Busy last couple of months

I have been working by contract for a large, non-profit health organisation in Canada over the last several months and as such, have had less time to keep this blog regularly updated. But following a conversation with my wife, I have decided that it is worth making time to keep updating regularly.

So I would like to announce my triumphant return to regular blogging (cue the trumpets!!!)

Where do you find these sites?

Someone asked me a good question the other day, concerning the various websites and tools that I find and report on regularly. "Where do you find all these sites?" It's a valid question for sure and the answer is not some trade secret that I want to take to my grave. There isn't a single clear answer (but there are several not so clear ones!!!)

One of the primary sources for new sites worth investigating is KillerStartups, a fantastic site dedicated to highlighting interesting Internet ventures of all kind. They promote 15 new sites a day and keep an excellent archive of their daily posts, as well as a top ten list that is worth exploring in detail. That's one of the answers; the other part of the answer is good search techniques and the final part of the answer is taking notes. Lots and lots of notes. Every little bit of information, URLs and images is usually captured using Evernote (and in some cases, when I am away from my computer or when it's faster, I also use GeniusScan!!!).

Of course, it really helps to read a lot. But that's just a question of practice for most people. As a final clarification, let me point out that I browse the Internet an average of 1 to 2 hours over the course of a day (it does help that I work in a computer-related field though) and don't watch television. It's amazing how much time you liberate if you drop the boob-tube! Try it sometimes!

Welcome back

For those who have been reading my blog for a while, I want to apologize for the lengthy hiatus I have taken from writing. Having started a new gig for Canadian Blood Services as an Instructional Designer a couple of months ago, I've been a little busy lately with the demands of this contract as well as the demands of my young family. But I wanted to let the faithful reader know that content is going to start appearing with regularity, starting this week.

Some of the regular series I had been doing will return, including the Pick of the Week, Online Tools review, Micro Homes and Book Review, albeit with a few changes. I've decided to incorporate ebooks reviews with the Book Review feature, as I've been using my Kobo for reading pretty much exclusively (although I have to admit that I've also read a couple books on my iPod Touch and although not as nice as the Kobo for this function, is nonetheless a pretty useful feature for everyday use.

Thank you again for your patience, and an enormous thank you to my wife, who was one of my most avid readers and took the time to point out that she had not read anything new in a long time and missed it. Thank you sweetness!

Micro Homes: Micro Compact Home

The Micro Compact Home, or m-ch is the brainchild of a team of researchers and designers based in London and at the Technical University in Munich. It was developed as a way to meet an increasing demand for short stay living for many different types of users, including students and business people.

The m-ch is a timber frame structure with anodised aluminium external cladding. It is insulated with polyurethane and fitted with aluminium framed, double-glazed windows and front door with security double lock.

The m-ch measures 266cm x 266cm x 266cm. The ceiling height is 198cm and the door width is 60cm. The unit weighs 2.2 metric tons (this is an important factor since the m-ch can be shipped pretty much anywhere in the world). 

The interior, although small, is entirely multifunctional:

The m-ch features include:

• two compact double beds, each measuring 198cm x 107cm, with covered cushions
• storage space for bedding and cleaning equipment
• a sliding table measuring 105cm x 65cm, for dining for up to five people
• flat screen television in the living/dining space
• a shower and toilet cubicle
• a kitchen area, which is fitted with electrical points and features a double hob, sink and extending tap, microwave, fridge and freezer units, three compartment waste unit, storage shelves, cutlery drawers with gentle return sprung slides and double level work surfaces
• thermostat controlled ducted warm air heating, air conditioning, water heating
• fire alarm and smoke detectors

For more information, feel free to visit their site at www.microcompacthome.com.

Micro Homes: Cell Brick by Yasuhiro Yamashita

When thinking of small living spaces and micro homes, Japan is often a country that jumps to mind. With real estate at a real premium in most of Japan, this type of architecture is really becoming popular in this country. One of the very interesting microhomes to come out lately is Cell Brick by architect Yasuhiro Yamashita (not to be confused with the Judo champion of the same name). Built in Tokyo, this small home is unique in many ways:

One of the truly interesting things about this very small and modern home is the fabrication, which is made up of steel bricks that are interconnected by bolts and also serve as accessible interior storage spaces:

Each box measures 900mm wide × 450mm high × 300mm deep, with appropriate spaces left between some boxes to serve as windows. The exterior is clad with ceramic, which serve to improve the thermal performance and efficiency, reduce ambient noise and is very low maintenance. The interior is another story:

Although small, the home includes a living room, kitchen and bedroom on the main floor. There is an upper floor, a roof deck as well as a small basement. The primary advantage of this building technique is a drastic reduction in the need for furniture, as the steel boxes themselves make excellent storage areas.

