Do you have a geek in your life? Someone who is incredibly hard to buy Christmas presents for that has no idea what they want and a wardrobe full of unwanted/unneeded jumpers? If the answer is yes then read on for Think Vitamin’s top five gifts for geeks.

1: The Mifi

The Mifi comes strongly recommended by our friend and mobile guru Sam Machin.

The Mifi is an “intelligent mobile hotspot” that creates a local “cloud” of high-speed Internet connectivity which can be shared between users and Wi-Fi devices, a maximum of 5, such as laptops, cameras and gaming devices. A big win for train journeys, meetings in the coffee shop and BarCamps.

Available in the US ($299) and Europe (£209) from Amazon

2: Apple Magic Mouse

Multi-Touch in a mouse, how very handy. We have heard great things about the new wireless mouse from Apple. Increase your productivity by “scrolling vertically, horizontally, and diagonally  simply by touching anywhere on the top surface.”

$69/£55 from Apple

3: Dot Grid Book

One for the UX designer in your life. The Dot Grid Book from Behance makes a nice change to your trusty Moleskine. Complete with 50 dotted pages and a semi-hard suede-touch cover it makes a great starting point for your next web project.

$14 direct from Behance

4: Chrome Messenger Bag

Instantly identifiable by the airplane seat-belt buckle strap Chrome bags appear to be the geeks messenger bag of choice. Made in San Fransisco they come in various shapes and sizes and are a perfect fit for laptops as well as leaving ample room for books, clothes and whatever other accessories you might need. They must be cool, they even have a “design manifesto“.

Buy direct from the Chrome website, from $120

5: The Eye-Fi

Who hasn’t got an online photo sharing account? Photos and videos are geek currency these days but who honestly likes the upload process? The Eye-Fi takes away that pain and will automatically upload photos and videos to your computer and to the web.

The Eye-Fi card looks, stores media, and fits into cameras just like a regular SD/SDHC card. On top of that, the Eye-Fi card has built-in Wi-Fi that uses your wireless network to effortlessly transfer photos and videos to your chosen web site, including Flickr, Facebook, Picasa and more.

Check out the options at http://www.eye.fi/

Gary Vaynerchuk delivered this passionate and powerful speech at FOWA London 09 and it rocked the house. If you need a bit of inspiration (and a slight kick in the ass) don’t miss this one. Warning: Strong language

You can also listen to just the audio here or subscribe to the audio podcast of all the talks.

Just announced: Gary will be speaking at FOWA Miami 2010. There are only three Super Early Bird passes left (save 29%). Hope to see you there!

If you’ve ever gotten your blog post overwritten by another author, you know how annoying it can be. Thankfully WordPress 2.6+ has a handy little feature called Revisions.

Here’s how it works …

Edit the post you’d like to restore to a previous version and scroll down to ‘Post Revisions’. Click on any of the past revisions (it doesn’t matter which one) …

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and choose the two versions you’d like to compare and click the ‘Compare Revisions’ button …

View the differences between the two revisions …

Scroll down the page and click ‘Restore’ on the correct version. Bam, you’re good to go.

There is also a handy plugin to further control WordPress Revisions which allows you to set how many revisions are stored.

A month ago my “partner in life” decided to get an iPhone 3GS. Over the last few weeks she has become the queen of the App Store and has introduced me to a number of apps that had passed me by. Some are more useful to me than others but the one I have been most impressed with is Evernote for the iPhone.

Evernote is a great little app that allows you to take notes either as text, voice memos or photos. Admittedly there are a million apps out there that do that but what really hooked me was the free desktop app (OSX and Windows) that goes with it. It’s very simple to use and allows easy access to your notes as well as a good writing panel. As someone who used to note take in text files it’s great having all my ideas in one easy to access app.

OSX Desktop App

All your notes are seamlessly synced to the Evernote servers allowing you to take notes on the move and then have them available to you when you arrive at the office. It just works. There’s also a nice online app that goes with it for times when you don’t have access to your own computer.

