I had lunch with my friend Tom Sapp last week…in part, because he promised to turn me on to some apps for my new Verizon iPhone that would save me time and money…and he did not disappoint. I’ve only picked up a handful of the apps so far, but am already VERY glad that I made the switch from the Droid to the iPhone (despite the iOS bug re: inexplicably unpairing Bluetooth devices). I expect there to be more apps that make this worth my while…but here is my initial list:

1. iTunes: Yes, I know people love to whine about iTunes…”it’s bloatware, the App Store sucks, etc”. Fine…whatever. And I admit I’m a bit of a freak in my listening needs for both educational and recreational purposes. Because of how I make my living, podcasts are unbelievably important to me. The Droid is worthless for podcast management. I tried virtually every app out there (free and paid) just to be able to easily subscribe to and manage the podcasts that I find so helpful in building my online business. iTunes does this in its SLEEP. It’s a beautiful thing. Yes, the App Store could be better. So could the Android Market. They are both supposedly undergoing majority renovations. One can only hope. But…iTunes was the biggest factor in my decision to move back to an “i” as my primary portable listening platform (the secondary reason being the immediate availability of a built-in HD camera for movies). Apple’s tech support department went to the wall to keep me as a customer…and I am glad they did. Verdict? A big win for the iPhone.

2. Skobbler: This was brought to my attention by Tom, and saved me $5-10 a month. One of the great features of the Droid is its built-in turn-by-turn navigation from Google. The iPhone doesn’t have that feature…which means you have to subscribe to Verizon’s nav service if you use it (which, in my case, might be once a month on average). But, when you need it…it’s not a good thing if you don’t have it. They had an introductory special going on when I bought my iPhone, which had shaved the $10 monthly fee to $4.99. But, Skobbler does everything I need in this regard…for FREE. Verdict? It’s a tie between the two platforms.

3. GasBuddy: The lovely and talented Heather Dugan brought this one to my attention a couple weeks ago. This is available for the Android (which is the version she uses), but while I had heard of it before…I didn’t download it til I was on the iPhone. It is a two-click wonder. The first click launches the application. The second click (on “Find Gas Near Me”) uses your phone’s GPS to locate you, and then displays the prices of all gas stations nearby. The other day, I noticed that gas was available at the Speedway at Morse and Hamilton for $3.31 a gallon, so I went and filled up the tank. 20 minutes later, I had to put a couple gallons in another car about 5 miles away…at $3.48 a gallon. That single purchase at Speedway saved me almost $2 on a 10-gallon purchase. So if you are considering making the move to an internet-connected phone, but having a hard time justifying the $30/mo additional charge…I suspect you can recoup somewhere between 5 and 10 bucks of that 30 with this little free app alone. Verdict? A tie between the platforms…but a must-have nonetheless (and there is a website you can access for free if you can’t make the leap to a smartphone yet…it’s just not as convenient when you’re out on the road).

4. Dragon Dictation: This one also comes courtesy of my friend Tom. One of the things I loved about the Droid was the speech-to-text function…which allowed me to say a few words (even while I was driving) and allow me to jot down a thought or two, or reply to a text message…without tieing up hands, fingers or attention. The iPhone has no such native function. But…enter Dragon:

“This application is from the folks that make Dragon NaturallySpeaking for the PC which I occasionally use as a timesaver. It just so happens that Dragon for the iPhone is even better in terms of speech interpretation and even occasionally inserting punctuation and capitalization this paragraph was dictated directly into Dragon on the iPhone and pasted into this blog post”

Pretty impressive, eh? I thought you’d like that one.

Verdict? iPhone again.

5. SimpleNote: I had become a premium user of Evernote a couple months back…which is a fantastic way of storing information and keeping it with you all the time. But it was $60/yr…and the app itself was overkill for my needs and the note-editing capability was poorly implemented on the Droid. I found SimpleNote instead…which is $20/yr and does everything I need with a much cleaner implementation for the iPhone. I leave the web app open on my PC at home at all times for quick access…but I can get to all that info anywhere from the iPhone with just 2 clicks…including the ability to edit the data (which will be updated and waiting for me when I get back home). There is an Android client for this…but I never saw it, and sometimes the app quality varies between the two platforms…so I only know of this through the iPhone. Verdict?: Another big win for the iPhone.

