A Digital Solution to an Analog Problem

I love books. Like a sickness. Sometimes I read good literature and sometimes I devour trashy, pulp novels. I can’t pass up a good coffee table book of art, illustration or design. My house is overrun with books. My teeny, tiny house is stacked two deep in some place with books. My favorite weekend activity is to scour the shelves at the secondhand book shop for a gem. The first step is to admit I have a problem. “My name is Ana and I’m a bookaholic.”

I’ve tried to embrace using the iPad or Kindle or what-have-you to buy books from Amazon et al, but even digital books get pricey.

And then, Scribd stepped into my email this weekend with an offer I could not refuse. Scribd is a digital subscription service like Netflix, but for ebooks. For $8.99 per month, I can read as many of the over 400,000 books in its library on any Apple or Android device or on a Kindle Fire. I did some cursory checks for my favorite authors. Some were listed, some were not. In some cases, a few of an author’s books were available but not the most recent. But there were lots of options, available for immediate download. Unlike my local library where the ebooks are slurped up at alarming rates and I’m left #322 on the next-to-read list so that I can read a particular book about 6 years from now.

I was offered a free month’s trial to use Scribd. Books are read in the Scribd app but the app can also be use to browse and download other books. The “books similar to” options provided decent direction to discover new books as well.

I also decided to do some research to see if other services were offering a book subscription service and found Oyster. Currently Oyster books are only available on the iOS platform and the monthly subscription fee is $9.99 but their library seems a little larger.

I went ahead and started a free subscription with Oyster as well to compare the two services. The interface for browsing and book discovery on Oyster is a little more aesthetically pleasing than Scribd but both are similar with a search option or a browse by category. Oyster offers more esoteric sub-categories like, within Science Fiction, they’ve divided books into categories like “Utopian Dreams” or “Genetic Engineering”.

Both services have recently received access to the Simon & Schuster catalog which added 10,000 titles and lots of reading options. Both services have business and economic books, young adult fiction, a large cache of mysteries and popular fiction, classics and more. Either option will have something in their collection you want to read.

I did a search for a few specific authors: Stephen King (equally represented by both services, David Sedaris (only one book available at both services “Children Playing..”), Seth Godin (more books available through Oyster), George R. R. Martin (only one short story in an anthology, available from both) and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (a knitting humorist and Oyster had all her books but Scribd only had two available). As you can see, lots of breadth in both services.

I really wanted to compare the actual reading experience, which is a make-or-break for me. In general, both experiences sync across devices — from iPhone to iPad pretty smoothly. The only notable difference is that the Oyster reading environment requires users to swipe up to move through pages, more like a PDF or Word document rather than across like the iBooks or Kindle does. Neither has the faux page-turning animation, ability to adjust line spacing or margins that the Kindle and iBooks app allow. Both services feature sans serif or serif font choices and reading white-on-black, black-on-white or a sepia look. Both have highlighting and annotation options. Except for the swiping being a little counter-intuitive on Oyster, they are both perfectly adequate.

Both services offer the option to link with friends via Facebook and other services though, for me, I prefer to just read and not network. Since both services are fairly new, it might not be a big deal to anyone else either. Its really all about the books.

That said, I think both services are neck-in-neck to win my subscription fee loyalty. Both seem like great ways to feed my voracious book appetite without cluttering up my house any further.

If you have an Android device or Kindle tablet, I recommend that you start with Scribd as Oyster does not yet have support for the Android platform. If you decide to try Oyster, please use this link and I’ll get a credit for recommending it.

Have you considered or do you read ebooks? I like having a book with me at all times on my phone for those waiting-in-line moments. Do you?

Cartolina iPhone Cases (and more)

Cartolina is well-known for its fabulous vintage illustration paper goods but they also take these images and apply them to other goods as well like iPhone hard shell cases which I think is brilliant.

Cartolina also makes an array of notepads that might work as flat stationery sheets at 5.5×8.5 for some folks. Each pad has 60 sheets and the designs range from floral to porcine. $8 each.

