It seems like every day there’s something else that we all know and love that’s had caffeine added to it. I’ve been wondering when it would make it’s way into hot chocolate, and today I found my answer at the grocery store. Yes, I know that there is some caffeine in hot chocolate already, but it’s generally not a significant amount.

I’m not surprised that it exists, and I imagine that it will sell very well, I’m just curious how much caffeine consumption has grown in the past ten or fifteen years. I can’t imagine it’s very healthy. As someone who drinks at least one extra strength 5-hour energy a day, It would be great to see some data on the long term effects of caffeine consumption.

The Time is Now to Invest in Your Business

It’s no secret that we are in a recession, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to do if your business is slow. Now is the perfect time to ensure that your business is running efficiently, and to focus on all of those little things you’ve been putting off for months/years/decades.

The people who come out of this recession, just like any other, stronger and better will be the ones who take this time to make their business better. It could mean getting your creativity going by learning Photoshop, so you can create those amazing business cards that you drew out on paper two years ago, or mastering Excel or some other program that will benefit your business. It could be nothing computer related at all, but instead getting creative with how your employees spend their time when business is slow, or reading the four books you bought last year on marketing but never had time to read.

The point is, don’t just sit around wishing the economy would get better, but instead spend this time making your business better. You’ll be glad you did.

I just received my copy of iLife ‘09 from Amazon this morning, and I am very impressed so far with the new iPhoto’s ability to track faces. That’s not to say it isn’t a little rough around the edges, but it does do an admirable job of picking up people, animals, and even statues.

I wasn’t too surprised to find that after labeling ”Abraham Lincoln” once, it identified him flawlessly across the rest of the statues. What did surprise me though, was finding that it also labeled the wax figure of Abraham Lincoln from a trip to Las Vegas, even though the face looks vastly different from the original, marble one I had initially labeled.

After confirming and labeling a handful of pictures of Abraham Lincoln, I found this as a suggested image of him, from a book I had taken a picture of months ago. Now that is cool!

For those wondering why I would have a photo of a book on Lincoln in the first place, I occasionally take pictures of books and other items that I intend to purchase for people at a later date, and this happened to be one of them.

Now, with all of the coolness of the facial recognition, there are a few odd bits to note. For one, it does arbitrarily find faces every once and a while, such as Mickey Mouse’s elephant cousin in this picture.

And even though it caught that elephant, I found that it did have a very hard time concluding that Mickey Mouse is, in fact, Mickey Mouse. No matter how many times I labeled images as “Mickey Mouse,” it never did find a suggested image other than the ones I had labeled.

I think the big, non-face like face of Mickey prevented iPhoto from discerning it from other background objects. So, this means that you aren’t likely to be able to pinpoint say, your car and have it picked up in each photo that it appears in, but maybe that’s for the best. It is for faces, after all.

I’d love to hear your experiences, leave a comment and let me know what you’ve found!

Do the job fast, or do it right?

Increasingly it seems like the former is winning out over the latter, but does ”doing it fast” actually save time over doing it right the first time? If you get a few less tasks done in a given day, but don’t have to revisit the ones you sped through again later, how does that impact your overall productivity?

Here’s a challenge. The next time you speed through a task just to “get it done,” take down how much time you spend the first time around. Then record how much time you spend in the subsequent days, weeks or months afterward for that particular task. Include the time spent refreshing your memory on what you did, and on how to fix it so it works the way it should.

Next, do the same for another task of similar size, one that you have taken the time to get right the first time. How much time after the fact do you spend fixing mistakes or revising functionality?

Usually, the conclusion will be that doing it right the first time takes a lot less time in the long run.

Of course there are times when there’s simply too much going on to get everything done “right” the first time. But if you find yourself having too many days like this, it might also be time to re-evaluate how you work, and whether some of your more time-consuming tasks can be delegated elsewhere. But that’s a topic for another day.

Stop relying on chance, and create your own luck instead. How well do you do the items below?

There is a very common misconception that a person can be successful just by being ”lucky.”

I hate that idea.

While there is something called chance that says you could win the lottery (or get hit by a bus) tomorrow, the truth of the matter is that people who are perceived as lucky, by in large create their own luck. That is, they see opportunity where others see nothing (or see risk), and they know when to take advantage and “try their luck.” I would be willing to bet that if you were to record your entire day, including all phone calls, in person meetings and conversations at Starbucks on the way to work, that you would realize dozens of potential opportunities that had completely evaded your perception when they happened. The only difference between a so-called “lucky” individual and one who isn’t, is their ability to recognize and pursue those opportunities as they happen. Read the rest of this entry »

Cut down on needless information and filtering time with RSS Feeds.

Regardless of who you are or what you do, you likely find yourself the victim of information overload virtually every time you turn on the computer. Be it by choice or by necessity, the amount of information our brains are forced to process on a given day is just incredible. Luckily, there’s a solution that can help you get your fill of the information you want to have, without sifting through the piles of information that you don’t want.

It’s called RSS (Really Simple Syndication), and it’s been around for a long time now. Unfortunately, many people still aren’t familiar with what RSS actually is, or how to make use of it in daily life. Let’s start with how to best make use of the technology – depending on what your needs are. Read the rest of this entry »