There are others…and others I am moving to test out in the next couple weeks. More to come!

There was a series of DVDs called Noodlebug that was created a few years back, designed for young children (ages 2 and up). It incorporated music, movement, animation and live video to teach kids about healthy brains, bodies, activities, animals, bugs and more.

I did the music for the entire series of DVDs…and in addition to the DVDs themselves, the music from each volume is broken out on a separate music CD within each package…so it was a pretty nice value to begin with. My 3-year-old grandson has been telling me lately that he prefers Noodlebug to The Wiggles, so I decided to buy him a set to keep at home rather than loaning him my copies. I went to the publisher’s web site, and was amazed to find that they had been discounted to $2.49 each! So I bought all 6 of the volumes they had for sale, and even with shipping, the whole purchase was under 19 bucks…for SIX DVDs!

So if you have a young kid that you care about, you might want to consider it as a very affordable gift! Here’s a nice video sample, so you can see that the quality is rock-solid. These were originally $15-20 apiece, I think…so these drastic discounts indicate that the products are being cut out of active stock from the existing publisher, and won’t be available long.

Here’s the link to the product page: Noodlebug

Wow…so long gone, eh? I plead guilty. It’s been something like 6-8 months since my last post. But it’s time to peel back the lid off the basket and dunk a few.

This time, I’m going to focus on catching up with a few things that I’ve discovered recently and which I want to recommend to those who might be interested:

1. Dan Miller

I had heard Dan’s book (“48 Days to the Work You Love”) recommended on Dave Ramsey’s radio show a few months back. Then I found out a couple weeks ago that he had a podcast as well. I listened to the most recent one and liked what I heard…so I’ve downloaded about 100 hours from his podcast archive (going back to 2006) and am working my way thru them as I work on other things.
Dan is a plain-spoken guy with a gentle manner and a wealth of knowledge. His main topic is finding satisfaction in your career, and for those so inclined, how to develop a career working from home. He gives out a great deal of free advice as part of his personal philosophy, but he’s also an author, a busy career/life coach and runs at least one business selling inspirational/motivational books.
He’s a guy who knows whereof he speaks. He lost everything he had (home, cars, etc) when he was in his 40s, and took years repaying creditors and the IRS. He’s not given to wild claims…he just offers wisdom and advice about what’s legit and what’s not…and encourage folks to pursue their passion. At the very least, I’d recommend that you consider listening to a podcast or two (free on iTunes…search for ’48 days’), and consider sharing this info with a friend who is struggling in their career direction.

2. Dennis Miller

And now, for the OTHER Miller Brother…Dennis. Yep, this is the same Dennis Miller who you laughed at on SNL 20 years ago, and who helmed a successful HBO talk show for 9 years. He was the smirking, sardonic standup comedian with an endless supply of hysterical allegories, and I read somewhere recently that he’d been voted the 21st best standup comedian of all time by viewers of Comedy Central.
Dennis is in his mid-50s now, and in addition to his standup career and his weekly appearances with Bill O’Reilly, he hosts a 3-hour daily talk radio show. After 9/11, Miller moved from his formerly liberal leanings to a moderate-conservative worldview. He’s not the angry young man of years ago. He’s been married to a beautiful former model for 20 years, has two great sons, and a successful career. What’s not to love?
His show is very funny, and unlike anything I’ve ever heard before, and I’ve been a long-time listener of the talk genre. He blends comedy, commentary, guests from the political and entertainment worlds, and he takes a lot of listener calls. His repartee is still witty, but without the hard edge. The show is occasionally uneven (unlike the slick or angry alternatives out there), but it’s well-done and very human.
If your local station doesn’t carry the show, you can listen live on the web site for free (10-1pm ET). I pay a little every year to get access to the commercial-free podcast, so I can listen anytime. If you like to laugh, chances are you’ll enjoy the show.