 

Get Organized: Todoist Next

Today, Todoist upgraded its platform with web-, mobile-, browser- and desktop-based versions of the app and an all-new, streamlined look. They are definitely setting themselves to compete with Wunderlist. The new version offers free collaboration and what appears to be extensive functionality, especially with the collaboration tools and could give Basecamp a run for its money for small teams.

The regular apps and web interface are free. The premium account ($29/yr) offers additional features including adding notes and file attachments, task search, color-coded labels, email or text task reminders, automatic backup and synchronization with iCal. I think the premium version will be the way to go since being able to add text, images and URLs to a task would make things so much simpler. The price per year is less than Wunderlist which is $49/yr for collaboration but Wunderlist allows notes and images in the free version but there’s no indication in a list or sub-list that a photo or note is associated with the item. So it works… sort of. I certainly don’t think I’ll miss the wood grain if I switch.

I waffle between loving the cross-platform convenience of digital to-do lists and missing its paper counterparts and physically crossing things off, adding details and saving the completed lists. Being able to add a task on my phone, then review it or deal with it when I’m parked in front of my computer has a lot of appeal though paper could do the same thing.

This app seems like its is the best of all possible to-do list apps, sleek, streamlined and upgradeable for a small fee. Would you or have you tried any of these digital to-do lists?

Curious iApp Discoveries

I started this post because I found some unusual iPhone apps recently but then I got to thinking about it and decided maybe folks would like to see some of the apps I use regularly as well. So, here are the highlights of the apps I use almost daily as well as some funky little tidbits I’ve found recently. (The screenshot is my home page as of this morning, truth.)

• Dots: Dots is a beautiful time-waster game in chunks of 30 seconds. Its free and its addictive. You’ve been warned.
• Device 6: This looks like a game made for me. Its a thriller/puzzle/mystery game wrapped in beautiful design and a mysterious man in a hat. I just got an iTunes gift card so I’ll be downloading this ASAP. $3.99
• Connor: Connor NYC is a high-end bespoke stationery company that produced an iPad app to create e-stationery
• Squarespace apps: I’m familiar with Squarespace as a blog/commerce/website venue but did not know that they offer several apps to create on-the-go notes, portfolio viewer from content on their Squarespace site and a sleek site controller. Squarespace Note app does not require an account and its free.
• Dictionary.com: I love the Word of The Day feature and being able to look up words on the go. Free.
• Gmail: I have tried lots of email apps for the iPhone including Sparrow and the default Apple Mail app and I am stuck on Gmail. The new divided tabs that separate updates from social from pormotions and your actual email is genius. It saves me tons of time and lets me see my mail from all the spam, newsletters and miscellany. Genius.
• Cardstar: This app has the ugliest icon ever and it makes me cringe when I look at it but it is the wallet-lightening joy of an app. It will scan the bar codes off all those frequent shopper cards, hotel/airline points accounts, etc and store them in your iPhone complete with the scanner-readable bar code. Other apps have better icons but THIS one works. And its FREE.
• Fantastical: Why do I need another calendar app? Because Fantastical lets me type “Meet with Stephanie at 3pm today” and voila! It places a meeting in the right time without having to remember that today is the 15th. I thought it would be more cumbersome to type out a whole sentence to schedule a meeting but its not. I like it so much, I just paid $2.99 to upgrade to the new iOS 7 version.

Other apps I use all the time are Tweetbot, WordPress, IFTTT, USPS Mobile, Delivery Status, Wake, Riposte and Evernote. I’ve tried lots of photo editing apps and use AfterLight most often. What are your favorites?

Fossil Goes Back-to-School

Autumn and the back-to-school season is my favorite time of year. I love tweed and sweaters and crisp autumn afternoons. I love the sense of starting anew like the start of the new school term. So, I get excited when I start to see all the fall collections of upcoming goods, fashions and accessories.