Online Web App

The iPhone app, the OSX desktop app and the online web app are all very simple to use. It’s easy to tag your notes and you can have multiple notebooks. There’s also the facility to email your notes to colleagues as well as filter and search in a number of ways as well as Twitter integration allowing to send your tweets and Twitpic’s to your account.

The basic account is free and there’s the option to upgrade to the Premium version for $5 a month or $45 a year. This gives you more space, no ads (although they are not intrusive) and a couple more features.

If you use Evernote and have any pro tips or have another app that works for you then please let me know in the comments.

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Evernote, I just find it very useful.

[Update: Lot's of amazing ideas in the comments. Thanks everyone!]

The recent Twittergate Scandal really emphasizes the need to make sure you’re using secure passwords. With that in mind, here’s how to create a great password.

The problem with secure passwords is that they’re impossible to remember, so here’s a handy method that Eric Meyer taught me.

Simply combine two words that you won’t forget, with a random number in between.

For example, choose your hometown (Example: Denver) and your last name (Wonka) and combine them by picking the first letter from ‘Denver’ and the first letter from ‘Wonka’, then the second letter from ‘Denver’ and the second letter from ‘Wonka’, and so on, like this:

dweonnvkear

Then throw a random number in between, like this:

dweon89nvkear

Bam. You’ve got a totally secure, memorable password.

Forgot Your Password?

Another potential problem with using web apps for important company documents, is the ‘Forgot your password?’ functionality.

Often, web apps will ask you a question like “What is your mother’s maiden name?” which if answered correctly, will email a new password. If these answers can be easily guessed (or Googled) then you have a serious security breach waiting to happen.

Make sure your team hasn’t chosen password reminder questions that are easily discoverable and you’re on the road to being much more secure.

Please share any other security tips below in the comments. Thanks.

[Photo Credit: flickr.com/photos/cypherone]

I’ve interviewed quite a few people in my time, so I thought it would be valuable to share some tips that will help you to really stand out from the crowd. Follow these five tips and I promise that you’ll make a powerful impression at any interview.

Tip #1: Create a Handmade Letter

We weren’t even looking for an intern when I got a package in the post from Trista Myers. As soon as I saw the time and attention she put into creating the letter she sent, I immediately got interested. That’s the key – be different.

Hand-crafting something shows real creativity and pro-activeness. It’s a killer way to get someone’s attention. Don’t be afraid that you’ll come across as unprofessional – if a company doesn’t like something handmade, then they’re probably not going to be very fun to work for.

Tip #2: Give a Presentation (Even if They Didn’t Ask for One)

Even if they haven’t asked you to prepare a presentation, you should do it anyway. A great tactic is to call up one week before the interview and say “By the way, I’ve been thinking a lot about an idea that would help company-name to increase sales/marketshare/customer-loyalty/etc. Is it OK if I give a quick five-minute presentation?”

Once they say yes (and if they’re smart, they will), just clarify whether you’ll be bringing in your own laptop or if you’ll need to use one of their machines.

Pro tip: If you’re not a designer, ask a friend with design skills (or pay someone for a day of their time) and to design your presentation slides. A beautiful presentation will really wow the interviewer.

Tip #3: Research, Research and Research Some More

Spend at least a day Googling the company that you’re going to see. Get to to know everything about them, especially:

1. Date the company was founded
2. Who the founders are
3. History and background of the person interviewing you
4. Primary competitors
5. Twitter accounts
6. Blogs

Basically, learn everything you possibly can about the company. This will demonstrate that you’re really passionate about the job and that you know what you’re getting in to.

Tip #4: Get Creative with your Resumé

Michael Anderson gets it. No one wants to read another boring resumé, so he took the time to do something really crazy and different. It instantly sets him apart from everyone else applying for the job.