3. YourFonts.com

One of the things about computers that can be frustrating is the lack of personality in communications. Unless you’re an emoticons expert, you’re not always sure whether someone is joking with you or angry with you.
I stumbled across YourFonts.com a couple months ago, and found it to be a lot of fun. It’s a way to bring your own handwriting to your desktop by allowing you to create your own personal font.
It’s simple enough to use for letters and cards, etc. But you can also share the font with close friends so they can read your words in your own handwriting on their computer screen.
It took a bit of tweaking to get things the way I wanted them, but I came up with a font of my own, and I like it!

4. Linking Press

Dave Wooding has created a really nice way of automating an exchange of links with related blog sites with this sweet little WP plugin. You simply install it and fill out the fields for your own site, and it will create a links page for you that results in an instant linking structure that you don’t have to maintain at all. It’s perfect for people who understand the value of backlinks in search engine optimization, but who don’t have the time or desire to approach other people about link exchanges. Convenient, helpful…and, for the time being, FREE.

Okay…I know…I’m usually the last one to know about these things. So this probably isn’t BREAKING NEWS to anyone (not that that would stop Rita Cosby from using that sound effect of hers!). But someone has finally created a plugin that does what I’ve been saying was needed for the last couple years.

You can use your actual name AND your anchor text as well when commenting on a blog. The plugin is called KeywordLuv and it’s actually in use on this site now!

What that means is this: When you are ready to comment, enter Your Name@Your Anchor Text in the Name field of the comment form. Then, fill out the rest of the form (email and URL) as usual. Then, when your comment is approved (assuming you’ve said something of value and not just “great post, Chuck…you’re a freakin’ genius!!”…it will read this way: Your Name from Your Anchor Text says:…followed by the comment.

THIS is sweet. And it’s SO much better for community. It gives back to the commenter without restricting communication because we have to call the commenter “Nasal Sneeze Powder”.

Kudos to Stephen Cronin (who is currently living in China, of all places!) for coming up with this!

I whine about Google AdSense a lot, because there are so many little areas in which it needs to be improved.

But, then again…Google has been my largest single employer for a few years. And who doesn’t love to criticize the boss??

And yes, believe me…it’s not like I haven’t sent them these suggestions directly…mostly long ago, and in some cases, several times. No action, no response other than “thanks for the input…we’ll pass it along to the team”.

Some of those areas include the following:

• The online user interface needs help: little things like the ability to alphabetize palette names and allowed sites, so that eyes can more easily track when scanning them (a small delay when it happens once, but a lot of wasted time when you use it frequently). Worst of all, it’s incredibly simple to fix…they just won’t take the time. That, and a more obvious clue on some pages (like Competitive Ad Block) when your data has been saved. Little things. But little irritants.
• More ad format sizes. When was the last time they added new format sizes? For example, how about something 468 pixels wide and two ads high…(i.e., 4 ads in a 468×120 space)? They experiment with so many different format types…why can’t they wrap their minds around additional sizes? As publishers, we need things that can work with our site designs. Sometimes, a header-sized ad is just too much, but a 468×60 banner is not enough. Plus, new formats are less likely to be as susceptible to ad blindness. What would it hurt to add a few more offerings?
• Text-link referrals for AdSense. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve told a friend to go sign up for AdSense. They always do, but they don’t always think to go find the stupid little blue button on such-and-such a page to click on before they do it. I realize that Google is sensitive about spam…but they have enough geniuses out there that they could put one on this project for a day or two and solve the problem for all time. There’s just no good reason that this continues to stretch out without a solution.
• Protection for their publishers. I just went and bought some AdWords yesterday for the first time in a couple years. In the past I’ve spent a good deal of money with them, but since my sites don’t really exist to sell products, PPC ads are not that helpful to me. I was amazed to see that the keywords I bought required minimum amounts of 15 and 20 cents each just to be displayed…not in the competitive sense, but because Google had set a floor price. That’s all well and good for protecting their own interests…but where are they when it comes time to protect the publishers. I could almost understand if they are wary of setting price floors, but if they are unwilling, they should at least allow us to do so. I have had several occurances recently of TWO clicks on ads on my site netting me a total of ONE cent…i.e., the payout is HALF A PENNY apiece. Huh? That’s inexcusable. I’d rather show a Public Service Announcement than be raped like that. Where is the option for protection…where I can set a minimum bid of 3-cents-or-whatever per click? Personally, I feel like they should say that clicks are unavailable below some minimum price, period…no less than a nickel to purchase…no less than 3 cents payout. Something like that. But if they can’t do that, then at least allow ME to say what I’m willing to settle for.