Fossil has released their Autumn 2013 collection and there are a few items in it that are perfect for the office, pen, pencil or paper fan.

There are iPad and iPad Mini covers that feature great illustrations of typewriters and stacks of books for $50 and $45, respectively. They are made of coated canvas on the exterior and a faux suede interior. The leather slot on the back allows the cover to fold at an angle for typing or stand it for video viewing.

There are also some lovely new iPhone 5 covers that feature pencils including the pencil shaving design I mentioned earlier for $25 each. These are soft polyurethane material so they should be more grippy than slippy. It’s making my itchy to upgrade my phone just to have the pencil shaving case. Love it!

Link Love: Pinning away for it

From my Well-Appointed Desk board (clockwise from top left): A homey workspace, a very elegant workspace, a desk transformed from Martha Stewart, and a workspace from Design Sponge

This week, I thought I’d cull through all my desk, pen and office supply boards on Pinterest and give you some visual Link Love. Check the sidebar to find me on Pinterest and follow the boards that interest you.

From my Pens and Pencils Board (clockwise from top left): Pantone marker set, beautiful Edison Encore pen dipped into water for a rinse from Goulet Pens and Pelikan Edelstein ink swabs from JetPens.

From my Digital Office Board (clockwise from top left): iPhone cases from Ampersand Shop, stackable USB cords and Kate Spade desktop wallpaper

From my Timekeepers Board (clockwise from top left): large number flip clock, LED digital clock, color coding pages in a planner with washi tape and washi tape accents on a paper planner

From my Desk Accessories board (clockwise from top left): Doane 3-ring notebook paper, pencil cup dispenser, office supplies from Restoration Hardware and a desktop screensaver clock

Other folks to follow on Pinterest:

• Goulet Pens
• JetPens
• Greer Chicago
• Office Supply Junkie
• Present + Correct
• Discover Paper
• Paper Pastries

Plugging the Firm: Soundpic

I’ve been implying to folks that I’ve been working on a “secret project” at work. Well, its not so secret anymore. Its a little app called Soundpic that turns your video into a still image and a sound clip in one neat package.

Not only was I actively involved in the design of the user interface, I designed the logo, art directed the promo video and even let them use my largely-unused Facebook page for the video! I am amazed what we could do with just a handful of people and some wishful thinking.

We’ve been running around looking for cool sounds to capture with our images: from rustling leaves to steaks on the grill. I’m still on the hunt for one of those old school sprinklers to add to my “summer sounds” collection.

Soundpic is available on the Apple iTunes store for iPhone. And its free. If you like the app, please let me know or leave feedback on the app store. Thanks!

Moleskine Postal Notes and other new stuff

On App.net yesterday, there were some conversations about the Moleskine Postal Notes so I thought I’d mention them here. I know Moleskine takes a lot of ribbing from the paper elite but they do make some beautiful albeit not-all-that-fountain-pen-friendly products.

First, there are the postal notes. They are available as a note card or as a notebook. Both versions come in the small 3.5″ x 5.5″ size and the larger 4.5″  x 6.75″ size. The note card is a card stock cover with a one-page signature which is stitched into place with thread to coordinate with the cover and comes with an envelope for mailing. The postal notebook is an 8-page signature self-mailer. The covers have additional flaps that fold over the seal with a sticker making it look like an envelope. They have been available since 2012 in six deep tones– kraft, maize, light grey, terracotta, navy and red– but this year, they’ve introduced the postal notes in pastel hues as well. Prices range from $3.95 to $7.95.

In other Moleskine news, the new 2013-2014 “academic year” planners are now available. If you did not start a new planner in January and want to jump start your organization mid-year, the academic calendars are a great way to get started. They start on July 1 and go through 18 months. There is a new “turntable” design which is a more open format planning method. Dates are at the bottom of the page, at an angle, and the rest of the page is open allowing the user to use the spaces vertically or horizontally depending on the kind of week you might be having.