Pretty amazing things coming out of Japan's exaggerated real estate prices. By saving money on a much smaller piece of land, a more unique and functional home can be created.

Micro Homes

Having always been interested in architecture and more specifically with small living spaces, I thought that I would establish a new column on this blog, on that very subject. Every week and more often when possible, a new Micro Home will be discovered and shared. My goal is really to get people thinking and talking about smaller homes and how they use their living spaces.

I hope you enjoy and encourage you to share any information you might have on some Micro Homes that might not have been discovered yet.

Online Tools review: Aviary

Online tools are really taking off and Aviary is really heads and shoulders above the rest at the moment. With a complete suite of online tools, from music creators to image editors and screen capture tools, Aviary is truly a useful tool when working away from your desk. Hell, it's good enough to use at your desk and that's probably the best endorsement.

Take a look and try out some of the tools, I think you will be very impressed.

Online Tools review: Bubbl.us

As far as online tools goes, this one is a little different. Bubbl.us is an online brainstorming/mindmapping tool that lets you do things with the mindmaps that you create. Some of the possibilities include:

• Create colorful mind maps online
• Share and work with friends
• Embed your mind map in your blog or website
• Email and print your mind map
• Save your mind map as an image

The only negative aspect is that an account must be created (leading to another username/password combination to remember), but the functionality is superb and the tool truly useful. Take a look, it might be worth adding to your toolkit.

Online Tools review: WobZIP

Ever find yourself in a situation where you need to unarchive a file of one type or another, but simply do not have the tools, or privileges to install an application to do it for you? Well, here is WobZIP to the rescue! The tool supports numerous archive formats, including: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, RAR, CAB, ISO, ARJ, LZHCHM, Z, CPIO, RPM, DEB and NSIS

There are several advantages to using this tool, as outlined by the makers themselves:

• Web-based means hassle-free: Now you can unzip your files in school, at work or anywhere as long as you have access to the Internet. No longer will you be limited by the inability to install programs onto admin-protected computers.
• Uncompressing online means safer: We scan your compressed files using an anti-virus scanner so any infected files will be removed before you download them onto your computer. 
• Uncompressing online means the freedom to choose: Our aim is to allow users to uncompress as many compressed file formats as possible. This means that you can compress your files using the compression format of your choice and send it to your friends. Tell them about WobZIP and uncompress on the fly.

A great addition to your toolbar, WobZIP is a truly useful tool!

Online Tools review: Box

Ever run into issues trying to share files with coworkers who may not necessarily be in the same country? If you work with material that is not really of a secure nature, you might consider using a tool like Box. With this tool you can:

• Box.net's online file storage makes it easy to securely share content as a link or a shared folder with anyone — inside or outside your company
• Create an online workspace where you can share project files, add comments, assign tasks, start discussions or create new content
• Discover new content by viewing all the latest Box activity within your company or by searching the full text of all shared files with no extra investment

Fantastic tool for collaboration. Take a look and try it out.

Online Tool review: Allmyapps

A few weeks ago, I introduced a great online tool called Ninite, which is an automated application installer for the Windows platform, easily allowing a user to pick and choose from a pretty complete set of common applications that normally get installed on most computers.

Well, Ninite has some competition in the form of Allmyapps, a very similar tool, with different options that may be a better fit for you than the previous choice. Take a few moments to see what they have to offer and I am sure you'll agree with me that this is a fantastic tool

Online Tool review: Titanpad

Ever need to work collaboratively with a group of people, only to realise that none of them have ever used any conference-type tools like NetMeeting? Here is an easy solution to the problem: Titanpad. With no signups required, the user simply launches a new "pad" and invites other users by email. The invitees follow a link which will place them in the same "pad" environment, immediately able to cooperatively edit the document.