Why don’t they address issues like these? These are issues of basic respect for their user base…the honest, hard-working folks in the crowd. I understand that web spammers take a lot of their energy, but what about those of us who do things the right way? AdSense has NO competition…so that’s no excuse. They’re making so much money that I think they get lazy sometimes with what they perceive as non-essential issues. But their user experience needs work.

ON THE OTHER HAND, my friend Josh said to me the other day, “I know you hate AdSense.” That comment shook me a bit, because I don’t. I never have. It’s more like being angry with someone because you love them. If you hated them, or didn’t care at all, what would be the point?

In fact, over the last few days, I’ve gone back and tightened up my commitment to AdSense across my suite of 30 sites or so. I’ve been experimenting for a long time with other options like ShoppingAds (AuctionAds), Text Link Ads, WidgetBucks, Chitika and others. I do realize that some folks make a lot of money with these vehicles, but none of them have ever really worked for me. I think much of it has to do with the nature of my sites. Also, I’m not an “internet marketer”, per se…so while my daily audience is pretty large (as is the number of clicks I see each day), they are not the rabid “show me how to make money” folks. And since they don’t come to my sites looking for that “put me over the top” secret, they are less of a mind to make a purchase based on an ad for an ebook or a membership site or whatever.

Also, the ads generated by these services are rarely “deals” in the sense of, let’s say, DealNews.com. Frankly, THERE’S a company that could make a ton of money by widgetizing their product and paying commissions for clicks or conversions. They have an aggressive staff that’s out finding deals (and I’m sure they are often brought deals by the dealers themselves, because they drive traffic). That’s the kind of thing I believe would cause people to buy (conversion). But just displaying products? Nah.

And, as far as ShoppingAds (AuctionAds) goes, we all know that Ebay is rarely what it appears to be. I can’t count the number times that what appeared to be a great price has ended up selling for roughly what I could buy it for on Amazon. Plus, Ebay is so cluttered with retailers and dealers now that I never bother with them anyway. In my view, that’s a weak base for an ad network.

Conclusion? These poorly-converting ads (again, speaking personally) are just giving folks something to click on OTHER than AdSense when they leave the site. But since they don’t convert for me, displaying them is a bad idea.

As a result, I have gone NBA: Nothing But AdSense. Even with all their flaws, the AdSense folks still have the best thing going. They deserve the best placement I can give them.

And here’s my new theory of ad placement. ONE ad block…probably a header, when I can make it work with my site design. Why just one block? Because each additional block displays cheaper and cheaper ads.

And, two or three AdLinks units per page, depending on the flow of content on the site. I don’t believe that the number of AdLinks units matter, because logically, they don’t get cheaper as you add more. Why? Because they take two clicks. Click one takes you to a second screen filled with AdSense ads…displayed from the most to the least expensive. So even with 3 AdLinks units, there’s no watering-down effect (at least, that’s my theory). And AdLinks units are wonderfully flexible when it comes to site design. I almost always use the horizontal units, and they tuck in neatly beneath my page header titles (before the content begins), as well as working nicely as separators between content section blocks.

As a result of this move, my AdSense income has increased noticeably. The simple fact is that we get around on the web by clicking. A click representing expressed interest in a compelling ad with conversion possibilities is the best way for someone to leave my site. And, for me, for now…that mostly means AdSense.

I’ve been using Google’s new service designed for small business for the last 2-3 months now…just for my email service. While it’s not perfect, I have found it more dependable than ANY domain-based email solution. The only thing I’ve seen that was better was Webmail.us, which was (as I recall) about $12 a month.