The Turntable 18-month planner is available in the small (3.5″ x 5.5″) size and the large (4.5″x 6.75″) size as well in a rainbow of colors as well as special Star Wars and Peanuts editions. The planners are available through Notemaker and other fine online retailers.

And finally, Moleskine is now selling covers to protect your iPhone, iPad and tablets which includes a volante-style reporter notebook on the left hand side of the case and a place to secure your digital device on the right. Prices start at $39.95 for a Kindle 2 case and go up to $89.95 for an iPad 3/4 case which is available in classic black or an array of cheery colors.

(shout out to our friends at Notemaker for the tip)

Link Love: Inky Minky Meinie Mo

Loved Objects (via Behind The Curtain)

Pens and Pencils:

• Paper Mate Flair, Brown (UPS Edition) (via Clickypost)
• My Fountain Pen Evolution (via Fountain Pen Quest)
• TWSBI Vac 700 Review (via Ed Jelley)
• Retro 51 Tornado Vintage Surf Review (via From the Pen Cup)
• Tale of Two Nibs: Lamy Safari Edition (via From The Pen Cup)
• Bic Exact Tip Roller 0.6 Review (via A Penchant For Paper)
• 22 Different Pencil Designs (via Pencil Revolution
• A Brief History of the BIC/Biro Cristal Audio Clip (via Economy Pens)

Inks:

• Diamine Eau De Nil Ink Review (via Ink of Me Fondly)
• Noodlers Rome Burning Ink Review (via Inkdependence)
• Mont Blanc Burgundy Red Ink Review (via Fountain Pen Quest)
• Waterman Preface Red with Noodlers Summer Tanager (via JustDaveyB)
• Two More Inks, Noodlers (via DaveyB)

Paper:

• Hobonichi Japanese Page-a-Day Planner
• Palomino Luxury Notebook Review and Giveaway (via Notebook Stories)
• From the Mailbag notebook roundup (via Notebook Stories)

Misc:

• Walnut Pen Holder Cube (via Clicky Post)
• How To Take Meeting Notes That Really Work (via Macworld)
• Luciano Lozano Rainy Day iPhone wallpapers (via Ilustrista)
• Eight Things Productive People Do at Work (via Lifehack)

(via East…West…Everywhere)

Oh, Wunderful Wunderlist!

I was slow to launch with the digital to-do list. As fellow pen and paper lovers, I’m sure you can understand my hesitation.However, I am working on a large project at work and my team decided to try out Basecamp for group organization and I fell in love. Basecamp is a great place for task and project management for a group or team. It can store text documents, files, to-do lists and even a calendar. We are all madly in love with its capabilities. It made me realize how much a task manager might help me in my personal life, for blog planning, shopping lists, and all those little life to-dos that get jotted on this sheet of paper or in that notebook and then I can never find the right list at the right time. I didn’t want to invest in Basecamp for my personal management ($20/month to start) so I set off in search of a more budget-minded alternative for the miscellany floating around in my head and on various scraps of paper.

My requirements:

• mobile app
• desktop app
• web interface
• multiple to-do lists: work, home, blog, etc.
• notifications via text message or notifications
• nice to look at

And then in walks Wunderlist and went, “Check, check, check… CHECK!” Seriously. Its available for iOS or Android, works on my iPhone or iPad, there’s a desktop app (Mac and Windows) for my home computer and a web interface for accessing while at work, making it easy to input text on a full-sized keyboard as well as making updates or checking things off on the fly. Its nice to look at with a choice of pleasing backgrounds and a clean, clear user interface. Lists can be organized into projects and individual to-dos can include sub-tasks, notes, reminders and due dates. Each to-do can be viewed in the original project list or in the day, week or all views. I feel almost organized!

If you discover that Wunderlist is your new lifesaver too, you can upgrade to the pro version and get a lot of the features that make Basecamp so nifty like team to-dos, delegating tasks, file uploads and more starting at $4.99/mo. Check and check!