The key is to be creative – it shows the company that you’ll be able to come up with exciting new ideas for them and that you can think outside the box.

Tip #5: Explain Why You Want the Job

Have an answer prepared for the question: “Why do you want to work at company-name?”

Every founder’s nightmare is that a potential employee sees the job as a short-term solution – a bridge to get somewhere else. We need to know that you’re dying to work at the company and that you plan on staying.

The most powerful demonstration I’ve ever seen of this idea, is this pitch by Jason Zimdars for a design job at 37signals.

When you put this level of preparation and passion into an interview, I can guarantee you that you’re going to get a second interview, and providing you don’t freak out during the interview, you’ve got yourself a new job :)

Your Tips

Please share your tips and thoughts below in the comments. We’d love to hear from you!

We’ve rounded up five great links for you today. Topics range from Firefox plugins to CSS3. Enjoy!

1. 3D CSS Visual Effects demo using pure HTML, WebKit’s 3D CSS Effects extensions and JavaScript
   An amazing demo that shows what’s possible with CSS3, HTML 5 and JavaScript.
2. How to Measure the Health of your Business at a Glance
   A quick article by me on how to use a ‘Red Light – Green Light’ system in your business to measure performance.
3. Download all your Google Docs at once
   “Users of the Google Docs web service can easily access and manage their documents in one location online. However, they still would like to be able to back up and archive their files on their own systems. Unfortunately that isn’t so easy and requires you to download backups of each document individually. The Google Download Script was written to help streamline this process in two different ways.” Warning: Command line knowledge required.
4. Top 10 Wallpaper Tools & Tweaks
   Great article from Lifehacker: “A good wallpaper provides a pleasant backdrop to productivity. A great wallpaper changes your whole computer experience. See some of the best image sources, software, and usability tweaks we’ve come across and rolled up for your downloading pleasure.”
5. Set Up “Push” Gmail on Your iPhone
   Want Blackberry like push notifications when you get email? This gem from Lifehacker that shows you how to setup ‘push’ Gmail on your iPhone 3.0 software.

I’ve noticed that when I get stressed at work, it’s often because my email inbox is out of control. I’ve got hundreds of unread emails, with no idea which ones are important. I finally decided I needed to learn how to be much more effective with email, so I came up with a few strategies.

Thanks to David Allen and Tim Ferriss, I created a few simple rules to keep me on top of the madness, and here they are:

1. Check your email twice a day, but never right when you get into the office
2. Mark important emails with a star or label
3. Mark other emails that require a response (but are not urgent) as ‘Later’.
4. Archive them all to clear your inbox
5. Finally, master keyboard shortcuts to make answering and writing email much faster

In the video below, I walk you through the whole process. Hope you enjoy it. If you have any tips you’d like to share, please do so below!

Photo credit: flickr.com/photos/christopherdale

We live in hectic times. As information professionals we regularly have to battle overflowing email inboxes, monitor a flood of Tweets, craft attention-grabbing blog posts and on top of all that, remember to buy some milk on the way home.

I’ve developed a pretty effective methodology for making sure you stay focused on the important stuff. Grab a cup of coffee and let’s begin …

Organize Your Todos

The first thing you need to do is get all of your todos in one place. Gather them from all the various places you store them (sticky notes, notebooks, your brain, etc) and write them down in one place. I use Things, but anything will do (even pen and paper).

Once all your todos are in one place, group them into projects. Make sure to only use projects that you’re currently working on right now. Things that you’d like to do someday, but aren’t important at the moment should be filed away in a ‘Someday’ folder.

You’ll notice in the screengrab above that I’ve got ‘Active Projects’ and ‘Areas’. The basic difference is that Projects are discreet projects that will be finished at some point in the future, whereas Areas are general things that won’t ever be complete.

The Monday Morning Roundup

I wake up at 5am every Monday morning, stumble downstairs and fire up Things (my todo list program). I go through each of my ‘Projects’ and ‘Areas’ and tag things that need to be done this week with ‘This Week’. I also tag anything super important with ‘Important’.