In my experience, email is treated as the bastard stepchild of most web hosting accounts. It’s not like they are all terrible, but if any little thing goes wrong, you may lose email service periodcally…which can be incredibly frustrating…especially when you’re using it to run your business. Add to that the fact that spam protection is always dicey…whitelists and blacklists that rarely function consistently, etc. Ugh!

Because I have built web sites for a lot of friends, individuals and small businesses (something I no longer do, by the way), I have dealt with email issues multiplied by a numerical factor to which only IT folks and server admins can relate. And I’ve been on the hunt for a long time for a decent, stable email solution that didn’t cost extra (for these folks as much as for myself). And finally, I’ve found something that I’m comfortable recommending.

Google Apps is actually a whole suite of services, but I’m just addressing the email thing here. Many, many people are fans of Gmail, which may not be perfect, but certainly is in the discussion for “best free email” service. But here’s the cool thing about Google Apps. You can have all the benefits of Gmail…BUT with email addresses linked to any domain you own. So I get Gmail’s very impressive spam filtering, browser-based access (when I need it), support for reasonably-large file attachments (up to 20mb or so), etc…but I get to use any domain-based address I want. And the cost?: Still FREE.

Also, Gmail is POP-friendly (although you MUST enable it manually…don’t just assume it’s turned on when you set up your account, because it’s not), which means that you can use Outlook, Thunderbird, etc…so you can still use styled email signatures, if you prefer (which the Gmail web interface does not natively support), as well as folders and any other benefits of those POP clients.

Google Apps is free as long as there are less than 50 of you in your organization (which, of course, applies to your self-employed individuals, etc). Domains are cheap…less than 10 bucks per year (I use NameCheap for domain name registration, by the way). So you can basically have a custom email address, with all the benefits of Gmail…for less than 10 bucks a year.

One other little trick: Since the Google Apps addresses to actually access your email take a bit of typing, you can easily use a redirect to put together your own solution. You can see mine here: http://chuckbrown.com/mail (notice the way-more-complicated URL in the address bar once you’re redirected to the new destination)

Here’s how I did that: I created an HTML file named index.html, with only this code contained in the document (added in the code view, not in a design/visible view)…added in a single line, although it wraps in my blog format here:

<META HTTP-EQUIV=”Refresh” CONTENT=”1; URL=http://mail.google.com/a/chuckbrown.com”>

Then, I placed that index.html page in a folder called “mail” on my root domain. Nifty, eh?

One final tip: Be sure to log in via the web at least once a day to check your spam folder. You’ll find that there are occasional legitimate emails that get caught in there. But I get a couple hundred pieces of spam in there each day…and maybe see one legit email every few days. Still, you want to know. Create a filter to get rid of unwanted domains that slip thru to your InBox…and when you find a keeper in the Spam folder, just click on the Not Spam button, and you’re probably done with future issues with that address. That’s the way it’s worked for me, at least.

Check out Google Apps. I suspect you’ll be very glad you did.

Fred Haring has been a friend of mine for many years. He’s a very gifted songwriter (along with all the other things going on in his life). I’ve been meaning to get his two music videos posted on YouTube for a long time, but finally got to it this morning. Check them out on the music videos page on Fred’s site. By the way, the second video is for the song “This Grand Parade”, which Fred wrote with Dan Baird…the driving force behind The Georgia Satellites, who had a big hit in 1986 with “Keep Your Hands to Yourself”. Dan also produced that album for Fred.

If you like what you hear, check out some of Fred’s best songs here (especially Hey Joe Carter and Where to Begin).

While Fred and I both have written a lot of songs during the time we’ve known each other, we only collaborated one time songwriting-wise, when I helped out on his song Carousel…which you can download on this page.

Enjoy!

For many of you, part of this will be old news…especially if you’re already a fan of NPR (National Public Radio). I’ve been a sporadic listener for over 15 years now…having first noticed them in September 1991 during the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill hearings, when they were the only place I could hear the proceedings on the radio.