Une Bobine iPhone Cable

If you have to have a cable, make it a cable with a mind of its own. The Une Bobine cable is flexible but strong enough to support your phone like a stand. Une Bobine started as a Kickstarter project and now is available from Photojojo for $30, for iPhone 4, 4s, 5 and Android.

Yummy Wallpaper for Mobile Devices

Thanks to the great folks on App.net (you can find me @Ana), I found a great assortment of wallpapers for iPhone and iPad (and any other mobile device I’m sure) by an artist named Simon C Page.

Go download them now and make your day.

What my iPad Mini looks like now.

If you download a few, click the donate button on his site and buy Simon a cuppa  — it’s just a nice thing to do.

(via App.net and Simon C Page)

App Love: PicFrame

I thought I would share a favorite app today. I discovered PicFrame for iOS awhile back which is a great way to do a grid of photos to post on Instagram, Flickr or Facebook. The app costs $0.99 and works on iPhone or iPad. Its quite flexible with an assortment of grids to choose from and then you can pull the frames to reshape them as needed. You can round corners, add filters and change the width and color or pattern of the borders too. The iOS app also includes the ability to add labels — there are default looks or you can get in there and choose font, font color and label color. Its a pretty powerful app for under a $1.

What I like even better is the Mac version of the app that let’s you drag a photo from iPhoto, right into a frame and then export at various sizes for blogs, Flickr, Facebook, etc. The Mac app is also $0.99. There are no image editing options or labels in the desktop version of the app. Since you can import photos from iPhoto or other image editing software, you won’t need the image editing features but I do wish they’d add the labels to the Mac version.

This is a PicFrame collage I made with the desktop version of the app. I used the default borders and the photos were straight from my iPhone via iPhoto. The images are some of the goodies my friends bought while traveling in Japan. I must go office supply foraging there SOON!

Top iPhone and iPad apps

There is a new list available of the top paid and free apps for the iPhone and iPad. Of the 50 apps listed, I decided to see exactly how many of them I own:

I have more free iPad apps because I have more space on my iPad than on my 16GB phone. Its definitely the most common or most widely recognized apps. I’m impressed to see that WhatsApp is so high on the list.

How many of the apps on the list do you have? Which apps do you think should be on the lists?

(via shawnblanc.net and macstories.net)

Link Love: TWSBI Future Releases, Inks, Notebooks and Bag Check

Pens and Pencils:

• TWSBI shows off new designs (via FPGeeks)
• In anticipation of the release (today!) of the Palomino Blackwing Pearl, a review of the Palomino Blackwing 602 (via Pencil Revolution)
• Why I use wooden pens (via The Pen Company)
• Don’t Be Afraid of a Pencil (via Medium) — this article is so good I’m posting it twice!
• Pilot Hi-Tec C Maica 0.4 Blue-Black Review (via From The Pen Cup)

A sample of Mont Blanc Toffee Brown from IvanR via Instagram

Inks:

• Diamine Music Ink Set (via Pens, Papers, Inks…Whatever)
• Diamine Soft Mint Ink Review (via Ed Jelley)
• DeAtramentis Moss Green Ink Review (via Inkdependence)
• Diamine Dark Brown Ink Review (via Inkophile)
• J. Herbin 1670 Bleu Ocean Review (via Rhodia Drive)

Paper:

• Tops Focus Notes Notepads Review (via Pencil Revolution)
• Kickstarter: Kline Layered Sketchbooks and Journals (via Notebookism)
• Miquelrius “Boarding” Notebook (via Notebook Stories)

Flora Chang has released some of her whimsical designs as exclusive covers for iPhone 5 and iPads through her very own Redbubble Shop.

Misc:

• How to take better pen photos (via Leigh Reyes from My Life as a Verb)
• Camera Pencil Sharpener (via How About Orange)
• How journalist Clive Thompson Works (via Lifehacker)
• Jonathan Adler Washi Tape Collection (via How About Orange)
• What’s In Your Bag (via Moleskinerie)

Link Love: Vintage Pens and Pen Addict Love

(photo via Flickr, by Everyday Correspondence)

The big news this week is that Moleskine launched their IPO. Several of the links below are as a result of all the attention Moleskine is getting this week.