When I’m done, I have a big list of things that need to be done this week. I then select about five of them that are tagged with both ‘This Week’ and ‘Important’ and I put them in the ‘Today’ list.

I repeat this each day, moving a few items from ‘This week’ to ‘Today’.

The key to the ‘Morning Roundup’ is that it’s done in a quiet place where you can concentrate on what’s really important. This is why I do it at 5am. My wife and 14 month old son are fast asleep and the house is absolutely quiet – it’s perfect for focusing and determing what’s really important.

Another benefit of this ‘quiet time’ is that it gives me some time to examine my life and ask questions like “Am I being a good father and husband?”, “What’s the big picture for where Carsonified is heading?”, “Am I happy with where my life is heading?” etc. We all need time to reflect on stuff like this – and it has to be done before the hectic activity of day-to-day life sets in.

Evil Email

The biggest killer to your productivity is email. Here’s the trick to making sure you don’t get sucked into the email blackhole:

Don’t check your email until you’ve ticked off at least two important things on your ‘Today’ list.

This is vital to making sure you don’t get distracted by what other people deem to be important for you.

As a wise man once said: “Your inbox is a todo list that anyone in the world can write to.”

Of course, if your boss emails you and asks for something to be done ASAP, then it’s best to listen. However, most everything else can wait until you knock out a few of your todos. This will leave you feeling refreshed and empowered.

A great tip is to tell your co-workers that if they need you to do anything urgently, then calling you is the best option, as you only check email occasionally.

Summary Tips

To sum up, here are few vital takeaway pionts:

1. Spend time every Monday morning to organize and prioritize your todos for the upcoming week. You have to do this before you get into the office and everyone starts asking for your attention.
2. Organize and prioritize your todos for the day before you do anything else.
3. Knock out at least two todos before checking email.

Good luck! Please share any tips you have in the comments. We’d love to hear from you.

Photo credit: flickr.com/photos/dieselbug2007

So you’re a skilled developer or design freelancer who has established a handful of customers who pay your bills and provide you with an income. That’s great. You may wish to keep things just the way they are or you might want to build on this and build up your own small business. If you’re opting for the later then here are a few tips to help you ride the bumpy road from freelancer to fully-fledged small business.

1) Move Out of Your Back Bedroom
If you are moving from freelancing to running a company then you need to show your potential customers that you are 100 per cent committed to the business, thus allaying their fears that you won’t be around in a few months time. If you can, move from your home workspace to a dedicated office. This doesn’t necessarily mean huge expense but it can instill a great deal of confidence in you from potential clients. Depending on where you are, office space can cost from as little as £130/month ($190) and should also help with your work-life balance. An additional benefit is that it will give you a postal address that you can publish on your stationery and website without revealing your home location.

2) Dress for Business
Now that you’re running a business (for better or worse) you will need to take a look at your appearance. Many may disagree, but personally I think nothing says business more than smart dress. Of course, it’s up to you how you dress but think about it this way. If you want the conversation to centre around your professional skills, don’t wear anything that will steal the conversation away from this. A T-shirt with a witty slogan on it may be just the thing for a night out with your mates, but a lunch with a potential client? Maybe not. Why do anything to stack the odds against your company winning the project?

I am happy to accept that this is a controversial subject and would be very interested to hear your thoughts about this. What works for you? Do customers react to you differently when you are wearing smart dress as opposed to casual?

3) Centralize your Data
When you are a freelancer working on your own it’s fine to store information about your work processes in your own head, or contact e-mail addresses in your personal AddressBook. But the moment someone else is involved in your business then this isn’t good enough anymore. You may start to find that you spend a lot of time imparting knowledge to others. You will need to move that knowledge somewhere where it can be easily shared. For example, Highrise (www.highrisehq.com) is great for keeping a database of your customers and tracking conversations/activity with them.