Public radio has been criticized over the years for its plodding style and its left-leaning political views. To be sure, you can find plenty of both there. But there are a number of other wonderful things there as well that…in my experience…make it a resource well worth delving into. There are at least four public radio programs that you should know about (and I’d bet you haven’t heard of two of them), plus one other cool audio book.

1.) This American Life – OK, this one is not such a well-kept secret anymore. Ira Glass and his merry band of intrepid storytellers weave magic on a weekly basis from we might view (from a distance) as the mundane experiences of life in America. I would waste way too much time trying to describe these shows by citing examples, but they are endlessly fascinating and frequently informative. And now that the show is available as a podcast, I NEVER miss it. If you’re an iTunes subscriber, you can listen for free each week…and all the archived shows are available for about a buck apiece. The stories on this show are probably the one thing that I share with my friends more consistently than any other…it’s just that good. And if you don’t want to take my word for it, you’ll find that it’s always among the top podcast downloads each week on iTunes. There’s also a Showtime TV version out there, but I haven’t seen it yet, so I can’t tell you anything about it.

2.) Fresh Air – I’ll admit it. I actually enjoy Larry King…or I used to…once upon a time. Before his CNN TV show became a “kissup-fest”, he used to be on the radio overnights. It was pretty interesting stuff. Now…not so much…it seems to be more about him than the guests or the topic. But if you want to know what it means to IN-TER-VIEW someone, you have to hear Terry Gross, the host of Fresh Air. The show, which is created at WHYY in Philadelphia, is so well done…so intimate and revealing (but not in a “celebrity kitsch” sort of way), that you frequently forget that Terry and her guest are not sitting face-to-face (they are normally nowhere near each other geographically). The biggest compliment I can pay to Terry is to say that she asks the questions that YOU would want asked if you were sitting there. There have been very few cases where the interview wrapped up and I was left feeling unsatisfied. She talks to a lot of big-name guests, but the greatest thing about the show for me is that it also allows me to become engaged by a variety of people and topics that I don’t know a thing about…and to which I would not normally take the time to listen. It happens so often that I can’t even cite a single outstanding example. This show is aired 5 times a week (and has been for over 20 years!)…which keeps Terry very busy with show prep. She claims not to be much of a friend to her own friends, because she’s always cutting conversations short to get back to work reading a book or watching a movie for the next day’s guest. If you haven’t heard it, you need to at least a few times…to see if it clicks with you. To me…it seems to me like she was born to do this for a living. This show is also available for free as a podcast on iTunes.

3.) Radio Lab – I hadn’t even heard of this show a month ago, but part of a segment was broadcast on This American Life…and even though it didn’t really grab me right away, it certainly did once I actually listened to an entire show. Robert Krulwich and Jad Abumrad are our hosts for this delightful journey into the world of science. Science becomes the stuff of fascination, not some stodgy old set of facts. It’s beyond my vocabulary to really capture the texture of this show…it’s a mix of interviews, in-your-face audio editing (which I feel is actually the one major weakness of the show…it’s hard to listen to when you’re relaxing), questions-that-you-wouldn’t-have-thought-to-ask-for-yourself-but-you’re-glad-somebody-did…in short, this is the science class you WISH you’d had in high school. I’ve only heard 5 episodes so far, but was excited to discover today that all 3 years of the show’s existence are available for free download from the show’s web site. You should listen. Your older kids should listen. This is REALLY GOOD. Here’s an interesting article about the show.

4.) The Sound of Young America – If you enjoy good interview shows, this is worth a spin. It’s been on the air for the past few years, and was recently picked up by Public Radio International. Like most people, I enjoy books, movies, television, music and comedy when they’re well done….and guests in those genres make up the bulk of the interview guests for these shows. Jesse Thorn is your host, broadcasting from his living room (no, really!)…and he does a very solid job for a guy in his mid-20s. He’s well-read and asks good questions…which is pretty much what you want in an interview show, eh? My one beef with the show is the occasional uncensored profanity and even more occasional racy subject matter (usually due to the guest comedians), which limits the number of places where I can listen without earbuds. And, probably because it’s tilted toward a younger audience, I don’t find quite as many of the show topics as interesting as…say, Fresh Air. But, it’s definitely worth checking out. It’s been one of the nicest surprises in my adventure into podcast-land. All the shows are freely downloadable from iTunes.