There is an assortment of goodies from Brad Dowdy over at Pen Addict including his Tools and Toys Guide to Fountain Pens which I’m willing to debate with him. There’s also a mix of new and vintage fountain pen reviews. Finishing up the Link Love this week are a couple ink reviews, some digital goodies and tips on writing a good thank you note. Enjoy!

Pens and Ink

• Pentel Fude Touch Sign Pen Review (via Pen Addict)
• Pilot Juice 0.5 Black Review (via Pen Addict)
• Vintage Parker 51 Review (via Pen Addict)
• Vintage Waterman 32A Pen (via Everyday Correspondence)
• When a Pilot meets a Falcon (via Inkophile)
• Rohrer & Klingner Alt-Goldgrün Ink Review (via Pen Addict)
• Noodler’s Rome Burning Ink Review (via Pen Addict)
• Sailor Lecoule (via East West Everywhere)
• Tools & Toys Guide to Fountain Pens (via Tools & Toys)

Paper

• How to Write a Thank You Note (via Lifehack)
• Word Notebook Review (via Pencil Revolution)
• Moleskine in the Digital Age (via NPR, tip from Notebookism)
• Kevin Barry on Keeping Notebooks (via Notebook Stories)

Digital

• Moleskine is shaping virtual notebooks (via Japan Times)
• Mailbox for iOS (via Lifehack)
• How to register a disposable email account (via Lifehack)

(image from Casa Brutus, via Present + Correct)

Poolga Loves Pencils

Poolga offers beautiful iPhone and iPad wallpapers created by illustrators from around the world. They are free and a chance to look at something lovely every time you turn your device on. I, of course, gravitated to all the illustrations that featured pencils and various office supplies but visit the site and peruse because there is all sorts of fabulousness to be had.

From left to right, top to bottom:

Stuff on White by Andrea Manzati, Pen by Denis Carrier, Pencil Gold by Thom Lambert, Letter by Louis Reith, Toolbox by Christopher Monro DeLorenzo, Workaday by Luke Séguin-Magee, Draw by themeekshall, Enforcer by Dale Edwin Murray, ¡Uops! by Júlia Solans, 009 by Kitchen, Brainstorm by Dan Gneiding, American Typewriter by Tom Davie, Moleskine by Luis Mendo, Having it All by Matthew Walkerdine, Mobile Office by Rainer Berg

I almost forgot one of my favorites:

Paper by Frank Chimero

(via Poolga)

Redress Your Desktop

Whether you spend all day staring at a computer or a mobile device, eventually the urge to “redecorate” hits. I’ve found some lovely wallpaper patterns for both.

For your desktop, check out the array of wallpapers from Design Love Fest.

From Fellow Fellow are some lovely iPhone (and various mobile devices) wallpapers like these:

(click on each pattern above to find more from Fellow Fellow)

For other GUI goodies, check out:

• Pheist Monochrom on Deviant Art for grungy papers
• The Fox Is Black Desktop Project for an array of patterns for both desktop and iPhone

Got a good source for great wallpapers or do you make your own? Leave a note in the comments. Thanks!

Link Love: Lifehacking

There are two excellent websites for lifehacks: Lifehack and Lifehacker. In amongst general information on how to get fit, eat better and be more productive are recommendations for work-related topics, zero-ing out your email inbox and app recommendations.

This week I decided to cherry pick a few of my favorite recent articles from these sites and share them here.