As much non-skill related information should be documented as possible, this will assist you in building business processes to ease any future expansion that you may have planned. You should encourage others working with you to do the same and attempt to cultivate a culture of ‘centralised knowledge.’

4) Be the Person Your Customers Like
Building good relationships is key to running a successful business. There are thousands of web development/design studios in the country and there’s nothing to stop your customers moving to your competition if they feel they are not getting value from you. People rarely choose based entirely on price. They buy from people they like and whom they think will support them in the best way. It’s this support that will win you a customer for life (even if your services are more expensive than your competitor’s). As a general rule you should try the following:

5) Reply to Emails Promptly.
Even if you cannot compile a meaningful response/resolution immediately then acknowledging the message with a reply will let the customer know that you are on the case.

6) Always Return Voicemail Messages.
This is really important. If a customer knows that based on your history that you always call them back after leaving a voicemail then they will not feel the need to keep calling you or bombarding you with email. This can help alleviate stress in busy periods when you deem answering the telephone of secondary importance.

7) Maintain a Verbal/Email Relationship.
You should contact the customer on a regular basis (every 3 months if the job is over) to inquire how things are going. This will help to make the customer feel important and that you are still interested in their business even though the project is finished. It will also help to keep you in their mind for future projects. Try to avoid a sales push with every contact else this goodwill will be broken and they will dread your calls.

8) Express Interest in your Client’s Business Sector.
Keeping up with trends in your customer’s industry can be invaluable in generating recurring revenue from existing streams. Tracking changes in their business will allow you to suggest improvements or additions to their application or website. This can be as simple as following their RSS feed and needn’t take up much of your time.

9) Welcome Customer Complaints.
Complaints are great! Complaints allow you to fine-tune your business so that future customers don’t suffer from the same irritations. You must handle every complaint about your business seriously and be prepared to make good on any deal that a customer doesn’t feel you’ve delivered on.

10) Don’t be Afraid to Pass
Many people believe that you should never turn down work. I disagree. If a potential customer is looking for services that you know in, your heart, are not your speciality then don’t be afraid to pass the work on to another trusted freelancer or business. Although not earning you revenue immediately it will benefit you in two ways:

Firstly, you will earn the customer’s respect for passing them on to a
3rd party. This will show them that you are looking after their needs rather than taking the money and delivering a poor job. You will be surprised how quickly you become a ‘trusted advisor’. And Always send a follow-up email to the customer a few weeks into the project inquiring about how things are progressing with the 3rd party and ask them to keep in touch.

Secondly, forging strong relationships with other companies and freelancers can pay dividends in the long run. Approaching a 3rd party with a business lead will buy you a great deal of goodwill and allow you to introduce yourself and services to that person with a view to working together in the future. Networking is the way that you might get your next big job.

11) Work on your Sales Technique
Working on improving your sales technique with prospective clients should be something that continually evolves throughout your career. There are no strict rules for selling; you just need to be better than your competition! You can be the best programmer in the world but unless your potential customer likes you and is confident that you can do a great job then your skills and experience will count for zero. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

12) Build ’stock’ proposals.
Especially, for common projects such as content management and ecommerce. This will save you time when pitching for a job and allow you to reply to an enquiry within a day or two of your meeting with them. The longer it is left silent between you and the customer the smaller your chance of winning the project.

13) Always be On Time.
But be aware that arriving early can be as disruptive as arriving late.

14) Learn About Personality Types.
Learn how to spot them and how to deal with different people and groups.

15) Use a Notepad to Take Notes.
If a customer sees you taking notes then they are much more likely to tell you more information about what they need.

If sales is an area that worries you then there is a wealth of great information on how to sell effectively by Warren Greshes (www.greshes.net).

Good luck with your new venture!

Thanks to www.flickr.com/photos/tanfacedprairieboy for use of the main image