5.) One last thing (same idea…just not on public radio). I recently bought the unabridged audio book of Bill Bryson‘s “A Short History of Nearly Everything“. What a treat! Much like Radio Lab, Bryson brings science to life…but in a different way: by following the threads of developing scientific thought throughout history…and believe me, this has as much intrigue and as many incestuous relationships as a couple seasons of Days of Our Lives. It’s utterly fascinating stuff…and the unabridged version is read by British narrator Richard Matthews..whose delivery suits the material perfectly…despite the fact that it’s over 18 hours long. Your kids may well have read this already, as I understand that some schools have begun to incorporate it into their curriculum. If you like non-fiction delivered with gentle humor, this is a great way to go.

Even though I used to do some IT work, I was a Mac guy at the time…and the tools were totally different than on the PC. And… that was eons ago… the internet was much younger… and spyware was almost unheard of. I had a long battle yesterday with Spyware…about 8 hours, all told… including lots of drive scans. I was tired and had pressed a button, allowing something to be installed that I normally would not have. Regretful decision.

I have used a number of tools over the years to protect myself from viruses, spyware and sluggish computers. One the biggest pieces of “bloatware” was System Mechanic (and yet, I just kept buying the latest versions when they came out each year!)… which purportedly would keep your machine running speedily and watch for errors. That was assuming, of course, that it didn’t fall asleep in the middle of the job… which it often did. Utterly maddening. I also used Avast, which is a good anti-virus program… completely free to the home user, and does a great job of keeping itself up-to-date (pretty much on a daily basis)… however, it really has a tendency to slow down your system.

However, after my bout yesterday…my machine was running like molasses. I’m sure it had multiple levels of problems…including a desperate need of a shoulder massage. But I was exhausted and needed to sleep. I was quite successful in finding 3 programs that brought my machine back to life, and covered me from viruses and intrusion… all of which appear to be superior tools to those which I have used previously. They’re probably not new… but they were new to me…and, best of all…they’re all FREE. So I thought I’d share them with you:

1) Advanced WindowsCare v2 Personal
Unlike System Mechanic, this runs in a “jiff”…healed my registry issues, took out the garbage and generally brought things back to life. It also wipes your personal data when you restart the machine. It’s free, but I liked this so much, I invested in the Pro version ($30 per year…and covers 3 PCs). Bye-Bye, System Mechanic!

2) AVG Anti-Virus Free
Doesn’t do spyware (not usually a problem for me), doesn’t scan your email. Just watches for viruses. Simple and clean…and free. You can buy a more full-featured version if you want one.

3. ZoneAlarm
If you don’t want to use the firewall built into Windows XP, this one seems nice and clean. Each time an application tries to access the internet, it will ask if you want to allow it. But make sure you tell it not to ask you about that one again.

So…those are my newest tools. If you know of even better suggestions, be sure to post a comment and lemme know!

I’ve had my eye on Tim Ferriss for 2-3 months now. When I read a bit about the concept of his forthcoming book, something about it got my attention. I should begin by saying that I don’t generally buy a lot of self-help or get-rich-quick books. But something about this guy appealed to me. When the audio book came out (my preferred method for literature consumption), there were some issues with it on iTunes…many people were complaining that it wouldn’t play on their iPods. So I waited a bit to buy it, but finally broke down and did so. It’s about 9 hours of material, which I devoured in a 24-hour period. I believe that there’s some important info in this book that plays into some things I’ve believed for some time.