Workspaces:

• A bird’s eye view workspace (pictured above from Lifehacker)
• The compromising workspace (via Lifehacker)
• Tessa Miller of Lifehacker’s tips and tricks (and pics of her home office and Gawker HQ) (via Lifehacker)
• 10 steps to a cleaner office in 10 minutes (via Lifehack)

Mobile apps:

• NoCrop (via Lifehacker and Lifehack)
• Sunrise calendar app (via Lifehacker)
• Supercharged apps to replace native iPhone apps (via Lifehack)
• 3 Great Ways to Use Evernote on The Go (via Lifehack)
• Mailbox Review for iPhone (via Lifehack)

Productivity:

• Mailstrom to Zero Inbox (via Lifehacker)
• 10 Underhyped Mac Apps (via Lifehacker)

Misc:

• Find all the free Kindle books on Amazon Prime (via Lifehacker)
• Creating VoIP home phone with Google Voice (via Lifehacker)

Another Inspirational Desktop Wallpaper

While collecting the info for A Pair of Pears printable 2013 desk calendar, I found that they also offer free desktop wallpapers for computer, iPhone and Android. Inspired and simple.

(via A Pair of Pears)

Oh, Hello Friend Desktop Wallpapers

I don’t know if you like changing your desktop wallpaper regularly but I do. Unfortunately, finding pleasing but not disruptive wallpapers can be quite challenging. So I was pleased to find that Oh, Hello Friend offers a free desktop wallpaper for your computer, cellphone or iPad each month. Most months the wallpaper is a lovely calendar but for January of this year, as if she knew I would be too far behind to get it to you in time, is an inspirational message.

Link Love: Write it down now

This is what happens when I don’t do a Link Love for over two weeks: it becomes epic! Sorry its so long but I didn’t want anything to get overlooked or skipped.

Artwork by Donovan Beeson

Handwriting Month:

• January is National Handwriting Month (via Letter Writers Alliance)
• January 23rd is National Handwriting Day (via Detroit Free Press)
• Why email will never replace the handwritten letter (via Forbes)
• Pentel Handwriting Day Contest (via Economy Pens)

Pilot Petball (AKA B2P or BeGreen) pensin various colors coming out soon. Photo by Patrick Ng.

Pens:

• Don’t Buy Torr pens (via Pen Addict)
• TWSBI Mini Black EF review (via Informal Scribble)
• Fine Fountain Pens for Everyday Use (via JetPens)
• Pilot Razor Point II Review (via Economy Pens)

photo by Lamy 2000

Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Paper:

• Sloane Crosley’s Yearly Date with the Planner (via Notebook Stories and NYTimes)
• Updates on product issues from Rhodia (via Rhodia Drive)
• Handmade Planners and Journals (via Etsy)
• Ted Baker Brogue Notebooks (via Notebook Stories)
• Using Field Notes to organize stamps (via Felt & Wire)
• Dodo Book of the Big Move (follow-up to the handmade moving journal)
• Trying out the Moleskine Sketchbook (via Notebook Stories)
• Evernote Smart Moleskine Review (via Leigh Reyes)
• Mara-Mi 12-month Notebook Set (via Office Supplies Junkie)

Digital:

• The glories of SimpleNote and some alternatives (via Shawn Blanc)
• A month with the iPad Mini (via Minimal Mac)

Miscellaneous:

• Sandbox workstation (via Neatorama)
• A Delivery for Dr. Jones (via Letter Writers Alliance)
• Omoi Zakka Online Shop
• Litterati
• Boing Boing founder Mark Frauenfelder talks about his favorite pen products (via JetPens)

iPhone Gadgets

I do a lot of rethinking at the new year of how to organize my desk, both home and office, and things I have that I don’t use and things that I wish I had. One of the things I use more than I want to admit is my iPhone. I use the camera a lot more often than I ever thought I would and it acts as an iPod for listening to music, podcasts and audiobooks throughout the day as well. So, I would like a few things to “plus up” my iPhone. Here’s a couple cool things I’ve found:

First, is the Milo iPhone stand. It uses a micro suction pad to hold the phone either vertically or horizontally and since its suction-mounted rather than a clip, it will work with a new iPhone, 4G, iPod Touch or even a non-Apple product. For $14.95, its a reasonably priced and aesthetically appealing to having a nice place to park your phone/pod on your desk.