Great tool and a real time-saver for those who must work in groups, without the helpful tools to do it.

Online Tools review: Sketchpad

This is one of the really neat tools I've found lately; a great demonstration of the possibilities of online tools. Welcome to Sketchpad, an online sketching and drawing tool. With a beautiful interface, a great set of tools and ease of use, this is a tool you'll want to try and use regularly!

Online Tools review: Bookwhen

I've been delivering training of all sorts for the last ten years now and one of the primary issues I've encountered when trying to coordinate attendees is the flood of email back and forth between attendees and myself. At the same time, it also leaves attendees free to attempt to contact me (in some cases, a little incessantly even) in the future.

In comes a great web tool called Bookwhen which provides a great interface to coordinate all types of appointments, classes and any other venue where guests and attendees need to confirm their attendance. Go take a look, might just be the tool to save you some organizational headaches!

Online Tools review: Kukuklok

I've noticed something strange in the last couple years; with access to cellphones, many people have decided to stop wearing the traditional wristwatch. Not that this is a problem in itself (although a paranoid portion of my mind keeps wondering if the cellphone networks' time is actually accurate, you know.... Not beyond the scope of reason to imagine that "longer" days and "shorter" nights might actually be of benefit for many corporations) but it has also led to a lot of people losing access to a common wristwatch function, the alarm.

I know that as an avid and hardcore computer user, I have fallen asleep at the keyboard more often that I care to remember. Well, Kukuklok to the rescue. An online alarm, easy to set and use and will work even if your Internet connection fails. The only requirement is to keep the page open and that is easy to do with today's tabbed browsers.

Even if you don't fall asleep at the computer, you can always use it as a kitchen timer!

Online Tools review: Divine

Cutting up and slicing your carefully crafted PSD files into a workable website is a real art. A long, time-consuming and sometimes frustrating art! But here is a tool that hopes to "lighten" your load, so to speak, and automate the process as much as possible. Divine is the tool for such a purpose. Of course, there is still some work on the part of the user, but much of the difficulty has been made easy.

Take a look and try it out. It may be the time saver you've been looking for.

Online Tools review: Dummyimage

In the creation of websites and other work involving images, it can sometimes be useful to have what are referred to as "dummy images" of the correct size and proportions, so as to help in the creation of the layout. This saves the designer having to source several images during the design process, which can interfere with the creative process.

In to the rescue is Dummy Image, a great online tool that will quickly and easily create dummy images of any size and proportion, with several templates available for an even faster workflow.

A great tool, with tremendous usefulness for any graphic or web designer.

Online Tools review: Zootool

In the world of the Web 2.0, it seems that online tools have really become a central part in which people work with the Internet. One of the really great tools developed specifically for collecting and classifying all the information we find during regular browsing sessions, Zootool. A beautiful interface and simple operation make this site a truly useful addition for any regular Web user, but even more for hardcore information and data fanatics.

Have a look and try it out. You may just find it the next best thing since a bunch of little Post-It notes all over the place.

Online Tools review: UD Namecheck

Half of the battle when coming up with a new business/product/website/project name is making sure that soon-to-be brand isn't in use by someone else. Of course, it is possible to do some research yourself, but a note to the next generation of designers: not every company has an online presence!

Before you get started on logos/letterhead/illustrations/etc, why not check and confirm that your new name is not in use already. A great tool to help you determine the validity of your choice is UD Namecheck. This tools checks, with a single search interface:

• Domain names
• Social Media usernames
• Brand names (trademarked)

It's not an exhaustive list, but it is a good start and can serve your purposes pretty adequately. Check it out!

Online Tools review: Ninite

I've been an Apple user for more than 10 years now, but I still use a Windows-based computer for work and as such, I've found myself installing applications and re-installing applications on a pretty regular basis.  And I'm not talking about commercial software packages, I'm referring to the basic, free tools that we all install on our computers.

Well someone turned me on to Ninite, a truly ingenious method of selecting and installing the most common, free applications for the Windows platform (I'm in process of begging for an OS X version!). Of all the online tools I've reviewed, this one strikes me as one of the most useful to date.

Take a minute out of your day to take a look. I know you will not regret it!