Backstory: Being completely self-employed for the last 6 years, I get to view the “work-a-day” world from a bit of a unique perspective. As I’ve watched companies transform and fail in recent years…resulting in massive layoffs…I’ve known that some change was coming. Watching huge companies worm their way out of paying health/retirement benefits for lifetime employees…I knew that was important, too. And then, of course…there’s the internet. Enough said about that. It’s become clear to me that there is a huge sea change going on now…I believe that it will result in a backlash against many traditional employers…as employees decide they want more out of their lives than working 40, 50, 60, or 70 hours a week. I picked up a few interesting perspectives from Robert Kioysaki’s “Rich Dad” books…mainly, that it was important to be more in control of your own financial destiny. However, his big pitch is for real estate investment…flipping houses, rental property managment, etc. I have no stomach for that.

So along comes Mr. Ferriss. And I must say…this book has challenged me more directly than anything I’ve read in years. There’s way too much for me to cover in the space of a blog post. This book deserves your full attention. But let me hit some of the high points:

1) One of the reasons that I don’t read this type of book often is their discussion of how to “get rich” and live a “life of luxury”. This kind of language is very off-putting for me on a couple levels. First of all, I have never desired riches. I’ve known plenty of wealthy people in my life. They were just about like everyone else…their worries were just bigger and more expensive. That seems a hollow goal. Second, as a Christian, while I have no issue with people with a lot of money, the idea of pursuing riches is presented in the Bible as a distraction and a barrier to allowing God to connect with others through your life. So, when even Ferriss uses terms like “the new rich” and talks about freeing yourself up so you can go indulge your passions…my guard goes up. But he eventually moves past this…and even deals with selfishness as a lousy motivation to live.

2) He talks about stripping away that which isn’t profitable in your life. Of course, there are many kinds of profit (not just financial)…friends, relationships, time and experiences among them. But the concept is good. These things that hold us back…that are blocking us in our lives. We need to find a way to challenge those and eliminate them from our lives, if possible.

3) He talks about NOT waiting for retirement at the end of a life of drudgery at work. He says that we need to consider enjoy our lives now while we have the youth and energy to do so. I like this concept…especially as I don’t even see myself retiring. He illustrates this concept by describing his lifestyle now…he takes 3-4 “mini-retirements” a year…moves to another country, takes lessons from world-class instructors in language and all sorts of skills. I can only imagine that he’s not married…I don’t think he’ll find that this will mix well with a wife and kids, who need SOME semblance of stability and permanence. But, that’s up to him to work out. The whole travel thing doesn’t interest me much, but it does sound interesting to have the time to learn from the best in the world.

4) Especially as I get older, I continue to talk often with my friends about the need to STOP trading hours of our time for dollars…and look for ways to create products and services that don’t require our constant attention to bring in an income stream, even if it’s rather small. I’ve been doing this for a few years now, and it’s changed my life. I continue to do so today. Ferriss definitely builds onto this concept by talking about “outsourcing your life”…i.e., finding people who are able, willing and content to do the things you don’t want to do for a relatively small wage compared to your income level (maybe $4-5 bucks an hour). Not everyone is insulted by wages like that. Many people will gladly take that work. Many of them, of course, are overseas. I’m all for the American economy. But when there’s work here that doesn’t get done because people don’t want to take the work and perform it in an ethical manner because they are too busy out there trying to “get theirs”…it’s time to look elsewhere. Ferriss deals with this outsourcing issue in depth…he tells you where to look, how to shop, describes the need to expect to fail a time or two…but pressing on until you find the right “virtual assistant” in different areas of your life.

5) He also talks about learning to delegate…pushing decision-making downward…building companies that can run themselves…which you then own, but with which you don’t need to be involved often. And then, taking that freedom to go and start another one…which can provide more quality services…employ more people, etc.

So, to me…this is very much the American “spirit of ingenuity” applied in a new way. I have begun to define projects over the past two weeks and have already outsourced several of them. Some to India…and some as far away as the great state of Wisconsin! You never know what you’ll find.

If you are an energetic and creative person…if you don’t want to spend your life working for others…if you want to pursue freedom of time…if you want to make time to learn and grow in new ways, learning to further stimulation of your own creativity…you owe it to yourself to read (or listen to) this book. (climbs down off soapbox)

• Tim Ferris on the web: The Four-Hour Workweek
• The audio book on iTunes
• Buy the book on Amazon (I get a few pennies if you use this link)