I’d also like to get a set of lens attachments for my iPhone. Shown above are the Gizmon Clip-On lenses and the PhotoJojo lens sets. Gizmon offers individual lenses for $25 each in fisheye, center focus, cross screen, 3-image mirage and a polarizing lens. The PhotoJojo lenses are available in fisheye, wide angle/macro, and telephoto and can be purchased in a set of three for $49 or each for $20 (wide/macro and telephoto) and $25 (fisheye).

Is there any other gadgets I might need for my iPhone or are there any stand or lenses you are using?

Flickr fights back

If you have used Flickr in the past but — in the age of Facebook and Instagram– sort of forgotten about it, I think it’s time to reconsider.

Flickr has always had some features that made it the go-to for photo storage and sharing. Yes, its a paid service but, as a result, they’ve given users more content and less filler than most other services. In the plus column for Flickr:

• full-sized image uploads
• no advertising
• adult-content filter
• lots of content-specific groups

Lately, Yahoo let the service languish. They released one iPhone app a couple years ago and then did little to update it while Hipstamatic and then Instagram trounced all over them. Even my loyal Flickr friends were abandoning ship for Facebook and Instagram’s easy digital upload and streaming always-on content.

But the tide is changing and I have to say I am happy to see it. Last summer, Yahoo hired Marissa Mayer as their new CEO and the internet responded with their plea. There were some updates to the website interface in the months following but no news about any improved integration on phones. About two weeks ago, Flickr released a new version of their iOS app which included some queues from Instagram with a built-in camera app and goofy filters so that images can be shot and uploaded to Flickr quickly. They made sharing to Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter pretty seamless but there’s a noticeable absence of “share to Instagram”.

The new Flickr iPhone app is easy-to-use but is a pretty big departure from the older version so if you were familiar with it, there may be a bit of a learning curve. Flickr has posted a helpful walk-through of all the new features. From the app, you can access your photos, photostream and groups. You can moderate your groups and search for images or people. That’s a lot of action in one little app.

My one complaint is that their is still no support for checking FlickrMail from within the app. Clearly, the folks at Flickr have yet to figure out what a goldmine FlickrMail is. With the exception of “join this group requests”, it is a spam-free email account that only friends and family with Flickr accounts can access.

If you’re a current Flickr subscriber, you should have received a little gift from Flickr in your email recently. Clearly, they are trying to entice people back to the service so go and give them another shot. And tell them what you think. As paying subscribers, our voices and needs should be heard.

Happy snapping!

(For more about the new Flickr app, check out the Forbes write-up)

 

Link Love: Snow Day Edition

Pencil Lead Sculpture by Peter Trevelyan (via Present & Correct)

Pens and Pencils

• Fountain Pen Basics (via Pentrace)
• Monteverde Prima & Field Notes Traveling Salesman Review (via From The Pen Cup)
• Platinum Preppy Eyedropper Conversion (via Missive Maven)
• Pentel Libretto Pen and Pencil Set (via Economy Pens)
• Pentel Pulaman Disposable “Fountain” Pen (via A Penchant For Paper)
• A.S. Manhattaner’s “Kitty In the City” Fountain Pen Re-Review, similar to a Sailor Clear Candy Fountain Pen (via From The Pen Cup)

(via Notebook Stories)

Paper and Notebooks

• 2013 Calendar Round-Up (via Oh, Hello Friend)
• Palomino Luxury Notebook Review (via Inktronics)
• Field Notes Expedition Edition Smearing Issues: be sure to read the comments (via Pencil Revolution)

Screenshot from the Mailroom App from Cartolina

Digital: Apps for iOS

• Evernote Hello App (via iTunes Store)
• Mailroom App (via Cafe Cartolina Blog)
• Paper App’s Awesome Color Mixing (via Fast Company)
• Adobe Ideas App (via Adobe)

Other News:

• Is Handwriting Worth Saving (via Rhodia Drive)