A Few Random Tech Tips For Friday

Just a few little tech bits for you on a Friday:

Files Over Miles - This site allows you to share files with another person directly by just using your browser.

This great article about note taking programs and sites ran in the New York times earlier this week. It mentions one of my favorite sites that I have talked about before called Evernote.

This morning I also read about this very cool looking computer bag from a company called Cocoon Innovations. The whole set up and style of the bag helps you to stay organized. I'm all for an OCD style computer bag if it means I can easily find all my stuff.

Austin Restaurant Ideas

If you or your boss is traveling to Austin anytime soon, you might want to check out this Austin restaurant list from Tasting Table (a daily e-mail about restaurants). Austin is a popular vacation destination these days, but also quite a few filmmakers live and make films there (Robert Rodriguez, etc.) and many tech and Hollywood types now attend the various parts of the SXSW festival because it includes movies and tech oriented events. Tasting Table also has daily e-mails for New York and Los Angeles, so you might want to check it out.

DIY Artisinal Cookbook - A Gift For The Martha Stewart Type In Your Life

If your boss needs you to find a gift for that special client that is really into cooking or you need to buy it for a friend, it's hard to find something interesting that just isn't the same old cookbook or serving dish. Yesterday I heard about the book Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It: And Other Cooking Projects by Karen Solomon and I think it's a more fun and surprising thing to give to someone who really loves making food. The book has many recipes for making artisan food and drinks at home. It includes recipes for things like homemade popsicles, jams, cheeses and much more.

The book by itself wold be a great gift, but if you have a bit more to spend, you could add these cute but inexpensive canning type jars from Target and/or this pretty dish from Michael Aram to serve some of the items in.

Tech Tip Tues - Oops, I guess Tech Tip Wednesday :)

You can't get the Siri App for the iPhone yet, but you can submit your info and get contacted when the beta version launches this summer before it goes public. It sounds like a really cool and helpful app and I can't wait to try it out. Here's the description of the app from the company that makes it:

Siri is a Virtual Personal Assistant - a new way to interact with the Internet on your mobile phone. Like a real assistant, Siri helps you get things done. You interact with Siri by just saying, in your own words, what you want to do. You can ask Siri to find a romantic place for dinner, and get reservations for Saturday night. You can discover things to do over the weekend, get tickets to the movies, or call a cab when you’re out on the town. You don't have search through a bunch of web pages, following links and hunting down facts. Siri does all the work giving you the information you need at your fingertips.

TechCrunch also did an early review of it, if you want to read more. Late in the day, I also found video demo of Siri online from the Wall Street Journal D7 Tech Conference. After watching the video, I want to try it even more

I try to spend some time each week reading magazines, tech blogs, newspapers online (New York Times being my favorite) to find helpful websites, iPhone apps, trends that can help me to thrive and be more efficient. Try taking just 5 minutes each day to do it and you will be shocked at all the cool and useful stuff you will find.

I'm Recycling My Own Post - Is that Eco Friendly?

This is the first and only time that I will recycle a post, but since I did the post long ago and I think it's something that's useful for everyone (especially those people new to the blog), I'm doing it this one time. The old post about organization was featured on a website other than my own called Brazen Careerist (which is a great resource for career knowledge, ideas, trends and more). Here are both posts:

My Post About Organization On Brazen Careerist

The Original Post On This Blog Called Organization How Do I Love Thee, Let Me Count The Ways

If you didn't see the post long ago, please check it out. It's so important to be organized and it can really help you to thrive creatively if you can get yourself more on track, even just a little bit.

Gifts For Your Favorite Geek

Some people feel that Geek is a bad word and would be insulted if you referred to them as such. I'm not one of those people. I'm definitely geeky to some degree and I embrace it. Here are a few gift items that any geek in your life would probably enjoy receiving:

I would love to get this solar backpack by Voltaic or any of the solar bags from Noonsolar. All you need is the sun and you can charge various electronics with no outlet. Voltaic also just came out with a solar computer bag that can actually charge a laptop.

This t-shirt from Think Geek is pretty funny and if you wanted to spend a bit more you could a gift certificate with it.

I adore this La Cie USB flash drive that's shaped like a key. Tons of USB drives are small now, but they're so easy to lose. This is a great solution, as it can go right on your key chain.

If you really want to take it to the max with the geek gift, but still not break the bank you can get this (but as everyone always mentions -- inaccurate) Space Invaders shirt and put it together with these cool Space Invader style ice cube trays.

MMMMM You Smell Nice

Today I want to share two perfumes I really like that the whole world doesn't already wear. Perfume can be a great gift idea, but to pick one for someone you really need to know them well. I tend to like things that are light and a bit sweet. Check out two of my favorites that are light enough that they work well on many different people:

ElizabethW - I have loved this company from San Francisco for a long time. My favorite perfume they make is Sweet Tea. They also have a bunch of other scents and great products in a reasonable price range.

Sara Horowitz Perfumes - My favorite scent from this company is called Perfect Veil. It's light and not overpowering at all. This is the same company that does the fragrance journey I have mentioned before (you have a consultation and create your own perfume with the owner or her mentor). The Journey isn't inexpensive, but if budget isn't an issue, it's a unique and special treat that provides not only a gift, but an experience.