I TWEET:

1. Answer the question "What is INTERESTING?" rather than "What are you doing?"
2. Use your Follow Friends to filter the most relevant Tweets for your interests.
3. Retweet so that anyone Following me can use me as a filter for interesting news.

Once your Twitter account has "hundreds" of Followers, it's interesting that more and more Followers start Following you non-stop after a certain point, eh?

HOW I FIND NEWS:

My Friends' Tweets have acted like a springboard to a wealth of informative sites.
Hashtags can be used like bookmarks when I Retweet these informative sites, and I can go back through and connect these to my own work;
if I'm lucky, by the time I go back to the hashtag, others have added similar Tweets under the same hashtag.

HOW TO GET RELEVANT FOLLOWERS

If you are promoting your business, you don't really want "anyone" to Follow your business' Twitter activity. You want relevant Followers that are actually interested in becoming a customer someday, right?

For marketing purposes, Tweets need to be sent in volleys of three to eight at a time, as close to each other as possible (you might consider using 3-8 multiple Tabs in your browser to achieve this).
One pattern that still seems to attract new Followers to you:

Tweet 1: interesting business news
Tweet 2: relevant information that is Trending at the moment
Tweet 3: your advertisement, promotion, or marketing
Tweet 4: interesting news
Tweet 5: relevant information that is Trending with a Hashtag at the moment
Tweet 6: your coupon (ala Dell)
Tweet 7: personal insight
Tweet 8: interesting business news

RESULTS: This model is used by people that perform SEO and SEM, and using it will give you at least the same number of interested Followers as the number of your Tweets...

IMPORTANT: Most of your Tweets ought to include links for full articles or for marketing links.
Marketing links need to go to "painless" actions...
think email subscriptions, automatic enrollments, satisfaction guarantees, and discounted payment pages with items already "in the cart."

LIVE AND SHARE IDEAS THAT WORK

BOOKMARKS - WORK ANYWHERE NOW!

1) ASSUMPTION
Major software applications that you need to get your work done are already, or soon will be, in the online cloud; all you will need is the right URL, username, and password to "get to work."



2) THE WAY WE WORK NOW
People are getting their work done in offices, at homes, and en route because laptop computers, fully-featured mobile phones with browsers, and public computer kiosks are ubiquitous.

3) A TINY TOOL BECOMES A HUGE LEVER
We can "work anywhere" with the right URL, username, and password.
Thus our URLs, usually kept as favourites or bookmarks in our favourite (favorite) internet browser, become the first stepping stone to reach our "work anywhere" office.




FREE SOLUTIONS...

DEL.ICIO.US
Challenging to add new bookmarks with mobile phone browsers because the functionality of "Submit" buttons need to be simplified.

Well developed bookmarks that can be made public for social networking (i.e. how many other people using Delicious have bookmarked the same URL that I added).
Mobile phone browsers can log-in and use existing bookmarks.
Owned by Yahoo.

YAHOO BOOKMARKS
As of this writing, still very Beta with low search ability.

Good import ability.

DIIGO
Challenging to add new bookmarks with mobile phone browsers because the functionality of "Submit" buttons need to be simplified.
Challenging exportability because Tag details are lost.
Delayed updates to large quantities of bookmarks due to reindexing.

Well developed bookmarks that can be made public for social networking (i.e. what are other people using Diigo saying about the same URL that I added).
Mobile phone browsers can log-in and use existing bookmarks.
Previous views of websites are stored in cache, which is useful for defunct pages.
Based in Australia, and new owners of Furl.



GOOGLE BOOKMARKS (my choice)
Rushed development, but it works
(e.g. the Google Cart logo appears in older versions of Internet Explorer,
the Add and other functions appear at the bottom, after scrolling through your entire list of Labels).
Bookmarks are private, without social quantifiers nor caching.

Good search ability (of course).
Can add new links with mobile phone browsers because of simplified "Submit" button.
Good exportability.

TAKE HOME MESSAGE
Move your bookmarks and favorites out of your current browsers (i.e. home computer, work computer, and mobile phone) and import them into an all-in-one online bookmarking tool.
This will merge your collection of URLs, centralize access to them, and help you to truly "work from anywhere."